My Best Moment

The world record for a five thousand meter run is thirteen minutes. How would you react if I told you it took me six days to cover roughly the same distance and still say I’m extremely proud of my achievement? Shocked? Don’t be!

As a group of about fifteen students we set out on a journey to conquer Africa’s highest point. I’m speaking of no other than the famous Mt. Kilimanjaro, the world’s highest free standing mountain and I am here to speak of why standing at the peak of this particular mountain was the best moment in my entire life.

As we walked from the gate to the first hut, we had the opportunity to walk through some of Africa’s most beautiful rainforests and I remember walking with buffaloes on both my sides at one particular point. The five hour walk made it a tiring first day but this was only the beginning. We had three huts that we would spend nights at on the way to the peak, with one extra day being spent on acclimatization at the second. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this term, The Climate and Weather Terms Glossary defines acclimatization as “The gradual adjustment of the body to new climatic or other environmental conditions, for example, the adjustment to low levels of oxygen at high altitudes.” This is essential because the air on the mountain is very thin and with low levels of oxygen present, our bodies need to get used to such environments. Common altitude sicknesses include nausea, headaches and sleeplessness.

On the fourth day of the expedition, we had to leave the second hut by 7.30 in the morning to arrive at the third hut by approximately 2.30. After a very early dinner at about five o clock, we had to sleep and wake up to start the midnight trek to the peak. All fifteen students were set and ready to give it their all but fatigue caught up with the majority and in less than three hours of the trek, only five students remained. I was the only guy still alive!!!

We would stop every half an hour for water but the breaks were very short to ensure none of the trekkers fell asleep

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