Climb Kilimanjaro in Tanzania

Kilimanjaro is Africa’s tallest peak at 19,341′ (5895m) and Ulhuru Peak is the world’s tallest free-standing mountain. While climbing Kilimanjaro is not a technical hike, it is difficult due to its altitude. To maximize your chances of summiting, you need to train. Since this dormant volcano begins on the plains, the trek involves climbing through five ecosystems! In this episode, Kit Parks interviews Cindy Vranken who is a total inspiration. Overweight, out of shape, and missing her mojo, this non-hiker, non-exerciser decided to join some friends to climb Kilimanjaro. This group each chose a charity to raise money for, which was brilliant not just because they raised money, but when the chips were down or the motivation lacking, having a bigger purpose propelled them through the training sessions as well as during the difficult climb.

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Listen to the podcast here:

Climbing Kilimanjaro is a Bucket List trek for many hikers.  

Kilimanjaro is Africa’s tallest peak at 19,341′ (5895m) and Ulhuru Peak is the world’s tallest free standing mountain..  While climbing Kilimanjaro is not a technical hike, it is difficult due to it’s altitude  To mazimixe your chances of summiting, you need to train.  Since this dormant volcano begins on the plains, the trek involves climbing through five ecosystems!

Our guest today, Cindy Vranken, is an inspiration!  Overweight, out of shape and missing her mojo, this non-hiker – make that this non-excerciser– decided to join some friends to climb Kilimanjaro.  This group each chose a charity to raise money for, which was brilliant not just because they raised money, but when the chips were down or the motivation lacking, having a bigger purpose propelled them through the training sessions as well as during the difficult climb.

Cindy’s group was comprised of business owners. As an incentive and motivator, each chose a favorite charity to climb for and raise money for.  Her group included:
Cindy Vranken (my interviewee)
Esther Groenewegen (main photographer)
Hugo Bakker (Cindy’s ‘Instigator’)
Mariska Van Gennep
Mariëlle Renckens
Jan Everts
Hugo Bakker

I found Cindy’s interview to be not just interesting in regards to learning about climbing Kilimanjaro, but also inspirational for anyone who has a big dream. Even if you have no interest in this trek, it’s worth hearing her story. You’ll learn how she came up with a workable plan to take her from basically a couch potato to a successful summiter of Mount Kilimanjaro in about seven months!

I was so interested in this part of the story, that I am breaking up the interview into two parts. Episode 23, for which this page corresponds and the podcast player above will play, recounts her first getting the idea up until she starts the trek. In Part II, Episode 24 (to be released July 12, 2018) we will cover her summit and learn how come she didn’t make it down on her own two feet. It’s an amazing story!

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It is important that you choose a reputable trekking company to guide you on this trip: altitude sickness is a real concern and danger (see below)!  Be sure that they are well trained in wilderness safety and rescue.   It is also important that the company you choose allows enough acclimitization time to minimize risks of altitude sickness.  I recommend Wildland Trekking.  They also offer a cool add-on Wildlife Safari and Cultural Tour that is AMAZING (and will be covered in Part II of this show to be released on July 12, 2018).

Wildland Trekking’s hiking adventure begins off the beaten path and uses the Rongai Route to avoid crowds and to offer a more unique experience of the “Roof of Africa”. Beginning like this offers different views of the mountain before joining up with the popular Marangu Route on this well designed and paced 11 day itinerary. It allows for plenty of acclimtization time to maximize your changes of a successful summit.

Climbing Kilimanjaro is not without risks. Virtually everyone will experience some degree of altitude sickness while at the upper reaches: headache, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, or loss of appetite. Some may get Acute Altitude Sickness which can be deadly. So it is important to (1) choose a reputable tour guide company with guides trained in diagnosing and treating altitude sickness and (2) if you should develop Acute Altitude Sickness, be prepared to turn around. Symptoms generally go away as soon as you descend to a level with more oxygen. See below for more information.

You might thick, it’s Africa, so it’s going to be hot: WRONG! When you reach the higher elevations, it is going to be COLD and usually quite windy.  Cindy was surpised by how old it got, so make sure you bring good quality thermal gear.

