By ERIN SEITZLER, Four Points News
A mother-daughter trip up Mount Kilimanjaro created a lasting friendship with their guide, Fredy Tarimo, who came to visit his new friends in Steiner Ranch two months ago.
“My daughter (Tessa) asked for graduation from Texas State to go climb Mount Kilimanjaro for her present. I said, ‘Yes if I could go along,’” said Sharalynn Lantsberger, a resident of Steiner. “The flight was long, 30 hours, but it was worth it.”
Kilimanjaro was a grueling six day up and three day down hike, she said.
“In the nine days of this hike, you can’t help but being taken in by the gentle souls of the people, one was my humble guide Fredy,” Lantsberger said.
Tarimo is from Tanzania in East Africa. He works through Embark Exploration Co. out of Oregon as a Kilimanjaro guide and is a safari guide as well.
Tarimo followed his father’s footsteps, figuratively and literally.
“My father was a guide. When I finished school, I tried multiple jobs, cook, porter, waiter, camping crew, assistant guide then guide,” he said.
Tarimo has been doing this for 25 years and made it to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro over 400 times.
In order for people to make it to the top, they have to follow what Tarimo says. He teaches them the phrase “pole pole” which means slow slow.
“Drinking and eating is the most important thing because if you don’t eat or drink then you don’t sleep,” he said. Mountain climbers have to eat, drink and sleep to be in proper condition to make the climb.
At 55-years-old, Tarimo thinks he has about 10 years left in him to work on Kilimanjaro. He’s been passing along the family trade to his sons who are part of the crew. He has five children and his oldest son Emmanuel, 27, and second oldest son Godliving, 25, go with him to the top a lot, he said. They were cooks during Lantsbergers trip in July of 2017.
His favorite part about being a guide is meeting people from all around the world. “They help me travel because they tell me the history of where there from and I get to become apart of their culture without even going,” he said.
Tarimo said he had never been out of Tanzania so Lantsberger invited him to visit Austin. Even though she knew this will be a huge culture shock for him, she wanted to make it happen. He took her up on the offer and visited from May 28 – June 5.
He found Austin “wonderful” and his favorite part of being here was reconnecting with Lantsberger and Tessa, and the ziplining. “I went bowling for the first time here and I beat them,” Tarimo said with a laugh.
He also encourages people in Austin to visit his country.
“I wanna tell the people of Texas that Tanzania welcomes you and has many wonderful things there. It’s a free country with very friendly people,” Tarimo said. “You can climb up mountains, go on safaris, and even just go into the village, the people are just the friendliest there are.”
