The Mwalimu Nyerere/Mt. Kilimanjaro Charity Climb 2011 (post 3 of 15)

Friday 16 September 2011
I woke up at 4:25 AM and was out of the hotel at 05:05 AM. I walked with my backpack and a heavy load of my mountain gear packed in one of those large polythene shopping bags that scare taxi drivers away.

I was told I should have been at Lamadi at 07:30 AM. I was there before six and met the same two characters who promised to arrange a ride for me through the Serengeti but instead made me loose two days at Lamadi before I opted for a flight from Mwanza to the Kilimanjaro International Airport.

By 10:00 AM I had decided there was no chance I would be traveling by car to Arusha today and I hopped on a bus to Mwanza.

Next: I'm in Moshi

Posts related to this one:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2011/10/mwalimu-nyereremt-kilimanjaro-charity_26.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/01/mwalimu-nyereremt-kilimanjaro-charity.html

Steve Kamau conquers Mt. Kilimanjaro and becomes a member of the Kilimanjaro Club

The Kilimanjaro Club lists people I know who have scaled Mt. Kilimanjaro, including those who join me every year on the annual the Mwalimu Nyerere/Mt. Kilimanjaro Charity Climb.

Steve Kamau normally books Kilimanjaro climbs for visitors. He works for Zara Tanzania Adventures the company that has organized all my climbs.

It was while I was sitting with him discussing details of one of the climbs that I suggested to him that he should consider climbing Kilimanjaro himself. A few months later he did just that and joined me on my fourth climb in September 2010.



On the second day of the September 2010 climb, Steve Kamau takes a short rest between Big Tree and Shira One camps.

He is the latest member of the Kilimanjaro Club. The updated list is:


1. Markus Geiger
2. Notburga Maskini
3. Gerald Hando
4. Le Huynh
5. Jaffar Amin
6. Mary Kalikawe
7. William Rutta
8. Steve Kamau

Another member of the Kilimanjaro Club, William Rutta

The Kilimanjaro Club lists people I know who have scaled Mt. Kilimanjaro, including those who join me every year on the annual the Mwalimu Nyerere/Mt. Kilimanjaro Charity Climb.

Ever since he joined me for the annual Mwalimu Nyerere/Mt. Kilimanjaro Climb in 2010, William Rutta has shown keen interest to return to Mt. Kilimanjaro for another challenge.

William Rutta at Uhuru Peak.

He is the chairman of BUDAP an NGO based in Bukoba that provides assistance to the disabled by providing skills training to its members.

The updated membership list is:

1. Markus Geiger
2. Notburga Maskini
3. Gerald Hando
4. Le Huynh
5. Jaffar Amin
6. Mary Kalikawe
7. William Rutta

Christmas choir at Butiama

Choir members of the Catholic Church Butiama singing during Christmas Mass at the church today.

morning.

The mass was led by the parish priest, Fr. Mathias Brown.

You might also like:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2011/07/visitors-to-butiama-musoma-choir-shoots.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/10/singida-choir-members-visit-butiama.html

Mary Kalikawe, member, Kilimanjaro Club

The Kilimanjaro Club lists people I know who have scaled Mt. Kilimanjaro, including those who join me every year on the annual the Mwalimu Nyerere/Mt. Kilimanjaro Charity Climb. 

Mary Kalikawe joined me on my third annual Mwalimu Nyerere/Mt. Kilimanjaro Charity Climb in December 2010. She reached the summit on a day that had considerable snowfall.

Mary Kalikawe is the Managing Director of Kiroyera Consulting, a tourism company based in Bukoba which opened a branch office in Mwanza in 2010. She joined the 3^rd Annual Mwalimu Nyerere.

The updated Kilimanjaro Club list:

1. Markus Geiger
2. Notburga Maskini
3. Gerald Hando
4. Le Huynh
5. Jaffar Amin
6. Mary Kalikawe

Baraka Elias: The tallest Tanzanian?

Baraka Elias is 7' 4" tall. And he is only 22.

He recently almost literally caused a certain pain in someone's neck when he visited a pavilion where Kilimanjaro Club member Notburga Maskini was disseminating information on the Prime Minister's Office - Regional Administration & Local Government services.

Notburga Maskini, left, strained her neck to speak to Baraka Elias, right.

In a telephone interview I asked him: "Are you still adding those inches? His response: "I think I have stopped growing."

He works for mobile phone operator, Tigo.

Post related to this one:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/05/baraka-elias-tallest-tanzanian-just.html

Jaffar Amin is also in the Kilimanjaro Club

The Kilimanjaro Club lists people I know who have scaled Mt. Kilimanjaro, including those who join me every year on the annual the Mwalimu Nyerere/Mt. Kilimanjaro Charity Climb.

*************************************

I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro with Jaffar Amin in December 2010. Our guides were Yahoo, Solomon and Ludovick.