Route Description Days Length

Northern Circuit
[6] Newest route on Kilimanjaro. Very low traffic due to very long time on the mountain, traverses nearly the entire mountain including the north side. Long route with great views. 9 90 kilometres (56 mi)
Lemosho
Long access drive, remote, less frequented, beautiful forests, scenic traverse to Barafu, camping. Excellent for acclimatization. 8 (-1) 56 kilometres (35 mi)
Machame
Second most popular route. Beautiful forest, very good for acclimatization, scenic traverse to Barafu. 7 (-1) 49 kilometres (30 mi)
Marangu
Very popular (crowded). Gentle gradients and long sections up to 4700m (2.9 mi). Not a very scenic route as compared to Machame and Lemosho, comfortable but basic huts. The 6 day variant provides good time for acclimatization due to a rest day at Horombo Hut. 6 (-1) 64 kilometres (40 mi)
Rongai
Long access drive, remote, less frequented, some fine, wild, least scenic, camping. Good for acclimatization. 5-6 65 kilometres (40 mi)
Umbwe
Shortest and steepest route, very physically taxing and requires serious endurance. Beautiful forest, spectacular ridge, bad for acclimatization, scenic traverse to Barafu, camping. Dangerous route.[7] 6 (-1) 37 kilometres (23 mi)

Dealing with Altitude Sickness

 Virtually EVERYONE who attempts to summit Kilimanjaro will have to deal with some symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness.  Once you get above 8000′, many people become suceptible to the illness.  Kilimanjaro is OVER 19,000′ so as you near the top, you are likely to experience some of these signs:

Headache
Dizziness
Nausea
Vomiting
Fatigue and loss of energy
Shortness of breath
Problems with sleep
Less appetite

Hike at a SLOW steady pace to maximize your body’s ability to adapt to the increasing shortage of ozygen.  To minimize sypmtoms, drink PLENTY OF WATER, even if you don’t think you are thirsty.  Likewise, make yourself eat something even though you won’t feel like it.  Your body will need the energy for the climb.  

Consider taking a Tylenol(TM) before you even get a headache.  Consider also taking the prescription Acetazolamide ahead of time to help minimize symptoms.  

It is critical that you choose a respected tour guide company that provides you with HIGHLY TRAINED ALTITUDE GUIDES and SUMMIT GUIDES.  I cannot emphasize this enough!  They will be able to test your oxygen levels so as to advise you whether your symptoms are safe or serious.  They should also be trained to treat altitude sickness.

If you persist and the symptoms get worse, you could progress to High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE), in which you now have fluid in the brain.  This is life threatening and you need to seek immediate medical attention.  You may start vomiting.

High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE) is the most severe form of altitude sickness and happens when there’s fluid in the brain. It’s life threatening and you need to seek medical attention right away.

Only about two thirds of the folks who attempt to climb Kilimanjaro make it to the top.  Mild altitude sickness is to be expected, but if you develop SEVERE sypmtoms, you need to call it a hike and descend immediately.  No summit is worth your life, even if you are SO CLOSE to the summit.  People have died because they just had to get there when their body said it needed to turn around ( A former CIA agent died 20 yards from the summit).  

Choose a tour guide company that allows plenty of time for you to acclimitize to the altitude.

Choose easier routes (see the chart below).

SLOW AND STEADY!  While it’s wonderful if you are able to summit, the joy is in the journey. Be safe and be smart!

Sure you get a Certificate that you summitted, but look how you also get a killer smile after achieving such a feat!

Cindy Vranken

Mariska van Gennep: (whose business has the same name).  Mariska is an author and public speaker about caregiving. Website: https://mariskavangennep.nl . The charity is https://alsopdeweg.nl

Jan Everts:  Climbed on behalf of  https://wins.foundation/en/  

Climb Kilimanjaro in Tanzania

What on earth would possess a woman who doesn’t even exercise to decide, “I’m going to climb Kilimanjaro.†We’re going to meet Cindy from Belgium and hear her amazing story. Whether or not you have any interests in climbing Kilimanjaro. This is an important interview because it shows us how we can motivate ourselves to get bigger than ourselves. I’m excited to bring to you an interview about an adventure that this woman took climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in the continent of Africa, and because of that it’s on the bucket list for many avid hikers. Unlike the other peaks in the other continents, this one is actually doable for a fit hiker that does a lot of training. You’ll find that Cindy has got an amazing story that it doesn’t make a difference what she’s climbing or what she’s doing, she’s going to inspire you to get out there and work on whatever goal it is that you have in mind. It’s a remarkable interview.

