Dr. Thomas Molony's quest to become a Munroist

Dr. Thomas Molony, a regular visitor to Butiama, is on a mission to climb 283 mountains in Scotland. He has climbed 28 already. Known as the Munros, these are mountains of a height of more than 914.4m above sea level. A comprehensive description of the Munros is found here.

Thomas Molony at the top of a mountain somewhere in Scotland.

While the heights of these mountains are relatively modest they pose considerable challenges to mountaineers, because of exposure to Atlantic and Arctic weather systems.

The attempt to climb all the Munros is called "Munro bagging" and one who accomplishes this task is called a Munroist. I have asked Dr. Molony to keep me abreast of his future Munro climbs and will be looking forward to addressing introducing him to fellow mountaineers as "Munroist Dr. Thomas Molony."

Dr. Molony is Senior Research Fellow at the Centre of African Studies of the University of Edinburgh. He is also putting final touches to a biography on the late Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere.

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Oldoinyo Lengai, the mountain of God

I have plans to climb Oldoinyo Lengai, but which have been on hold for the past several years. It took me close to a decade between the time I decide to climb until I eventually climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2008. So, Oldoinyo Lengai might have to wait for a while.

It is an active volcano and the last eruption was in 2010 - the first in 1883 - and the eruption is still described as "on going." Which provides me an excuse for postponing my climb. The temperature of its lava is said to be only 520 degrees Centigrade. I interpret this to mean there are for more hotter volcanoes on this planet.

The highest point on Oldoinyo Lengai is only 2,980m above sea level; Kilimanjaro's summit is 5,895m above sea level. And yet I have heard from those who have been on this volcano that its steep slopes create a formidable challenge to the climber. Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro involves continuous instances of going up and down, particularly during the initial few days on the Lemosho route. I am told Oldoinyo Lengai constitutes a continuous upward movement, all the way to the top.

Some of the information in this post accessed from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ol_Doinyo_Lengai.

My version of the year 2011 in review: 25 February

Continuing with the Cross Learning Visit in Arusha region organized by the Coordinator of the

Tanzania Cultural Tourism Programme of the Tanzania Tourism Board (TTB), we assembled early in the morning near the offices of TTB and, between buildings, caught a glimpse of Mt. Meru.

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We then headed for Tengeru to view the attractions and learn about the activities of the Tengeru Cultural Tourism Enterprise (TCTE). On arrival at Tengeru, Mt. Meru, in the background, presented another excuse to take a group photograph.

After receiving a brief history of the TCTE from its founder, Mama Pallangyo. we began a long trek 

towards Lake Duluti. The route had displays of various signs with Biblical name places and... 

 

religious slogans, praising the power of the Creator.

 

Paulina, right, had summoned considerable energy and willpower to walk to the end of the path, negotiating through some difficult sections. Other members of the group had decided to remain behind, exhausted from the long trek. Under a rock shelter we encountered a group in a prayer retreat, one of whom, second right, was Paulina's long lost sister whom she had not seen for years. 

On our way back Paulina had to, once again, summon some extra energy to negotiate through some of the steep sections of the trek.

 We caught yet another glimpse of Mt. Meru and Lake Duluti.

 

Having done enough walking for the day, Paulina hopped on a bodaboda (motorcycle taxi) and reduced the day's walking by 5 kilometres.

The challenge

In late January I was in Morogoro to attend a non-title professional boxing match between Francis Cheka and Karama Nyilawila. Cheka won the match on points.

As I waited for the preliminary bouts to begin, the challenge in my mind was focused on the Uluguru Mountains in the background.

My interest in climbing mountains is not restricted to Mt. Kilimanjaro only. I kept mentally charting routes on the mountains and wondering how a climber could get to the peak. And where was the peak?

Sent from Samsung Mobile

My version of the year 2010 in review - July

July 5, 2010
 

I traveled to Mugumu in Serengeti District to pay my respects at the grave of a friend, Moses Machege, who died on 19^th June 2010. A day before he died I called him from Dubai to inquire about a business proposition he had mooted to me sometime in 2009 and for which I found interested parties in Dubai.

He asked me to explore the possibilities with the interested parties and asked me to call him back the next day. I tried unsuccessfully to call him throughout my Dubai visit and later learnt that the day I was to call him he was struck by a runaway truck as he sat on the roadside in a suburb of Arusha and died on the spot.
 

 

On my way to Mugumu I captured this image of Mt. Chamuriyo near Mariwanda village. I have climbed this mountain, the highest in Mara region, twice.