During the 2010 climb: the team's cook, Pantaleo, poses with Jaffar Amin, seated, at Karanga Camp at 3,963m above sea level. Pantaleo decided the weather was ideal for having breakfast in the open.

The updated Kilimanjaro Club membership is:

1. Markus Geiger
2. Notburga Maskini
3. Gerald Hando
4. Le Huynh
5. Jaffar Amin

Alex Nyirenda remembered

It is the third death anniversary today of Brig. Alex Gwebe Nyirenda.

I pay special tribute to this illustrious Tanzanian who at the eve of Tanzania's independence climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and placed the Uhuru Torch at the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro on 9 December 1961.



Uhuru Peak at the top left point of the photograph, as seen from Crater Camp

A few years ago, when I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro for the second time, I began to toy with the idea of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro on the 50th independence anniversary. It is Nyirenda's climb at the eve of independence 50 years ago that has inspired hundreds of Tanzanians this month - including his children Alex Foti Gwebe Nyirenda, and Tima Gwebe Nyirenda - to retrace his steps and commemorate independence on Africa's highest peak.

I will report on this historic climb on this blog soon.

Le Huynh should have been the first member of the Kilimanjaro Club

The Kilimanjaro Club lists people I know who have scaled Mt. Kilimanjaro, including those who join me every year on the annual Mwalimu Nyerere/Mt. Kilimanjaro Charity Climb.

 

***************************************************

I overlooked inducting Le Huynh into the membership roll. He accompanied me on my first climb in 2008. He is an experienced climber, having reached Mt. Everest's base camp, climbed Mt. Kenya, and Mt. Meru (Tanzania).



Le during a visit to the Manchu Pichu Inca site in Peru.

The updated list is:

1. Markus Geiger
2. Notburga Maskini
3. Gerald Hando
4. Le Huynh

The Mwalimu Nyerere/Mt. Kilimanjaro Charity Climb 2011 (post 3 of 15)

This is a continuation of the posts from my September 2011 climb of Mt.Kilimanjaro.

Friday 16 September 2011
I woke up at 0425hrs and was out of the hotel at 0505hrs. I walked to the bus stop with my backpack and a heavy load of my Kilimanjaro gear stashed in one of those large polythene bags that scare taxi drivers away from me.

I was told I should be at Lamadi before 0730hrs to hitch a ride across the Serengeti National Park, an attempt that has ended in failure in the past. I arrived before six and met the same two characters who made me hang around Lamadi for two days. By ten in the morning I drew on my past experience and decided there would be no travel to Arusha today and took a bus to Mwanza.

Next: Jaffar Amin says he's in

Posts related to this one:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2011/10/mwalimu-nyereremt-kilimanjaro-charity_26.html

The Kilimanjaro Uhuru Climb

We have just completed registration at Londrossi Gate for the Mt. Kilimanjaro Uhuru Climb, 4 - 10 December.

The temperature at Londrossi is 27° Celcius.

The Mt. Kilimanjaro Uhuru Climb kicks off

A repoter from Star TV, below right, interviews Majira newspaper's managing editor, Imma Mbuguni, minutes before the commencement of the Mt. Kilimanjaro UhuruClimb.

The climb has been organized jointly by Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) and Zara Tanzania Adventures.

I have been honoured by TTB as the leader of this climb to mark 50 years of the independence of Tanzania mainland.

We plan to be at the summit on the anniversary, 9th December.

My version of the year 2010 in review - December

December 7, 2010
A day before the commencement of my annual charity event, the Mwalimu Nyerere/Mt. Kilimanjaro Charity Climb, I held a press conference in Moshi to publiscize the event and, through the publicity, solicit donations from the general public.
 

At the press conference I, second left, was joined by Mary Kalikawe of Kiroyera Tours, Jaffar Amin, and William Rutta of Kiroyera Tours and BUDAP.

December 9, 2010
As Tanzanians elsewhere marked Tanzania's 49^th independence anniversary I
 

took a self portrait in my tent, enroute to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

December 12, 2010

On the way to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, at Karanga camp, at 3,900m 

 

 above mean sea level I photographed what I consider to be one of my best shots of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

December 13, 2010
After a midnight to dawn trek we had reached Stella Point just before 6:00 AM on our way to the summit at that point about an hour's walk.

Freddie, on the right, guide to a Russian climber called Dmitry, posed with Kibo in the background as Solomon, my guide on the left, seemed to go into the Kilimanjaro shuffle.
 

At the summit, my guide Solomon, raised his hand in triumph. It was my third successful climb. It was his umptieth. The climber is always excited to get to the summit; the guides and porters are equally excited. Each successful climber tends to be generous with tipping the guides and porters.