In fact, I was fascinated by her story. I kept asking questions and the next thing I know we were going long, but I wanted to include all that in the show. What I’m going to do is break it into two parts. On this episode, we’re going to go over what possessed her to do this. Somebody who had never hiked before and to choose one of the most challenging hikes that you can do and how did she prepare? What were her motivations? What kept her going? It’s a wonderful story. Regardless, if you don’t even care about climbing Kilimanjaro, you’re still going to love the story. You will find out how Cindy got off that mountain and it wasn’t by her own two feet.

The whole story is an amazing story and you’re going to love it. It’s also interesting how I met Cindy. I was at a conference in one of the after-hour events, I was chatting with this other woman and she asked me what I did for a living. I told her about the Active Travel Adventures podcast and she said, “I’ve got to introduce you to Cindy.†She drags me by the hand and we go wandering all through this massive restaurant club place until we finally find Cindy. She and I hit it off and it was too noisy to talk to too much that night. We got on the phone and had a marvelous chat and I can’t wait to share it with you.

Before we get started, I want to talk to you a little bit about what Kilimanjaro is. For those of you that are not familiar with it, Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in the continent of Africa. It’s located in the country of Tanzania, which is a cool country. Even if you don’t want to climb Kilimanjaro, it’s still a great country to go to on a wildlife safari. Kilimanjaro itself is a dormant volcano that sits around 19,000 feet high or 4,900 meters. It’s made up of three cones, Kibo, Mawenzi and Shira. One is dormant and two are extinct and it’s located in the Kilimanjaro National Park.

There are some interesting stats about the people that have summited Kilimanjaro. The fastest male to ascend and descend the mountain was a Swiss Ecuadorian mountain guide who in 1981 ran to the top and back in less than seven hours. The fastest woman was pretty quick herself at about eight and a half hours. Generally speaking, you have to be at least ten years old in order to attempt Kilimanjaro, but occasionally they’ll make an exception. In March of 2018. A seven-year-old ascended and descended Kilimanjaro successfully. People with disabilities have even climbing Kilimanjaro. A man in a wheelchair did it in six days, which is a very short trek.

In 2012, a man who had no forearms or lower legs managed unassisted to climb up and down. If they can do it, and after paying attention to Cindy, you learn her story, she can do it, if you want to do this trek, you can do it. You need to prepare and you need to allow yourself enough time to acclimate in the way up to give yourself the best odds of a successful summit. There are several routes to take and depending on which route you take will determine the distance, but figure roughly about 40 miles or 60 kilometers.

The big thing with this track is going to be the altitude. Even though it’s a gradual uphill, it goes high and I promise this is going to be the highest mountain, or in this case a volcano, that we will do on the Active Travel Adventures podcast. Because this is such an important trek for many trekkers, I did want to include it on the show. Other considerations are going to be the cold because you are up high and the wind. You’re going to need to be prepared clothes-wise and your tour company will give you a good gear list and all that. If you want more information about dealing with the altitude, I’d also recommend you check out our Costa Rica, episode fifteen and the Bhutan episode twenty.

About everybody that attempts this climb is going to have some at least minor symptoms of altitude sickness, which will be at least headache, a little bit of nausea. You might have little diarrhea and it’s going to be part of the game. If this is something that you want to do, that’s going to be part and parcel of this whole hike. There’s a pill that you can take that will also help you with altitude sickness, and I did take those as a preventative measure in Bhutan. Only about two-thirds of the people that attempt to climb Kilimanjaro make it to the summit. If you want to be one of those two-thirds that do make it, you want to do all the preparations that we’ll be learning about from Cindy as well as going with the tour company that gives you plenty of time to acclimate. This is not a place to go cheap. I’ll have my recommendations in the travel planner. Regardless of who you go with, make sure they are responsible, reliable, and they have trained altitude guides with you.

One of the cool things about Kilimanjaro is when I was there on Safari, I could see it in the background because it juts out of a plain, it pretty much is flat then all of a sudden there’s the volcano and you start going straight up. One cool thing because you are starting in the plains and going up so high, you go through five different ecological zones. That’s cool. There are seven official treks to get up to the top of Kilimanjaro. Some are easier than others, but the easiest ones may not necessarily be the most scenic ones and some are brutal.

In fact, one of my favorite stories I’ve ever heard about Kilimanjaro is a hiking buddy of mine. He’s that crazy guy I’ve mentioned a few times that does all these endurance things like marathons across the deserts and all that. Of course, he picks the hardest trek to go up and when he was near the top, he just couldn’t do it anymore and he collapsed. He told the guide, “Go on ahead without me. I can’t go any further.†The guide looks at him down on the ground and he says, “I can’t leave you here. You’ll die.†He’s like, “Go on. I’m good with that.†That’s how tired he was. We’re not talking about that kind of trek. We’re going to go over on the easier side, but in fact, Jim told me that they even closed down that trail. It was so difficult.

