The Prouty Yellow Ribbon – Support for Cancer Patients & Research

It’s really all about people – people with cancer.

I had the honor of leading a team of people up Kilimanjaro this past December, and we initiated a yellow ribbon program with the simple purpose honoring those who have cancer and those who have died from the disease. The response was terrific, and we took about 65 yellow ribbons up the Hill – each one a story, a story that we told as we photographed each ribbon.

A tribute to a cancer patient on Kilimanjaro

The effect on the team was overpowering – including all of the guides and porters – who quickly figured out what we were doing. They have cancer in Tanzania too. What I failed to anticipate was the impact that a simple yellow ribbon would have on a patient in treatment. When I got home, I got a note from a woman who got the photo of her ribbon back while she was in the middle of chemotherapy. She wrote to me saying,

“I want to thank you for the very special gift you gave me by your

recent climb of Mt Kilimanjaro.

When Jill sent me the picture of you holding a yellow ribbon with my

name on it I was so touched that someone would think to do that with

me in mind. It might well be the most meaningful gift anyone has ever given me…

Thank you so very much for your courageous and bold gift to me and to

 the many others who are daily living with cancer and facing it down.

 I am certain that your effort has and will continue to aid my healing.

 All the best to you and your crew.

 Keep Climbing!”

 

The Prouty – in all of its forms – is really all about people – people with cancer.

This year I’m asking you to sponsor a yellow ribbon. Either to honor someone battling cancer, someone in remission or in memory of someone who has died from the disease. I’ll take it on the Prouty Ultimate Bike Ride, up a 4,000 ft. mountain in New England or up Kilimanjaro – your choice.

If you can do it for someone in treatment – please do it. The palliative effect can be tremendous – and palliation can be as important as the treatment itself. If you want to support someone in treatment but are fortunate enough not to know anyone in that painful position – we’ll find someone in treatment who can use the support – there are an unfortunately large number available. Either way, you’ll be supporting people with cancer today, and providing funds to help find a cure in the future.

All ribbons sponsored between now and July 12^th will go on a 200 mile bike ride with me (the Prouty Ultimate) before they head up a Hill. All Kilimanjaro ribbons will also get a little trip up a local Hill within a month – I really want to offer a series of supportive photographs for patients in treatment.

You can sponsor a ribbon directly onto the Prouty website: http://theprouty.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1046237&lis=0&kntae1046237=21E76995E7324CDBB16303255657771A, or use the form attached to this email – also available on my website: http://www.mwestonchapman.com/.

I thank you for supporting people impacted by cancer, and for contributing to the potential for a future cure.

All the Best, Wes

Mt. Kilimanjaro & Prouty Mountaineering – Barafu Camp & Kilimanjaro Summit

       

Barafu Camp and Kilimanjaro Summit

8 miles, 5,895 meters, 493 mb pressure

The Prouty Mountaineering Program
(the first Prouty Challenge Event benefitting Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center)

December 19, 2012

Wes Chapman

 

The team launches for the summit – 2:00 AM

Properly executed, the summit push on Kili begins with a cold hike in the dark, and ends at the summit in delight. Our team got an intentionally late start, hoping to spend the day in the crater, and return to Barafu camp, rather than continue down to Mweka Camp at 10,000 feet. We had built the luxury of a spare day into the schedule, and it also afforded the chance for a second summit day if we got shut down by inclement weather or illness.

The worry on Kilimanjaro is always the potential for acute mountain sickness, (AMS); a very bad actor that can result in high altitude cerebral edema (HACE), or high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE). These two conditions combine to make Kili a fairly dangerous climb – only because of the altitude. It is impossible to predict who will be susceptible to AMS, and 4 of our 5 team members had never climbed above 14,500 feet – we were in new territory. Our team was either taking acetazolamide or dexamethasone for the amelioration of the typical symptoms of headache, nausea, sleeplessness, loss of appetite and related AMS maladies.

