Mt Muhabura

People gathered at the water tank with Muhabura in the background ~ Me at the Crater Lake on top of Mt. Muhabura .

 

22 June 2013

Mt. Muhabura 13,412 ft. (4,127 m) Wheew! What an incredibly beautiful day! I left home at 6 a.m. with my backpack full of water and boiled potatoes. A lunch I would never imagine bringing with me on a hike normally, but here is a perfectly normal lunch to pack. It takes me a while to find a boda-boda driver that knows where Muhabura Base Camp is exactly. When they see me hesitate, they insist that they really do know where it is, but I walk away and ask the next. We don’t have time to get lost and it’s a very rocky, bumpy road. I want someone who is sure of where they’re going. Finally, I find one who is from that area. I jump on the back of the bike and we take off. We stop at the “Coffee Pot” café to pick up Teacher Jackson, it’s nearly 6:30 already, 15 minutes after we were supposed to meet, and not surprisingly, he’s not there. I quickly call him, but his phone is switched off. Luckily for him, he comes strolling up just as I’m hanging up. I was about to go without him, it’s a 30 minute drive and we have to be there by 7 a.m. We squeeze onto the bike, it is still dark as we set off. The roads are relatively quiet and Jared expertly swerves back and forth avoiding most of the bigger stones. It’s cold and dusty, but the sunrise is beginning to give everything a dim glow, I see women rushing down their paths, their big piece of colorful fabric wrapped around them for warmth is blowing in the wind. People are flocking toward a massive water tank to fetch their water for the day. Many are students already dressed in their uniforms. When we pass the tank there are already dozens of people lined up there, but no water is flowing yet. We finally pull up to a grassy parking space and some small toilets. I’m relieved to get off the bike and let my hips move back to their natural position. We are met by a man who leads up a grassy trail through fields and homes for about 20 minutes until we reach the “Base Camp”. It’s a small office in the thick trees, there’s no one around and the toilets are still locked, so I squat behind them. When I come back the man who works at the office has been awoken and is there unlocking the door. Jackson and I sign in and we’re told it will be $60 USD for me and 30,000 USX for Jackson. He makes no attempt to get out any money so I assume that it’s me who’s paying for him. I’m realizing, that’s the way things work around here. Afterall, it was me who had the idea of climbing the mountain and I am grateful he’s here with me. The director wanted me to wait and come as a whole group from school. Himself, The Reverand, and whatever teachers wanted to come…that was not my idea of a peaceful day climbing a mountain, a group of 30; of which half I’m sure wouldn’t make it anyway. I’m paying a lot of money to climb it and I’d prefer a quiet, peaceful day. I realize that to them, this is a ridiculous and probably incredibly selfish way of thinking, so I keep it to myself. Jackson and I decided yesterday that we would go today. After we meet our guide, Danny, we set off at 7:30 a.m. They tell us there’s a group of 100 students who will be coming behind us at 8 a.m. If that’s not a motivator, I don’t know what is! Danny is a huge man with the stride of an ox. He’s wearing green fatigues, with a water bottle and a rifle slung across his chest. I ask him where his lunch is and he points to the cargo pocket on his pant leg. He is very kind and obviously here to please me. After our first ten steps I’m panting behind him and I think “oh, oh! I’m in trouble!” I tell myself it’s good.  

Danny~ Near the top!

 The farther ahead of the students the better and we might as well go fast now before it’s the steep part near the top and before the elevation starts to affect us. He does slow eventually and I tell him I like the pace, “slow but steady”.  He laughs at that. We hear a sound and he tells me it’s a dyker. “A bird?” I ask him. “No, it’s a small antelope.” Jackson, who has not trained and does not run to strengthen his lungs (like I do), asks if we mind if he leaves us behind. So, Danny and I continue slow but steady up the trail. 

The forest is thick and lush and Danny tells me this is the Secondary forest, this land was cultivated in the past but since 1992 it has been protected and returned to forest. I am amazed at how quickly things grow here. The warm weather year round means that trees have matured to full-size in just 20 years. I tell Danny that if we saw a tree at home, the size of the massive Eucalyptus trees here, that tree might be over 100 years old. He’s surprised and laughs again, he can’t imagine what I’m talking about when I tell him the land is frozen for five months and the trees go dormant. I enjoy walking through the bamboo forest; the small bamboo trees look dainty and fragile. Their thin leaves blowing in the wind, he tells me this is where they get the walking sticks that we are using. Suddenly Danny stops and he points into the forest, there is a very small animal, he tells me it’s the dyker. It’s just slightly larger than a goat. It stands and looks at us for a second then darts off into the tall grass. “That was lucky to see him.” I tell Danny and he says, “Thank you!” When we finally reach the first “resting hut” Jackson is there, sitting in the sun and waiting for us. I’m surprised at the hut. For some reason I expected more than this very airy bamboo hut.