I know you’re not going to go up the crazy trails. You’re going to take either the easy or the moderate one and that the key thing you’re battling is going to be the altitude, the cold and the wind. Another consideration, and this is one of the reasons people have problems when they do this trek, is they try to do it too quickly. You won’t allow yourself enough time to acclimate so you minimize any chances of altitude sickness. The problem is the daily national park fees are expensive, a lot of people think, “I’ll save money. I’ll try to do it in lesser time than it’s recommended.†If you’re going to do it, cough up the money for the park fees and take your time. Take a longer trip up there and that gives you the best chance of success of summiting.

You need to be mentally prepared that you may not be able to summit. If you do have signs of severe altitude sickness, you need to be prepared to turn around. Jim was tired. That was different. He did not have altitude sickness. The guide would never force them to go forward if he had severe altitude sickness. I know it would be mentally painful if you spent all this time and all this money to get there to do this, to turn around, but if your body is telling you, you cannot physically do it because of altitude sickness, you’ve got to turn around. You’re all but guaranteed to have some symptoms and it’s the acute or the extreme symptoms that we’re worried about. Here’s where it’s important to hire a good company with well-trained altitude guides. Now that we’ve learned a little bit of background of Kilimanjaro, let’s meet our guest, Cindy.

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Welcome, Cindy. Could you start by introducing yourself?

My name is Cindy Vranken. I’m living in Belgium. I turned 44. I’m an online entrepreneur. I’m teaching business owners how to sell from the heart. I have one daughter, Kimya. She’s my biggest inspiration. She’s mentally and physically disabled, but she is everything in my life. Besides that, I live close to Brussels, in a village and I love the countryside. I love nature and I have two cute chihuahuas, Renta and Mr. Laugh.

We’re going to be talking about your trek to Kilimanjaro, but have you ever done any adventure hiking or anything like this in the past?

I didn’t. it was completely out of my comfort zone.

Is that because it’s something that would never have occurred to you or is this something that’s so far out of your normal day-to-day life?

I did some sports before and I love challenges. It was another entrepreneur that challenged me and if somebody challenges me, then I’m like, “I can do this.â€

What did this entrepreneur say to you? Can you tell us a little bit about how this all came about?

It was a coincidence for me because I’ve been running my company for a few years. I must say that I put on quite some weight. My intention was for 2017 to become healthier, pay attention to what I eat, to lose weight, and I wanted to feel more energetic. I was hoping like, “What could I do?†I hate sports, honestly. I had so many fitness subscriptions but I never went. All of a sudden, I asked what could I do that gives me joy and that helps me to lose weight and to feel more fit and energetic? I got a phone call from Hugo, who is also an online entrepreneur in Holland.

His business partner challenged me, he said “I’m going to climb Kilimanjaro and what if you come with me? Not only you but six, seven other entrepreneurs and we don’t do it for ourselves, but we do it for a good cause. We raise money and we raise awareness.†Being an entrepreneur, it’s also important to take on challenges to go out of your comfort zone. It’s not about the money, money is a tool to achieve your dreams. He challenged me, “If we do that then we can make other entrepreneurs aware that they perhaps will also share their money or give money to a good cause.†When I started my company in 2015, from the start, I said a part of my benefits will go to a home for disabled children in India. That is my good cause. When Hugo challenged me, I felt a strange feeling in my belly. I said, “I have to think about it.†I felt excited and I already felt like I was on top of the mountain. I took about three or four weeks’ time to decide, but honestly, from the first moment he called me and he asked me, I could already feel like I’m going to do it. It was bigger than myself.

How much time, from the time you first decided to do this until you went on the climb and tell us a little bit about your preparations?

I took the decision. He called me around the beginning of December 2016, and three weeks later at the end of December, I said yes. I realized now I need to do something because when I take upon a challenge, I’m quite ambitious. I have a lot of followers. I said, “I need to have a plan because I hate sports. How in the world am I going to do it?†I didn’t do any training or sports for five years. I put on a lot of weight. I don’t know in pounds, but in kilos it was almost 80 kilos, which is quite heavy for me. In January I wanted to start with the fitness program and went to a local fitness center.

