Three months before the trip date, I made up my mind that I was going to climb that mountain. Mount Elgon is the 4th largest mountain in East Africa and 8th in Africa with its highest peak at 4321m above sea level, which is entirely in Uganda. Its unique fact is, it has the world’s largest caldera.
Anyway, enough of the facts and back to my story 🙂 I was lucky to find a professional hiking group and amazing souls that helped me figure out all I needed to be ready for that mountain. The three months flew so fast and I could not contain the excitement I had for this experience.
Started off the journey at 6am in the busy roads of Kampala with an itinerary of 5 days with 4 days in the mountain. What 4 days in the mountain means is, having your thoughts to self, turning your phone into just a camera as no network, low temperatures with some freezing, camping or sleeping in cabins and just climbing the damn mountain in bits until you get to 4321m.
On the first day, we started hiking at 4pm and arrived at the first camp of the mountain at 10pm. Yes, we walked for 6 hours and in the dark! How daring??? The excitement could not allow me to process what I was getting myself into. Also, we had a very professional trekking company which made the experience fun and, more fun to it was, I was in company of very amazing souls.
The experience in the mountain got to teach me how as human beings we are easily adaptable to any situation when we have no alternatives. I mean, we had the most basic life in those 4 days – food, shower, dressing (warmly of course), bed, beddings. It hit me how many things that I desire in reality do not matter really if I think about it. Most importantly, life moves on even in our absence- I was offline for 4 days- people did not stop breathing just because I was not in touch with them.
Summit day! I mean, why would I climb the mountain and miss the peak? That was the day I was going to test my resilience and damn, it did not embarrass me and nor has giving up ever been my preference. Getting to that peak was so fulfilling and, the mental effect it had was beyond words. All I know, climbing that summit made me fearless in many ways. It strengthened my emotional, mental and physical muscles.
We live in times where we have ‘mountains’ in our lives that we are afraid to climb and overcome. I am here to remind you that, if you are determined, you can overcome that ‘mountain’. One thing I promise you, it leaves you better 🙂 And, no man is limited, it is all in your mind. Choose to see yourself as an overcomer and you will become just that!
With Love, Mwendwa