Two Butler women had different experiences during a recent trip to Africa that included climbing the 19,300-foot Mount Kilimanjaro and camping in Serengeti National Park.

For Sandy Ihlenfeld, executive director of the YMCA in Butler and an experienced hiker and world traveler, the trip was challenging but fun and exhilarating.

Dee Ann Demby, an instructor and trainer at the YMCA, relied on faith and determination to fight through severe muscle cramps in her legs to see the country of her ancestors. She summarized the two and a half week adventure as “returning to Africa.”

Speaking and showing slides of their trip to a gathering of women Saturday at the Women's Christmas Tea at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 420 N. Main St., Ihlenfeld and Demby said they had wanted to visit Africa for a long time.

“I didn't want to go as a missionary,” Demby said. “I wanted to be invisible. I wanted to taste it. I wanted to smell it.”

They left for Mount Kilimanjaro and Serengeti National Park, located in the Eastern African nation of Tanzania, Oct. 6 and returned Oct. 23.

Ihlenfeld said 68% of Tanzania's population of 57 million lives in poverty and 32% are malnourished.

More than 100 tribes exist in the arid country just south of the equator.

Demby had never been there before, but the people she met seemed familiar.

“I knew all these faces,” she said.

The people were poor, but the children were happy and worked to help their families survive, she said.

On the first day of the hike up Mount Kilimanjaro, the temperature at the base of the mountain was 85 degrees. At the summit, the temperature was -10 degrees, Ihlenfeld said. The hike lasted eight days including a 17-hour walk back down the mountain on the last day.

“I have never been that dirty my entire life,” Demby said.

A group of guides carried camping gear and food for Demby, Ihlenfeld and a few of Ihlenfeld's friends, who also are experienced hikers. The guides carried packs weighing 50 to 60 pounds on their heads and backs up and down rugged, rocky trails.

The hikers and guides stopped at several camps on the way up the mountain.

Demby said that even though she trained for the hike, the going was extremely difficult. For inspiration, she said she thought about how slaves survived ocean crossings in the hulls of ships and how Native Americans survived walking the Trail of Tears across the United States. She said Ihlenfeld also provided support.

“We made it because my friend said we can do this and we can do this together,” Demby said.

Ihlenfeld was in her comfort zone.

“I'm comfortable being uncomfortable,” she said.

By the second day of the climb, Demby said leg cramps forced her to take a slower pace than the rest of the group, but a guide stayed with her.

Although the hike was the most difficult one Ihlenfeld said she has attempted, she loved it.

“I could have stayed out there another month I would be happy,” she said.

“Summit day,” the hike from the last camp to the mountain peak, began at 11 a.m. the previous day. It was cold, even by Ihlenfeld's standards.

She said her hands felt like they were frozen and she had difficulty using her climbing poles. She said many hikers from other groups became ill on the trek to the summit.

“It was the cold. It was the dark. It was the rock,” said Demby, who stopped short of the summit.

The pair reunited for the climb back down.

After the descent, the group stayed one night at a hotel before spending the rest of the trip tent camping in the Serengeti.

Ihlenfeld and Demby said they heard lions at night, and they were not allowed to leave their tent at night because of the dangerous animals that lurked about.

“It wasn't a vacation. It was an adventure,” Demby said.