I felt a lot of resistance. I said, “This will not work for me.†I started looking for a personal trainer and I wanted a personal trainer because I knew there was going to be a lot of resistance from my part, and also, I run a successful company, so I don’t have much time. I knew I needed help from a professional and I needed a plan. It was like the end of January, I found Bart. He has a sports company, a personal trainer and he gives bootcamps. He was excited. There was a fit between us and we made a plan together. Starting at the end of January to September, we made a plan that every month I needed to achieve a certain goal.

It was like beginning baby goals, baby steps, but then it became bigger because he said, “If you have a goal like climbing the Kilimanjaro level, it is not easy.†Here I am, I don’t have any sports experience, I have a lot of weight, how am I going to do that? “We have to make a plan where you believe you can do it. We’re going to do that in baby steps.†Every month we are going to have a small goal. I can achieve this goal, I believe I can do it, and then we go to the next goal. That’s the way we did it. For example, the first month I had to walk two or three kilometers. The second month, there is a mountain here about half an hour from my home. We had to climb that mountain. When I had the next goal and I achieved it, I became more confident. It’s going to be possible, I’m going to do it. That was the way I started believing it’s going to work. I’m going to reach the top. It was really step by step.

Did you have any idea how hard this is going to be?

No. Hugo, who challenged me, knew and he told me like, “If you train with us you will be fine. It’s just a walk. It’s not climbing with materials and everything. If you prepare, it will be fine.†I didn’t look at any videos on the internet to see how it was. I knew that if I was going to watch videos or read a lot of things about people climbing Kilimanjaro, I knew I was not going to do it. If I had known it’s going to be that hard, I’m not sure if I would have done it. He didn’t tell everything.

That’s sometimes for the best, right?

It was exactly for the best. We were like a women’s team. There were two men and five women and also the other woman said, “If I would have known it was that hard, we wouldn’t have done it.†I’m so happy I did it. Climbing Kilimanjaro, it’s the same as running a company because you also put ambitious goals. You have to go out of your comfort zone, and you make a plan, you take action and you sometimes have resistance. Sometimes things go well. Also, when I was preparing for Kilimanjaro, all of a sudden, I got an infection on my calves. I got injured and so we had to change the plan. We had to stay off running. I had to start bicycling. That’s when you have a business and you also have challenges. You have to be flexible, look for solutions, you cannot give up, you have to go on and be very creative and find solutions. That, for me is a big insight when I was climbing and preparing for the Kilimanjaro, like, “It’s the same as running your own business.â€

When you can’t get through the door, you go through the window.

It was like, “I cannot walk anymore.†You do other exercises by your mountain bike and start mountain biking. We worked our way around that. I still found ways to train my muscles even though I was injured.

You hated sports and exercising. Did you find, since you had such an audacious goal, that at least made the training interesting for you?

I must say in the beginning, there was no fun at all. It was like, “He’s here again.†Of course, I had a program, meaning that once a week Bart was here, but the other days I also had to exercise. In the beginning, we had a lot of arguments because he said, “I have the watch,†so he could control any move that I made. He said, “Why are you not training?†In the beginning there was a lot of resistance. I didn’t like it, but then I realized after a while, every time I had my training, I felt so much better, I felt more energy and I feel alive. I started losing weight. After a while I got addicted to it. In the morning, I get up and I’m like, “I haven’t done my exercises.†It’s strange. I didn’t like sports and while I was preparing for the Kilimanjaro, I started to like it.

That ends up being life-changing in and of itself.

That’s also an insight. As an entrepreneur, I sit in my office a lot for many hours. If you exercise every day and you move, you have more energy and that also has an impact on your business. Your business starts moving as well. You get more energy in your business with your clients. It was an insight like, “If I exercise, if I move then I felt like my business was also in a flow.â€

I love hearing about all the insights of the training, the psychology and the planning of doing this trek. Let’s now move to Tanzania. Can you tell us a little bit about the beginning of your trek? Do you remember the name of the route you took?

I was on the Machame route and we arrived on Saturday. We arrived in Tanzania. On the Sunday we got a briefing. We were in total with seven entrepreneurs, five females, two men. We had four guides who were trained for altitude disease, who were very professional. In total, we had a team of 40 people. On Sunday, we got a briefing. They checked a lot of things to make sure we were healthy and then they explained to us how it was going to be. On Monday before noon, we would start and then Friday, the goal was to reach the top. It was starting on Monday until Friday. That was the plan.

