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The weather threatened to rain while we were packing up camp, but finally decided to let us have 1 rain-free day, as we hiked down the rest of the Mweka trail to the entrance gate. It was a long 2 1/2 hours down the last 4,000 ft. Our bodies were aching from the day and night before. Even though the trail was relatively easy, there were many steps that we had to go down, our knees complaining all the while.
We had to walk another 10 minutes down to a small town where our driver would come pick us up. Moses had called our driver ahead of time, but we still ended up waiting about 45 minutes in this little village for him to come get us. We could see why it would take so long to get there, as the dirt road leading up to the village was muddy and washed out with deep trenches. It was interesting to watch the locals move about their daily life (after they had given up trying to sell us more souvenirs). One of the highlights was watching about 25 guys hauling a huge cut down tree through the dirt road using a long chain. Moses told us they were probably going to use it as part of a bridge somewhere down the road.
Back at the Impala, we checked in and got a nice room in a quiet section of the hotel. We rested up, washed all of our clothes in the sink, and then went down to the restaurant for a hearty dinner of Chinese food, pizza, and beer. It felt nice to actually have an appetite again and even better to be back on our own schedule with some much needed rest ahead of us. View Mt. Kilimanjaro Photo Gallery Day 69 - Mt Kilimanjaro < | Index | Photo Galleries | > Day 71 - Arusha © 2007 Blue Ocean Studios, LTD. All rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Services | About | Contact Prints | Return Policy | View Cart World Travel Galleries | World Travel Blog | Links |
We finally got some well needed sleep last night in the tent, although we are really looking forward to sleeping in a real bed at the hotel tonight! By now, we were thoroughly tired of the porridge, eggs, fruit combination for breakfast, but we succumbed to having to eat one last meal. Mario's stomach wasn't really feeling up to eating much of it - I think we are both just overtired and exhausted from the last several days. Looking back on our climb to the summit, it feels like it was a dream. Hiking in the dark for 7 hours kind of makes you feel like you didn't even really hike anywhere, because you didn't see anything around you. It was a weird feeling, but it was good to know that we actually made it after all of the effort. We found out that many of the people we had been hiking along with the past several days had made it to the top, but a few did not. 
Near the bottom, it flattened out a little, but by then, even the slightest decline in the trail would make my knees ache. We talked to two women from Sweden who did not quite reach the summit the night before - they turned around about 2/3 of the way to the top. What was even worse was that they had hired an English speaking guide (a requirement for guides here on the mountain), but when they arrived at the Machame gate to check in, the guide signed in and then turned them over to an unqualified non-English speaking guy who didn't even have his guide's license. They were rightfully upset at this scam and were planning on turning them both in to the company upon their return - hopefully they will get some of their money back, but you can't count on it. We were very thankful to have a qualified and English-speaking guide who genuinely cared about our safety on the mountain. 
We finally made it down to the base of the trail, where we signed in and received our certificates stating our achievement of climbing to the Uhuru point. There were many locals selling every souvenir possible. We didn't have any money left, but since Moses was already bringing us to the ATM in Moshi, he and Gaudence lent us $30,000 Tanzanian Shillings so we could purchase a few items. I bought a t-shirt (same one that Mario bought the night before at our campground), and 2 small banana leaf tapestries. Mario bought a medium-sized knife with a carved wooden handle and sheath made from Eucalyptus wood. 
We got on our way back to Arusha and said goodbye to Moses, Gaudence, and the porters. Along the ride back, we observed the daily activities along the road, which included planting in the fields, carrying water and produce along the road, tending to the goats/chickens/donkeys, and much more. It is interesting to point out that while we were looking forward to a nice soft bed and hot shower at the Impala Hotel, our guides and porters were going back to their homes without much more than what we had on the trail. They do not have running water, flush toilets, or hot showers - simply a community shared water well if they are lucky.