Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, 1985 |
 I took this picture sometime after 5:30 am, looking down onto three climbers below me zig-zagging (or, as the say in the United States, switch-backing) their way up Kibo’s steep scree slopes. The pre-dawn red glow on the clouds and the snow was stunning. Half an hour earlier (somewhere around 5,500 metres / 18,000 feet above sea-level) , I’d experienced a brief but debilitating bout of nausea, but – thankfully – it disappeared after I bent down and breathed deeply, and the altitude didn’t trouble me again. As a result, I really enjoyed witnessing daybreak on Africa’s highest mountain, and felt very privileged. |