The key determinant in AMS is the absolute reduction in air pressure – not any relative change in % oxygen in the atmosphere, which remains constant at 21% up to 69,000 ft. Two of the major physiological changes caused by altitude are the acidification of the blood due to changes in CO² concentration, and an increase in edema, due to poorly understood changes in capillary function. These conditions always become much more dangerous above “extreme altitude” of 5,500 meters – just below the summit of Uhuru Peak at 5,895 meters on Kilimanjaro. We measured the air pressure at the summit at 493 mbars, just about half of the normal pressure of 1013.25 mbars at sea level.

The hike up Kilimanjaro in the dark is cold and a bit dull, but is a real test of the cardiovascular system. The climb up from Barafu is pretty consistently steep, gaining over 4,000 feet in 2 miles. Sunrise broke over a cloudy and breezy morning, and found us just below the 19,000 foot level at the crater rim at Stella Point. Fortunately, everybody in our party was in really good health, and we pressed on to the summit before the storm hit.

For those who push to physical failure on the mountain, the only alternative is a one way trip on a one wheeled cart. This is a long trip over bad trail, and ensures that if you weren’t seriously hurt when you started, you will be when you finish. Our last day saw three unfortunate climbers exit the mountain via the cart – and directly to Arusha hospital.

 

Jeff illustrates the hard way down – the one wheeled cart

 

Mt. Mawenzi in the clouds at sunrise

Rick enjoying the happy prospect of the summit just below Stella Point

 

Stella Point – a flat walk to the summit

Uhuru summit on the crater rim

 

Glaciers near the summit

The weather on the summit was very windy, and a bit foreboding of snow and ice to come in the afternoon. We hustled to get the team banners, recently augmented by the yellow ribbons, hung in the breeze. As always, any climb above 17,500 feet is a treat for me, and this was particularly sweet.

A great moment for the team on the summit

The trip down came sooner than expected – our arrival was shortly followed by the arrival of a bit of blowing ice and snow – and our plans for a day in the crater were terminated. While we missed a bit of adventure, we attained the real goal – the summit – and the happy prospect of an afternoon nap overwhelmed any disappointed. We headed down at a trot.

That evening, the storm blew in with a vengeance – and found us in the mess tent enjoying a warm candle light dinner while the storm hammered away outside. Suddenly, through the tent flap stepped a young European woman, and she said, “help – please”. It sounds like the plot to an Agatha Christie novel, but it actually happened.

We determined that she was about frozen solid – her hands no longer worked – and she was drenched to the skin; we’re talking a pretty solid case of hypothermia. We got her out of her soaked clothes, and some warm soup into her – she had been on the trail for 9 hours and was a mess. Her name was Levina – a Dutch woman – and she was completing a 4 month trip to Africa with a budget rate trip up Kili, and was paying the price. After about 45 minutes we released her back to her guide, with the promise that she come by in the morning to confirm that she was OK.

Alpine glow on the Hill as we depart

 

Levina gets new boots – from Kelly

 

Levina with Kelly – a new adopted teammate

The descent day dawned clear, cold and beautiful. Levina came by, and was suffering from what appeared to be edema of the entire body – even her boots didn’t fit. Kelly/Jeff arranged a complicated trade – putting reasonably fitting boots on everybody. A little dexamethasone and she was headed down and on the way to a speedy and complete recovery. With much help from the team at East Africa Voyage, we adopted Levina for the rest of the trip, for the benefit and entertainment of all involved – she was really quite a fearless character.

The 2012 Kili Team comes off the Hill

Mt. Mawenzi as we depart

Somehow, pulling Levina into the team made the symmetry of the trip perfect; as we scattered to the four winds for the Holiday. One last night, and one last team photo, and we were gone.