At the top of the mountain are located the ruins of a German Imperial communications post. Tanganyika, now Tanzania, was a German colony until Germany lost its East African territories after the First World War in 1918.

Residents of the surrounding villages believe the ruins contain hidden treasures and are suspicious of anyone climbing up the mountain, particularly if accompanied by foreigners.
 

The road to Mugumu cuts through wildlife country and one can see herds of wild animals along the way including Zebra...
 

and Wildebeest.
 

 

On the way back at a corner, this giraffe stood in front of the car and then calmly walked to the roadside. I stopped and Suman Som, the university student who accompanied me, said he wanted to step out in front of the car and my camera so that I could snap a photograph that he would use in his social network page.
 

I argued against it because I told him as soon as he stepped out the giraffe would run away. Besides, I said, this was wildlife country and it was not a good idea to get out of the car. He pleaded and I relented, but told him to leave his door open lest he had to run back from something. As I had predicted, as soon as he approached my side of the car the giraffe bolted and ran away, but I managed to take a few photographs.
 

 

Later, I felt I should not have allowed him out of the car. If he had ended up a lion's lunch I would have been in extremely big trouble. Lions are easily camouflaged by the dry grass and I recall seeing lions around this area before.

July 8, 2010
 

Archbishop Valentino Mokiwa of the Anglican Church of Tanzania, en route to Mwanza after a visit to Tarime with fellow clergy, paid a visit to Butiama and signed the guest book at the Mwalimu Nyerere Memorial Library.

July 16, 2010
 

I discovered a compass on my camera stand and wondered whether it will ever become necessary to be absolutely certain that I am pointing my camera in a south south westerly direction.

 

July 20, 2011
 

 

 

I was visited in my room by what appeared to me to be a marsupial. A tour guide who has seen this small animal, measuring about 5-6 cm from head to tail says it is a mouse species. With a fluffy tail? It does not make sense to me.

July 21, 2010
 

 

It is yet another beautiful sunset at Butiama.

July 28, 2010
 

Suman Som, an undergraduate student from the University of Chicago, and Amani Millanga, a PhD student studying Mass Communications from Leicester University sat down to discuss various topics on Tanzania, including its history and politics.

July 30, 2010
 

Politician Mabere Marando addressed a short meeting organized by CHADEMA, the opposition political party, held at Musoma to introduce residents of Musoma to CHADEMA's presidential candidate for October's general elections, Dr. Wilbrod Slaa.
 

And so did William Rwakatare...
 

and Freeman Mbowe, the CHADEMA chairman.
 

Finally, Dr. Wilbrod Slaa, stood up and addressed the crowd.

Le's travels: Bolivia

After climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro with me in 2008, my friend Le continued with his travels. He sent me the following photos and text from a visit to South America.

...It was the times of the Chamaj Pacha, the times of flood and darkness. Evil spirits roamed the lands and there seemed no end to the suffering of the world.

Then... Lo! From an island in the middle of crystal lake arose the God Viracocha! Standing on a rock, he commanded the Sun and the Moon to rise, the two primordial energies for all life forces. He then created the first human beings, Mallku Kapac and Mama Ocllo and commanded them to go out and populate the world...

Photo: Totora reed boat, a feature of Lake Titicaca

Thus they were sent in search of a place for the children of the Sun. The Andean ancestors have since migrated to other places via subterranean canals and settled in rivers, mountains, turning them into sacred centers. In the end, the spirits of the dead will return to their origin at the lake... so goes the Andean mythology.

The rock where the God Viracocha stood is known as 'Titi Khar'ka', meaning 'Rock of the Puma' in the Aymara language as it is in the shape of a Puma, a saced animal representing the world of man in Andean cosmology. Lake Titicaca owns its name from the rock and, naturally, the island where the Sun has risen is called Isla del Sol.

Photo: Le soaks in the sun on a sacrificial relic from the past

Today, Lake Titicaca is often described as the highest navigable lake in the world. It is certainly one of the largest splash of sapphire water body, a gem in the middle of the arid altiplano region. With lots of imagination, visitors to the Isla del Sol can admire the Titi Khar'ka rock, edged with the face of the God Virachocha s well as the shape of the Puma. Numerous pre-Inca and Inca ruins dot the islands on the lake where in ancient times sacrificial ceremonies were supposedly performed.

