Black People Don’t Climb Mountains...Do They?
Kwesi Soti Mtundu, September 2009
Black People Don’t Climb
Mountains…Do They?
From July 24th to 28th 2009 I
climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in
Tanzania. I reached the Uhuru
summit on the 27th. “Uhuru”
was so named on December
9th, 1961 by Mwalimu Julius
Nyerere, the first president,
and the people of a newly independent Tanzania to represent the growing freedom
across the continent.
Before embarking on this journey the response I received from many of the people I
told of my intentions was often a puzzled expression and sometimes a direct question
that said “Do Black People Climb Mountains?” Indeed, although I encouraged many
people to join me on this expedition
none accepted my invitation.
My hosts in Tanzania were Pete and
Charlotte O’Neal, ex-Black Panthers
from the United States. Their NGO, the
United African Alliance Community Center has over many years hosted numerous African Americans and Pete himself
had climbed the mountain on three occasions. When I asked him about
whether or not many of those people
had climbed Kilimanjaro or any of the
other mountains in the area he shook
his head and said “no,” they just don’t
seem to want to do that.
I was becoming increasingly curious
and decided to do my own research
both before and while on the mountain.
The answer I came to was, Yes, Black
people do climb mountains. We always
have and we always will although it
seems not always for the same reasons
as others.
Rainforest Zone, 8,000 ft
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Black People Don’t Climb Mountains...Do They?
Kwesi Soti Mtundu, September 2009
Ascent at Sunrise, 19000 ft
Mt. Kilimanjaro is the tallest freestanding mountain in the world. It sits astride the
equator at about 170 miles west of the Indian Ocean and rises 14,000 feet above the
East African plains and more than 19,000 feet above sea level. The climb itself takes
you through five vegetation zones although due to global warming the tallest volcano,
Kibo, now has little snow but still an impressive number of large glaciers.
For Kilimanjaro, it would be foolish to think that given
the long history of African people living on its slopes
that many did not venture to the top. Nevertheless,
the first African in recorded history to successfully
reach the summit of Kilimanjaro, along with two Europeans, was an askari (soldier) scout from the Chagga
city of Marangu named Yohanas Kinyala Lauwo.
On the ascent I learned that one of our guides held
the African (Tanzanian) record for climbing the mountain in the shortest period of time by reaching the
summit and descending back to the starting point in
the span of only 14 hours. In comparison, my climb
would take five days. The overall record is almost
jointly held by an Italian (8 ½ hours) and another
Tanzanian (8 hours, 27 minutes). None of this was
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Lobelia Deckenii, Moorland Zone
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Black People Don’t Climb Mountains...Do They?
Sunrise over Gilman’s Point, 18,651ft
Kwesi Soti Mtundu, September 2009
very surprising, however,
seeing as how seemingly
effortlessly so many of
the guides and porters
ascend and descend the
mountain several times a
month carrying at least 20
kilo (the legal limit) loads
and often more. With the
exception of these workers, however, by the end
of day two I had not encountered any other person who was obviously of
African descent.
On day three I passed one climber who my guide said was probably Nigerian. Unfortunately he had all but his eyes covered by a scarf. He was on his descent. We made
eye contact and nodded but I didn’t get to ask where he was from or if he had made it
to the summit. Folks move fast when they’re going down! On day four I did see another black couple (man and women) on the descent but interestingly enough they too
were all covered up and we didn’t get a chance to speak. Finally, during my last night
View of Mt. Meru over Uhuru Glacier in the shadow of Kilimanjaro
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Black People Don’t Climb Mountains...Do They?
Kwesi Soti Mtundu, September 2009
on the mountain I saw an African couple with their daughter sitting on the steps of the
dining hut. We exchanged greetings but by that time my exhaustion and soreness did
not allow me to converse. In all, during my five day journey only about 5% of the
travelers I encountered on the mountain were Black people although the number of
people from a wide diversity of countries around the globe was impressive.
So, do Black people climb
mountains? Well, I and a few
others did. And of course the
legions of Tanzanians employed to shuttle up and down
Kilimanjaro, Mt. Meru, Mt.
Kenya and other mountains
throughout East Africa cannot
be discounted.
I get the
sense that for many Africans
climbing a mountain without
being paid to do so is an expensive luxury and often not a
life goal. While I don’t believe Kwesi about 50 m from Uhuru Peak
people of African descent are
less adventurous than others for many of it is a luxury we cannot or do not believe we
Sumitted at 6:42am, July 27th, 2009
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Black People Don’t Climb Mountains...Do They?
Kwesi Soti Mtundu, September 2009
can afford either financially or in terms of how we choose to spend our time. And for
some it represents a European frivolity and harkens back to the misadventures of
European explorers who exploited the continent at the expense of the people who
lived there. Why would one want to emulate that?
Over time, as Black people across the globe obtain the resources and opportunity we’ll
see more of them going up mountains. For now it is mostly out of necessity but I’m
sure in the future it will be as much for adventure. For me, it was in part the symbol
of the Uhuru peak that called me to Kilimanjaro. Indeed I think the growing presence
of African people on Kilimanjaro will parallel the rise of Black people throughout the
African Diaspora.
Descent
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