The entire Team on the last day

Adios, from Kileman-Jaro

Mt. Kilimanjaro & Prouty Mountaineering – Karanga & Barafu Camps on the Machame Trail

         

Karanga Camp and Barafu Camp

8 miles, 3,995 meters & 3 miles 4,605 meters 582 mb pressure

The Prouty Mountaineering Program
(the first Prouty Challenge Event benefitting Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center)

December 18, 2012

Wes Chapman

Sunrise at Lava Tower Camp

The descent from the lava tower follows the Barranco Valley directly below the Window Buttress and the spectacular hanging Arrow Glacier. This valley is caused by a large collapse feature (a major fault) that leads directly down to Barranco Camp and the entertaining Barranco Wall. Additionally, the descent moves from the alpine desert ecological zone back into the moorland – with a resulting bumper crop of some of the stranger flora endemic to Kili, including the giant lobelia deckenii – another plant refugee from Dr. Seuss.

A giant Lobelia Deckenii in the Barranco Valley

The trail down to Barranco camp follows a stream down the valley floor; around .25-.50 miles back from the base of the summit cone of Kilimanjaro. This affords some spectacular views in the morning, before the predictable diurnal clouds roll up the mountain by 9-10:00 AM.

Hanging glaciers from the Barranco Valley

Today was billed as a long day – 7-8 hours – without a hot lunch. Over the past couple of years the Park Rangers have taken to selling cold boxed lunches along the trail, and in the transparent abuse of their power have prohibited the guides from preparing hot lunches for their guests along the trail – who needs the competition. We refused to be bullied into doing business with these guys, but as a consequence, it was a long way between meals on the trail. Our team is comprised of a bunch of good eaters, and we did not tarry long at the Barranco Camp – focused as we were on a nice late lunch. We hustled up the Barranco Wall, and across the next couple of valleys to reach the Karanga Camp just as the rain set in. We enjoyed two full meals in three hours, and settled in for a long night’s rest.

Kapanya scrambling on the Barranco Wall

Kelly on the wall in her signature climbing pajamas

Porters (barely visible) climbing the Barranco Wall

Kilimanjaro at dawn from the Karanga Camp

We awoke to a clear cold and breezy morning at the Karanga Camp. As you can see in the photo above, the wind was blowing hard off the Indian Ocean and piling clouds up on the windward side of the mountain. This is clearly a sign of bad weather, and I was worried about our ability to get pictures of our yellow ribbons for cancer victims, survivors and care providers at the summit. Our friend Seke Godson of East African Voyage had suggested, “The Mountain has many summits Wes, don’t wait for the last day to take pictures”. The wisdom of this advice was becoming more apparent as the storm threatened, and we decided to do a complete run of all of the yellow ribbons, in case it proved to be impossible at the summit due to weather or altitude sickness.

A yellow ribbon for Audrey Prouty

We had planned a one person – two camera format to ensure at least one good picture per ribbon. We got set up and started the shooting, and as you can see in the photo sequence below, the weather degraded rapidly, substituting a gray cloud backdrop for Kili. As the photos progressed, the sheer number of ribbons, and the stories of the people that we knew gradually became overwhelming. All of us had some ribbons for victims that we did not know personally, and somehow the anonymity of their suffering piled on the emotion of the moment in a way that none of us expected.

Brad remembering a friend – as the mountain vanishes into a cloud

I had watched Saving Private Ryan in the plane on the way over, and as the porters gathered around to watch, the similarities to the famous “dog-tag scene” flared up. The porters were discussing among themselves the strange proceedings – gradually figuring out what was going on – coached by the head guide Kapanya.

Jeff makes a simple but powerful tribute

Kelly with a yellow ribbon as the Mountain vanishes

Two days later I learned in a very simple and direct fashion the impact that the yellow ribbons had on the rest of the East Africa team, and how much these guys bought into the message and the purpose of the climb. It turns out that due to both environmental factors and better diagnostics, the apparent rate of cancer in the local community is skyrocketing. Cancer impacts these guys as much as it does us – and the growth of diagnosed cases is terrifying. Before we left Barafu Camp, the local team insisted on a photo with our banners and the Tanzanian National Flag. There is nothing better for building a team than a truly shared mission.

