Kili Day 7 – Homeward bound.

Distance Travelled: 21.3km down (Total: 31.2km up 37km down + 10km acclimatisation)

Altitude Gained: 0m (Total: 3390m + 660m acclimatisation) Highest point: 5895m.

The 'blood wagon', the quick way down!

Today was our ‘walk out of the park’. It is easy to overlook the beauty of such a leg, particularly when you start at 6am and only want to sleep! Whilst we had done what we came to do, it really was a fantastic walk through the lower 3 of the 5 tiers of the Mountain. It certainly lives up to its claim to be a wonder of the natural world in my opinion. My only one quibble with that statement is one of rubbish. It is such a great shame, but Mount Kilimanjaro, one of the most beautiful places on the planet, has become yet another human rubbish tip. Litter is strewn across the mountain and when you start looking for it you see it everywhere. Plastic, cigarette buts, juice cartons, even at the top there are disposed of hand warmers aplenty. It is such a shame. And it is also something that I think should be urgently addressed. Perhaps an extra $10 per person on the entry fee (already very high, an extra $10 would not be noticed) for environmental management would be money well spent. For the first few years it could fund a huge number of jobs for the clean-up programme (even ‘good’ wages are tiny here). Then after that time, additional rangers could inspect campsites and encourage a culture of taking all rubbish off the mountain (including any extra you might find).

Unique tree / shrub things!

We descended the mountain via a different route, and it was fabulous. On the lower tiers we were treated to a number of close encounters with monkeys and some of the very unusual vegetation unique to Mount Kilimanjaro was fascinating. Today we walked 21.3km and as I write this, I am again blown away by the efforts of my 11 year old. 23.3Km! Yes it was downhill, but 23.3km and the paths were often very challenging. We chatted constantly for the entire descent (mainly about her proposed bantam rare-breeds chicken breeding business!). Such a fantastic way to spend time. The main low point of the day for me came with the requirement for ‘tips’. I absolutely hate this culture, whereby you pay a huge amount of money for your trip, but are then expected to effectively pay the team that takes you (they only receive a very rudimentary salary) on top of it. We are far from plush with cash and this makes the process all the harder. I gave them what I felt I could (and by the salaries paid in Muheza, a vast sum for 7 days) but I knew it would be disappointing. On the way down, I did remember my ‘emergency dollars’ and decided that it was only right to give each of our guides some of those funds – they did after all get me to the top and also carry my daughter down from the ridge to base camp.

Blue monkey (?s)!

And then that is it. We arrived at the main entrance to the mountain and were treated to a fantastic lunch of ‘chipsy mayai’ (chip omelette – it really is delicious). The van was packed and off we went. An absolutely amazing adventure. Not least because I realised I had switched off from everything else for the last 7 days.

We stopped to buy some t-shirts and a round of beers for the team (most don’t drink so its was mainly soda, I however enjoyed enormously my bottle of Kilimanjaro – how very appropriate and a truly fantastic lager).

I write this at the ‘hotel’ we are staying at. The Honey Badger Lodge, a brilliant find by my wife and I would highly recommend it. Whilst outside of the centre of Moshi, it has a lovely swimming pool and the best showers I have found so far in Tanzania, and I certainly needed one! Although we were dedicated in our daily flannel wash in our tent, actually feeling clean is delightful!

So tomorrow, it is the bus back to Muheza and I suspect it will be back to work with a bang on Wednesday. I know the team are waiting for me. It has been such a great break and an incredible adventure.

A well deserved way to finish!