Hakuna Matata!

14 September 2012. 7am in the morning. Amsterdam airport.

My night flight from Dar es Salaam has just landed. I start to walk towards the front door of the aircraft and I sense a kind of awkward unsteadiness in my waddling pace. Suddenly, I find myself literally dragging my feet, the same feet that just three days earlier had successfully enabled me to conquer one of the seven highest summits on the planet. Stepping out the door I think about Neil Armstrong and I wonder what he might have felt when coming back from the moon.

The airport hallways are seamless streams of impersonal faces surrounding me like a cloud of electrons rotating around the atomic nucleus. They go fast, too fast, and for a moment I start doubting if they obey to the same laws of physics governing my body which is moving at a turtle’s pace. In my ears I still hear the echo of “pole, pole” (slowly, slowly), the mantra ritually repeated by porters and guides during my eight-day journey up to the ice-peaked top of Kilimanjaro.

Day by day the mountain shrinks your ego to the size of an ant. You must surrender to the mountain rhythm and shift to lower gears in order to make up for the decreasing oxygen levels as you approach the summit. The slow pace and thinner air make your senses and your mind get sharper; any pleasant or unpleasant sensation, any pain or craving seem amplified. You feel naked, thrown in a primordial state of nature, ready to merge with the volcanic wilderness to which you suddenly discover you have always belonged.

If you are humble and patient, Kili can reward you generously. You can find yourself sitting on a rock above the clouds where the overwhelming power of beauty makes you lose sight of the horizon; your fears evaporate, you inhale ecstatic freedom.

Copyright © Alfonso Giuliani   

Or you can even unleash some old passions that make you connect with your inner talents and experience the wonderful authenticity of yourself. When you are in your “true element,” you exude so much joy, grace, and gratitude that you feel you want to share it with every living being on earth. I revamped my passion for singing and I enjoyed myself with opera performances at different altitudes.

I sang “Nessun dorma” from Puccini’s Turandot on Mawenzi Mountain (above 4,000m),

and experienced one of my most memorable and emotional moments when I celebrated my arrival on Uhuru Peak (the summit) with the beautiful “O Sole Mio”.

My body was exhausted after a freezing night ascending over 1,000 metres; dizziness was beginning to take a hold of me. But I was easily inspired from the excitement of my terrific achievement, the stunning view over the glacier, and, above all, from the celebratory hugs with my fantastic group of fellow trekkers.

Copyright © Zoe Hill

We were from different countries but felt like a family and supported each other at any time during this adventure. We have been united by one important goal: taking on this challenge in order to raise funds for UNICEF. Each of my friends showed an exemplary level of determination. For six/seven months all of them have taken a little “escape” from their daily jobs and families and committed their time and energy for this project. All together we raised more than 100,000 pounds. You can call it a big success. I call it “the magic miracle of Kilimanjaro”.

10am.  “Last call for flight KL1723 to Brussels”; I am woken up by this voice from the outer space. I have to catch my connecting flight back home. I smile and say “Hakuna Matata!” (no problem)