I am now proud to say that I have three Concern Trekking Challenges under my belt, and I have been asked which the best was: The Peru Trek, The Ethiopian Trek, or The Tanzania Trek. There is no definitive answer to this, each trek had its own challenges physically, emotionally, mentally & each trek had it own unique qualities & surprises along the way. For me each challenge has been truly spectacular for a combination of reasons, the different groups that I trekked with, the fantastic organisational skills from Zoe in the Concern office in Dublin & expertise and knowledge from the team at Action Challenge. But most importantly, and not to be forgotten is the reason behind the treks, and that is to raise much needed money to help Concern help some of the worlds poorest of the poor people. If you continue to read this, I will share with you an amazing 10 days spent in Tanzania.

On Friday 26th June 2009, I along with my good friend and fellow trekker Julie Tarrant, met with 17 others in Dublin Airport to take a flight to Tanzania to take part in our third Concern Trekking Challenge. I was excited about meeting the other trekkers & meeting up with Zoe from the Concern office in Dublin. After travelling for about 14 hours, we arrived in Kilimanjaro Airport & were met by Ed and Rodger from Action Challenge. We were transported to a hotel in Arusha where we had a pre trek briefing & dinner. The briefing was going well until we were told, that before putting our boots on in the mornings to make sure we checked them for snakes and scorpions… nice, loads to look forward to!! Getting to bed after midnight, we were in for an early wake up call at 6am and we were transferred by four-wheel drive to Ngorongoro National Park. Today we were in for the first of many surprises when we had a drive around the National Park and saw Zebra, Wilder beast, Elephants, Hippos & Cheetah to name just a few. After a picnic lunch we headed to a school in the Maasai village of Nainokanoka, (The Maasai People are indigenous to Africa and are among the most well known ethnic group in Africa). We had a wonderful experience meeting some local school children, and local teachers; they were delighted when we presented them with a gift of school supplies and children’s clothing. Today was the start of our trek & after walking over 10 km, we arrived at our campsite to spend our first night in tented accommodation. Fun was had, as our guides lit campfires and we sat around it and got to know each other.

The following day we were in for a long 26km trek as we trekked around Empakaai Crater Rim, however on a trekking challenge its all in a days work. We trekked through some of the most amazing landscape and again as we had a picnic lunch we saw local Maasai children play football. I couldn’t help but notice that it was not a ball the children were playing with but fabric rolled up and tied together with twine… it just goes to show all children love a ball to play with and will do whatever is necessary to find one! Again, that night we have a fantastic meal under canvas, had great laughs around another campfire, and spent another cold night in a tent.

Every morning when we got up at about 6.30am, we were met with a jug of hot water and a basin, no showers or flushing toilets! We then had breakfast of fruit, eggs, sausages, toast, tea, or coffee and after we packed our daypacks with sunscreen, inset repellent, sun hat, sun glasses, wet gear and our lunch box, we did our daily warm up. On this day when we were about the leave camp, we were told by one of our maassi guides to wait. Just down the road from us were two bull buffalos, which were having a bit of tiff with each other over a bit of territory. I thought it would be a great chance to get some photos… how wrong was I. When the coast was clear, we had to pass the area where the buffalos were in total silence for fear that they would hear us. If they did see us or hear us… well who knows… that could have been a complete different story!!!  After our near encounter with the buffalo, we trekked to Empakaai crater base where we saw hundreds of pink flamingos & saw the first glimpse of Ol Doinyo Legani, an active volcano that last erupted July 2008 and the final hurdle of our trek a couple of nights later. After a long and very dusty trek, we arrived in the Maasai Village of Naiyobi. Tonight some of the Maassi villagers killed a goat in our honour. For those who wanted, we watched the slaughter, which was very humane. As the Village men prepared the goat for cooking, they ate the goat’s raw kidneys; we ate the cooked goat 2 hours later!! Another campfire tonight and we were entertained with dancing from the local Maassi. I sat there in awe as I fully tried to consume the experience that was unfolding before me, sitting in a Maassi Village by campfire with an Irish / Maassi dance off taking place.

