STRABANE GRAMMAR SCHOOL WORLD CHALLENGE KENYA EXPEDITION THIRD WEEK Tuesday 7th August 2007 By Stephen Birkett The third week of the expedition is the trek. The group is to spend five days getting to the top of Mount Kenya. We will start at 2,400 metres above sea level and walk up the most accessible summit at nearly 5,000 metres over three days, that's 8,000 feet of ascent, like climbing Ben Nevis twice! However we start at 2,400 m which is already twice the height of the highest mountain in Britain. Because of the altitude, there is already less oxygen here than there is at home and as we go up the oxygen levels will get lower and lower. We have spent the last two weeks at over 2,000 m so we will be slightly acclimatised but it will still be very difficult as we get higher   The expedition started on a bit of a low as many of us had washed most of our filthy clothes at Njoro and due to the incessant rain, nothing was dry. We worried about starting a five day trek with wet clothes. However Wednesday was dry and some of us were able to use the grab-rails on the bus as a washing line. We stopped at the equator for the obligatory photographs and the demonstration of the way water goes clockwise down a drain north of the equator, anticlockwise south of the equator and straight down on it. I am never quite convinced that there isn't a trick here but if there is, I can't see how it's done. As we approached the mountain the weather turned bad again and it started to teem with rain. We stopped at Nyeri for a meal which was a bit of a disaster because we had to wait over an hour for it and the youngsters had ordered it without asking the price so they horribly overcharged them. That compounded the annoyance that morning when Ronald tried to get more money from them for the project. They had spent their entire budget and said they couldn't give any more. Just before we left he said he needed more money for the food we had eaten, an amount suspiciously similar to the amount he wanted for the project. Knowing the price of food here, none of the pupils seriously believed that Ronald had spent over £130 on food for us. He had accommodated us but on the other hand we had done an awful lot for his project. It left us with a sour taste as we left.   We put up our tents in the grounds of a hotel where they told the team that they could wash and dry their clothes for 9 a.m.   The rain stopped by bed time and the night was dry. When the youngsters went for their clothes the next morning they were all ringing wet on the washing line! Victoria was really cross with them and got a refund on what they had paid. When we set off on the hike many people had wet clothes hanging off their rucksacks. The walk wasn't far; about 9km, but we took it very slowly due to the altitude. About a third of the way along our guide stopped us because there was a big bull elephant on the track. It wasn't for moving and when some of the guides edged forwards it flapped its ears, trumpeted and charged towards us. Everyone dropped their bags and ran and this seemed to be what it wanted as it soon stopped. The guides called the park headquarters and they sent a jeep up with wardens with guns and thunder flashes. By now there was quite a log-jam of groups waiting to get past the angry beast. The park wardens threw thunder flashes to scare it away and stood guard with guns as we passed.   We got to the Meteorological Station at 10,000 feet at about five and put up our tents. The porters had been busy making us a fabulous meal of mashed spuds, beef stew and veg, followed by a selection of fruit. We all climbed into our sleeping bags grateful for the warmth. The cold, brilliantly starlit night was punctuated by the bizarre calls of tree hyraxes around the camp. I didn't sleep as well as I should but I awoke next day looking forwards to the next leg. Then disaster struck. Anna had not been too well the morning before but she had insisted on pushing on, this morning she looked dreadful. She hadn't slept, she was cold and she was bunged up. It was nothing more than a bad cold but there was no way she could go up. One of us had to accompany her down and it had to be me. I was so disappointed but I have been up the mountain twice before. We did the walk that took four hours up in two hours. The weather was gorgeous and we saw the elegant Colobus monkeys with their luxuriant, long, black and white fur and a little, chocolate coloured bushbuck on the way. Sadly we also saw the body of the elephant that had charged us the day before, it had come down into the farms and created mayhem and so had been shot! We booked into The Naru Moru River Lodge, the nicest hotel in the area to get a hot shower and a good meal. It was expensive but there were huge wood fires in the rooms so were able to wash our things in hot water then dry them in front of a log fire.   