Safari Recap: Ol Doinyo Lengai

Final safari post! (Joe is busy getting ready for bed, so I'm going to tackle this one =)).

Ol Doinyo Lengai-- the active volcano we climbed!  Or, as I like to call it, Ol Doinyo Len-I-though-I-was-going-to-die.  It was quite an adventure!  We arrived at our Lake Natron camp around 4pm in the middle of nowhere it felt like, nestled up against the sharp cliff of the Riff Valley edge, and set up tents, had a lovely dinner (again! Thanks to Godlove our cook!) and then waited for 10:30pm to arrive so we could get ready to head out on our trek.

Ol Doinyo Lengai, as I mentioned, is an active volcano that a couple of friends mentioned was very cool and that we should definitely go see, including Celia Nyamweru from Joe's Wolfson days, who has done quite a bit of research on the volcano. In her blog from St. Lawrence University, you can read up on the volcano and also a good description of the climb up (which may have changed a bit since the eruption in 2008).

Elly drove us to the base of the volcano at 11pm and we met up with Tate our Maasai guide and began our ascent at midnight with all our gear on and headlamps in place (the tour company promised us headlamps as part of the deal, but they did not specify headlamps with batteries, so we had to use our own).  Apparently people typically climb the volcano at night because it's too hot to climb during the day. 

Tate, Kerryn, Paul and I beginning the trek

The first portion of the climb was a steady incline although quite sandy.  Then after a couple hours of this the climb began to get steeper and stepper, to the point where using both hands was essential in order to keep going.  The volcanic rock on the side of the mountain is interesting.. it's not like the hard, black volcanic rock that is found in Hawaii, but it's this grey, soft rock that tends to crumble in your hands and quickly turn into sand, so trying to find hand holds was challenging, and when you did get a hold, it would often just disintegrate in your hands!
Our guide was great about giving us several breaks along the way.  We would sit on the side of the side of the volcano, turn our headlamps off and enjoy at the bright moon and the stars.  As time went on, the moon began to set more and more and it got darker and darker.  We were so thankful for our headlamps to see where to go.
We were all a bit nervous about the whole thing (Joe the least of us!).  Climbing a very steep, active volcano in the middle of the night was definitely one of the scarier things I have done in my life.  But, we kept pressing on step by step and looking at our watches, eager for it to get closer to 6am for the sun to rise.  There is something about the sun being out makes things less scary... we'd still be on an active volcano in the middle of nowhere, but having the sunlight would seem to ease our minds and hearts immensely.

Great stars out! We were thankful for the headlamps!

About 2/3rds of the way up the volcano or so, we were sitting down in the pitch dark, enjoying a break and a look at the stars (its amazing how small one feels in this situation).  All of a sudden, there was a massive shake of the mountain, a loud, deep rumbling noise and then after a few seconds it was over.  The four of us looked at each other and I think Kerryn said, "is this actually happening?!"  For a minute, I think all of us were convinced that the volcano was about to erupt!  After trying to communicate to our guide and inquire if we needed to rapidly get off of the mountain (which would have been impossible), he finally was able to communicate to us that this rumbling was just an earthquake and was "normal." Of course, the fact that he didn't speak English didn't make us very confident about anything that he said that day, but his outward attitude showed us that he wasn't fearing for his own life.

Phew!! What a relief, but boy did this jostle my nerves!!  A few of us contemplated turning back (Joe not included hehe) but decided it was better to keep on going than try and climb back down the volcano in the dark.

Kerryn and I stopped here, what a view!

Our guide was soo at ease.  He was whistling and humming along the way and even fell dead asleep during one of our rest breaks (we literally had to shake and poke him to wake back up =)).  Tate knew this volcano like the back of his hand and while we were struggling to ascend, he was skipping up the mountain in his converse shoes without any traction.

Joe at the edge of the crater

After we continued to ascend little by little (with much encouragement from Joe!) we finally made it to the top and it was glorious and terrifying all at once.  We arrived at the peak just as the sun was rising red and purple through the dust of the Rift and my fears began to melt away.  The view was incredible-- we could see along the Rift Valley and to Ngorongoro crater, with what Paul described as "the veins of the Earth" stretched out below the base of the volcano. There was a final short, but extremely steep ascent to the crater which Joe and Paul went up, passing by a couple sulpheric steam vents on the way to the crater, but Kerryn and I happily decided we had enough at the first peak.

Looking down into the crater was enough to make Joe's hair stand on end (more steaming vents, supernatural looking rock formations funneling straight down into the earth, and a drumming, rumbling sound barely audible coming from the holes in the lowest visible parts of the crater). Both Joe and Paul agreed that they felt very much that nature was telling them that this was a place they didn't really belong.

Carol enjoying the sunrise view from Ol Doinyo Lengai

After a brief visit up at the top, we all began our descent back down the mountain-- which was a bit easier than I was expecting thanks to the sunlight guiding us! It was a combination of hiking down and just sliding down the sandy pathways.  We made it back down in about 4.5hrs I think and were soo relieved to see our dear Elly (our driver) who had waited at the base for us all night in case we needed anything.

Joe, Carol, and our very brave friends Paul and Kerryn

Whew, it was quite a challenge but was reminded of a very important spiritual lessson!  I was describing to someone afterwards about how relaxed Tate (our guide) was.. whistling along the way and even falling asleep on the side of this volcano while the rest of us were totally panicking inside thinking we were going to die.  And Joe kindly said, "hey Carol, that reminds me of a certain Bible story..."  Of course!!  This was so very similar to Jesus falling asleep in the boat on the Sea of Galilee while his disciples were fearing for their lives.


Matthew 8:24-27
Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

I was reminded afresh that Jesus is in control of all things and to actively trust Him and remain calm even when circumstances seem so out of my control.  I am so thankful that He has the whole world in His hands! =)

We did it!

After we got back to camp, we took showers, had a wonderful lunch and then hit the road back to Arusha.  We were all pooped-- Joe even fell asleep on the Indiana Jones roads.

Well, thanks for keeping up with all these stories packed into a day. We didn't know when we would next have time to write, so thought that we had better preserve our memories of Arusha before plowing on with new ones.

Much love to you all,

Carol & Joe