As I hear the words to the chorus of the Africa song by Toto, my heart soars and my spirits are raised. This has to be my inspiration song for my Kilimanjaro Climb.
My eyes well up, a tingle falls down my spine and I’m transported to the incredible continent of Africa. Desserts, waterfalls, poverty, change, challenge and beautiful people. These are some of my memories of Africa and this song has such a feeling of memento and sentiment with it, although I never heard it whilst there.
There is a lyric in the song, “As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serangetti”. I get a pulse of excitement and emotion when I hear this line and even sitting here now typing this post I have tears in my eyes. I can also picture myself standing on the crater, watching the clouds tumble past as the world is laid before me- I cannot wait for the summit moment and I know these lyrics will rush to my mind and tears of joy will fall from my eyes.
The Full Lyrics are:
Africa by Toto
I hear the drums echoing tonight
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation
She’s coming in 12:30 flight
The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation
I stopped an old man along the way,
Hoping to find some long forgotten words or ancinet melodies
He turned to me as if to say, Hurry boy, it’s waiting there for you
CHORUS:
It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had
The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless longing for some solitary company
I know that I must do what’s right
As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serangetti
I seek to cure what’s deep inside, frightened of this thing that I’ve become
CHORUS
(Instrumental break)
Hurry boy, she’s waiting there for you
It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa, I passed some rains down in Africa
I bless the rains down in Africa, I passed some rains down in Africa
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had
Such an amazing beat, feeling and melody to this song. Listen to this and tell me you don’t feel like you can climb a mountain! If anyone has been to Africa, they will feel so close to this song and images of that beautiful yet heart wrenching place will come flooding back.
I will be taking on my biggest Adventure yet, Climbing Kilimanjaro for Alzheimer’s Australia NSW! I will Climb Kilimanjaro in honour of my Grandpa who passed away from Alzheimer’s in 2008. I was in Africa when I found out and I said at the time I would one day do this for him, in his memory! We are raising money for Alzheimer’s Australia NSW to raise awareness and the necessary funds for prevention of the disease that affects so many. Dementia is the third leading cause of death in Australia, after heart disease and stroke. We must prevent and find a cure as it’s not a normal part of aging, and does affect 100,000’s of Australians.
Help me reach my $10.000 target by donating to my online fundraising page:
http://my.artezpacific.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=357503&Lang=en-CA
KILI COUNTDOWN – 12 Days to go
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