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
JOURNAL ENTRY BY ROD LONG
The final day on Kilimanjaro started with each of us quietly laying in our tents with the recognition this was the last day of this amazing yet humbling adventure. Processing all we had experienced over the last six days, including achieving the highest point in the African continent was surreal to say the least. The sounds outside our tents transitioned from peaceful quite to the joyful conversations in Swahili of our guides and porters as they enjoyed the final few hours on the mountain before they would be paid for there week of caring for us and return to their loved ones. The excitement in their final preparations was clearly evident to us and we couldn’t hesitate be excited along with them. The rugged, experimental speaker system Keener brought on this trip was immediately put to use by Gabriel and tunes by Bob Marley and local Tanzanian talent started to echo throughout our high Moorland camp sight (3,800m / 12,467ft). Of course, dancing by our porters including Mountain Lion, immediately ensued. To further describe the site, this was the first time in five days since we had small trees scattered across the camp, giving the area a pleasant and slightly protected from the elements essence. When we stepped out of our tents into the crisp, dry and oddly windless morning, we could see the majestic, snow capped mountain top behind us above the short green trees and contrasted beautifully by the light blue morning sky. As we looked down the mountain, we could see a blanket of fluffy white clouds a good distance below us that we would eventually walk through this morning. After a quick breakfast of porridge, French toast, eggs, sausage and fruit, we prepared our day packs for the final descent. We took one final team picture with the peak in the background and started on the well defined trail down the mountain. As we started what should be a five hour walk to Mweka Gate (1,625m / 5,364ft), a total descent of just over 7,000ft, we knew we would be transitioning from Mooreland through Heather and through the Rain Forest zones almost to the Cultivation zone at the Mweka Gate. Our legs had been challenged by the exertion of the previous days and were about to be put to another significant challenge 99% downhill. Like a reverse stair stepper, we side stepped thousands of times to the point our quads, gluts and calves were getting the painful test of a lifetime. The 1% of flat terrain was a short lived treat that made each of us look forward to home were walking on flat ground is the norm and not the exception. Interestingly, the pace most of us set finally allowed us to keep up with and even occasionally pass some of the porters. It was both odd and humorous to both us and the porters that this was happening! As before, the time walking together allowed us to get to know each other in a deeper and more meaningful way. Fathers and sons and new old friends taking full advantage of this blissful leg pain we don’t often get to experience back home. As usual through the entire week, the weather changed frequently and unpredictably on our descent. Picking a single set of clothing one needs for an entire day is common back home. Simply making sure tops and bottoms match, are somewhat fashionable and feel comfortable is enough before we head out the door. It would be funny to watch someone in Atlanta , Dallas or Houston walking around with a daypack with multiple clothing options, snacks, essential toiletries for that unanticipated “movement” and a first aid kit to account for blisters, etc. but this had become part of our week until the very last day. It was sunny and crisp at the start, cold and wet through the clouds, drizzly and warm in the rain forest and cloudy but dry at the camp. Walking down the muddy trail through the rain forest was so different from the lunar landscape of most of the previous week that it felt like a welcoming and protected area. The large trees and giant fern were so different from what we had experienced that they seemed absolutely lush and beautiful. By what seemed like stair step 20,500, we finally reached the trailhead, the final stretch to the gate and our bus. A feeling of excitement was soon somewhat dashed by the realization we still had a 20 minute walk down to the gate. At this point, some tried to diminish the leg exhaustion by walking backwards, jogging or skipping like a pre-school kid...anything for a change in our mechanical routine which was causing noticeable pain. Nothing worked but the thought of the finish line around the “next” corner was enough motivation to continue.