There are several routes to the top of Kilimanjaro and the one that you took, you had the option of either tenting or using the huts, and that’s the only trail with huts. Which did you do?

We had to camp.

Have you ever camped before?

I never camped before. Climbing Kilimanjaro for me was out of my comfort zone, to be honest. I prepared at home. I did some camping in my garden.

That’s exactly how I taught myself. As you know, it’s not the same.

For me, it was a big challenge because I never did camping. I like my privacy. I hated the cold and I love luxury. It was a challenge.

You take on this challenge when it’s not that you don’t even like to hike, you don’t even like to exercise, you’ve never camped and you hate the cold. Let’s talk about the weather a little bit. What was it like?

We even had sun when going to the summit. We never had rain. I was very pleased with that. We didn’t have snow. I believe when you have rain or snow, it’s of course, harder.

You’re pretty high. It’s cold though, right?

That was one of the things I completely underestimated because I prepared myself. I was one of the people that was the best prepared. I did a lot of training and exercising. I took a lot of vitamins before I even trained at the university. They have a special altitude room and I trained there for four weeks. I slept for four weeks in an altitude tent in my home, but one thing that I completely underestimated was the cold. They told me, “You take some special underwear for day and ski pants. The first three days or four days, it’s not that cold.†For me, as of the first night I was completely frozen in the tent and then I couldn’t sleep in the cold. There were quite some winds. That was for me the hardest challenge because I didn’t prepare for the cold and I didn’t put enough clothes in the night. I couldn’t sleep because of the cold. For me the cold was killing me, I didn’t sleep for two or three nights.

Tell us about your porters and your guides.

We had a whole team, in total we had about 40 people, including the guides. We had 35 porters and everybody has special duties and then we had the guides included.

That’s an amazing support team for seven hikers.

Everybody has his duty. You have summit porters and they are experienced for bringing you to the summit. You have people that are responsible for the kitchen, for the camp if you need anything, then you have somebody that is the toilet officer for example. You have all different duties. It was amazing. The crew was amazing. I could not believe it. The funny thing was that you arrive in the camp, you are exhausted. You don’t see anything around you and you just want to eat and sleep and that’s it. On Saturday, we went down to leave and then there was a big party and then I realized how many people that were helping us and guiding us. I was shocked. I did see some people, but not that many that supported us and they helped us to get through. The people were amazing.

Many of your support people were up ahead of you so that when you get to camp, everything was all set up and ready for you?

Everything was done, Kit. That’s why they have a lot of people. When we arrived, even in the morning they take away the tent, they take all the kitchen stuff, they go to the next camp, then they already prepare some food. They put up the tent, the toilets, they make sure everything is fine, mattresses installed, everything. We didn’t have to worry about that part. That was done.

When I went on a camping safari in Tanzania, I was shocked at how good the food was. We had a French-trained chef. Tell us about your food.

It was good. In the tent, they don’t have a lot of stuff, just some fire. Honestly, what I ate during the climb was good. It was different kinds of things, spaghetti, pasta but also potatoes and meat. I knew I had to eat that because if you don’t eat, you don’t have enough energy. There was always soup before and then there was a good meal. Even with dessert, it was good. There was an assistant chef in the kitchen and there was even another person working in the kitchen. The food was amazing.

When you see a kitchen, you’re talking about a makeshift tent of some kind, not a fixed building, correct?

It’s a tent and then they put a table in it. They put some fire in it and then they start cooking. We had one tent when we arrived in the base camp. Every day you need to reach a certain place and then you change in your tent and go to the main tent. There was a table with the food, drinks and water running and you can fill your water bag and everything. There was a separate tent where they did all the cooking.

Climbing Kilimanjaro, it’s not a technical hike, but it’s tall. You have major issues with altitude. Talk to us about the acclimatization.

That was indeed a challenge. I did prepare already in Belgium. I slept four weeks in an altitude to a tent. I had quite an advantage over the others. Let me say, the first day you start at 1,800 meters and then you go immediately to 3,200 meters. The next day, you go up to 4,000 meters, then you go 4,600 meters and back to let’s say 4,000 meters. I must say for me when we started climbing, it was from 1,800 meters to 3,000 meters to base camp. I already felt like my breathing was very difficult. I said, “I underestimated this part.†The third day was acclimatization day. If I remember correctly, you go from 3,000 meters to 4,600 meters and then you go immediately back to 3,000 meters or something like that in the evening. That was acclimatization day, and that day, I almost collapsed. We were around 3,700 meters to 3,800 meters and then all of a sudden, I got a headache. In two minutes, it felt like my head was exploding so I collapsed. My oxygen was quite low so they gave me extra oxygen. The good thing is that you only stay there on the 4,600 meters between 30 to 40 minutes and then you go down immediately.

