February 12, Sunday & February 13, Monday

Feb 12 & 13

Side trip to Moshi to see Mount Kilimanjaro.  

I checked out of the Arusha hotel at 11 am and asked them to call for a “good” taxi to drive me to Moshi, about 1 hour away.   Turns out it was more like 2 hours because of the traffic, numerous speed bumps, and crossing of small villages.  
 Views along the way.  Mount Kilimanjaro is hiding behind those clouds !

  You can tell we are in the foothills of Mount Kili, where there are many forests.  A variety of wood for construction of homes.

The Honey Badger Lodge was about 6 or 8 km on the other side of Moshi, and we ended up having to stop and ask for directions.  My driver finally had to dial the phone number for the Lodge to find out exactly where they were off the main road.   Finally found the tiny sign that was almost hidden from the road and went down a very narrow red earthed lane that lead to the Lodge compound.  It consists of two large walled compounds: one for campers & dorm rooms  and one for lodge guests.   I opted for the lodge !    At $60 per night, including breakfast and dinner, it was a steal !   It is run by a young couple, Jenny & Joseph (I never did meet Joseph, though we did exchange emails).  They have a little 20 month old son and have adopted a little girl who is now about 18 months, but very tiny.   Really sweet and friendly:  I let them help me pack my big suitcase on the last day.  I was packing... they were unpacking !  
The compound has a school beside it, and many teachers from around the world include a stop here to do some volunteer work while they rest up after their safari or Kili climb.  
They are really ecologically friendly:  solar panels on the thatch roofs to heat the water.   They have added a nice pool and terrace complete with parasols and lounge chairs.   That’s where I spent the remainder of the afternoon.  
  One of the gates to the complex
  The dining and bar area
  The pool area
  One of the lodges, this is the one I stayed in.
  My room !
   From the pool area, a view of Kilimanjaro's Mawenzi peak (5,149 m)  I had no idea that there were two peaks !

Unfortunately mount Kili's main peak,  Kibo (5,895 m),  is still covered in clouds so I could not see it.   That is the one you usually see on any of the pictures.

The food was D E L I C I O U S !    Three course pre-planned meal for dinner (you don’t get to choose, but there is plenty to eat).  The first night consisted of pumpkin soup, followed by 5 big tureens:  seasoned rice, lentils, some type of green leafy veggie that looked like cooked spinach but was even more flavourful, mixed vegetables and roasted chicken.   We sat at picnic tables and there were 6 of us sharing the meal.  Plenty for everyone !   Desert was a nice thin crepe with a sweet sauce inside.  YUM !

My accommodation was spacious; I was in the original building which contained 4 units.  I had a king size bed with mosquito netting all around.  The bathroom was made out of some type of porous stone (which I had seen at the camp sites).  Large shower stall with separate toilet area…..  all very clean.

So to all you teachers out there who might be thinking of a Tanzanian safari, you may want to consider adding a pit stop here for 3 or 4 days to rest and maybe help out a little in the school, prior to a beach holiday in Zanzibar !

After breakfast on the 13^th, delicious once again and this time served individually, I went to the office to inquire about some of the side-trips they advertised:   Changa Caves &  Ndoro Waterfalls. 
Hakuna Matada !   By 10 am my driver/guide was there to pick me up and off we went.  Mount Kili was again shrouded in clouds and I was told I would have to get up early to actually see it.  
It was about an hour drive to get to the entrance of the Kilimanjaro National Park, where we were met by another guide (sorry, I could not memorize their names !)   While the driver stayed with the car, the guide took me through the gates .
 The road between Moshi and Homi
    Common sight on the roads, women carrying their loads on their heads.
   Arriving at the Marangu gate, main entrance to Kilimanjaro National Park
   Trekkers getting their gear ready before starting their climb of Mount Kilimanjaro
    Registration process for anyone entering the park to hike.
   A maquette of Mount Kili and its two peaks, showing read dotted lines for the various trails that can be followed.

"Mount Kilimanjaro is now located in a National Park in 1973 and declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1989.   It is located 330 km south of the Earth's equator, in Tanzania close to the Kenya border.   It comprises two dormant volcanoes (mentioned above) and one extinct (Shira 3,962 m).   Shira is now a plateau after the peak colapsed in an eruption about 750 years ago.  It was originally the highest peak on Mount Kilimanjaro."
 Departure point for most trekkers who opt to  follow the Marangu trail (considered to be the easiest, but not EASY!).  That does not mean that everyone makes it however.  I think I remember reading that about 30% who attempt the climb to the very top do not make it !

From the gates, we walked to and through the small village of Marangu, outside the park gates.   I was wearing running shoes so it wasn’t too bad, but the climb down the side of the gully was a bit treacherous for me and the guide had to help me many times.   Where are my walking sticks when I need them?  Moses, at the Honey Badger office said there was a staircase to the falls, so I had not brought them along.   I would regret that all day long.
 The creek we had to cross at the bottom of the gully

  Walking up and down some hills to get to the village houses.  I did not take photos of these since there were people around and it did not seem appropriate.
  Small cameleon on a branch
  Village of Marangu

Our driver left us soon after we entered the village and returned to the car to drive it to wherever he would be picking us up.   My guide was very nice and pointed out many things about the village and the agriculture around us.   We even went into the school for a peek.    The noise level in the classrooms was quite high; discipline here is not the same as in our schools. Maps and charts are actually painted on the walls (Science, geography, etc) so it’s probably cheaper than having to replace the paper format.
 Children at the school

  Same flowers I saw in South America.  Wonder if they are indiginous to both, or if one was brought in from the other, and if so where did it originate?
  The village spreads out and has banana and coffee plantations.
  The creek is used to irrigate the plants.
   I asked this lady's permission to take the photo and gave her some money for it.  Life is tough for women here.
   You can tell we are in the foothills of Kilimanjaro with the montane forest growth.

