Last Push

Africa - Day 9 - Tuesday October 1

We asked Bobos to wake us up at 7 but Evan was up at 6:20 and did his best to make sure Jamie and I were as well.  We dressed in the tent for the last time, packed our bags and made our way to breakfast.  We ate a quick breakfast and started the last sprint to the bottom.  The last day was an easy walk downhill.  It was supposed to take 3 hours but we decided to do our best to keep up with the porters.  We did the 5.27 mile, 5000 foot descent in just over 2 hours.  We beat most of the porters, which didn’t please our guides too much. 

Fortunately for us they sold beer at the bottom so we each enjoyed an almost cold beer as we waited for the crew to catch up.  We met up with another group that had been on the same itinerary as us.  One of the guys in the group was wearing everything Tough Mudder which helped strike up the conversation.  I asked them about their summit and their first words were “I had no idea it was going to be that hard.  It made Tough Mudder seem like an afternoon nap.”  We ended up hearing from at least three others about how much harder it was then they expected.

As we headed to our ride home, we were surprised to see the crew waiting for us.  The hood of the Land Cruiser had a picnic blanket on it along with a bottle of champagne, three flutes and three bottles of water.  They asked who was the youngest,,,, me,, and asked me to open the bottle.  I sent the cork across the parking lot and proceeded to fill the glasses with Champagne.  After that I handed the bottle to the crew.  They started signing songs and passing the bottle around the group taking big swigs from it after each handoff.  We celebrated and laughed until the rain started.  After some quick hugs and high-fives, we hopped in the trucked and headed home.

Shortly after leaving the park entrance we ran out of beer.  We decided to stop at a beer stand along the way and refill.  It turns out the average worker makes about $40,000 shillings a month ($30 us).  So, when we gave a tip of $10,000 shillings ($8 US), it was a big deal.  We stopped at a few more stands before finishing the 1.5 hour drive back.  We also stopped at a local farmers market.  After walking around for 30 minutes or so, we made a few purchases and then continued back to the lodge.  It was interesting to be such a showstopper.  We were told there weren’t many (any) white people that stop at that farmers market and that they were happy to have us there.

Back at the lodge we scheduled back-to-back massages.  Just to be clear, we weren’t back to back in the same room.  We each had one massage after the other.  There was only one masseuse and only one massage table at the lodge.  After that it was dinnertime.  We had previously scheduled to go out with our guide at a local BBQ spot.  We hired our concierge and lodge driver to join us.  It was about a 30 minute ride in to Arusha. 

In Arusha, we ended up on some bumpy dirt road that lead to this obscure BBQ place.  We met up with our guide and the 6 of us ate and drank all night (well, just until Evan and Jamie got sleepy, 8:30 PM).  We said our goodbyes, hopped in the van and headed back to the lodge.  That was it.  Our last day on the mountain ended in the city with all of us hanging out together.  It was hard to believe we had made it.  That it as all over.  That we succeeded.  I will never hike Kilimanjaro again but I’m happy to have done it this time.  My friends were amazing.  Our guide was amazing.  Our crew was amazing. My Wife’s support from 1000s of miles away was amazing.  It was an experience I/We will never forget.