Ann Walton Stringer. Photo: Ann Walter Stringer, The Daily Mississippian.
“I am above the clouds,” Ann Walton Stringer recalled. “I am at the highest point in Africa right now, and I walked up here.”
Stringer was still in awe as she described the world from the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro. The highest point in Africa, reaching 19,341 feet, is a volcanic mountain located in the northeast corner of Tanzania. A popular destination for tourists, Tanzania offers beautiful scenery, wildlife and lots of action.
Stringer, a sophomore accounting major from Madison, conquered the climb this month along with her mother and sister, checking an item off their bucket list. Although reaching the peak of Kilimanjaro had always been Ann Walton’s dream, she never expected it to happen this year.
“When I was seven, I saw an Imax about Mount Kilimanjaro, and I wanted to do that before I died,” Stringer said. “Everything moved so quickly. I decided in June, signed up in September, left in December and got back in January.”
Scott Cofield, a freshman from Memphis, also ventured to Tanzania to complete the climb in July 2013 before coming to Ole Miss.
“I wanted to do it just for fun; it seemed like a cool adventure,” Cofield said. “I wanted to do something I could tell people about when I got back.”
At the time, Cofield was living in Rwanda and teaching English as a second language before he decided to make the climb.
“I decided to hike last minute,” Cofield told The Daily Mississippian. “I decided a month before my return to the United States. It was my last trip in Africa.”
Stringer and Cofield, now friends because of Ole Miss Reformed University Fellowship, compared stories of their climbs up Kilimanjaro. When asked about the most challenging parts of the climb, they responded differently.
“We would summit in the middle of the night …wake up at midnight and hike,” Cofield said. “It was very dark and the biggest altitude change of up 1,000 meters.”
Stringer experienced major problems with the changing levels of oxygen.
“Towards the end of the climb, it was freezing, no oxygen, and the next day I became hypoxic and had to be put on oxygen.”
When asked about the most satisfying moment of the climb, Cofield and Stringer agreed there was no feeling like reaching the top of Uhuru Peak.
“We had been hiking for six days, we were tired and we were cold,” Stringer said. “I was so hyper and didn’t care.”
Despite the hardship and physical strain he endured, Cofield described the peak as a place of tranquility.
“You’re above the second level of clouds,” he reminisced. “Sometimes clouds seemed to just gather around the peak. Very peaceful, super quiet and bright.”
Stringer said the climbing group was the most important aspect of the adventure.
“What made the trip incredible was the people,” Stringer said. “I was with nine people total, six of which I did not know. I think the climb would’ve been good, but it wouldn’t have been the same if those people weren’t there.”
Cofield agreed.
“The group makes all the difference,” he said. “I went to Tanzania because I couldn’t get any of my friends to hike with me, so I went with a random group and had a blast.”
Cofield and Stringer both recommended the adventure to any Ole Miss student who is interested in seeing the world from above the clouds.
— Sara Kiparizoska
skipariz@go.olemiss.edu
