How Hellen scaled Mount Rungwe with four-month-old baby in tow

Rungwe. Standing at 2981 meters above sea level, Mount Rungwe is the pride of the southern highlanders in Tanzania.

The third highest mountain in the country, behind Mount Meru, is often overshadowed by the majestic, snow-capped highest mountain in Africa, resting in the northern circuit.

However, Mountain Rungwe has slowly gained popularity as a hiking paradise.

Hellen Stima is a school teacher, a tour guide, a sports and tourism enthusiast, and all rolled up in one amazing young Tanzanian woman who accomplished an almost impossible feat.

With a four-month-old baby in her arms, she scaled for eight hours to the peak of Mount Rungwe. She insists that everything she did adhered to the strict rules and regulations of the authority.

“Climbing with my daughter, it was safe from July to December; that’s when it is not cold or deemed dangerous for the baby,” she assured. The young mother says climbing a mountain is inversely proportionate to being a parent; it demands patience, resilience, and trusting your instincts. Her determination to scale the heights of Mt Rungwe was there even when her daughter Grace was still in the womb. She was still guiding tourists during her pregnancy, and she vowed to take her newborn to the top of Mt Rungwe.

What she has achieved is unprecedented; as far as records show, no one has ever attempted to summit the mountain with a baby, making her accomplishment a calculated risk, but it also gives a ray of hope for adventure-seeking parents. The schoolteacher couldn’t suppress her love for tourism; in 2022 she enrolled in a tourism college to study tourism management, eventually turning into an independent tour guide with plans to start her own tour company. She specialises in taking tourists to attractions around the Southern Highlands, from the famous Mikumi National Park to the Manga Kipengere game reserve, home to numerous majestic waterfalls, referred to as ‘home waterfalls,’ with more than 15 waterfalls in its vicinity.

Ere to climb the mountain, she had to convince her husband, Msajigwa, with whom she resides in the Mbeya region. Hellen’s first heap to climb was assuring her husband that it would be safe to take their daughter up the mountain. He eventually came around, and when he assured him that she would climb the mountain with her family beside her, so did she. Her mother, brother, and sisters accompanied her on her journey.

Rugged and steep slopes on this volcanic mountain make the hike up even more of a challenge, and adding a baby in her arms made it a herculean task. But through meticulous planning and determination, Hellen took 80 hours to summit the mountain, with only one stop along the way.

Hellen was documenting her journey and sharing it on social media with each step she took, in hopes that Tanzanians would fall in love with adventure and exploring their own country, hoping a rise in domestic tourism would grow exponentially as young people fall in love with the natural beauty of their own country, particularly young mothers who perceive a birth of a baby as an end to one’s one exploration of the world and all of its beauty.

“Most Tanzanians, even in my family, think tourism and going for adventure are for foreigners or the rich,” she said. In her experience, she hardly sees locals going on safaris, and taking her family for the Mount Rungwe hike hopes will change that. “I just want them to realise that tourism is not for certain people; it’s for everyone,” she insisted. Another unknown fact is that, for a Tanzanian to climb Mt Rungwe, it costs less than one dollar, or 2000 Tanzanian shillings, to climb the mountain. “the only extra cost would be transportation to the place and maybe for a tour guide if you want one,” she elaborated. ’, so it’s practically inexcusable for any Tanzanian to deny one’s self the pleasure of seeing the nature that is just next door, when tourists would fly thousands of kilometres just to step their foot on our soil.

Her journey to the top was expectedly not a walk in the park, as she was ascending, upon reaching 1700 meters, her baby started to cry; she had to stop and nurse her; soon the rain started falling, and she had to change the baby’s clothes; she had a tent ready to shelter the baby till the sun came up again.

In the time when the Nigerians are trying to break Guinness world records in cooking and other areas, Helen is thinking of trying to see if her record can be recognised by the renowned worldwide record keeper. She tried to reach out to the Tanzania Forestry Authority, but the response has been lacklustre. Hellen combines sports and tourism, the fitness aspect that has been at the core of her everyday life even before becoming a tour guide. She practices yoga daily among other sports activities that she decided to fuse into tourism.

She organises football matches and marathons that take place in the tourist attraction areas like Matema Beach; she takes teams for matches at the beach, coupled with cycling and running competitions.

Massive efforts have been deployed to help the Southern Highlands rise in tourism; the region seems obscure as far as international tourism visibility is concerned, and individual efforts for tour guides like Hellen are proving to give a glimmer of hope.

Despite the abundance of natural attractions and countless tourist sites, the southern highland has a long way to go to catch up with the renowned northern circuit.

Hellen hopes the government will reserve more funds for marketing the southern highland as a tourist destination with as much fanfare as the North.

Helen points out Ruaha National Park, one of the largest national parks in the country, spectacular with abundant wildlife, where you can see all the big five animals and a large population of endangered wild dogs. Mpanga Kipengere Game Reserve, with more than 15 waterfalls, is one of the rare areas in Africa where you can find different kinds of waterfalls converged in one place. If it is given enough exposure in the media, she is sure local and international tourists will start flocking to the Southern Highlands as well.

In a world where a woman has to go the extra mile to break barriers and set precedents, Hellen hopes her efforts will be met with support; despite the challenges and setbacks, her resolve is clear: “Nothing will make me give up, because it’s my passion,” she firmly stated.

Hellen is not new to paving the way and ‘being first.’ She was the first female baseball coach in Tanzania, but it’s not that much appreciated or recognised, even though she has a certificate from Major League Baseball.

 “I keep pushing to help the community because I want to impact the young people,” she added. As Helen reached the summit, the baby woke up and just smiled at her, and that warmed her heart.