 

The thatch roof has clumps of wildflowers dead and dried scattered in it. We have a quick snack and a drink, I snap a few pictures and we continue on. Danny tells us that we are three hours from the top. Jackson leads the way, and Danny stays behind me. He tells me he’ll follow my pace. It’s sunny and beautiful. The wind is blowing, which keeps us cool. The past week I could hardly even see the mountain because there was so much dust in the air, today it is clear and beautiful. We’ve passed through the big, thick trees of the Primary forest, the few colorful wildflowers and now the vegetation is getting smaller, more exotic looking. It’s looking more like dry desert vegetation. There are clouds sitting between this mountain and the next, just the peaks are sticking out through the clouds, now we’re looking down at those peaks.

We are finally at the second resting hut. This time I sit down in the hut, to get out of the wind. It is getting stronger, the hut does little to protect me from the wind, and there are no benches in this one, so I sit on the ground with my back toward the wind. We drink water, Jackson and I eat a boiled potato. He shares his biscuits with me. Danny insists he doesn’t want anything to eat. My legs are getting tired and I enjoy sitting there for a moment, enjoying the view.  We sit for no more than ten minutes and Danny asks, “Are you waiting for the students to catch up?” “No!” I quickly reply and stand to put my backpack on.  As soon as we leave the second hut I start feeling the altitude. I feel like my motions are slow and each step is more of an effort than the last. None-the-less, I still feel good. “Slowly by slowly” Danny reminds me. We are surrounded by big cactuses and short, shrubby trees. I don’t hear anymore birds, nothing but the wind whistling in my ears. Shortly after leaving the hut, we look back and the first of the students are arriving at the hut. I am determined to get to the top without them catching us. There are many, rickety ladders built over the trail where it was getting warn or where the rocks were sliding. At first I’m leery of the ladders, but I’ve learned to step near the nail and gently test it before putting my weight on the step, then I quickly clamber up. Danny tells us we are one hour from the top. This is encouraging news!

Jackson, Waiting patiently for me!

“Slow, but steady” he reminds me. When there’s a small stretch of downhill, I say, “weeeeeee!”  and enjoy the break. Then we come to a long series of ladders leading straight up, I can’t see where they end. I slowly climb up, one rung at a time, panting and sweating. I wait for Danny at the top of the ladder, catching my breath.  We continue and soon Danny asks me, “How many minutes to the top?” I guess forty. He tells me thirty, then says, “No…two!” This excites me greatly, but I’m reluctant to believe him. “Are you deceiving me?” I ask him. He laughs and tells me that I am standing in both Uganda and Rwanda right now. We are standing on the trail that leads to Rwanda, this is the line that divides the two countries. I have one foot on each side. Jackson is sitting in the grass on the Uganda side. Danny asks again if we are waiting for the students to catch us, then he continues up the trail. We quickly follow behind him and sure enough, just two minutes later we are standing on top of the volcano.  6,000 ft. in 4 hours and 15 minutes Danny tells us!

The last long ladder to the top!

