Royal Crown Hotel Kilimanjaro National Park

... to find it delayed by 2 hours. So after flying for only 40 mins and just seeing the tip of Mt Kilimanjaro I landed at Kilimanjaro International Airport. Picked up by my own personal driver and driven to what I thought was going to be my hotel - Bristol Cottages. But they had overbooked so I ended up in the family run hotel of Keys Hotel, which is just what you really need both before and after a climb anyways.

Met my Lead Guide Harold, who gave some ...

... feel that they are just putting on a show. Ally arranged the visit however during the once a month Maasai market. We hiked to market with some of the Maasai and once they got out of their home, they became much more genuine. The market and the comradary was defintitely the highlight that day. The Hadzabe visit did appear to be very genuine. They definitely were interested in going on a hunt and had good success shooting birds with their arrows ...

... to purses in the gift shops, murals of local game and more. Very clever.

The greeting committee consisted of a variety of primates, mostly black-faced vervet, cute little critters that we were warned could cause mischief. Our friend Stephanie soon learned first hand. She stepped out the back door of her room to take a picture and a little monkey swept in and scavenged her cashews and potato chips. She and Carol screamed as ...

... I can't remember the last time I saw so many of them...the whole sky was filled with thousands of them. It was pretty friggin cold though with a strong wind blowing against our tent. I slept with all my clothes and double bagged my sleeping bad with the one they lent me.

Had to go to the bathroom at 3 AM and man was it cold...serious shrinkage but again was struck by the beauty of the stars at this altitude.

Day 3

The hike today was really ...

... a little concerned when I couldn’t actually find the clinic in Abu Dhabi but all my fears were allayed upon meeting the doctor. I passed lung function tests with flying colours and my blood pressure and heart rate were well below average for my age, weight and height. I left the clinic thinking the Mountain would be a walk in the Park, Kilimanjaro National Park that is.

The next hurdle was overcoming my massive phobia of needles to get my yellow fever injection. After ...

... National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, and Serengeti National Park. The airport styles itself as "the gateway to Africa's wildlife heritage".

... but none of the gudes seems to be bothered by this. It's too muddy, so the buss can't make it to the gate, so we have to get off, get our gear (we are fortunate to only carry the small day packs, the rest is carried by te porters) and walk the next 1 km to the gate. By the time we register, pay the park fees and have lunch it's already 12:30 pm. The first day's hike is not too bad - only 4.5 hours. The youngsters start running ahead, I made my first and only mistake trying to keep ...

... crammed into it...I opt for hanging out of the sliding door with the conductor as someone has been sick on the only available seat, the bus picks up speed and soon all I can hear is the wind in my ears... The dala-dala weaves in and out of the two lane highway, past motobikes and donkey carts, past fenced in compounds where more mzungus probably live, stopping at polytech schools that resemble prisons... Women in colourful kangas and calipso music ...

... it would
be around $1,300). Anyway, so we decided to go ourselves, instead of
with a tour company, and get a guide there. Friday night we slept at
Kibo Hotel in Merengu (the neighboring village), where Jimmy Carter
stayed in August of 1988, though this is proclaimed upon entrance of
the hotel, as though it happened the week before. It is surprising that
there is not a small statue of the man, and actually when we asked to
see the room ...

... mocht gebruiken om wat kleren te wassen. Volgens
mij vonden ze het maar raar dat ik dat zelf wilde doen, en niet liet doen.
Soms wel frustrerend hoor, dan hoor je wel dat ze het over je hebben (muzungu
= buitenlander / blanke), maar je weet niet wat precies.

Ik kwam een Nederlandse jongen tegen die hier 3 maanden in een ziekenhuis
heeft gewerkt en vrij vloeiend Swahili spreekt, was ik wel een ...