Dar Es Salaam to Marangu and Onward to Arusha

Dar Es Salaam to Marangu

March 5

We were up before sunrise and could hardly wait to leave Dar Es Salaam. The journey ahead of us was very long; 560 km and it literally took us all day (15 hours) to do it. About 14 hours into the journey..... drum roll....... Mount Kilimanjaro was in our field of vision. WOW!!! It was soooo much bigger than any picture I have seen. The clouds unveiled the snow capped, majestic mountain for us. Kilimanjaro is the tallest free standing mountain in the world. Soon we arrived at Marangu Village and then completed the journey to our camp. We left everything in the truck, taking only essentials to our tents. We were camping on the lower slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. Our dinner, made locally, was tasty and well appreciated at 8:00 pm. We talked for a couple of hours and then retired for the night. 

Marangu to Arusha

March 6

We had a great sleep and had no trouble waking up for breakfast at 7:30. We met Maggie, a local girl who was our guide on the walking tour of Mshiri Village. We heard about the Village Education \project at Mshiri Village and passed many of the Chagga people along the way as they carried on with their regular day. We visited the primary school as well as vocational school which is very well equipped and supported by advocates. At the end of the tour we stopped for lunch made by one of the local ladies. It was delicious, but not appreciated by my digestive system. More on that later.

We continued walking to the truck which was in Marangu, located on the lower slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. It was a beautiful walk surrounded by fertile fields, irrigated by streams fed by Mount Kilimanjaro glaciers. After a quick look at some village crafts we were on the truck headed to Arusha. It was predicted to take five hours to travel 120 km due to speed bumps along the way. We left at about 2:00 and arrive in Arusha about three hours later where Kioko picked up food for the Serengeti. We had a delicious cup of kilimanjaro coffee before heading towards our campsite about two hours away. It was a scenic drive and refreshing to see the Masai villages and people in their traditional cloth carrying on with daily life.

By the time we arrived in camp I had a huge head ache and with a couple of hours started feeling extremely cold. I had a shower and bundled up while packing essentials only for the three night stay in the serengeti. I fell asleep in the chair of the truck waiting for our camera and phone batteries to charge. Fortunately, by the time everyone was ready to go to bed, everything was charged and ready to go. I went to sleep hoping, hoping, hoping to feel better by morning.

First siting of Kili

Village Lunch