For me, it was quite shocking to feel that because breathing, it’s something normal. When we talk and when we breathe, it’s normal. When you experience that, it’s difficult to breathe. Afterwards when I came back to Belgium, I was grateful for breathing, for having 98% of oxygen. When the oxygen goes down and gets to about less than 74%, it’s going to be very difficult. That’s why I got extra medication for the headaches. I had a lot of problems with the headaches and we took special altitude pills.

How did the others in your group fare with the altitude?

One person quit at the end of the second day because it was also very emotional. You are fighting against the cold, and the fact that you cannot breathe. She was emotional. Physically she said, “I don’t think I can handle it.†She stopped but the rest of the team continued. You can have problems with the lungs. The lungs cannot take the air in. It’s a lung disease and it’s very dangerous. There was one person who started developing that disease on the fourth or fifth day. They checked everything, if it’s safe to continue or not. She did reach the top, but everybody actually took the pills except for one person. Especially the last day when we went to the summit. The last day you go from 4,600 meters to 5,989 meters, almost 6,000 meters. That day everybody started having problems with the altitude. Everybody made it out, except for the woman that stopped on the second day.

I assume that your guides were well trained for the altitude, particularly at the heights that you were going at. The altitude sickness is a significant problem. I have a friend who has three times attempted to climb a place is called Aconcagua. Each time, the altitude got to him and he had to turn around. If people persist and they had severe symptoms and you’re going to have some symptoms, you need a guide that knows when it’s time. You’ve got to turn around now, you don’t want to go any further. They were regularly checking everybody, correct?

They were checking us. You have to realize it’s not just to go up but you walk. Every step that you take, it feels almost mission impossible. You’re walking, your climbing but it feels like, “I’m not moving. I’m doing baby steps.†Every step that you take, it takes so much energy. Our group, to be honest, we were not experienced people. We were not athletes. We did a lot of preparation for the climate, but we were not professionals. Every ten minutes we had a quick stop. They had extra oxygen bottles with them, especially the last day. They had two oxygen bottles because they knew some of the people were going to be in trouble and of course you can also notice it. When you faint or you get dizzy, that was what a lot of people had and me included.

At a certain moment, I was very dizzy and it happened a few times. That’s very dangerous. I had the summit porter who was keeping his hands around my hand. The other part, of course, is the headache. I was the one with the most headache and every two or four hours I had to take the pill. They checked on a regular basis how the oxygen percentage is. If it goes below 74%, 73%, 72%, it becomes very critical. Your brain doesn’t get enough oxygen then they give oxygen and then you immediately go back to 90%.

That feels amazing that you can breathe again. They are very trained. They don’t take any risks. They check everything. In the evening they check if you went to go to the toilet because that’s something I didn’t like at all. There are no toilets, but you have to go to the toilet every day. They check if you do everything and the oxygen, to make sure that you are fine and if you have pain, problems or whatsoever, they give you medication. They are not doctors, but they are very trained professionals in high altitude disease and everything. That is extremely important. If you want to climb Kilimanjaro, make sure you have a lot of assistance and people that are trained to help you.

In that thin air, it’s going to be hard to talk to your fellow hikers. What are you thinking?

You cannot talk because that’s not possible. You don’t have the air to talk, you need every energy for yourself to move your legs and to put one leg before the other. What was I thinking? Sometimes I was thinking, “I cannot take it any longer.†I’m somebody who’s very determined, focused and very ambitious. I was like, “I’m going to reach the summit whether they have to drag me or if I have to crawl. I’m going to go there.†I must say I had some very difficult moments and then I was thinking I cannot take it any longer. I felt exhausted. I don’t know if you ever experienced a moment that you think like, “I’m tired. I cannot take it any longer. I want to quit.â€

Sometimes I had that towards these thoughts and then I said, “No.†I said, “I have to do it still five minutes more. Come on, you can do it.†I was motivating myself, “I can do this.†Another thing that was on my mind and that was one of my biggest lessons. I wanted to know how long it takes until we reach there, but they didn’t want to say anything because it depends on the group and we had some people with problems. They couldn’t tell if it takes one, two, three or four hours. I was thinking about the time, “How long it will take? Will we reach the base camp before it’s dark?†All these thoughts, “Why did I do it? What am I doing here? How is my family?†Sometimes I was thinking about my daughter and the cold. I did a lot of thinking on the mountain.

