“I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills.“

Quite possibly the most recognizable sentence by ex-pats in Nairobi, these words open Karen Blixen’s memoir “Out of Africa”. Blixen was a Danish Baroness who spent 17 years in Kenya, a British colony at the time. The book and later produced movie chronicle her life in the colony and pay great tribute to the beauty of the land and people of Kenya.

This past Saturday, we hiked the Ngong Hills, peaks in a ridge along the Great Rift Valley that overlook the Nairobi suburb, Karen, named after Karen Blixen. There are four main, knuckle-shaped summits. The rolling hills were a great way to train for Kili. We completed more than 16 kilometers since we covered all the hills and hiked back to the start. It was challenging but enjoyable. The views of Nairobi and the Great Rift Valley make the hike worth the trouble. We even got a glimpse of Mt. Kenya.

Not the best photo of me, but these are my hiking buddies that will attempt to summit Kili with me.