Meanwhile, up on the mountain the group had set off with Andreas in the opposite direction. For the first hour or so they were passing through increasingly space woodland then the forest abruptly stopped and they were out on open moorland dotted with weird plants like giant cabbages; these were the famous Giant Lobelias unique to Mount Kenya . Now the going was steeper and the lack of oxygen was making for slow progress. This was the so-called 'Vertical Bog'. It took three hours to get up the bog but once on the ridge, the going was easier; less steep and firmer underfoot. From there on it was a pleasant walk up into the Teleki Valley where they should have had superb views up to the lofty peaks of the mountain, streaked with snow. However the low cloud only allowed occasional glimpses. I had left my camera with Paul with instructions to take lots of pictures and, in particular, get photos of the Scarlet Tufted Malachite Sunbirds. These birds only live on East Africa's high mountains and they are totally dependent on the bizarre Giant Lobelias with hairy flower stalks six feet tall for nectar. In turn the lobelias are dependent on them for pollination. Mackinder’s camp was a bit desolate and the ground was hard so putting up the tents was a challenge. As usual the porters put on a great meal but it soon got very cold and everyone was glad to get into their sleeping bags to get warmth   On Saturday Anna and I got up at seven and made our way to the restaurant for a full English breakfast. We gazed across the pool glistening in the morning sun at the lofty mountain beyond and wondered how the others were doing and wishing we were with them. After breakfast we checked out and drove to a cheaper place down the road. They only had one vacant room so Anna took it and I camped in the grounds. Up the mountain conditions were harsh. It was so cold before the sun came up that everyone piled all the clothes they had on them to eat breakfast. Andrew K was not feeling too good but he was determined to go on so he kept quiet and stuck it out. Now the altitude was really making a difference but two weeks acclimatization at 2,000+ m ensured that all were fit to go on. They walked to the end of the Teleki valley then struck up a steep path to the right of the main peak. This was daunting; the path zigzagged up a steep, scree-strewn slope and the lack of oxygen made every step an epic but now Andreas' pace really came into its own. After what seemed like a lifetime they reached the top of the steep slope and Austrian hut was within reach. It had taken 5 hours to walk a mere 3 km but the sense of achievement was immeasurable. Austrian hut was a bleak place; no vegetation, hard ground strewn with rocks and the edge of a glacier only a matter of metres away. Altitude had robbed most of the team of their appetite despite the great meal prepared by the porters. Every step was a torture and people got out of breath with such simple tasks as walking the short distance to the primitive long-drop. Trevor, in particular, was suffering from the altitude and he could neither eat nor drink. The cold was terrible and they all went to their tents anticipating a cold, cold night.   On Sunday morning Anna and I drove to Sweetwaters, a private Nature Conservancy. The place had been a ranch but now it is completely given over to wildlife. We saw all the usual animals, although no predators, and got very close to a herd of elephants. The best thing was a visit to their 'tame rhino', an animal orphaned over thirty years ago and reared by hand. We were taken to see him and encouraged to pet the great beast. The second specialty is a chimp rescue centre where they look after chimpanzees that have been rescued from captivity, some in dreadful conditions. They have vast enclosures of at least a square kilometer where the chimps can live as near to a natural life as possible. It would have been better to keep them in their native country (chimpanzees are not endemic to Kenya ) but the political situation in Rwanda , Burundi and The Congo Republic makes that too difficult. Whilst in the park we got a text from Charlie to say they were all standing on the summit. They had got up at four-O-clock. It was so cold that their water bottles were frozen and the tents were covered in ice. The sky was pitch black with more stars visible than anyone had seen before. The altitude was having its effect now. Nobody could eat or drink and a lot of the group had throbbing headaches. The fittest suffered the worst as their bodies weren't used to being deprived of oxygen. They nibbled biscuits and set off for the final climb to the top at five. It was very slow going, scrambling over snow and ice covered rocks to Point Lenana. It took until six-thirty to walk a kilometre. The girls' long hair was frozen at its extremities! A flag marked the summit and everyone in the team was relieved and exultant to have achieved a two-year goal. They were above the clouds so they couldn't see anything but a fluffy expanse in every direction.  Point Lenana isn't actually the highest point on Mount Kenya but the two slightly higher peaks, Nelion and Batian, can only be reached by a two day rock-climb. Both peaks were wreathed in mist. They awaited the sunrise and warmth, took more photos then headed down to Shipton's Camp where the porters had made brunch. The group decided to plough on down and just kept going until they reached the park gate at five. They had been walking for twelve hours and they had covered 28km; a fantastic feat of willpower and endurance. As they dropped into the forest the rain came on. They climbed into Landrovers for the journey back to the hotel but the rain had turned the roads into mud-slides and the vehicles slid and slewed down with occasional interruptions as they stuck in a quagmire or slid into a gulley. At last they arrived at the hotel where Anna and I were waiting to greet and congratulate them. They were so glad of a hot shower, a hot meal and a warm, dry bed. That was the end of the three weeks hard work. The last week is for rest and relaxation and for that we have to head down to the Kenyan coast.