December 15, 2011

It takes only a hot shower and a clean set of clothes to begin to forget the sometimes harsh conditions on Mt. Kilimanjaro. Back at Springlands Hotel in Moshi, the start and end point of the Mwalimu Nyerere/Mt. Kilimanjaro Charity

Climb, Jaffar Amin emerged with his clean set of clothes.
 

Later, I on the left and our guide Solomon, on the right, posed for a photograph with our sets of clean clothes.

December 25, 2010

On Christmas Day, at a gathering in Butiama, my jaw dropped when I saw this...
 

giant bottle of whiskey dwarf a bottle of beer. The whiskey did not last the day and I suspect one of the guests who seemed to speak louder than everyone else was responsible.

My version of the year 2010 in review - November

November 1, 2010

In the early hours of the first day of the month, at 06:24 AM, CHADEMA's candidate in the Musoma Urban parliamentary, Vincent Nyerere, race took to

the podium and and thanked his supporters after the returning officer announced he had won the parliamentary race and had become the new MP for Musoma Urban.

Less than an hour later a mob of his supporters thronged his residence on
 

Gandhi Street in Musoma to celebrate his win.

Mt. Kilimanjaro weather

There is a combination of light showers and fog at Butiama today, reminiscent of the weather on Mt. Kilimanjaro.

My version of the year 2010 in review: October

October 10, 2010

I attended Uganda's independence anniversary celebrations and had the
 

opportunity to meet, from left to right, Uganda's Inspector-General of Police, Maj.Gen. Kale Kayihura, and fellow invitees to the commemorations, Francois Lumumba, son of the late Patrice Lumumba, Samwel Muganda, retired officer with the United Nations, and Mabior de Garang, son of the late John Garang.

October 11, 2010
 

I was in Mwanza the next day where Prof. Ibrahim Lipumba, presidential candidate for the Civic United Front (CUF) held a campaign meeting and told his
 

 

supporters what was wrong with the ruling party, Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), appealing to his supporters to vote for CUF.

October 13, 2010

Two days later in Musoma, a highly charged Zitto Kabwe of the Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo(CHADEMA) and its parliamentary candidate for
 

(CHADEMA) and its candidate for Kigoma North constituency addressed a meeting with CHADEMA's candidate for the Musoma Urban constituency, Vincent Nyerere.

October 16, 2010

I attended a funeral in Kinesi, a village located on the shores of Lake Victoria, east of the regional centre, Musoma. I noticed some of the mourners seated on a hilltop overlooking the graveside. When the burial was delayed because the
 

coffin could not fit the length of the grave, and as the grave was widened, I rushed to the hilltop to take this photograph. The bees – or some unknown entity – did not like it.

As I descended I was chased downhill by a swarm of bees and had to seek refuge inside a parked car.

October 21, 2010

Mama Maria Nyerere hosted another guest. This time it was Dr. Gharib Bilal, the running mate of Chama cha Mapinduzi's presidential candidate, Jakaya

Mrisho Kikwete. In the photo, from left to right, Mama Maria Nyerere, Dr. Bilal, and Member of Parliament for Musoma Urban constituance, Nimrod Mkono.
 

After Dr. Bilal's departure, Mama Maria talked to some of Butiama's residents who had turned up for the visit. From left to right, Councilor Peter Wanzagi, Butiama village's chairman Zacharia Wambura, Chief Japhet Wanzagi, and Mwalimu Jack Nyamwaga.

October 23, 2010

I traveled to Muleba District in Kagera region in pursuit of campaign news and prior to a meeting that was addressed by the candidate for the Civic United
 

 

 Front (CUF), Hassan Millanga a traditional dance group entertained
 

Millanga's potential voters.

October 25, 2010
 

Two days later, still in Kagera region, I traveled to Misenyi District where I received a message on my mobile phone” “MTN welcomes you to Uganda...” I was about to reach for my passport when my host pointed to some hills in the distant horizon and told me: “Those hills are in Uganda.”

These mobile operators! Transgressing on each other's territory!

October 26, 2010
 

For yet another occasion I completed another voyage on MV Victoria between Bukoba and Mwanza on M.V. Victoria a vessel that has been plying the waters of Lake Victoria for more than a century. 

October 29, 2010

On the first of the two remaining days of the election campaigns in Tanzania's general elections, I went to Musoma to find out what the main contenders for the Musoma Urban race were saying to potential voters in their last campaign
 

meetings.

The CCM candidate for Musoma Urban constituency, Vedasto Mathayo Manyinyi, held his meeting on Uhuru Street, above...
 

while CHADEMA's candidate, Vincent Nyerere, held his meeting near Musoma harbour.

October 30, 2010
 

A day before the general elections, CCM's Nimrod Mkono, the sole candidate who sailed through unopposed in the Musoma Rural constituency, smiled down at passersby from one of his campaign posters at the junction of the Mwanza-Musoma road, next to his party's presidential candidate, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, right.
 