Crater Lake

The place is gorgeous, but not fully our own like I’d hoped. There are a group of Rwandan soldiers there who are patrolling the area. They are lounging about in the grass. I ask them if they slept here, they laugh and tell me no. I guess they just hiked up this morning also. The Crater Lake that I envisioned as a huge hole in the top of the volcano is a small pond surrounded by tall grass and a few funny shaped trees. The water is very cold, I’d also envisioned jumping in when I finally arrived, but thankfully the soldiers and the approaching students saved me from that shivering escapade. We lay down in the tall grass, the sun is shining and it is beautiful. We look down into Rwanda, it is too cloudy below us to see into Uganda or the Congo, but it doesn’t matter. I enjoy the lake and the sunshine. I’ve packed an extra sweater and a hat, because of the cold I was anticipating at the top, but I am pleasantly surprised by the sunshine and warmth. I also imagined big, black volcanic stones up here, like the roads in Kisoro. Danny assures me they are there; they’re just grown over with grass, cactus and shrubs. It is green and lush up here at 13,000 ft. The peacefulness lasts for about three minutes and the first of the students arrive. They plop down on the grass right next to us, as if we’re together. I’m slightly appalled at this and then I remind myself of where I am. As more arrive they move to the other side of the lake and fill their water bottles from the crater. We snap some photos, Danny scolds the students for littering. It is natural here, to throw your trash on the ground so it’s a very hard concept for these students to remember that while on the mountain they can’t litter. I ask him if they are told before the hike not to throw their trash on the ground. He gruffly says, “They are told.” When Danny asks how long we’d like to stay, I tell him two weeks sounds good. He laughs again. Soon we start our descent, meeting many students still on their way up. There’s no such thing as waiting for someone to first finish a ladder before you start. So, when I begin going down the ladder, I’m surprised when the kid below starts up the ladder, I squeeze over to let him by. I tell everyone the approximate time left to the top. It was very encouraging for me when Danny told us, “just one more hour!” so I do the same.  As I pass one student, I hear a bubble surface in his throat and he turns and vomits in the grass next to the trail. That was a close call, Thank God he turned his head or I would have been covered in vomit! One hundred people on the mountain and one is vomiting, poor guy, why is he affected by the altitude and the rest of us are not? The distance back to the hut seems to have doubled, at least. I tell the students they are strong and that they are very near to the top. “Slowly, by slowly” I tell them. One girl is barefoot and another is being pulled by the arm from a friend. These are the tail end of the group and it is obvious they aren’t having much fun. When we finally reach the first hut we sit in the grass and enjoy the sunshine again. There are a few students around who seem to be in pain in one way or another and have decided to wait for their classmates here. Danny asks how long we want to stay; I tell him we can go back on Tuesday. He looks at me, confused.  And then he says, “You are funny Bonnie.”

When we finally arrive back at the office, or base camp, it has taken us almost as long to get down as it did to get up. We enjoyed the sunshine and the day. There are students lounging around in the grass. The boda-boda driver from this morning is there waiting for us. We called him about the time I made my second dash into the bushes to get rid of whatever it was that I ate last night that made me run for the bush. We sign the guest book, say our good-byes to Danny and we head down the final stretch of the trail and back on the bike. The kids who live along the trail are all sitting there, they know the drill. The muzungus climb the mountain and come back with empty water bottles, maybe even some leftover food. They ask for the water bottles, they sell them on market days for people to carry there paraffin (kerosene) home in. I have one big one and one small one, there are four boys who scramble toward me and fight over them. I hold them apart and make sure the same boy doesn’t get them both.  I’m squeezed between Jackson and Jared again as we start our 30 minute journey back to town. This time the roads are full of cows, goats, children, bikes, motorbikes and still, people hauling their jerri-cans. When we pass the water tank this time, there are hundreds of people gathered and at the source a fight has broken out. Just as we pass I see a grown man about to throw a punch at another. People scatter with their empty water cans.

 I try to imagine the desperation you must feel if you don’t get your water. No cooking, most importantly, but also no bathing, no drinking water, no tea, no washing your clothes. I’m surprised there aren’t more fights. By the time we drop Jackson off at his home, my hips are even more relieved to have some space to relax this time. I tell Jackson, “good-bye! I hope you can walk tomorrow. Thank you!” “Yes, I’ll be able to walk. I’ll go to church and then I’ll relax. You’re welcome!” He says as we drive away. By the time Jared drops me off, my legs have frozen up and I need to move very slowly to get them working again as I crawl off the bike. I hobble over to a chair and sit down. I order a cold Tusker lager. There I sit in the evening sun, enjoying a cold beer and enjoying my health and strength and the beauty that surrounds me.

"Old Man's Beard" in the mossy forest

Visit to Mukaka's (Grandmothers)

Mukaka outside her home on our second visit!

Habert tells me we'll go visit Mukaka first thing in the morning. That's great! I never got to say good bye to her. Mukaka means "grandmother" in Rufumbera. She is his mother, and she stayed with us for a couple of weeks while she was sick. "Life in the village is hard, she needs to stay here with us and rest so she can recover" is what I'm told when she arrives. She stays for almost two weeks, when I leave for a visit to Fort Portal she is still there, but she wants to go home. She is missing her life there, her routine and her home. She's bored here. By the time I get back from Fort Portal a week later, she has returned home. I'm very excited to go visit her, see her home and to bring her some bread, sugar and soap. The necessities for village life.