The following day brought us closer to our ultimate destination and challenge of climbing Ol Doinyo Lengai. Today the heat in the mid 30s was searing, and with no shelter, we longed to see the now familiar sight of our tented accommodation. After an 8 hour trek when we arrived at the base of Lengai, there were no tents. At this stage of the trek, donkeys were transporting our tents and luggage and unfortunately, the donkeys were slower than we were. Disappointment set in at this stage, after a long day trekking a tent is a little bit of heaven, however we were in for another surprise. We were brought by our four wheel drive to a camp site about 30 mins away for much needed and deserved refreshment… a cold beer…. But that was not all, there was also a sink…. with running water and a proper toilet, no hole in the ground. After one drink we were brought back to our base camp, another surprise, although it was now dark a dust storm had brewed up. With our tents just about up due to weather conditions our chefs had great difficulty preparing dinner for us, however they managed to produce the most delicious banana stew! Due to weather conditions, it was very hard to sleep and with a midnight wake up call for our summit climb, I was anxious. With the wind howling and volcanic dust blowing in our tent, Julie and I decided to get up and marvel at the wonder that was around us. We walked about 50meters away from camp, in swirling wind, turned off our head torches and in pitch, darkness looked up at what were millions of diamonds in the sky… a truly wonderful surprise supplied by mother nature!

At about 1am we started our night climb of Ol Doinyo Lengai (2878m). We were told that it would take about 6 – 8 hours to the summit and 4 – 6 hours to come back down again, so a long night and day lay ahead, with little sleep in the past 24 hours. This climb was a steep hard climb with the terrine under foot a mixture of hard rock and a soft sandy texture. After climbing for over 4 hours, it was decided on safety grounds not to summit. With every step we took forward, we slipped back two. What we thought were rocks were crumbling under our feet and hands. Lengai erupted July last year and so the terrain conditions were unknown before our attempt. We were about 180 meters from summit. Our group leader decided it would be good to sit and wait for the sun to rise and so as we sat in crevasse on a very cold Lengai. Some sang, some told stories but I just sat there again looking at a millions stars, and was in awe at the fact that I was sitting at a 45degree angle on what was classed as live volcano!! Once sun came up, the sheer height and angle, we were at really hit home and I wondered how exactly we could get down… but no panic we descended on our bums until we got to a level that was comfortable to trek in, and so it brought us to our official Concern Challenge finish. Hugs and cheers all around, and then we were brought back to the campsite we had visited the previous evening, except today we had the luxury of a shower!. This was our first shower since we left Arusha a week earlier.

When we woke the following day, we thought we were finished walking and had packed away our trekking boots. However, we were in for one more surprise as we trekked for about on hour, through a gushing river and into the hills to be gifted with the most spectacular waterfall!! We all took full advantage of running water and went for a swim. After our walk back from the waterfall we drove to Tarangire National Park. As this was our last night to sleep in tents and we emptied our bags of any clothing or trekking equipment that we no longer required. After dinner, we made a presentation to our guide and cooks of tips we had collected and the clothing items we had collected. Tonight we were entertained by local musicians and dancers however with an early 5am wake up call, it was early to bed.  At 6 am we were being treated to a 4 hour game drive, and saw Giraffe, Elephants, Leopards, Lions & much more. After a fantastic day we transferred back to Arusha. We went for dinner in a coffee plantation and were introduced to Jaka from the Concern Tanzania office. What a spectacular way to end an amazing experience. Just in case we had forgotten the real reason we were in Tanzania, Jaka explained to us, where your money is being spent in Tanzania. He showed us before and after shots of work that Concern has carried out in different villages. One that really sticks out in my mind was a picture of a woman collecting filthy dirty mucky water for drinking and cooking with, and then a picture of the same woman collecting clean safe water from a well that Concern installed. 

On our way back to the airport we stopped at one of the many orphanages in Arusha. Here we met a family who are raising 17 children who have been orphaned by AIDs; again we made a presentation of school materials and children’s clothing. Knowing what was being presented to them I knew that each child would get something.

Concern runs different challenges through the year. If you are anyway interested in talking a challenge please log onto www.concernchallenge.org to find out more. On a personal note I want to thank all my family and friends who have supported me over the past number of years while I have trained and Fundraised for Concern. I would like to thank everyone who put up with my whining and moaning about pulled mussels and aching feet. I would like to thank everyone who helped me fundraise, who helped me organise events and those who attended my events thank you, and a big thank you to all who sponsored me. And finally a big massive thank you to the group of wonderful people that I travelled with in Tanzania, Katie, Hazel, Celine, Ashling, Annmarie, Noreen, Aoife, Paddy, Julio, Richard, Dave, Emma and Dave, Joe, Louise and Darragh. Thank you to Julie for her constant encouragement when things got tough, for her friendship & the many laughs along the way, and of course to Zoe from Concern & Ed and Rodger from Action Challenge

Ciara Kennedy
“Watch out for Concerns Challenge Open Day in August, check www.concernchallenge.org for more details”