Mountains of the Moon

Tomorrow morning I'm leaving with the Myhres and Ashley for a week of trekking in the Rwenzoris. These are the same mountains that I see every day and that supply my water, but they get much bigger a few hours south of here. The ancient Greeks, upon seeing the Nile flowing so steadily out of an massive desert, guessed that somewhere in equatorial Africa there must lie a high mountain range - the Mountains of the Moon. They were right, of course, and the snows of the Rwenzori mountains are the only permanent source of that ancient river which formed a culture of it's own. That's right, snow on the equator. Pretty hard to believe, and not something I packed particularly well for. Many Europeans doubted that there could be snow in such a place (I've been telling you about the heat here), but these mountains are higher than the Alps and contain some spectacular ice formations. At over 16,700 feet, Mount Stanely is the 3rd highest peak in Africa, next to Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya, but is a harder climb than either of them. Climbing on glaciers is always tricky, and there's a large glacier to cross to reach the summit (As with  almost all of the world's glaciers, it has lost about 1/3 of its mass in the last 50 years as the climate warms). We'll be renting gear like harnesses, crampons, and ice picks for this part (not exactly everyday gear here). Probably only a smaller group of us will go up on the glacier and attempt the summit, and even this will depend on the weather and altitude sickness.

I hear that the plant an animal life in the mountains is spectacular and unusual, and most of you know how much I enjoy both plants an animals. It's certain to be a grand adventure and a long one - 7 nights on the mountain. While it will be challenging and physically taxing, I'm excited about the chance to just be out in nature and enjoy the beauty of it. I think it will be a relaxing and restoring time, and one which will make me appreciate my cold shower. Clearly, I'll be out of touch for a little more than week. As for now, I'm trying to figure out what to pack (I picked up a great used fleece and some used wool socks in the market) and what food to bring. When I get back, I'll be sure to post pictures of the climb. I'm sure there will be some great ones. I think the hardest thing will be decided which spectacular things to photograph, since if I took pictures of them all I'd probably be stopping every few feet.

Today is the memorial service for the one year anniversary of the death of Dr. Jonah Kule in the ebola epidemic. I'm sure it will be a difficult time, as I can tell how much he is missed, especially as he was such a committed and hard-working doctor, not to mention that he was the shining star of the community, living proof that a local man could go on to receive a good education, attain a position of real influence, and do great things for his people. There are currently several young men in medical school being sponsored by the fund set up last year in Dr. Jonah's memory, so while it will be some time before they are doctors, there is hope that they will return to serve in the community here just as Dr. Jonah did.