Once we arrived at the Mweka Gate, we all felt a sense of euphoria for having reached the finish line and nostalgia as we saw our guides and porters urging us on to the end. They, of course, had already changed out of their hiking clothes and into their normal attire to return home. They had a heightened level of enthusiasm if that was even possible because they had successfully completed their week long assignment and had brought us through this safely. Additionally, they would all soon be paid for their great effort. As some have mentioned in previous post, the average Tanzanian makes $2 per day ($730 a year). Our junior porters make $12 per day (6 x the average Tanzanian). The team is organized by experience and merit and functions as an incentive based, healthy private venture should. This became clearly evident when the “tips” we provided for there week of faithful service were announced. First the most senior (Gabriel and Samia) each announced they were making $250 per in tip. Then the guides (Philemon, Sampson, Wilfred) each made $150 per. This process was followed down to the junior porters who each made $30 per in tip money. When that was announced, they were visibly excited and looked extremely appreciative. To us who are used to leaving a $30 tip for a waiter who helps us through a $150 meal, the thought each of these guys was dedicated to us for seven full days to earn that tip was a bit mind blowing. To further put things in perspective, our two waiters for the week (Shakyoga and Ramababu) attentively served us 21 meals x 10 people and made a $40 tip. If each of our individual meals had cost the average in the States of $10 per person, that would translate to $2,100 in meals ($10 x 10 x 21) and should have grossed them approximately $420 ($210 each) in tips. But we were able to share in their joy because we witnessed this incentive based distribution per the local economy in person. The junior guys see what the senior guys make and it causes them to strive for more with each trip. BTW, so we don’t appear stingy to those reading this, each of us gave additional gifts and money to those guides and porters we individually felt compelled to provide for. It was truly win-win at the end.
We then broke out into singing and dancing one last time. The same joy they demonstrated on the mountain was shown again at Mweka Gate. We were genuinely happy for them and like Beau Lacey appropriately said, “A little piece of each of them will go home with us in our heart”.
The two hour bus ride home was eventful and filled with laughter and happiness. We immediately drove through the populated parts of the lower mountain and noticed the vast stretches of the Cultivation zone. We drove past a large coffee plantation where workers were harvesting the beans that will eventually end up being served by a Starbucks near us. Labor intensive, the workers (men and women) surrounded a truck with their bags of beans waiting to deliver and be paid for their labor.
We drove past banana ferment growers (you read correctly....they ferment bananas for a popular local brew), goat herders, local fruit and vegetable stands, and the random cows chilling on the side of the road. We noticed the cloud layer we had seen from above in the morning was now far above us hiding Kilimanjaro from view like the flip side of a natural coin. That put the almost 8,000 feet we had descended mostly on foot in perspective. We even started a rock, paper, scissors competition on the way to the hotel to see who would get first dibs on showers back at the hotel. A special note, Beau came out of the losers bracket to win the overall RPS championship of the Beyond Adventures crew, no small or uncontested accomplishment!
As we turned into the Mt Meru Hotel grounds, we each had a feeling we had returned to civilization and that feeling was soon confirmed by the well dressed bell boy who smelled our ripe aroma. He graciously helped us with our bags and gear without missing a beat. The front desk must have noticed “something in the air” as well because they got us rooms in record time. I am sure I can speak for all in saying there is almost nothing more glorious than the first hot shower in a week. Little things we absolutely take for granted back home are a special luxury after an outdoor adventure like we experienced.
We gathered for dinner together at the hotel and it was evident that 10 people that had been relative strangers had become old friends in the span of less than 10 days. Shared hardship and adventure tends to do that and our experience was no difference. The opportunity to break bread and recount the many and varied things that happened and find the absolutely hilarious accounts from each of our singular perspectives on the mountain brought the epic experience into vivid color. The meal and drinks our last night after being on the mountain was a special time of joyful camaraderie indeed.
A few closing thoughts at the end of our journey.
First, shared adversity has a way of stripping anyone’s “mask” off and what we get is who that person really is....we have had a very special group of authentic men on this trip. We all have some way to go before we reach the version of us God intended but we seem to be well on our way....especially the younger men in our group.
Second, don’t take what we have back home for granted. We live in an exceptionally privileged country and nothing makes it more evident than being around servant leaders like the guides and porters that cared for us this trip for $12 per day. A shower, a flush toilet, protection from the weather in temperature controlled cars, homes and offices, ridiculous levels of compensation for a fraction of the effort compared to the rest of the world....the list goes on and you get what I mean. Let’s never forget, to those to who much is given, much is required.
Finally, absence truly makes the heart grow fond. We each miss and deeply value the relationships we have with those back home. Thank you for allowing us to disconnect on this amazing adventure so we could remember more vividly the amazing love each of you have for us.
We are both proud of this accomplishment yet humbled by it. I trust we will be better versions of ourselves as a result and that we will see God work in our lives back home like we did this past week on Kilimanjaro.