Tanzania: One Last Time

Well, what goes up, must come down.  We set out from Moshi on January 26th and set to return back to Moshi and the Stella Maris Lodge on February 2nd.

I woke up well rested on our last morning of the trek.  It would be the last time sleeping in the tent and in the sleeping bag...and thank goodness!  It was starting to really smell in there.  Turns out a week hiking, with no showers, wearing the same clothes, and dealing with rain leads to some smelly people.  It was our last meal in camp together. :(

After breakfast the entire group gathered together.  All 9 of us clients, our guides, and all the staff who helped us that week.  We had some last words and basically told them all how awesome they were because knew there was no way we would have gotten anywhere near the summit, let alone to the top, without them.  We announced what tips everyone would be receiving.  This way they would have an idea of what sort of income to expect, and they knew they wouldn't be cheated by anyone.  I hadn't mentioned it thus far, but we actually had 2 female porters in our team.  Nearly all of the porters you see on the mountain are men.  Being a female porter is a big deal.  So way to go ladies for being awesome!

On the way up to the summit we followed the Lemosho trail, but on the way down it was the Mweka route we followed.  The Mweka route is used almost exclusively for going down the mountain, or for porters taking up fresh food supplies to the Karanga and Barafu camps.  It was obviously a lot of downhill.  I took a large dose of ibuprofen to keep my knees from wanting to kill me and down we went.

The first part was rocky and not a ton of fun.  Joseph, I believe it was, said that during the rainy season, that part of the trail becomes a stream.  It stayed that way from the Millennium Camp down to the Mweka Camp.  Had we had any remaining energy left the night before, we could have continued down to the Mweka Camp and slept in on the last morning.  No thank you!  Barely made it to the Millennium Camp.

We had some last Swahili lessons on the downhill trek between the two camps from Simon.  We had some last views of Kilimanjaro.  We had some last pee breaks on the side of the trail in the bushes.  We had some last songs...namely the one about missing our beds and our showers.

After we hit the Mweka Camp, the trail moved back into rainforests and more of a semi-muddy sort of trail.  The rain then started and it really got muddy.  Not a hard rain, but just one that was enough to make the trails more muddy.

We eventually hit the end of the trail trail, and the last maybe half to one mile of trail was on an emergency road.  Every time we came around a bend we thought, we must be almost there!  But then there was more road.  Finally we could see a sign that said "Congratulations! Bon Voyage!"  We had made it!!!  We were exhausted, but we had made it.  We signed out at the gate and got certificates saying we had successfully summitted Kilimanjaro (Alex unfortunately didn't get one).  We celebrated with beer, Cokes, and Joseph with his Sprite.

We then boarded the bus and head to a small center just a few miles away.  We had our last lunch provided by Peak Planet and got to wander through the gift shop.  Then it was back on the bus to the lodge where we got a joyous welcome back!  They had juice for us and led us to our rooms.  We met up real quickly to say final goodbyes to our guides and turn in any gear we had rented (sleeping bags in mine and Alex's case).  Then the showers were calling to us!  Nothing had every felt me glorious than that shower.  Except it couldn't be as hot as I had wished because my face was horribly sunburned from the day before.  But still, a shower felt wonderful.

The group had planned to meet up for one last meal together that evening.  We went into Moshi to a restaurant that was an odd mix of Indian and Italian food.  It was exactly what we needed.  And amazingly cheap ($120 for 10 people!!).  Emmanuel even met us there.  He was heading out the next day for another trip up the mountain!  Everyone said their goodbyes that night.  Alex, Jay, and I were heading back home the following day, but the rest were heading out on safari.

The following day I slept until waking up, which was nice.  It was a Monday so you could hear the school children at the Stella Maris School doing their lessons.  We took it easy and packed.  In the evening we headed for the airport.

Our flight left Arusha at 9:35 pm, with a quick stop over in Dar Es Salam (we didn't get off), before heading to Amsterdam.  I resigned myself to the fact I wasn't going to sleep most likely, so just watched a bunch of movies.  We had a layover in Amsterdam, before heading to Detroit.  Because the Covid-19 coronavirus ordeal had exploded while we were on the mountain, we were questioned before boarding the plane about if we had recently been to China.  They even checked our passports for visas from China.

In Detroit we made it through customs.  Alex learned that if you tell a customs agent that you had come from Tahn-zahn-yah, he will look at you blankly before he realizes you are saying Tan-zu-ni-yah.  For your info, Tahn-zahn-yah is the correct pronunciation per our guides, so I'll trust that they are correct.  Our flight from Detroit to Chicago was late and the two of us nearly fell asleep at the gate.  In Chicago, after getting some food, I found an out of the way place at my gate and slept on the floor for over an hour.  By the time I got home, I had been in transit for over 36 hours.  I was exhausted!  Thank goodness I didn't have to go into work the next day.

Despite Alex not making it up Kilimanjaro, I'd say it was a successful trip.  We had a great time and made a bunch of new friends from around the country and in Tanzania.

Can you believe I climbed that mountain?!?!