I fear climbing Mt. Longonot, given horror stories that keep coming out of this mountain. The young men who fell into the crater after being chased by bees, now that was scary. I guess that is what horror movies are made off.
Now the first time I called Longonot was last year in October and it was torturous. I was not prepared, my mind was not prepared, my body was not prepared, I was simply not prepared.
Notice how I had no hat, a nice hiker had assisted me with sun screen, I had no proper shoes, yes that is me with casual sandals. I had rubbers but they did not assist as much. So with no hat and in Longonot, the higher you go, the closer you get to the sun, I struggled with the first two hills to get to the crater. I mean every time I turned around it was beautiful but when I turned go up it was so difficult. My back was bent that I felt like it was the only way I could go up. Yes, I need a hiking stick.
Then we started going round the rim and I was like to the guys I was walking with 'yeah, you go ahead.' I could only for a couple of steps before stopping, sadly around the rim there is no shade just a series of hills and the soil was white and since it was sunny and I had no sun glasses, it kept making feel dizzy and every time I looked at the soil I thought I was going to fall. I was beat. I had soil in my eyes, it did kind of injure my eye, my clothes were soaked in some sort of volcanic ash and then it was windy and I was scared at getting too close to the edge. I could not go back because I was half way down and it mean going up the same hills again, but I pushed myself and I did it.
I made a promise to myself that I would be back and I would conquer this beast.
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| I needed to change my shoes |
So, this year I went back to Longonot I was scared still, I did not have enough snacks, but I made sure I had a hat, and sun glasses and I also bought hiking boots. I put the sun on notice.
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| Sun be warned |
Going up this time was not as bad as it had been the first time. It was interesting. There was this Cameroonian guy who kept telling us how snake is a delicacy in his country, he was a pretty good hiker. He said they particularly loved viper (which he said in a French accent) and python. He also added laughing that only rich people can afford snake meat, well if I ever get myself in Cameroon, I hope to be very poor.
I did not carry a lot of snacks but either hikers are the kindest people on earth or its the Kenyan spirit. Yes, I believe in the Kenyan Spirit but I think this time its something to about hikers, they are just the most generous people on earth, I say that because they are always different nationalities in these hikes. I ate more snacks than I had carried. I always seem to eat more than I carry in most hikes.
That said I miss hiking and I haven't been on top on my mountains because I am so broke. I need money so that I can hike.
So what happened in this hike: -
1. I made new friends, I hope to hike with her in future.
2. The board fell on my head. Like seriously.
3. Going down there were some girls without water, high school girls and I thought that was weird, I gave them some. I am not sure its possible to scale Longonot without water
4. A group of girls thought they should have gone swimming instead of Longonot and I agree. Hiking is for people who want to see the view at the top. If I was a school girl I would want to go swimming as well.
5. I was still soaked in soil
6. I was scared going down that I would fall, the soil was so loose, but a guy actually told me I was just being scared and he held my hand a bit and we run down and yes I guess I was being afraid. I am going to be honest, I love hiking with my whole heart but I am afraid of heights. How do these two go together, I do not know. All I know is that I cannot stop hiking but I still fear heights.
7. I had so much fun.
This was my favourite part, did I tell you I love rock climbing.
8. This was the scariest point. I see a guy taking a photo and I thought, wow that is pretty and when I got to that point, I realised that it was the edge of a very sharp cliff and if I fell, there would be no surviving, so I crawled, I told you I fear heights and my legs felt wobbly.
In conclusion I am yet to concur Longonot and so I will be back and maybe I will not be so afraid of Longonot.
Just wait and see!
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