Kenya // Manjahi Njoroge

On December 2021 just before new year’s, my girlfriend and I along with 9 other friends, embarked on a four-day journey to climb the second highest mountain in Africa, Mt. Kenya. It was the first time for me to climb the mountain and it was the first time for me to ever see snow. The journey to the summit was filled with wonderful landscapes and beautiful plants and animals. At the same time, it was also very challenging. During the course of the four days, we encountered rain, a hail storm and freezing temperatures as low as -8 degrees. The heavy rains had made the ground very uncomfortable to sleep on, despite using bed mats in our tents. Rain water in our hiking boots made it feel like we were walking barefoot on ice. My entire body was in agony from the extreme temperatures and exhaustion and I had lost all interest in taking photographs, all I wanted to do was to survive and get rid of the pain. I took this photograph at the exact place where I had given up. I had come to a complete halt, I didn’t want to move anymore and my mind started to drown in thoughts of doubt, fears and anxiety. I sat there for what felt like hours, staring at the lake and at the snow, the rocks and at the fog in the distance. I questioned everything in my life and wondered why I had even decided to do such a crazy thing like climb the dangerous mountain. As all this was happening, the fog had slowly started to clear but I did not notice until I saw the sun starting to shine a bit more and the temperature feeling a bit warmer. Immediately, I snapped out of these negative thoughts in my mind and started feeling the sunrays that were piercing through the fog. I could feel the rays warming my toes through my freezing boots and I could feel my spirit slowly getting lifted. My focus changed from my pain and I started focusing on the beauty that was surrounding me, the love from the people that we were climbing the mountain with. I reminded myself that I had come to the mountain to contest my fears. I realized that I was never alone despite the challenge on the mountain and also in life. As all this was happening, my gratitude and appreciation for life and for my talents in photography came alive and I was able to remove my camera from my backpack and compose this image. The rest of the climb was a success and I managed to get to the summit, yes it was still a hard climb but my mind had shifted in attitude and this was one of the greatest turning points in my life. https://www.instagram.com/manjahi_njoroge/