Day 8: to Mweka Gate - end of the trail

I wake round 7 AM. There is a sense of anti-climax, now that the summit has been completed, and we are all eager to get back to the hotel. We get started around 9 AM on a leafy, fairly well-marked trail. We're expecting about a 3-hour hike down to the main gate, where the vans will pick us up. The pace is casual, but soon enough, there's an opening in the green vegetation ahead, and we suddenly arrive at the main gate! There are buses, and a large number of people milling about., and various other people selling trinkets and offering to brush our boots (a futile task, I think.)

Dave and I get some cokes and sign the log (signifying, I think, that we have completed the summit of Kilimanjaro.) After we all arrive, the porters are assembled, and they do this wonderful, happy song of thanks. I am touched!

Eventually, we and our bags are loaded onto a minibus, and at last, we're driving away towards Moshi and our hotel! We pass through a large, bustling Moshi. (I had only caught a glimpse of the city on my arrival from the airport.) Back at the hotel, we deposit our bags at our assigned rooms, and gather in the courtyard to discuss the complicated issue of tipping Bruce and the porters and all the other helpers. Fortunately, Nitin and Dave have come up with a rough outline, so we quickly come up with the tip and the detailed breakdown, written out for Bruce. (Very involved!)

We eventually settle on $320 per person, totaling $1900 for the group. We present this to Bruce - a formal and serious business - and he promises to get certificates for us (proof that we summited!) as well as bracelets that each contain the flags of our home countries (a nice touch, I thought).

With that, we're done. We rush to the restaurant to grab a buffet lunch and some beers! Still dirty, but happy, and in a mood to celebrate...