Kilimanjaro Climb Part 8 – Descent and Celebration

The previous entries in this Kilimanjaro Trip journal are the Introduction, Arrival in Moshi, To Machame Camp, To Shira Camp, To Barranco Camp, To Barafu Camp and To The Summit. Alice’s words (with the bare minimum of editing by me) will be in italics. My words will be in the usual font I use for these blog entries.

Today’s entry is Day 6 of the Kilimanjaro climb, the final day on the Machame Route. Day 6 includes the descent from Millennium Camp (3750m/12,305ft) to Mweka Gate (1800m/6000ft) and the celebration in Moshi.

Elevation Change: 1950 meters descending
Distance: 12 kilometers in 4 hours
Habitat: Heath and Moorland to tropical Montane Forest to Cultivated Land

Alice’s journal:

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April 5, 9:50 PM

Boy, I haven’t stayed up this late for days! I’m back at the Keys Hotel, writing my journal under my mosquito net. I’m still wearing my headlamp since I’ve grown accustomed to it and there are no functioning bed lamps.

Our climb is over and it was great. We had a day that started and ended very clear and sunny. In the middle of the day we had mist but no real rain.

The wakeup routine is always interesting. Camp is quiet and then one porter or the Guide yells. Then a bit more yelling, “Get up!" in Swahili and then the porter chatter starts. They start yelling and joking amongst themselves. John told us that this morning they were talking about the walk out with no rain. Soon after, a porter taps on my tent to wake me up (I’ve already been awake for an hour) and asks me how I’ve slept.

We broke camp at 8:00 AM and had one long fast downhill march for four hours. I got the impression they wanted to finish this climb.



With all this downhill plus yesterday’s downhill, the legs are taking a beating.

We arrived at Mweka Gate at noon, signed out, and John collected our "Uhuru Peak" certificates.

The Green Jeep was already loaded with our gear since the porters have beat us down by an hour. We all loaded into the jeep with two hanging off the back. The first kilometer of road was a mess. I have great respect for the Green Jeep now, it can make it through anything. We had a precarious situation with the Jeep sliding part way into the ditch. It took a bit of maneuvering but we finally crawled out and continued on.


The 30 to 45 minute drive to Moshi was via a more rural route and there was absolutely no piece of land that was not cultivated or housing. And people everywhere. Lots of people hand hoeing in the corn fields. Kids hanging out at the side of the road. Women carrying stuff on their heads. The communities near the mountain looked desperately poor. Conditions improved closer to Moshi.

We arrived at the Keys Hotel, showered, ate lunch, and then started our celebration. While I ate lunch I sent the bartender around to give the porters two rounds. Little did I know that the beer bottles are a lot larger than I’m used to and the porters had not eaten since 7:30 AM.

John orchestrated the ceremony. We all sat together on the patio and I ordered them a third round. John presented our certificates and they sang us the Kilimanjaro Song. They were very good. We thanked them and they thanked us. Maria and I had given John the tip money at lunch and he had distributed it while we were absent.



I laid out all my goodies (used clothing, pens, pencils, rain poncho, very dirty socks, 20-year old headlamp…) John called each porter up and distributed the stuff. Oddly enough he did not distribute it evenly at all. I believe he based it on how he valued the porters.

The party wrapped up and we said good bye. Our half-drunk porters were going to buy some chicken from a street stall for a late lunch and then catch buses for home.

After six great days, our climb is complete. I had initially figured my odds at summiting as being 50/50, but no problem, and I am so delighted. Our Guide was excellent, the porters so hard-working and sweet and Maria was a great climbing companion.

Hey, I’ve got to do more of this in my life.

The End