Today was another early start, though we crashed early last night so we had more than 10 hours of great sleep. After breakfast and packing up camp, we were sung the Kilimanjaro Song; a tradition among porters & guides for all who climb the mountain to congratulate their success(or maybe reconcile them if they couldn’t make it?). The song is sung in swahili, and proceeds through each of the campsites we visited during the climb. It was at this point that it really sunk in – Mission Accomplished.
We left Mweka Camp at around 8 AM, and had a 3 hour light descent back to Mweka Gate which we got to in 2 hours. We were able to get some final looks at Kilimanjaro on the way back to the gate. It was so far away and so high up that we couldn’t really believe we were up there 24 hours previously. Turns out you can go pretty far on your own legs in just a day.
Once at the gate it was a 30 minute drive back to the Mountain Inn, where we were awarded certificates for successfully completing our climb(hand signed, not photocopied, by the Tanzanian government!). We shaved, showered(yes, we had hot water!!! and it felt so guuuuud), and Rushi had some Kilimanjaro beer at the restaurant. I also tried it and felt that it was the best tasting alcohol I’ve ever had. It tasted like Victory…but I’d still rather have a Coke.
We caught a cab to town & stopped by a curio shop for souvenirs. I really wanted to buy some Tanzanite, an Azure Rare Gem found only at the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro, but after discovering that it costs as much as diamond, I decided against it. We then headed over for lunch at, where else but that Indian place we went to on the first day? Despite our chef’s great skills’, we were happy to have a proper lunch. Afterward, we went back to that Union Cafe coffee house where we had celebratory cakes(that were pretty stale actually). Still, nothing felt better than just sitting outside and relaxing in chairs…a luxury we didn’t have on the mountain.
Back at the Inn we intended to pack for tomorrow’s Safari, but this didn’t happen as we promptly crashed on our beds and got some awesome sleep.
At this point, we would like to sincerely thank our guides Faustin & Richard, as well as the porters that assisted us on the climb. They were excellent guides who made the experience a wholly positive one, and we recommend Shah Tours to anyone thinking of climbing Kilimanjaro, especially since they accommodated our unusual request of carrying all of our gear ourselves; something other tour groups did not allow.
Continue to the Tanzanian Safari
IMPORTANT! Click on any of the pictures below to go to the full photo/video album for Day 9. We highly recommend clicking on the “show info” button at the top right of the album page if you’d like to see our description of each picture. Also when videos play, be sure that the HD box on the bottom right is lit, or the video will look terrible!
(Note: If you are clicking through the pictures manually, be aware that there is a Flickr bug that causes a video to play if you’re looking at the picture preceding the video). We apologize for the inconvenience, but you can mute the audio if it gets annoying.
Planetary Muffin Expeditions 