Day 9: Climb to Mweka Gate
Our climbers are waking up to their last day on the mountain. They’ll have their last breakfast in the mess tent and then start their trek. They’ll descend through the rainforest past towering trees and lush ferns to a hot lunch at Mweka Gate – where they’ll end their adventure on Mount Kilimanjaro.
MOUNTAIN ROUTE STATS
Starting elevation 13,000 feet
Ending elevation 6,000 feet
Elevation gain 7,000 feet
Distance hiked 7 miles
Average hiking time 5 hours
The final day on the mountain was filled with mixed emotions. We’re excited for a hot shower, relieved we summited and got down without any health problems, and we’re sad to say goodbye to the mountain and this team with whom we’ve spent so much time with the past week.
The hiking today was a very chill 4-hour hike through the rainforest. The energy was cheerful amongst all the hikers surrounding us, as oxygen filled our lungs as we went down the last ~6,000ft, and we were all trying to soak in our last moments with Kilimanjaro. When we got to the bottom—Mweke Gate— we signed our names to signify our completion of the climb.
From there, with our muddy gaiters and boots still on, we piled into our bus with the rest of our team and drove to the village of Kilimanjaro, where we shopped around and ate our last meal served by Meshack. The ride home was about 3 hours. We made some stops along the way to drop some members of our team off closer to their homes before we arrived at Mt. Meru Hotel and said our final goodbyes to the rest of the team. What a journey it’s been together! Despite some language barriers, we bonded through smiles, dancing, acts of service, and supporting each other up and down the mountain.
After we arrived, we took our long-awaited hot showers before John Simon and Chris joined us for one final dinner at the hotel, where John presented us with our certificates of completion. We listened to more great stories about their time on Kilimanjaro, expressed our gratitude for each other, and said our goodbyes again.
We are so grateful for this experience—photos and words will never be able to describe how amazing our time on Kilimanjaro was, but the memories will live in our hearts forever. Back to reality we go! Pamoja pamoja.