From the few minutes I spent gazing at the approaching ground, it was clear that The Netherlands was just the way I had left it: flat, dull, gray and about to rain if it was not already doing so. Not so its population, and in particular my buddy Mick who is as colorful a character as you could ever hope to meet. Although we've only seen each other four or five times over the last twenty years, ironically one of those times was my wedding in 1992, which was also the first time I'd met Wayne. So they "knew" each other, but this was the first time for Brian and Steve. Mick had done a stellar job of communicating with the team, setting up an email distribution list he called the-five-do-kilimanjaro and through which we'd all come to know him quite well.

Photo courtesy and Copyright © 2010 Brian Gourlie

I'm sporting my new lack-of-hair cut making me look more than ever like a malnourished POW. Claudia: "You won't need hair where you are going. Trust me."

Brian was, and is, a squash buddy who watched Wayne and me return from Australia and Ghana and who then vowed "I want in on the next adventure, I don't care when it is, or where it is headed." Hats off to him for sticking to his guns when the madness of the Kilimanjaro objective finally materialized, and to his buddy Steve for immediately diving in after him. The four of us had then done training exercises bagging New Hampshire 4000 footers, leaving Mick on his own to tackle the 40ft peaks of Holland's sea walls.

Small world: as we were standing here in a gaggle a guy comes up and introduces himself: his name is Paul, he's on a Thomson Trek, and he can see from someone's luggage tags that we are too. Where are we going, what are we doing? Sure enough, he's trekking Kili.

So Why Kilimanjaro?

We just went through why Kilimanjaro is important to me, but why do 35,000 other lunatics attempt to climb it every year? Beats me. But having said that, it is an interesting peak. It is not only high. but because it is free-standing, it is the greatest ascent of any mountain in the world, and therefore also provides the widest variety of climates and vegetation zones. Kilimanjaro is not only the highest mountain in Africa, it's also one of the biggest volcanoes on Earth, covering an area of approximately 1500 sq miles (388,500 hectares). Within this area are three main peaks: Kibo (the tall one), Mawenzi and Shira.

Perhaps the most important feature of Kibo, however, is that its slopes are gentle. This feature means, of course, that trekkers as well as mountaineers are able to reach the summit.

After a long day of doing nothing, the 777 finally wafts down, and out of the blackness of the African night managed to find the one-lane airstrip that is Arusha/Kilimanjaro International airport. Ostensibly bound for Dar Es Salaam, the 400-seater bounces in KIA on its way south. To my great surprise, about three-quarters of the passengers lept to their feet and surged towards the exits. The floodlights illuminating the plane, and our route across the tarmac to the terminal building, also make it clear that the three-story high plane is larger than the two-story terminal, and therefore while we thought we were cramped in the plane, we're now crammed in twice as tightly in the little arrival hall. In this intimate setting it does not take us long to figure out that many of the new arrivals are to be our companions for the next two weeks.

Small world II: Mick, who on account of his length had treated himself to the long wheelbase package in the cabin (and so was not sitting with us in the cheap seats) and on account of his fear of flying was self-medicating with alcohol, has already discovered that the lanky guy in the next seat was also one of us, and they've been celebrating with cocktails for most of the trip.

Finally we spilled out into the cool night air, and were immediately scooped up by the Thomson reps, who piled us into a fleet of waiting Land Rovers. It took longer to load up than it took us to drive. We veered away from the main gate instead of going through it, then headed along the perimeter fence and within five minutes pulled up in front of the KIA Lodge, whose name suddenly made less exotic sense than it had in the literature: KIA Lodge = Kilimanjaro International Airport Motel. But that's the only non-exotic thing about it. It was a haphazard tumble of cottages each comprising two bedrooms and laid out in a maze of paths through a tropical garden. The main buildings were also all separate, and mostly without walls. After passing through the reception arch, the next two buildings were the most important: the dining area and the bar.

Photo courtesy and Copyright © 2010 Mick Lemmerman

We passed staff in a variety of uniforms: maids, cooks, even a couple of Maasai. If they were not already carrying three or four bags, no matter what role their uniform implied, everyone of them attempted to take our bags from us. When we finally give up trying to locate our room (the cottage numbers seemed to be as random as the paths) we allowed one of the maids to take some of the load and show us the way.

As is our custom, Wayne showered first, and by the time I joined him in the bar, he'd already chosen the beer: Kilimanjaro of course. We're finally able to toast the reunion with Mick, but nobody has much stamina so the party is only a couple of beers long. We need to get a good night's sleep before tomorrow's "day of rest."