The climb back to the car was on a road this time, so much easier for me. We saw many women walking to the market (Monday) to sell or exchange their produce: 6 km to get there, 6 km back, loaded with their produce in baskets on their head. Hard working women ! Did not see the men do much more than sitting around. And as always the children wave and say hello and smile, smile, smile. 
 

Back in the car, we drove off toward the nearby Chagga Caves.  The roads were really rough and we would have needed a jeep rather than a car; up and down some pretty steep hills since we were at the foot of Mount Kili.  They would need a couple of hundred of truck loads of rock to make these roads even semi-navigable.   I thought for sure he would lose the bottom of his car a few times.   But we made it to the caves.  These were dug by the Chagga warriors in their wars with other tribes (300 years ago according to the posted sign but they were used in recent years as well).  The caves were meant to keep women, children and cattle safe.  They look a lot like the Vietnamese tunnels I’ve seen on TV and in pictures.   We had a young lady guide provided us with the history and escorted us down the rickety ladder down into the caves.  Hardly any light available and I had to trust that since she had made it down ahead of me I would PROBABLY be safe.  Turns out that was a bit of a stretch.   They would never be allowed to operate in Canada, USA or even Mexico;  it was really bad.  But I made it down and stooped along the very low height of the cave tunnels.
  Tunnel entrance protected by a thatch hut.

  Very low tunnels I had to crawl through
  Our young female guide explained the history and uses of the cave system.

There were some pretty gory details about how they would ambush the enemy in the caves, kill them, dismembering their bodies and storing them in the caves until the water would rise to wash them out to the river.   I’ll spare you any more details !    At the other end of the short tunnel (they don’t take you through the whole thing) it was back up another rickety ladder, but this time there was light coming from above so I could at least see where to place my foot on the narrow rungs.  Back to the surface I was covered in red dust: clothes, skin and hair !   The young lady helped me clean up and I gave her a nice tip.  I also bought some dangly earrings made of cow bone from their little display.
  Papaya tree near the cave's exit.

From there we kept on driving (same really bad road) until we reached the entrance to the Ndoro Waterfalls.  The roads got narrower and narrower then at one point it seemed we were driving across someone’s lawn or garden.   We left the car and started our descent down the gorge.   There were steps alright, but some were 2 feet high and most just cut into the red earth,  some had stones piled together, others had bigger rocks.  Sometimes there was a rickety hand rail made out of branches but many times there was nothing.   It was not an easy descent, so I knew the climb back up would be murder on me. 
  Borrowed this photo from another web-site !
 My guide in the red t-shirt, my driver in the purple shirt & white hat

     But the sight of the falls was definitely worth it !

The water was too cold to swim in, but I did soak my sweater in it and put it back on, on top of my swimsuit, to try to cool off.  We sat on the rocks and ate lunch, before making our way back up the gorge. 
  Notice how red my face is ?

I thought I was going to die!  They say it is a 20 minute hike down, I’m sure I took longer than that, and I was too out of it to determine how long it took to get back up the gorge.  At one point I thought I was having a heart attack and would throw up my lunch.  But “pole pole” we made it back up with much help from my guide who literally pulled me up those steep and unstable areas.
  This is what I looked like when I made it back to the top area where the car was parked.

The plan had been to stop at the Monday market on our way out, but I begged to be taken back to the lodge instead.  I sat / sprawled in the back seat all the way back.   This is a horrible picture of me, but it gives you a pretty good idea of how I felt.
  And while I was resting, a man came over with a large cameleon on a branch for me to photograph...  and of course he wanted money for it !
  On the drive back to the main road, more women going or coming back from the market.
   Secondary school girls walking home.
  Dust storm made visibility quite difficult.  They really do need the rains to arrive.

Back at the lodge I had a shower, with swimsuit still on, then headed for the swimming pool for a nice cool dip. Drank at least 2 bottles of water and 2 bottles of ginger ale to try to re-hydrate.
 Colourful lizard on one of the stone walls at the Honey Badger Lodge

Dinner was another feast:  salad to start, and lots of turreens filled with: chicken cooked in a creamy olive sauce, green beans & carrots, rice and I forget what the other dishes were.  Dessert was carrot cake, however we all had a good laugh since it was a plain white vanilla cake with a strand of carrot sitting on top.   My regular dinner companions were a Canadian couple, both Ontario University professors, who had come to Kenya to meet government officials about agricultural programs and medical programs respectively.  The other was a young lady (only 17 years old) from Denver Colorado, who had come to do some volunteer work and was anxiously waiting for her parents to join her in Kenya.  Very nice people, delightful conversations about everything !  It was nice to have regular company for the evening meal.

Retired soon after dinner.  No TV or radio so I read for a very short while before falling into a deep sleep.