A unified team with a shared mission

The entire experience at Karanga left me emotionally drained, and in need of clearing my head. Once we got packed up and the team ready, I took off up the trail – as fast as I could go. I really needed to blow off a little steam, and the trail to Barafu beckoned into the mist.

Cairns on the trail to Barafu

Mt. Kilimanjaro & Prouty Mountaineering – Shira and Lava Towers Camps on the Machame Trail

Shira Camp and Lava Towers Camp

8 miles, 3750 meters & 6 miles 4505 meters 582 mb pressure

The Prouty Mountaineering Program
(the first Prouty Challenge Event benefitting Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center)

December 16, 2012

Wes Chapman

Alpine Glow at Shira Camp

The hike from Machame Camp to Shira ascends from 10,000 feet to 12,205 over rough volcanic terrain – principally welded ash flows – and transits the alpine heather zone into the moorland. This was our first day hiking at altitude, and we all felt it – despite the wonders of Diamox. The flora is something directly out of Dr. Seuss – like the top heavy Senecio Kilimanjari. It was clear that we weren’t in Kansas anymore. The moorland is typically shrouded in mist throughout the day, and the weather only added to the strangeness of the place.

Brad with a Senecio Kilimanjari

Porters on the rugged trail to Shira Camp

Food – a special consideration at altitude

The hike took around 5 hours, and we arrived to a hot meal in a cool and desolate alpine environment. Food is a critical element to a successful climb, and the lead guide, Kapanya, took proper alpine nutrition very seriously. Climbers burn a lot of calories, around 500 – 800 per hour (not altitude adjusted), and most people lose 8-10 pounds when climbing this Hill.

 

Kapanya really focused on Kelly’s nutritional needs, which ultimately became a standing joke enjoyed by one and all at the meals. Kelly is a dedicated and successful long distance athlete, and felt that she had a pretty good handle on her nutritional needs. Kapanya, on the other hand, is an old school alpine veteran, and likes his climbers very well fed. The net result was that she was encouraged to eat more than most of the guys – she surely did not suffer from a caloric deficit.

Kelly enjoying a second serving

Food and eating are funny things – they are really primal functions that tie people together in emotions dictated by both instinct and custom. We ate a lot on this trip, and ate very different meals than the 42 staff that supported our climb. If these guys were either hungry or resentful about the food we could have confronted a fairly ugly situation, and Kapanya was masterful in navigating those difficult waters. East Africa Voyages feeds everybody really well, so the volume was not the issue, and Kapanya made sure that he ate the polenta with the staff at most meals, as well as eating with us.

Inside the cook tent

Unlimited Polenta

Sunset on Kilimanjaro through the clouds at Shira Camp

The weather on Kilimanjaro in the months of December and January is in flux between the rainy and dry seasons – the days start clear, and the weather blows in each afternoon. This makes morning photography doubly important – by the afternoon you are shooting pictures in the bottom of a can of grey paint.

Mt. Meru at daybreak from Shira Camp

Dawn broke clear and cold, but with summit clouds foreboding a bit of weather. We headed up to the Lava Towers Camp. This is a short day – only 4-5 hours, but Lava Towers is fairly high – 15,257 ft. – and we expected some issues with altitude sickness, and a fairly chilly evening.

The trail crossed multiple beds of former glaciers on the way – smooth and fairly bare, with small lateral moraines along the sides. It was very clear that these were as much snow fields as real ice glaciers, and never more than 50 feet thick. The combination of higher temperatures and lower rainfall proved fatal very quickly.

Vacant glacial bed

As the moorland grades into alpine desert only a few grasses and sedges mix with the lichen. Some of the lichen grow spectacularly on the mineral rich volcanic terrain. There was a surprising amount of apparent wind (aeolian) erosion of the softer layers of volcanic rock, resulting in some fairly interesting top heavy formations.

