Climbers sing guides’ praises
TWO KZN schoolgirls, back from climbing Kilimanjaro to raise R55000 for LIV Village orphanage, are full of praise for the guides who lug tourists’ backpacks up Africa’s highest mountain, speeding ahead to set up camp.
One of the amazing feats the guides achieved was scaling a section of solid, almost vertical rocky terrain known as the Baranco Wall.
“They would follow the climbers on the path they were going on, and because they needed to get to camp before everyone else, would just cut off the path and lift the bags on to rocks and fling themselves across and get up before us,” said Joelle Botha.
She added that she did not know how they did it because they were carrying their own backpacks of 15kg, then 15 to 20kg of someone else’s baggage.
Joelle’s father, Craig, who accompanied her and fellow Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High pupil Maria Diedrick, said they heard international tourists directed language that was “almost abusive” at the guides.
“And yet they never complained. We watched some of them fall badly and they just got up, carried on running and carried on carrying the gear.”
Craig recalled how one of them told him he had a choice of carrying people’s bags for only $5 (R70) a day, or becoming a thief.
“He said – so I chose to carry bags.” Joelle had worked up an appetite yesterday morning, only hours after landing at ORTambo Airport, Joburg, fresh off the mountain and driving home to Gillitts.
“I’m eating a lot of food because on the last couple of days I got altitude sickness and felt I was going to vomit all the time, so I didn’t eat that much and I’ve been eating a lot since I got back.”
She recalled “falling asleep while walking”.
“You’re trying so hard just to get where you have to go, but everyone is so tired, so eventually you take a step and then the line you’re been taking up stops, and if you stop more than a couple of times you just close your eyes and the next thing you’re down.
“I fell over but luckily there was a tall guy behind me who caught me.”
Once at the top, her camera packed up in the freezing cold but a guide stripped off his outer shell – the outermost of his three layers of pants – and wrapped the camera in them to warm it up.
“If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have any photos of the summit,” she said.
Uhuru peak stands at 5895m. Joelle returns to school this week to start her matric year.
Meanwhile, Maria came home with stories of having had altitude sickness temporarily affect her vision while he was on the mountain.
“I started battling to see things in front on me. They all appeared to be at a distance.”
She too had high praise for the guides, who sang a special song to them in kiSwahili at the end.
After her altitude sickness, Maria went back to the base, but she hopes to return to Kilimanjaro and make it to the top next time.
Yesterday, however, she received news of reaching another summit – achieving a bachelor’s pass for matric.