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“Just keep swimming… just keep swimming……swimming……swimming”

-  Dory in “Finding Nemo”

 

 

 

Stats for the day:

  • Hike Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate, 10000 to 6000 feet
  • Descend approximately 6 miles
  • Loss of 4000 vertical feet
  • Rain forest zone

 

The day started as usual with breakfast and packing.  It was damp and muddy but not raining (yet).  We had been teasing Dismas about getting us Swahili nicknames but he kept forgetting.  So this morning he arrives at the mess tent and we ask about the names.  He laughs and disappears to get input from the other guides.  Here’s what they came up with:

Roger and Sharon are still Babu and Mama respectively. 

Jane:  Mayai – egg woman; somewhat fragile

Marsh:  Simba – strong as a lion (Note:  I'm missing part of this name, sorry Marsh.)

Mick:  Makalili – big yakker, talker; perfect! - says it all in one word!

Jo Ann:  Vodacom – the name of Tanzania’s biggest cell phone provider, “beautiful phone” as Dismas put it.  I couldn’t believe I was named after a phone, especially since I don’t even have a cell phone!!!  (Note:  I have a cell phone now, maybe I was motivated to live up to my new name!)  Dismas told me later that it was also for “good communicator”.  The names were (and still are) fun!

 

Our last breakfast:  on the left - Roger, Mick, Sharon; on the right - Marsh, Jane, Stanley (our cook's assistant)

 

Jane and Roger started hiking a little after 8 with Paschal.  The rest of us started down about 8:20.  We enjoyed the first section through the rain forest until it actually lived up to its name and started raining, then pouring!

 

Breaking down the last camp

 

Some big trees in the rain forest

 

Sharon and Marsh before the rain

 

Porters moving down with heavy loads

 

More porters

 

Marsh and Sharon waiting for rain

 

  We put on rain jackets but got completely soaked anyway.  Once the rain started the pace picked up and then Dismas decided to go faster and I just stayed with him.  We caught up with a guy from South Carolina who had injured his knee on the Machame Route and was being helped down by a guide and a porter.  When I mentioned that I was from Colorado, the guide said that he had visited Colorado; small world!  We joked about the Colorado mountains being so much smaller than this one big African mountain of Kilimanjaro!  Dismas and I also caught up with Jane, Roger and Paschal and continued haraka, haraka until the bottom, about 10-15 minutes later.  Still pouring….we were all completely soaked…I changed from very wet tights into my rain pants (yes, really, don’t ask why I wasn't wearing them earlier!) for the ride out. 

 

The rain, though dramatic, made the end of our climb rather anti-climatic.  All of us were very glad that we had this weather on the last day instead of the first day!!  We signed out with the rangers and Mick and I bought some maps and guidebooks. 

 

At the ranger station:  Roger in red on the left, Mick in green on the right; the guy sitting in the middle is from South Carolina, mentioned earlier

 

As usual, some guys were hanging around trying to sell us stuff in the rain – by the time we got in our vehicle to leave, the t shirts were down to $7.00!  We decided to wait, I think all of us were just happy to be in a dry vehicle!  The drive out was another steep, rocky and muddy one!  At one point our driver had to back up the hill to let a truck going uphill get by!  The drive went by some villages and past a huge coffee plantation.  Everything was lush and green and pretty.  I wish we could have taken some pictures.  Soon we were back on pavement and quickly back to Moshi.  The rain stopped as we reached lower elevation. 

 

When we got to Springlands at about 12:30, the staff served us juice as a welcome and then we checked in.  Everything was wet!  Sorted out the wet stuff and hung a lot on the balcony railings. 

 

 

Decided it was easier to have the wettest stuff, including my wet and muddy duffel, laundered.  The main power was out so no hot water!  Jane went ahead and took a cold shower.  Mick, Sharon and I decided to wait and take a chance that we would get hot water soon.  So we went to lunch grubby, what else is new?  Lunch was great, spaghetti with a vegetable/tomato sauce, salad, and bananas.  Several of the young women on the wait staff sang for us – 2 Swahili songs – Jambo and Kilimanjaro!  They love to sing and had huge smiles the entire time!

 

Zainab, the woman who heads up Zara, came over to talk with us, and, she is impressive!  Very organized and aware of what’s going on.  After offering us a round of drinks, she told us a little about Zara.  In the rainy months of April/May which is downtime for the business, she has training for the porters and the guides take English classes etc.  She also started a porter cooperative, kind of like a bank, to which both she and the porters contribute.  The money is then distributed to them during the slow months.  There truly is an effort to take care of the porters; Marsh mentioned that he had filled out a questionnaire that included a question about porter abuse. 

 

Zainab, heading towards the reception area

 

After lunch, (still no hot water), we met the woman who handles laundry and she promised to have it back tomorrow!  Then, Dismas came back to sign and hand out our summit certificates.  This was the official end to our climb! 

 

Mick & Dismas with summit certificate 

 

Dismas & Marsh 

 

Dismas & Babu Roger 

 

Me, Dismas, Sharon, Mick 

 

We had all given Marsh money for tips for the guides and porters, which he gave to Dismas to divvy up.  We also gave some gear to Dismas, to be shared as he wanted.  My giveaways included a pair of Tevas (lots of memories with those shoes, and I hope new memories are being created in Tanzania!), overmitts and fleece mittens, water bottles, and the pair of convertible pants (the kind with zip off pant legs to create shorts) that I wore for all but summit day and the last day.  I thought they were incredibly dorky and figured that I would never wear them again!  Sharon gave hers away too!!!  We are girls – dorkiness does not work for us J! 

 

Enjoying the afternoon at the "bar"

 

Dismas gave Jane and Roger a ride into Moshi to go to the bank and post office.  Roger became our official money changer.  While they were gone I got tired of waiting for hot water and took a shower anyway – it’s awesome to be clean!!  Spent the rest of the afternoon on our favorite balcony watching the “Moshi parade” pass by.  The road in front of Springlands is dirt and has a constant variety of traffic – cars, bicycles, cattle, goats, people walking.  Very entertaining.  The kids wave and yell jambo. 

 

 

 

At one point a rainbow formed right across from us.  No view of Kilimanjaro.  The constant clouds hiding the mountain remind me of a quote from The Little Prince:   “I have always loved the desert.  One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing.  Yet through the silence something throbs and gleams……What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.”

 

 

 

This balcony is one of those places that I could sit and stay forever, reading, writing, watching…I will always remember it.

 

Around 7:30 we have dinner.  For me the best part of Springlands dinners is the soup and appetizer.  Tonight’s appetizer is half an avocado with a salsa in the center.  I could have eaten like 3 of them and I think Sharon would have joined me!  Otherwise, dinner included pork, deep fried fish sticks, Moshi version of pizza, various veggies…Got to bed around 9:30 – late, by our mountain standards! 

 

A new journey starts tomorrow - first a rest day to spend around Moshi and then safari time!  The climb of Kilimanjaro was incredible and I'm looking forward to seeing more of Tanzania.  

 

"The world is not yet exhausted; let me see something tomorrow which I never saw before"

- Samuel Johnson

 

 

"Life isn't a matter of milestones but of moments"    -Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy

 

 

 

Continue to: Rest Day Before Safari 

 

 

 

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