Aeolian erosion and lichen on a mixed volcanic formation

We were the only people at Lava Towers, which afforded a dead still night, and spectacular sunrise over the Hill. The night was quite cold, and the ground froze hard by morning. By this point all that could take Diamox were doing so to combat the potential altitude sickness. Unfortunately, Diamox is also a powerful diuretic, necessitating a lot of water – both filtered and treated with iodine – and chilly nocturnal bathroom breaks.

Multiple summit clouds – contra-indication for weather

The next two days we head to Barafu Camp, and climb the Barrranco Wall – not much of a wall really, but enough to get the blood pumping at 15,000 feet.

Adios from Lava Towers Camp

Mt. Kilimanjaro – Arusha National Park & Machame Camp

Arusha national Park & Machame Camp

10 miles, 2950 meters

The Prouty Mountaineering Program
(the first Prouty Challenge Event benefitting Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center)

December 13, 2012

Wes Chapman

Mt. Meru Inside Arusha National Park

Miraculously, our team all arrived on time at Kilimanjaro Airport in Arusha, Tanzania – leaving the luxury of an open rest day before the climb. Arusha is a city of almost a million people today, growing from a local village over the last half century, propelled by jobs in tourism, agriculture and manufacturing. It is also home to the Dik-Dik Hotel, a small Swiss owned gem that is the rallying point for our team of 5 climbers before and after the climb. The first team action in Tanzania was a unanimous vote to spend the unexpected free day touring the Arusha National Park.

The city has slowly grown to nearly swallow parts of the adjacent 552 sq. mi. eponymous park and wild game refuge. Arusha Park enjoys a tremendous diversity and density of wild animals including zebras, giraffes, waterbucks, reedbucks, klipspringers, hippos, buffaloes, elephants, hyenas, mongooses, dik-diks, warthogs, baboons and vervet and colobus monkeys.

 

The Snows of Kilimanjaro 2012 from Arusha National Park

The main geographic features of the Park include Ngurdoto Crater (a collapsed volcanic feature) and the alkali Momela Lakes to the east. To the west is 14,990 foot tall Mt Meru. The two areas are joined by a narrow strip, with Momela Gate at its center. The park’s altitude, which varies from 1500m to more than 4500m, has a variety of vegetation zones supporting numerous animal species. Included in the plant species is a giant parasitic fig tree, considered holy objects by the Masai. These trees can grow to tremendous sizes, as seen in the photo below.

 

A giant fig tree easily contains the entire team

Ngurdoto Crater is surrounded by forest, while the crater floor is a swamp. West of the crater is Serengeti Ndogo (Little Serengeti), an extensive area of open grassland and the only place in the park where herds of Burchell’s zebras can be found.

Zebras & a Giraffe in the Park

The Momela Lakes, like many in the Rift Valley, are shallow and alkaline and attract a wide variety of wader birds, particularly flamingos. The lakes are fed by underground streams; due to their varying mineral content, each lake supports a different type of algal growth, which gives them different colors. Bird life also varies quite distinctly from one lake to another, even where they are only separated by a narrow strip of land. Mt Meru is a mixture of lush forest and bare rock with a spectacular crater.

Rafts of pink flamingos on the Momela Lakes

The next day dawned with the nervousness of a big climb – all of our team members are experienced climbers and hikers, but hiking above 14,500 ft. is new ground for most. The first day is through the Machame gate, and up a good road, and then a very well maintained path for 10 miles to 10,100 feet and the Machame Camp.

The 2012 team, led by head guide Kapanya on the left

The wonders of Kilimanjaro hiking were obvious the first day – we have 42 porters and guides for a team of 5, and all of our gear, other than daily on-trail necessities, are carried by porters. Throw in a hot lunch by the trail and it sets a standard pretty hard to imagine for those who hike in New England.

Lunch by the trail

On this hike we pass through four distinct ecological zones dictated by altitude – tropical rain forest  sub-alpine heather, moorland, and finally alpine. The first day saw the transition from rain forest to heather around 9,000 feet. The explosion of plant species associated with this transition is incredible.

