by__marika

Have you ever felt like you are on top of the world? 🫣 📍Uhuru Peak, Kilimanjaro

by__marika

I wish it was a scenic 🚁 ride this one came for … But unfortunately Day 5 brought another sadness to our camp 🥺 One of our friends developed symptoms of HAPE - high altitude pulmonary edema, which one can experience despite of age and fitness level… The symptoms progressed very quickly and he needed to be evacuated to a lower altitude as fast as possible. The problem of the mountain is that not every camp has a jeep access and to make it even more dramatic, not every camp has a helipad or a space flat enough to make one. We were literally cleaning up the ground from rocks and tents hoping that this clear and the only flat spot would work for helicopter landing. And from the third attempt he managed to safely land and pick up our friend and bring him to the hospital for a check up. ❗️Something important to mention here is that the helicopter evacuation had to be paid in cash by someone who needed it and then later he will claim it from his insurance… but the whole idea of out of pocket $5K is pretty crazy and anyone should be ready for unforeseen 🤞🏻