We got up this morning for one last time in our tents a little more reluctantly than we had expected. First, the campsite was relatively warm and we both slept so well in our sleeping bags. It was also quiet since almost everyone was exhausted by 8pm last night after a long day. Second, we knew this was our last day with our Kili Brothers climbing family.
After a final delicious breakfast whipped up by Edward, our guides and porters performed a few songs and dances to celebrate our time together, and Erika and I joined in knowing a few of the tunes from our summit hike yesterday. After the celebration, we took a final picture with the guys before beginning our hike down to Mweka Gate.
(Masanja and Erika in the tent for breakfast)
(L to R: Top: Juma, Stephen, Jacob, Edward, Masanja, Magembe, Andrew, Paul. Bottom: Joseph, us, Priscus)
Our hike took about two and a half hours and the path took us down from Mweka Camp at 3100m to Mweka Gate to exit the park at 1640m. Over the 10km walk, we descended back into the lush Kilimanjaro rainforest and could hardly believe that just 24 hours ago we were trekking through icy, alpine desert.
We got to the gate around 10:45am, officially checked out of the park, and then took a van with our climbing team back to our hotel.
(L to R: Priscus, us, Joseph)
After some very necessary showers, we got packed for our safari which starts tomorrow morning. Before then, though, we met again with Joseph, Priscus, and others from Kilimanjaro Brothers for a celebratory drink. We’ll update from the safari as WiFi permits. Thanks for following along with our adventures!
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