In Musoma, as CCM's supporters rode on a hired truck to their final campaign meeting of the 2010 general elections, CHADEMA's supporters walked to theirs.

October 31, 2010
 

Elections officer, Flora Kamanzi, applies indelible ink on Dr. Bwire of Butiama hospital, moments after he cast his vote at the Butiama Hospital voting centre.

The Mwalimu Nyerere/Mt. Kilimanjaro Charity Climb 2011 (post 2 of 15)

Thursday 15 September 2011

I am in “standing mode”, busy to the core, hovering over my office desk rather than sitting down as most people do. And as always, I am also in apprehension that I have several important tasks I should complete before my departure for the annual Kilimanjaro climb, but there appears to be little time to complete these tasks.

As I wondered how I would travel to Moshi this time around I recalled that someone I know mentioned he was driving to Arusha tomorrow. I called him to find out whether I could hitch a ride and he reassured me I could. 

Later, he came up with what I suspected was a monumental work of fiction about having to suddenly change plans and drive through the Serengeti during the night to rescue another colleague who had been involved in a road accident.

Later in Musoma I found out that the Extra Musica Band was playing tonight and I suspected my ride to Arusha had been compromised by their presence.

Having being assured of a possible ride through the Serengeti tomorrow I left in the evening and spent the night at Bunda.

Next: Another disappointment

Posts related to this one:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2011/10/mwalimu-nyereremt-kilimanjaro-charity.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2011/12/mwalimu-nyereremt-kilimanjaro-charity.html

My version of the year 2010 in review - September

September 4, 2010
During a visit to Butiama, the Nigerian High Commissioner to Tanzania, H.E. 

Dr. Ishaya Majanbu and his wife, Naomi Majanbu, visited the mausoleum of Mwalimu Julius Kambarege Nyerere (1922 - 1999). In the photo when the visitors posed in front of the mausoleum with Mama Maria Nyerere, centre, the widow of the late Mwalimu Nyerere, I took a photograph and caught my own reflection on the right window pane.

September 6, 2010
 

Mama Maria Nyerere, left, received more guests as Prof. Sospeter Muhongo from the University of Dar es Salaam and Jumanne Magiri, General Secretary of Kanisa la Mennonite Tanzania, visited. During the visit, Prof. Muhongo briefed Mama Maria on plans to build a university in Mara region in honour o the late Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere.

September 9, 2010

When I drove to Musoma I noticed that Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) had put up a campaign billboard featuring Mama Maria and CCM's presidential candidate and incumbent president, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete.

September 14, 2010

As I drove to yet take photos at yet another campaign meeting in Musoma I
 

noticed an approaching VIP motorcade on my rear view mirror. I gave way and about 14 cars whizzed past. Each time a VIP visits the region all senior government officials in the regional administration abandon their offices to accompany the VIP, adding to the cost of the visit and a suspension of their duties to members of the public.

In Musoma CHADEMA's presidential candidate, Dr. Wilbrod Slaa, held a

campaign meeting while the pilot of his leased helicopter took a nap under the helicopter's shade.
 

The meeting drew a large crowd of CHADEMA's supporters and the curious.

September 16, 2010
 

I doctored my own photograph and placed it on my Kiswahili language blog.

September 18, 2010

 

Councilor for Makongoro, Ward Peter Wanzagi (right) had a big laugh about something as he and others in the photo, including, from left to right, Jack Nyamwaga, Elias Nyang'ombe, Charles Ndagire, Zacharia Wambura, and Makongoro Nyerere awaited the arrival of the Uhuru Torch at the Mwitongo enclave of Butiama village.
 

The arrival of the Uhuru Torch is marked by speeches in which the leader of the Uhuru Torch provides a history of the Uhuru Torch and delivers the annual campaign message carried for this event which covers the entire country.

Later in the evening, Manyama Mgassa, below right, gave a speech at the

wedding of her daughter Hanna Mgassa, center, who was married to Walter Mweyo.

September 21, 2010
 

I was minding my own business when I walked past these two children and one of them said: “Will you take a photo of us?” I said I would, and did just that.

It was turning into "taking kids' photos day" today. Further down the road, I asked these children whether I could take their photograph. They said I could and I did just that.

September 25, 2010
 

Chama cha Mapinduzi's (CCM) campaign juggernaut, Tanzania One Theatre (TOT), rolled into Musoma ahead of a campaign meeting of its presidential candidate and Tanzanian incumbent president, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete.
 

Before the meeting TOT's artistes entertained the gathering crowd.
 

CCM' supporters painted themselves green, one of their party's colour.
 

At the meeting I bumped into Muhiddin Issa Michuzi, left, who was part of the official press entourage covering President Jakaya's Kikwete campaign visit to Musoma.