What Do You Dream About?

"My guide, Kefas, and I bonded that week on the mountain. We "adopted each other." He became my son, and as a bonus, I got grandchildren! In 2022 I met Joe and Judy and my daughter-in-law Anita. The adventure continues..."

 Author's Message:
When we come face to face with the truth that we are mortal and our time is short, this is when we begin to find meaning. Thoreau said most of us lead lives of "quiet desperation." Do not succumb to quiet desperation, living for temporary pleasure and small emotional return. The intersection between destiny and desire is risk. Be willing to risk! Find your sauti ya ndani. ​And journey on.
​​Michele

Everyone has a dream, a secret plan, a fantasy. Michele Mattingly had a dream at four. She dreamed of Africa.
It took fifty years but that dream was fulfilled on the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro. 
In her book Before the Empress, Michele catalogues her journey and the transformational experience that changed her world.
Alone in a foreign land, with a stranger on a deserted mountain--in a place without phone, services, or even other climbers, Michele came face to face with herself and discovered her Sauti Ya Ndani, the voice of the mountain. 
"You never know the circumstances that will bring you to your destiny. If I had not traveled alone I would most likely never have gotten my messages, nor bonded with Kefas. All of the circumstances that brought me to the summit were the ones that changed my life."

January 2022 The Return January 2022

In the tradition of Eat, Pray, Love and Wild, Before the Empress: Messages from Mount Kilimanjaro chronicles one woman’s journey up a mountain and into her soul.