We’re really going to do it

‘Anyone of moderate fitness can climb Mt Kilimanjaro….’ so say many of the brochures and web pages you can read about strolling up Africa’s highest peak.
Ha ha ha ha ha – I hope they’re right. I’m fitter than I look you know (in my mind).

‘Kili is the tallest mountain in the world that you can simply walk up! None of the routes require mountaineering skills, specialized equipment, or even previous climbing experience.’
So they say, but surely the fact I will be sleeping in a tent and sleeping bag on the actual ground qualifies as both specialised equipment and mountaineering skills?

‘There’s practically a road – I could probably drive up it’ says my husband whose name I don’t see on any of the travel documentation surrounding the upcoming trip.

‘The Kilimanjaro climb is just a nature trail hike. Anybody of moderate fitness can do it and I recommend it. The scenery is stunning..’ US magazine attributes to Jessica Biel in her little trip last year.

A snippet of my life as wife & mother on ‘extended world tour’ – current location of residence, Durban – South Africa.
Scene – School car park, second hand clothing sale, recently
Super school organiser Mother 1 – ‘Nikki, I hope you are going to play in the golf day in September’ (best to disregard any possible golfing skills – I don’t have any, obviously just making conversation)
Nikki ‘Actually, I’m going to be climbing Kili that week’ (said for the first time out loud – just trying it on, notice the shortening of the term, trying to sound like I know what I am doing)
Super school organiser Mother 1 and Super school organiser Mother 2 turn to face each other and both laugh
Super school organiser Mother 2 – ‘Have you just turned 40?’
I obviously refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I’m not telling – but its plainly a popular mid-life crisis point of reference for the folks round these parts.

A friend and I had been floating the idea amongst ourselves since I had made the move to Africa nearly two years ago – originally I was planning last year but that just didn’t happen so ‘next year’ I said.  Over Christmas at home in Australia I was telling everyone ‘I’m going to climb Kilimanjaro next year, apparently September is a good time to do it’ and happened at the time to be nearly a year away, sufficiently far that I didn’t have to think that seriously about it. What you find is the more people you tell, the more you say it out loud, the more established a story it gets and the more you have to end up actually doing it.

Deposits are paid and in just a little over 60 sleeps it will all happen – we (my fellow climbers – more on them later) will arrive in Tanzania ready for a big adventure and I am really getting quite scared.

Thursday September 8th is the day, a week later I will know if I have what it takes to summit – it all sounds so simple.