Day 11 and Day 12

We have had a very relaxed day today. We had a leisurely breakfast on the terrace and then went through our paperwork with regard to the cost of all the equipment we had supplied to the schools so far. After which we just chilled in the garden for a bit.

Below is a photo of the classroom used by the girls studying here.



And this is the house within the grounds where the girls live.

It was really hot today so around midday we walked down to the Keys Hotel for lunch and a swim. Lunch was good and the swim was very welcome. 

However by mid afternoon the clouds built up and there was a heavy downpour so we decided to retreat to the covered bar area for a drink and once the rain had passed we then walked back to the B&B.

When we walked in through the gate, Pete noticed one of the ladies from the kitchen laying out the homemade tagliatelle in the sun ready for cooking this evening. She was very happy for me to take her photo once she had checked she looked ok and found her hat!

Tomorrow is Sunday and we have decided to a day hike on Kilimanjaro which means an early start so we spent this evening sorting ourselves out for that and then chatting with another couple staying here. While we were sat having a pre dinner drink we had some really clear views of Kilimanjaro.

Day 12

Today we were up early as we were climbing Kilimanjaro!!.....well a bit of it any way!

We had arranged a day hike from Marangu Gate to the Mandara Hut which was a distance of 8km. We then carried on a little further to the Maudi Crater. The hike was pretty much up hill all the way, we climbed around 1000m reaching a height of over 2720m.

We spent most of the day walking through the rainforest which gave us plenty of shade but we still got very hot. We did see a few monkeys and tree hyrax but hardly any birds which was a bit disappointing. We also passed a few waterfalls but these were fairly small as the rainy season hasn’t really started yet.

So as you can tell from this photo below we were pretty hot and sweaty by the time we reached Mandara Hut.

We had to register at the hut and then we walked a little further on to the crater. We decided to walk around the rim of the crater rather than down into it and were rewarded with some good views. We stopped and ate our packed lunch on the crater rim.

Below is  Mawenzi Peak (Kilimanjaro’s second peak).

We could also see Lake Chala and across to Kenya.

Once we had finished lunch we carried on walking round the rest of the rim and then back down to Mandara Hut.

After this we continued on back down the mountain, back to Marangu Gate. We were quicker going down, we did it in about 2 and 3/4 hours. 

The whole hike had been quite hard work at times and you had to keep walking at a reasonable pace to make sure you completed it by around 5pm. Peter and I both agreed that we were pleased to have done the hike but wouldn’t bother to repeat it.......and we won’t be climbing any further up Kilimanjaro in the future. However I did do over 36,000 steps today!!

Once we were back at More Than A Drop we had a celebratory G&T, then a well needed shower before dinner and retiring to bed.

Tomorrow we are back to spending time with ACTT and the schools.