Not all sites are easily visible. A vast temple structure completely submerged under the lake just north of Isla del Sol was discovered in August 2000. We can only know more about this fantastic Bolivian Atlantis in the near future. No wonder Lake Titicaca is a contender for the new seven natural wonders of the World!

I believe we reached agreement during the 2008 Kilimanjaro climb that if I gain enough experience with mountaineering, we will one day launch an assault on Mt. Everest, at least up to Mount Everest's Base Camp.

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My version of the year 2009 in review - March

March 24, 2009.

I peeked into the cistern of an old toilet in need of repairs to find out if it was repairable. Fortunately it was. I bought the parts and fixed the toilet, but am yet to solve the persistent water shortage to supply the toilet.

March 25, 2009.
Under the cultural tourism initiative of Mara Region, I joined students from Queens University in Kingston, Canada, who visit Butiama every year for their teacher's training practical assignments, in climbing Mt. Chamuriyo - the mountain with the highest peak in Mara Region.

Before the climb, we visited the premises of the local medicine man and the visitors were kind to pose in front of my camera.

We later climbed to the peak, where the ruins of a German Fortress from the German Colonial period (pre-1918) still stand.

The receeding snows of Kilimanjaro

This photograph, below, of Mt. Kilimanjaro, which I took a few days ago while on a flight from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam shows very little snow on the eastern side of the mountain's highest peak, Kibo. Older photographs of Kilimanjaro show snow cover reaching almost half way down Kibo's slopes.

We are approaching the height of the warmer months in Tanzania and it is expected that some snow cover should be lost because of higher temperatures. However, the trend shows that global warming or - as others say, deforestation - continues to erode the snows of Mt. Kilimanjaro much faster than fresh snowfalls from the colder months can regenerate.

A few hours after taking this photograph, I was on another flight from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza and I noticed the mountain had far greater snow cover on the western side.

The photo, below, shows Mawenzi peak on the left, Kibo on the right, and farther in the distance, Mt. Meru. I have heard that moments before the sun rises, Kibo's shadow covers Mt. Meru, and those who have seen the sun rise over Kibo from Mt. Meru believe it is the most spectacular sight in this galaxy.
I am inclined to agree. During my Kilimanjaro climb in August I took the photo below from Barafu Camp on the slopes of Kibo showing Mawenzi just before sunrise.

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A climber shares his observations on Mt. Kilimanjaro

When I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro three months ago, I shared the ordeal (it used to be an ordeal, not anymore) with Le Hu Dyuong, a software engineer from Vietnam. He shares his observations and his photographs of the climb:

Although it does not have the highest elevation, Kilimanjaro is the tallest free-standing mountain in the world, rising from its base to the highest Uhuru Peak at 5,895m (19,340ft) in Africa. Everest and other Himalayan peaks rise from an already high plateau.

The origin of the name "Kilimanjaro" was never satisfactorily explained. One theory, more or less adopted by early European explorers postulates that it comes from ancient Swahili 'Kilima' (hill, little mountain) and 'Njaro' (white, shining). As to why the diminutive word Kilima is used instead of the proper word for mountain 'Mlima' is anybody's guest.

Anyone who has seen Kilimanjaro at sunset or sunrise will tell you that it's a magical experience. As I was admiring the numerous views of 'Kili' during my climb all the

way to the top, I also felt a rather poignant irony: the magnificent scenery unrolling before my eyes, a majestic sight, is only a fraction of its original glory...

Perhaps more than any other sight in Africa, and indeed the world, Kilimanjaro has come to symbolize the tragic fate which many of the wonders of the world have been facing due to the devastating effect of global warming.

When Ernest Hemingway wrote The Snows of Kilimanjaro, he probably could never have imagined that some day, the title of his short story would become obsolete: with the most recent ice cap volume dropping by more than 80 percent, it is estimated that the famous snow dome of Africa's highest peak will disappear between 2015 and 2020!

The consequence is more than aesthetic: the glaciers have been the sources of water for the surrounding plains of cultivation all the way to the swamps at Amboseli National Park in Kenya, famous for its elephants bathing in the swamps.

Mt. Kenya, Africa's second tallest peak which provides water for almost 80 percent of the Kenyan population shares a similar predicament. During my recent climb of both mountains I observed vast tracts of barren rocks exposed by the once glorious glaciers which now exist only in old photographs.

Let us take a short moment of our busy daily lives to reflect on what we can do, no matter how insignificant the action may seem, to preserve the magic of our natural heritage and the beauty of our blue planet for future generations.

- Le, Kilimanjaro 2008

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