January 18th 2007

Walking Time 2:10 hours / Altitude Difference 3100 - 1700 m / Temperature morning 3° C, noon 20° C / No Rain, Fog, Snow, Sleet or Hail

Thank God for letting me get out of that tent – until the end of all time – I truly hope so…

We had lovely prepared butter toast with coffee for breakfast.

After breakfast we gave the crew clothing that we didn’t need or want anymore – wow, did we make them happy! We gave our guide the tip for the whole crew. He was to split it up correctly amongst them all and I guess everyone had agreed in doing it that way.

Today we left at 7:30 am to avoid long queues at the Mweka Gate where we were to get our certificates from the ascent. Deusi told me that I would be the guide today and said that I should lead us.

There were small groups of natives coming up our way while we walked through the jungle. They were all carrying poles that were about 4 meters long – no difference if they were tall or small – old or young. It was truly amazing because after sometime there were about 150 people who had walked past us! And then I remembered the hut they were working on at Camp Mweka. That was truly hard work but a truck would never have been able to drive up there. The most beautiful thing about all these people was that they smiled and greeted us, “Jambo, habari?" "Nzuri!" "Pori, pori" – Congratulations (for your ascent)! "Asante". And so we walked on having a wonderful feeling inside.

Tina who had done such a fantastic job ascending the mountain was a little precarious descending it. First she stumbled in the rain forest onto her knee, which wasn’t the worst thing to happen. At the Mweka Gate Tina went to a „real restroom“ and slipped on the wet tiles outside. She fell on her elbow which swelled up to the size of a baseball and then fell on her ass to get a bruise which would’ve made it to the Guinness Book of World Records.

We were the first ones to reach the Mweka Gate (give me enough air to breathe and I will  give you speed!) where we had to sign a lot of stuff until we finally received our certificates. Then we were driven back to our hotel – and boys and girls let me tell you – what a ride. Our driver said he was in hurry – he had other people waiting for him already. Well, it was quite astonishing to see the agility of the older people and children as they quickly jumped into the ditch beside the road – the driver did honk from time to time…

Back at our hotel we unpacked our luggage and took a cold shower – the goddamn boiler wasn’t working. At noon we went straight to the patio to celebrate our ascent! It was great – we had so much fun with the waitresses – learning more Swahili. We went to our room pretty early in the evening, had another whiskey without speaking much – because we weren’t able to anymore – and went to bed…

After one hour’s sleep the telephone rang and rang and rang. “Udo, answer it!” “No - I can’t and I don’t want to!” Then someone started banging on our door! “Udo do something!” “No – I can’t and I don’t want to!” “We're sleeping - go away!” So they left us alone. Tina was very excited – as for me, I just fell asleep again!

19. Januar 2007

The next morning I went to the reception’s desk and asked what was wrong – nothing – everything ok – ok! We spent the day packing our luggage and relaxing by the pool where we met an older couple from Germany. They had arrived late last night after attempting the ascent. They didn’t have any electricity in their room so they went to the reception’s desk and asked what was wrong. They were told that another guy had tried to reload his cell phone and had knocked off the fuse. The fuse box for the whole hotel had been put into a normal guestroom and the people who were sleeping there just wouldn’t open up! That’s why the couple had to move into another building. Well, I guess you know it by now – we were the guys that wouldn’t open up. But why in the world would anybody put the fuse box in a normal guestroom anyway – man, we had a great laugh over that one!

The drive to the airport was very impressing – it was the same taxi driver that had picked us up at the beginning. The Kilimanjaro showed itself one last time and we were sad that we had to leave. In our thoughts we relived our journey.

It was an unforgettable experience which has welded Tina and me together – more and more - forever..

The next morning I went to the reception’s desk and asked what was wrong – nothing – everything ok – ok! We spent the day packing our luggage and relaxing by the pool where we met an older couple from Germany. They had arrived late last night after attempting the ascent. They didn’t have any electricity in their room so they went to the reception’s desk and asked what was wrong. They were told that another guy had tried to reload his cell phone and had knocked off the fuse. The fuse box for the whole hotel had been put into a normal guestroom and the people who were sleeping there just wouldn’t open up! That’s why the couple had to move into another building. Well, I guess you know it by now – we were the guys that wouldn’t open up. But why in the world would anybody put the fuse box in a normal guestroom anyway – man, we had a great laugh over that one!

The drive to the airport was very impressing – it was the same taxi driver that had picked us up at the beginning. The Kilimanjaro showed itself one last time and we were sad that we had to leave. In our thoughts we relived our journey.

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