Kilimanjaro – Day 8

Nor deem the irrevocable Past,
As wholly wasted, wholly vain,
If, rising on its wrecks, at last
To something nobler we attain.
The Ladder of St. Augustine – Longfellow

Our final day and one where we tipped the porters and guides. Exodus provide a rough tipping indication of between $75 to $105 per person. Its not until you get out there, that the basis for this becomes clear. Exodus give you a tipping guide which sets out the rough limits for each type of guide or porter, if you multiply this up by the total number of each type of porter, guide, etc, then it comes out to between $75 to $105 per person (assuming a group of 12).

Simon took charge and sorted out who was going to do what, and how much we were going to pay each person and each person gave either a guide or a group of porters an amount and if it was for more than one person we stated how much each person must get.

We knew the porters and guides were going to sing a song for us, so I was charged with writing a song for us to sing to them.. so I chose “You are my sunshine” and changed the lyrics a bit to include Kilimanjaro!

The Porters and Guides looked a bit bemused by our rendition, but then they gave us their Kilimanjaro song. In addition to the general tips we all gave individual tips to those guides or porters who we thought had really helped us out during the trip.

After breakfast and the tipping ceremony, we broke camp and then sped down the mountain to the main gate to sign out and get our certificates.

It took us about 4 hours, others made the journey quicker, but Jennifer and I wanted to savour the rainforests on the way down, including the monkeys we met along the way.

Finally we made it down to the gate, and past young schoolkids asking for chocolate or spare bits of kit.

At the gate we were innudated with people trying to sell us anything from spears to elephants, but we were mostly too exhausted to be interested in their wares, and while they were persistent they were good natured and happy for a laugh. We gave some of the kids some money to give our boots a wash and we bought a necklaces and some bangles.

Pete flashed his cash to buy a giraffe (appropriately given his height!) and was immediately mobbed!

Some of the vendors try make you feel bad for not buying off them, they say things like “why aren’t you supporting local industry”, but they are probably not made locally, and even if they are, you are providing the porters, guides, drivers, hoteliers, etc. with work, pay and tips, so don’t feel guilty for not buying a cheap elephant.

Then we had a quick lunch and headed back to the Lodge clutching our certificates and the first thing we did was have a shower… then a beer (well I did, Jennifer had a diet coke!)

Our flights were the next evening and we spent the time relaxing, talking about the trip, catching up with the football scores, and basically doing “ordinary” things…. however, our memories of wonderful Tanzania and our achievments on this trip will never be ordinary.

People have asked me if this was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I’ve certainly heard others use those words to describe the climb, but for me, the climb was wonderful, I loved the scenery, the people we met, the things we acheived. It was hard, no doubt, especially the summit night, but for some people climbing the stairs can be even harder.

Tags: Kilimanjaro