The next morning Habert has to go to the office, I'm used to the waiting game, so instead of sitting at home all day wondering when we'll go, I go to the market, stop at the post office and the internet, do my chores for the day, hoping he'll call me when he's ready. When I return home around 5 p.m. I'm told we'll be going soon. Great! I figured it would be put off now and we'd go the next day. We still have a couple hours of daylight and I'm all set. First we have to go pick up Sarah, she's at a conference and we'll be using her car. "Can you drive?" he asks me. "Sure!" I say. Last time I drove Sarah's car it was just across town, which was crazy enough, I get a little twinge of anxiety as I imagine driving all the way to Mukaka's village. We set off to get Sarah. Immaculate stays home and is supposedly "getting ready”. But when we return an hour later, I sit and wait for Jael to be cleaned up, and changed. We have to pack some blankets and get things together; Sarah changes her clothes and gets baby Noel dressed warmer. I turn the car around and wait semi-patiently in the driver’s seat. When we are finally loaded and ready to set off it is nearly dusk, we have to stop at the shop and buy bread, then we have to stop and get gas. I cautiously turn left out of the gas station. I'm driving on the "wrong" side of the road, which means I'm also on the "wrong" side of the car and shifting with my left hand, the blinker is on the right side of the steering column, so I keep flipping on the wipers instead of the blinker. On top of all that, it's also market day so the usual hustle and bustle of the roadways are increased by about twenty times. There are goats crossing in front of me, children chasing after them, strings of women carrying baskets on their heads and bikes hauling loads I can't imagine the weight of. The overloaded bikes are swerving in and out of my lane to pass the pedestrians. I drive with my wheels straddled over the center line. I keep my eyes alert and drive slowly and cautiously. Sarah is breastfeeding Noel and Immaculate has Jael crawling all over her in the backseat. We wind our way up the mountain as it turns to complete darkness. We park the car and leave a boy there to watch it. As we stepped out of the car we were swarmed by family members. Of course, I didn’t realize they were family members at the time so I was confused by all the commotion and who all the people were. We set off in the darkness up the muddy road towards Mukaka's home. Since the landslides came a few days ago, we'll have to walk a bit farther because we can't drive through one section. We walk past a heap of mud and trees and I'm told it's someone kitchen. It was up the hill, but after the last rains, it landed here, in the middle of the road. This kitchen is the reason we had to park back at the trading center.

Slowly and cautiously we hike up the steep, muddy path. I'm using the light of my cell phone to see the washed out parts of the trail. Immaculate and Sarah are behind me with a flashlight. Habert has Jael and he is somewhere ahead of us. There's a small girl walking next to me, she's singing the most beautiful song. It's one of those songs that can go on and on, one of those songs to help pass the time as you walk and walk and walk. When the girl turns up a steep path to the left, I stop and hesitate, wondering if I'm supposed to follow her. Since we were greeted by so many people I'm not sure who's "with us" and who's not. The man walking ahead of us turns his light toward me and says, "We go". I ask him if he's going to mukaka's and he tells me he is. As if she's the only Mukaka that lives on this hill! I follow him up the road as the girls sweet voice gets quieter and quieter. I can hear Immaculate and Sarah behind us as I follow Jack through the darkness. It’s only now that I understand that Jack is a brother to Habert, eventually we turn up a steep path and stumble our way up. When we finally come to Mukaka's home she is sitting in the cookhouse surrounded by other women and a few children. It's a small hut made of sticks with mud packed in between. The goats are kept on one side of the hut and she's cooking over a warm fire on the other side. She is happy to see me. I show off every phrase of Rufumbera that I know. "Hello Grandmother! How are you? Yes, I'm fine. Thank you." I'm introduced to the other women, trying to remember their names is like trying learn French. I think of something that sounds similar. For instance one's name is "Marunge", so I think of the color maroon, and then add a long "gee" to the end. For all I know I'm calling her the completely wrong name, but it sounds right to me. I sit on the stool next to the fire and listen to Mukaka talk to me. She's talking a mile a minute, I smile and nod. I continue to ask her how she is when I get a chance to talk. It's the only thing I know how to ask her. The kids translate here and there as they giggle and stare. They want me to go in the house. A Muzungu doesn't belong in the kitchen. As I’m led to the house I regret not coming in the daylight, I can see the twinkling lights of Kisoro in the distance and I’m sure the view of the area is spectacular. I tell myself I’ll just have to come back. I go in and sit around the low table with a paraffin candle burning on it. The four chairs are quickly occupied and the rest of the crew sits on mats on the floor. This is the home that Habert grew up in. He and his seven brothers and his mother, in this mud structure no bigger than most people’s garage. His father married a second wife and lives next door, the house just past this one, up the path. “When my father married his second wife he brought her here and she lived in the cookhouse at first, until they built there home above this one.”  I sit nodding, as if this is perfectly normal while Habert explains it to me. I ask if his father has two wives or if he divorced Mukaka, and then married the second wife. Divorce is greatly frowned upon and so is polygamy, so I don't get a direct answer, but from what I can gather, I think he just married the second one without a divorce. He still acts like a father to his sons who live next door, but he started a new family with his new wife. I guess he got tired of one and there's no one telling you that you can't marry another...so he did. Now Mukaka lives next door to her husband but he lives with his other wife and their five children, while she sleeps alone.

