We made it. So, a big thanks first up to all of those who were keeping our safety and health in your prayers - we certainly needed it!

Those of you who know me well know that I'm a geek for learning so, as per usual, I decided to look for what I could learn out of this epic mish… and here are a few things I came up with, things that the climb to the summit of Africa taught me, or, at the very least, reminded me:

- 6 days and 5 nights straight in the same Icebreaker lead to a shirt that's not quite odourless, but is remarkably low odour when compared with, say, cotton. (Big ups to taina Rach for acting as the control in her cotton shirt to scientificise the experiment! Turns out about two days in that could be worse than six in an Icebreaker.)

- mum snores.

- if people tell you you've only got a 50% chance of making it up the mountain because, unlike them, you're not dosing up on Diamox, let it be a challenge to you, and beat the odds.

- if you think you've got it bad carrying 3 litres of water plus a bunch of warm and wet-weather gear in your day pack, think of the porters: they carry their own pack on their back and up to 15 extra kilograms of your stuff… often on their heads!

- don't be fooled by a cruisy first 4 days … the fifth day starts at midnight with a steep 6-hour uphill climb plus a 1-hour walk through snow to the peak, then several more hours walking back down to the hut in the middle of the mountain.

- at temperatures of -15C, 6 layers on the top and 4 on the bottom will keep you warm… but 3 on each of your hands and feet won't.

-my mum - now dubbed Mama Barabara, or just Mama - and my sister Rach are two of the toughest women I know: they kept on pressing on even though suffering from altitude sickness or stomach pains on a hike that was tough enough even for those of us who were a box of birds.

And finally, how to scam a mzungu - using just a stick and a chameleon - in 7 easy steps:

1. Find stick.
2. Find chameleon.
3. Put chameleon on stick.
4. Poke stick in through window of any van full of mzungus pretending to be selling the chameleon.
5. Shake stick so chameleon "accidentally" falls off into the van.
6. While the mzungus panic and all eyes are on the chameleon, grab their stuff.
7. Run.