Springlands Hotel, Moshi

Yesterday I returned from my 7 day climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro. Skipping to the punch line, I made it to the top, 19,331 ft above Africa. And the journey up there was spectacular, although it was a little long and tiring. I left the Springlands Hotel in Moshi on July 12. We drove about an hour to the Machame Gate, which was at an altitude of about 1800 meters. I was supposed to be climbing with just my guide, Makupa, but there were two Danish guys (Henrick and his son, Rasmus) who I had met at t...

Recently, I along with my boyfriend, Jason, my best friend, Jennifer, and her boyfriend, Nick, went to Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro and embark on a four-day safari. We began planning for this trip in November 2007. The four of us are in our late 20's, are avid hikers and were looking to do some backpacking in a more exotic location. After considering other places such as Australia, Peru and Nepal, we decided to go to Tanzania. One reason was that Mount Kilimanjaro is the tallest mountain in ...

I woke up very early and had A WARM SHOWER! as I was getting collected to travel down to Moshi at 7am. I had a quick breakfast, finished packing, and arranged to leave a bag of clothes etc at the hotel in Nairobi until I return on the 9th. By half the taxi to take me to the bus station still hadn't arrived and I began to panic so got reception to give them a call. Fortunately they were about 2 minutes away, but stupidly I left my travel voucher and Kili voucher at reception. At the bus statio...

Hello All! Well, Chad and I arrived safe and sound and are staying outside of a little town called Moshi . The trip was easy. I seem to be able to sleep anywhere, at any time and both 8 hr flights raced by for me. We awoke this morning to Kilimanjaro looming over us. Whew. Not gonna be easy. Our short trip to town was eye-opening, breath-taking, shocking... I feel truly blessed. Our economy may not be in the greatest shape, but boy, could things be worse. We head out into the wilderness tomor...

Sunrise, and I was up to see it finally. Having slept well through the night - though FREEZING COLD with frost on the ground to measure the night's chill, I managed to capture a few beautiful shots of the vista from Horombo. Today would make of final day on Kilimanjaro, dropping down another 1,000 metres from the more than 2,000 lost the day before. Breakfast was relished by the crew this morning, and our anxiousness to get started was apparent. Our initial descent was at a break-neck speed f...

Well, today is the first day of the hardest segment of my trip.... at least, I think it is going to be the hardest part! Only time will tell. I awoke at the Springlands hotel, a virtual oasis in the middle of a dusty and chaotic town called Moshi. The town doesn't resemble anything we would recognize in Canada - ramshackle buildings, dusty roads, people, vehicles, animals mixing in the middle of the street. It was in fact a true Africa experience. It had been pointed out to me over the previo...