Bio-diversity by the Machame trail

 

Kelly gets a pack adjustment by Kapanya

Jeff Goodell teaches fifth grade in Newbury Vermont, and got a terrific sendoff from his students including the hat below, celebrating the dragon mascot for the Newbury Knights. Included in the send-off package were several of the pins in the hat, and promotional bumper stickers from Vermont – quite a cross cultural exchange. Jeff has as extensive climbing background, dating back to his college days in Vermont, and he confesses to going to Black Mountain – one of my favorites – for training hikes after school. He really wanted to get a blog out for his class and community, so I hope that this one makes it!!

The hat celebrating Arthur the Newbury Dragon, and a community’s support of Jeff Goodell

Jambo, from Machame Camp, Kileman-Jaro

Adios, from Kilimanjaro

Mt. Kilimanjaro – A Primer, The Prouty Mountaineering Program

             

Mt. Kilimanjaro – A Primer

19,341 Feet

The Prouty Mountaineering Program
(the first Prouty Challenge Event benefitting Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center)

December 9, 2012

Wes Chapman

The Snows of Kilimanjaro, 1937

“Kilimanjaro is a snow covered mountain 19,710 feet high, and is said to be the highest mountain in Africa. Its western summit is called the Masai “Ngaje Ngai”, the house of God. Close to the western summit there is the dried and frozen carcass of a leopard. No one has explained what the leopard was seeking at that altitude.”

Preface of, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Ernest Hemingway, 1938

 

 

I read these words when I was 16, and they poured gasoline on the fires of my youthful climbing ambitions. I’d knocked around the mountains of Maine and New Hampshire, and loved it, but suddenly this was all different – Kilimanjaro was a place apart.  The sheer altitude of the mountain and the mystery of the leopard – a creature out of place – driven by unknowable motivations – I found the entire adventure absolutely compelling.

To my simultaneous joy and misery, I feel the same way today – 41 years and maybe a thousand mountains later. There is something about this Hill that sets a hook you just can’t dislodge.

 

The Snows of Kilimanjaro 2010

Kilimanjaro is uniquely solitary – a mountain of superlatives. It is the tallest standalone mountain on earth, the second tallest of the volcanic 7 summits, and the 4^th most prominent mountain in the world. Kilimanjaro is a very young mountain – only 750,000 years old, formed of a “hot Spot” along the rift zone between the Victoria and Somalia plates. To put the relative youth of the mountain in perspective, there has been human habitation in the area for over 2 million years – this may be the only place on earth where humans antedate the mountain that they live on. The mountain is the classic strato volcano shape, with 3 integrated cones – Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira – and slopes at the angle of repose of 33°.

Kilimanjaro is located in Tanzania, just 3° off the Equator on the Kenyan border. There are 6 major trails to the summit, and the one we are climbing – Machame – is longer, more scenic and steeper in portions than the others – Marangu, Rongai, Lemosho, Shira, and Umbwe.

 

The Machame Route on Kilimanjaro

Kilimanjaro is a hike – no mountaineering gear, training or skills are required. As I’m fond of saying, it is the highest mountain in the world that can be readily climbed by middle aged people who have jobs. But the mountain is extremely high, and many more people have died climbing on Kilimanjaro than Everest. While Everest might get 300 climbers in a big year, normally over 20,000 climb Kilimanjaro annually, so the comparison must be probability adjusted. Most of the deaths on Kilimanjaro are from acute mountain sickness – either high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) or high altitude cerebral edema (HACE). With the exception of a few remaining ice climbing routes, it is really hard to be injured or killed in a fall on Kilimanjaro, but almost certain to suffer some ill effects from altitude.

Tanzanian officials report that the success rate of summiting is around 40%, but I feel that is a very low estimate which includes day trippers – I’d guess that more like 75-80% of serious climbers make the summit. The keys are to take enough time on the Hill to acclimate properly – at least 5 days at altitude before the summit push – and walk very slowly – pole pole in Swahili. It also helps to be reasonably physically fit.