I’m going to stop the interview here and we’re going to pick this interview back up, but you’ll agree that Cindy gave us some great inspiration. Here’s a woman who was 80 kilograms overweight. That’s a significant weight issue that she was challenging. She did not hike, she did not exercise, and here she managed to take herself within about seven months from a non-exerciser to the summit of Kilimanjaro. What she did is number one, she set a goal. If you don’t know where you’re going to get to, how are you ever going to find your way there? For people that are trying to do what Cindy is doing, sometimes they’ll set a goal of achieving a marathon. Rather than saying, “I want to lose 80 kilograms,†she found a purpose and it’s something to do. She topped that off by making it bigger than herself by doing this goal for a charity that she felt a deep connection with. That made it something that was bigger than herself.

She took this goal and broke down into smaller parts is what I’ve often heard referred to as elephant eating. How do you eat an elephant? It’s one bite at a time. Eventually the elephant is gone. If you say, “How am I ever going to eat an elephant?†it is overwhelming. If you say, “I can do one bite,†that’s what she did. She realized that she wasn’t cut out for the gym scene. She looked at where are the trouble spots for her. She decided, “I’ve got something that is not just going to the gym.†She hired a personal trainer that would hold her accountable and once they figured it out, “This is what we’ve got to do,†then they broke it down into bite-size chunks.

It reminds me of when I was about to turn 50, I wanted to do something to say, “I’m not dead yet.†At the time I didn’t bike, run or swim, but I signed up for this sprint triathlon which does a half a mile open water swim, a seventeen-mile bike ride and a 5K race. I didn’t know how to do any of those things, but I went online and I found a “Couch potato to triathlete in twelve weeks.†I did every single thing that thing told me to do and I was able to achieve my goal and finish the triathlon with a respectable time.

I’m still no great shape swimmer, runner or a biker, but I was proud of myself. Cindy did the same thing with a much bigger challenge. What they did is they broke it down where they can get the easy wins. The first week, her goal was to hike two to three kilometers. That’s a mile, two miles total for the week when the whole goal, in the end, is be hiking about 40 miles. It’s by getting those easy wins that helps build your confidence and gives you the courage to keep going forward. They came up with plans when they had a setback, she got injured and could have said, “I can’t do it now that I’ve hurt myself.†No, she couldn’t do the hike anymore, but she found that she could bike. When you run into the setbacks in your training, you figure out another way and you’ve got to make it happen.

If you want to get into adventure travel, you want to find something that gets you excited. If you’re not sure where to start, go to the Directory page on the www.ActiveTravelAdventures.com website and glance through the different episodes that we’ve already covered. Also, you can use the little magnifying glass search bar and put in the activity level, the difficulty level, the budget levels for the different adventures that we’ve covered. The key is to pick something that gets you motivated and excited. Pick something that you want to do and then figure out, “What do I have to do to get myself in the condition that I can achieve this goal?†Break it down, and then you have a motivation when you don’t feel that day to do it. Say, “I’m going to do that. I’m going to make it all the way to Fort William in Scotland or I’m going to climb Kilimanjaro.â€

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this interview with Cindy and I’d love to hear your feedback on it. If you would please, I’d like to ask you to please share this on whatever your social channels, whether it’s email, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Share it and use #AdventureTravel and #Kilimanjaro and let’s get the word out. I’d love to see more people find the Active Travel Adventures podcast and it’s going to come from help from you guys. I appreciate and I hope that you like what we’re doing here. I love getting feedback.

I want to give a shout out to Stan who wrote back, “How have I never heard of this podcast and website before? This is going to keep me busy for weeks.†Thanks for the email, Stan. For Stan and all of you who are reading, if you like the program, please spread the word because that’s how people will find out about it. I’d appreciate if you share it with your email, your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, however you spread the word with your adventurous friends. I’d be most grateful. In the meantime, I’ll be talking about African Safari. If you go to Tanzania, Serengeti, the Ngorongoro crater, and I did that myself. I also interviewed a company that does a cool adventure and cultural exchange over there. Thanks for reading. I’ll be back and until then, adventure on.

Important Links:

• Episode fifteen – previous episode
• Episode twenty – previous episode
• Cindy Vranken
• Tanzania – previous episode

• Here’s How »

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