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Kilimanjaro is a snow covered mountain 19,710 feet high, and is said to be the highest mountain in Africa. Its western summit is called the Masai ‘Ngà’je Ngài’, the House of God. Close to the western summit there is the dried and frozen carcass of a leopard. No one has explained what the leopard was seeking at that altitude.

                                                Ernest Hemingway in the preamble toThe Snows of Kilimanjaro

On 22 November, 2001, Bruno Brunod of Italy stood at Marangu Gate on the southern slopes of God’s greatest mountain, Kilimanjaro. We can imagine the scene at the gate that day, for it’s a scene that’s repeated there every day of the year. There would be the noisy, excitable hubbub as porters, guides and rangers packed, weighed, re-packed and re-weighed all the equipment; the quiet murmur of anticipation from Bruno’s fellow trekkers as they stood on the threshold of the greatest walk of their lives; maybe there was even a troop of blue monkeys crashing through the canopy, or the scarlet flash of a turaco’s underwing as it glided from tree to tree, surveying the commotion below.

                Signore Brunod’s main goal that day was no different from the ambitions of his fellow trekkers:?he wanted to reach the summit. Unlike them, however, Bruno planned to forego many of the features that make a walk up Kili so special. Not for him the joys of strolling lazily through the mountain’s four main eco-zones, pausing occasionally to admire the views or examine the unique mountain flora. Nor did Bruno want to experience the blissful evenings spent scoffing popcorn, sharing stories and gazing at the stars with his fellow trekkers. Nor, for that matter, was Bruno looking forward to savouring the wonderful esprit de corps that builds between a trekker and his or her crew as they progress, day by day, up the mountain slopes; a sense of camaraderie that grows with every step until, exhausted, they stand together at the highest point in Africa.

                It is these experiences that make climbing Kilimanjaro so unique and so special. Yet Bruno had chosen to eschew all of them; because, for reasons best known to himself, he had decided to run up the mountain. Which is exactly what he did, completing the ascent in a matter of 5 hours 36 minutes and 38 seconds – on a trail that takes the average trekker anywhere from four to six days to complete!

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Excerpted from Kilimanjaro - a trekking guide to Africa's highest Mountain, 3rd: (includes Mt Meru and city guides to Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Moshi and Marangu) by Henry Stedman
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