There are two seasons for hiking, December – March and May through October. These are dictated by the rainy seasons rather than temperature variation. The temperatures on the Hill are largely a function of elevation – with tropical temperatures and vegetation at the base, and below zero temperatures encountered in the summit crater at night.

 

Camping in the crater of Kilimanjaro at 18,500 ft.

The famous glaciers at the summit are a function of precipitation and temperature, and some combination of higher temperatures and lower precipitation are reducing the glaciers at a rate of 2.5% per annum. The glacial ice has retreated over 80% in the last 100 years, and is estimated to be completely gone in the next 20-25. There has been ice in the crater of Kilimanjaro for at least the last 11,000 years, and with luck, we’ll live to see the last of it.

Kilimanjaro is a classic Afromontane sky island – its unique alpine environment literally grew in place, separated from other high and cold environment. Consequently, it has enormous biodiversity (over 1,200 species of vascular plants) and a number of unique sub-species. It is the highest cloud rainforest in Africa, and offers the climber the odd spectacle of looking down from the high camps on the tops of thunderstorms occurring on the slopes below – very cool. Trade winds blowing from the east over the Indian Ocean cool as they blow up and over the mountain, producing enormous amounts of precipitation – particularly in the rainy season.

 

Guide Seke Godson beside some very old, fast melting ice

Kilimanjaro was first climbed in 1889 by a German geologist, Hans Meyer, and an Austrian mountaineer, Ludwig Purtscheller. Imperial Germany had taken vast areas of East Africa by force of arms in the last half of the 19^th century, and in keeping with the cultural sensitivities of the era, they named the peak Kaiser-Wilhelm-Spitze (Kaiser Wilhelm Peak), a name which stuck until after WW I and the passing of the territory to British rule. .

Tanzania was formed in 1964, through the political merger of the recently independent Tanganyika and the island nation of Zanzibar. Zanzibar was an Arab trading port since the first millennium, and was the center of the Arab slave trade. At its peak in the 19th century, up to 90% of the indigenous population was enslaved. There is a fairly substantial Indian and Portuguese trade influence on the coast as well.

Like many nations in Africa it is defined by European colonial boundaries, and includes over 120 separate ethnic groups – all in a country of 42 million people, roughly the size of Texas and New Mexico combined. Tanzania has two official languages (English and Swahili), with each ethnic group pretty much having its own local tongue. The political system is based on a predictable one party system, but Tanzania sports an amazingly complicated and robust judiciary, with five levels of courts, administering three types of law – English Common Law, Islamic Law and Tribal Law. Topping it all off, Arusha (at the base of Kilimanjaro) serves as the seat for the adjudication of International Crimes for Africa – genocide and the like – and is unfortunately routinely busy.

The economy is typical – supported by mining, agriculture and tourism – both big game safaris and climbing Kilimanjaro. To an amazing degree, Kilimanjaro ties the country together. Tanzanians love this mountain – they renamed the summit Uhuru (freedom) and send runners up to the summit with flaming torches at every conceivable event. It forms the foundation on the nation Coat of Arms – the same way that Mozambique’s includes AK47. People in Tanzania identify with Kilimanjaro in much the same way that the good citizens of Roswell, NM identify with space aliens – it’s who they are and it’s why people come to visit.

Uhuru Peak – Sweet Success, 2010

Finally, the origins of the name Kilimanjaro may shed some light on the mystery of the leopard noted in Hemingway’s iconic preface to The Snows of Kilimanjaro. Kilimanjaro is clearly a composite word, and is the European interpretation of the various words used by the indigenous people for the mountain. “Kilima-Njaro” is a direct modern translation which means mountain of greatness. There are a lot of other possible interpretations in more archaic origins, but my favorite is the combination of “Kileman-Jaro” – mountain that defeats the leopard.

 

Jambo, from Kileman-Jaro