110916 : Today, I overslept. Actually, both of us overslept. We were suppose to leave by 8am but we woke up by 7.30am. Haha. Gosh, we must have been very tired. We hurriedly pack our stuff and had our breakfast - pancakes, toasted bread, egg and fried egg.
We had a group photo in front of Mweka Camp signboard. In the below photo, you can see my sister's scribble of each person's role. She was illustrating it to our eldest sister. I was amazed that my sister is that free to do it. Haha. After the group photo, we gave the tips (in red packets) to everyone, as the porters would be going back to their respective villages upon reaching the end of the trail.
Today, we are headed to Mweka Gate. 1,640m. 10km. We started our walk back at 8.20am. We walked inside a forest with a proper trail. No hard rocks. My shoes and feet are saved.
We glimpsed the last view of Mount Kilimanjaro. It is hard to believe we reached the peak yesterday morning, after 5 difficult days.
At 11.20am, we reached the ranger's hut. 3 hours for a distance of 10km. Going downwards is definitely easier but one has to be careful not to run so you won't hurt the knees. There was a crowd waiting. Eden hurried us to the ranger's office to sign out for the last time.
One of the trekkers we met on the trek wrote his occupation as "Retired" and aged 40. I looked at him, and exclaimed - You are so rich to be retired at 40! He laughed and said - Do you think anyone is going to check our occupation? We can be whoever we want. The registration was just to note the number of trekkers in each camp.
How right he was. So, for the past few days, I put different occupation for me and my sister. Mine is a travel blogger and my sister is a film editor.
I also penned down a few lines in the guest book.
There was also a small celebration by another group. They opened a bottle of wine. Or maybe champagne. Oh well, I don't know the difference. Did they carry the bottle for the number of days they were trekking.. oh wait, they may have asked one of the porters to carry the bottle.
And that is our van ride back to Keys Hotel. 11.45am. We bid farewell to Kilimanjaro National Park. It was a one hour ride back to our hotel.
Back at Keys Hotel, we got a free lunch courtesy of Trekking Hero. I had fish and fries because I miss fish. While my sister had some pasta which I ate half of it because she was beginning to feel unwell. It was her turn to be sick.
Eden prepared our certificates during lunch. He noted down the time we arrived at the peak. When I reached the peak, Joseph asked me what time was it. I thought it was weird he asked me that. Now, I know the reason.
Eden and Joseph gave us our certificates at the dining room which has a mural of Mount Kilimanjaro. Gosh, look at my white face. That is sun screen to my "already-burnt" face. Funny story about that. My sister was applying the sun screen on her face when she reached Stella Point, and she offered it to Eden. Eden replied - I can't get dark.
My sister gave Eden a book on Birds of East Africa because he was interested in birds. He identified some names of the birds during our trek.
That marks the end of our 7-day Kilimanjaro Trek with Trekking Hero. It was a physically and mentally challenging trek for me because I fell sick. This is the first time I fell sick while trekking up a mountain and the experience is although memorable, it is not something I want to repeat. I could have pushed my body to the edge too because I vomited before reaching the peak. Oh, that was so scary. I was so fearful if I may experience any severe altitude mountain sickness.
My sister related to me how Eden helped a girl who had altitude mountain sickness at the peak, and she was sitting down feeling cold and having a headache. Her guide was nowhere to be seen, so Eden brought her down to Stella Point. I was surprised at how caring Eden is because there were so many guides then but none of them did anything.
I digress.
Here is some basic information about my 7-day trip.
1) How much did I spent - USD1,649 for 7 days package + USD305 per person for the tips (in total, the tips we gave were USD610 which is a bit more (by USD105) than the recommended amount by our agent because we were well taken care of) = USD1,954 = RM7,816 (I bought my USD currency for RM4:USD1).
2) What are my preparations - You can refer to my Preparation post.
3) Is it tough - Yes but Eden calls Mount Kilimanjaro his office. I truly salute the people who works in this office. Their mental strength is commendable.
4) Is this agent good - Yes. I had no regrets. I was lucky to have Eden Mlay and his team.
5) Will I go back there again - Definitely not. A one-time experience is enough.
Here are the links to the past 6 days of my trek:
Day 1: Machame Gate to Machame Camp
Day 4: Baranco Camp to Karanga Camp
Day 5: Karanga Camp to Barafu Camp
Day 7: Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate (this post)
If you are considering on trekking Mount Kilimanjaro, do it, before it gets more expensive. Your first step starts with the mouse click to find a credible agent. If I can do it (a Malaysian girl who has been living in 30 degrees heat for 33 years and braving the cold -18 degrees wind without a down jacket and experiencing a terrible flu and cough for 7 days), you can too!
If you have doubts about your fitness level, then take the first step and exercise. I have scoliosis which means I am weaker by half compared to a normal person, but I am going to the gym to strengthen my back and I run. It is a continuous maintenance program for my back. I am not going to use my physical attributes as an excuse for anything. Instead, it was because of scoliosis that I took steps to take care of myself, which got me involved in various activities because I felt stronger than before.
I am very happy with myself that I did Mount Kilimanjaro. It proved to me that I can do anything if I will myself to.
Thank you, Mount Kilimanjaro for pushing me to the limits and showing me what I am capable of. Keep challenging everyone, so that only those true to their mission will be able to succeed and appreciate what you are made of.
Next on the itinerary - safari drive!
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My sister did a video of our 7-day Trek in Kilimanjaro. You can watch the video here (https://vimeo.com/184126352) or click on the below video but the quality is not as good as the one in the link (because the upload size is limited to less than 100MB). Hopefully it works.
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