I am still enjoying getting lots of advice from all sorts of people about how best to prepare for the Kilimanjaro climb. A good friend recently suggested that I should take advantage of the nearest “mountain” to my home, which is the Dane John mound in Canterbury. It is an old burial mound, built during the Roman occupation, certainly nothing volcanic. My friend said a quick walk up and down ten times a day should prepare us well, and I am sure it would. Jae, Oscar and I headed over there during the recent Easter hols, to give it a try out. I think I might have to build up to ten times a bit gradually: it is quite steep!
Someone else I met on a recent walk, who had had a career as a very senior manager in mental health, told me that he had been to Machu Picchu, where coca tea made from coca leaves had helped everyone overcome the difficulties connected with high altitude. I am not sure whether these leaves grow in Tanzania or not. It does seem logical that something available locally might do the job, in the same way in which dock leaves usually grow near stinging nettles, and work well to ease the sting. But isn’t cocaine a derivative of coca leaves? We are planning to get high, but hadn’t quite planned on it happening in that way!