Man conquers his fears, hikes peak of Mt Kenya on his 77th birthday   

The triumphant Kimani makes it to Mt Kenya’s highest peak.  PHOTO | COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • Asked why he ‘punishes’ his body, Mzee Elijah Kimani says, “I do it for the challenge, to prove to myself and to my body that I can do it.” Hiking is also a metaphor for life. Life is not all enjoyable.” The slopes averaged 80 degrees, but he did it, one foot after another.

Two days shy of his 77th birthday, Elijah Kimani stood on top of the world, arguably the oldest Kenyan to do so. Mzee Kimani fulfilled a journey he had desired to take for many decades, conquering Mt Kenya and the famous Lenana peak.

Aged 30 and a civil servant in the Ministry of Labour, a ballot was held for candidates who wished to summit Mt Kilimanjaro. He put his name forward, but someone said he was “too old”, a fact which confounds him to this day.

He forgot about it then and went on to a career inspecting factories for safety, a stint at Kenya Meat Commission and Firestone Tyres, before retiring into a life of ministry, on the way putting on a bit too much weight.

“I told a congregation in Narok that I would not be coming back if they did not have a road,” Mzee Kimani recalls of his battles to get around.

His doctor said his weight was putting pressure on his back, hence the hip pain he was undergoing. He resolved to cut back on eating ‘garbage’ as he calls unhealthy food and reverted to fruit and vegetables. And walking.

Preparation 

One of his daughters – he has five – saw the struggles her father was going through, trying to manage his weight.

An accomplished hiker and climber in her own right, Njambi Kimani challenged her father to test the Ngong Hills. Mzee Kimani did better than everyone thought he would, getting to the top and picking up some of his family, who had fallen by the wayside on his descent.

A fire was lit under him and like days of old, his passion for the highest peaks was reignited. “I told Njambi I would like to climb Mt Kenya for my 77th birthday,” Mzee Kimani says.

The clock was then ticking on preparation for this mountain of an undertaking. The first test would be the Ol Donyo le Satima peak on the Aberdares. With that came some rookie mistakes, Mzee Kimani wore gumboots to the marshy slopes. He did again make it to the top.

Three false peaks

One of his other daughters, who was with him then asked, “Dad, where is the helicopter to get us down?” The chopper would be their legs.

They got back down after dark. Mzee Kimani was, however, well on the way to his goal. Then came a test of endurance. Rurimeria Hill, still on the Aberdares is a better judge of how one would do on the beast that is Mt Kenya.

It has three false peaks, meaning that three times, you will think you have reached the summit. Three times you will be wrong. Mzee Kimani reckons the slopes here average 80 degrees in gradient, but he did it, one foot in front of the other.

Asked why he ‘punishes’ his body so, Mzee Kimani says, “I do it for the challenge, to prove to myself and to my body that I can do it.” Hiking is also a metaphor for life, Mzee Kimani advises. “Life is not all enjoyable.”

Having passed the endurance test with Rurimeria, the last test leading up to the big exam would be speed. A brisk destruction of Ngong Hills followed and he jokingly says everyone was trying to catch up with him.

Elijah Kimani, a retired civil servant and his daughter Njambi atop Mt Kenya’s highest peak- Lenana, during their Mt Kenya hike in December 2022 to celebrate his 77th birthday. PHOTO | COURTESY

His daughter, Njambi, had prepared him well. The Thursday before the ascent would be spent in Nanyuki. On Friday morning, Mzee Kimani, his daughter and mentor on the slopes joined up with others for the drive to Old Moses Hut where motorised machines give way to foot traffic – the end of the (tarmac) road.

Thinning oxygen

Ever the preacher, Mzee Kimani was all talk on the 14-kilometre journey to Shipton’s Camp, where they would spend the night. His daughter pointed out that no one wants to talk as much as he does, especially with thinning oxygen.

From the base camp, the beauty of Batian and Nelion peaks graced the upbeat debutant. Saturday is the sabbath day in Mzee Kimani’s house. That meant there would be no attempt on Lenana that day. They spent the day resting and acclimatising.

Under the sun’s rays and the beauty of his surroundings, he could not resist giving a sermon. After a brief rest, Mzee Kimani was shaken awake at 1am on Sunday. It was time. A meal later, they set off into the night with headlights on foreheads.

His daughter and other guides kept whispering mantras of encouragement, even when he could see the headlights of those he had left asleep at the camp, now ahead of him.

“You can do it, you will make it,” Mzee Kimani says they said. One step at a time. At 7:52am – he asked someone what time it was – Mzee Kimani took the last steps onto Lenana.

He did it

He sat down for a drink and looked up at the words “You have made it” on a framed piece up there. He indeed had. Can God talk to me like he talked to Moses on the mountain? Those were his thoughts at the time.

There was, however, a Bible up there. That would have to do. He read from the book of Isaiah. After taking it all in, it was time for the descent arriving at a different camp at 4pm. There he would cool his heels for the night before a further trek down.

He was picked up by a Land Rover on Monday at 1pm having completed what he had set out to achieve. He would still like to summit Mt Kilimanjaro and drown out those words that were said to him 47 years before. Time, his body and his daughter Njambi will tell him when.