Almost one year ago, I sat down and wrote my goals for the fellowship year alongside my co-fellow, Rehema. Our co-fellow goals ranged from reducing our salt intake (which was excessive) to learning how to dance (well) to challenging one another in our work and our worldviews. At the end of our list, we haphazardly added in “Climb Mt. Margherita in the Rwenzori Mountains,” the third highest mountain on the African continent next to Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya.
Nearly one year after writing those goals, we have not managed to reduce our salt intake, nor have we learned to dance, but we did somehow manage to climb Mt. Margherita. While Rehema could not summit because of altitude sickness, we still had a wild journey over 8 days, through 7 biospheres, with 6 layers of clothing, 5 camps, 4 friends, 3 degrees, 2 glaciers, and 1 successful summit of Margherita Peak (for most of us!). Here’s our journey:
Day One: Kilembe Town to Basecamp One (Sine Hut)
Elevation Gain: 1,450m – 2,596m
Zone: Afro Montane Forest Zone (aka rainforest)
11.8km
Day Two: Basecamp One (Sine Hut) to Camp Two (Mutinda Camp)
Elevation Gain: 2,596m – 3.925m
Zone: Afro Montane Forest Zone (aka rainforest), Bamboo Mimulopsis Zone (aka bamboo zone), Heather Rapanea Zone (aka heather zone)
7.2 km
Day Three: Camp Two (Mutinda Camp) to Camp Three (Bugata Camp)
Elevation Gain: 3,688m – 4,062m
Zone: Heather Rapanea Zone (aka heather zone), Alpine Zone (aka alpine zone)
4.9 km
Day Four: Camp Three (Bugata Camp) to Camp Four (Batawu Camp)
Elevation Gain: 4,062m- 4,450m (Bamwanjara Pass)- 3,974m
Zone: Alpine Zone (aka alpine zone)
6.2 km
Day Five: Camp Four (Batwau Camp) to Camp Five (Margherita Camp)
Elevation Gain: 3,974m – 4,485m
Zone: Alpine Zone (aka alpine zone)
4.2 km
Day Six: Summit Day! Camp Five (Margherita Camp) to Summit to Camp Four (Batawu Camp)
Elevation Gain: 4.485m – 5,109m (Summit)- 3,974m
Zone: Alpine Zone (aka alpine zone), Rock Zone (aka rock zone), Snow Zone (aka snow zone), and Glacier Zone (aka glaciers!)
11.2km
Day Seven: a.k.a. hell; Camp Four (Batawu Camp) to Basecamp Two (Kalalama Camp)
Elevation Loss: 3,974m – 3,147m
Zone: Bamboo Mimulopsis Zone (aka bamboo zone), Heather Rapanea Zone (aka heather zone), Alpine Zone (aka alpine zone)
16.9km
Day Eight: Home! Basecamp Two (Kalalama Camp) to Home!
Elevation Loss: 3,147m -1,450m
Zone: Bamboo Mimulopsis Zone (aka bamboo zone), Afro Montane Forest Zone (aka rainforest)
13.1 km
I could not have asked for a better experience hiking and a better way to end my GHC fellowship. While Rehema and I did not reduce our salt intake, we did grow in tremendous ways both intellectually and physically. We pushed ourselves to the limit and now venture forward stronger because of it.