Inside Mukaka's home~ Dinner Time!

The ladies start carrying in pots and plates. I assumed we'd have tea, but didn't expect dinner. I’m sitting next to Mukaka on a mat when one of the kids comes around with the basin to wash our hands. I'm told I'll share a plate with Habert, so I go sit next to him. I'm relieved to learn I get a fork…and it’s my own fork. We are served sweet potatoes and beans. The beans taste and look like Bush's baked beans, out of a can. Though, of course I know they're not, they are different than the beans I've been having every day and I enjoy them. Habert whispers to me that he's saving room for Ava's cooking when we get home. Yes, that's right; we'll be expected to eat again when we get home. Then he tells me to hurry up and finish so that we can go meet his father. I finish the beans and we head up the trail, just a couple of minutes walking and we are at his house. We survey the damage of the landslide. Luckily I have the light from my phone because the earth directly next to the house is gone. To walk around the house we take a big step over a large gap in the earth, then press our backs against the house and make our way to the backyard. Habert's father, step-mother and two of his five step-brothers come out and explain how the kitchen just fell off the cliff. They tell us they heard it during the storm, but they were unsure of what it was that was falling. Then they point to the new kitchen they are building. It is a skeleton made of skinny poles I ask how they'll stop the house from sliding down next time. They laugh at this like I'm joking.

We head back to Mukaka's, we pray, we sing and give thanks for the meal, the friends and the visit. Then we bid everyone good-night and I promise them I'll come back in the daylight when I can see their home and enjoy the view, which I’m sure is stunning. I also cross my fingers as I agree to come back and spend the night! There's another clan of people that escort us back down the hill to the car. They give me a walking stick when I fall on my butt the first time. Everyone is chatting and happy for the visit. I'm following behind, listening and enjoying the stars. By the time we get to the car it's after 10 p.m. The boy we left there to guard the car is actually a family member I find out. He's sitting in the dark, outside the car, it was locked when we left, and he must be freezing.  The crew that followed us down now has to turn around make their way back up to their home, this time with a feed sack full of corn that is taken from our trunk and hefted onto Jack's head. They all wave and happily march off into the darkness.

Sarah drives us home much faster than I drove us there. I’m looking out the window, enjoying the stars with Jael sleeping in my arms. I’m thinking about Mukaka and the fact that she missed her home while she was staying with us. I never saw her use the indoor toilet in the two weeks she was there; she’d always go outside to the “latrine”. When I saw her taking a stick a glow with fire from the fire she was cooking over I asked Ava where she was going, she told me it was her “torch” to go to the toilet. Immaculate told me that is also how the used to live, they used to use that torch to clear the floor at night, to check for rats, spiders, critters before they laid down. Mukaka missed hauling water, she missed digging in her garden and she missed her own little residence. No matter how simple, there’s no place like home!

I knew the trip back in the daylight would be worth it!

Immaculate, Habert with Jael and Uncle Jack~the kitchen and goat pen on the right

Yeah, butt....!!!

Immaculate, cousin Promise and Mukaka on the mat.

Mukaka feeding Jael and Promise with the Aunties.

Enjoying the view with the kids!

The neighbors walking home.

More neighbors!