On the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro - Part 1

Our LCCT group's vacation to stay with our friend Mama Macha was a blast! We met Mama Macha through Chris, one of the LCCT participants who lived in Dar es Salaam when he was younger and his father was teaching at UDSM as a Fulbright Scholar, who was good friends with and attended church with Mama Macha. Originally from the United States, Mama Macha relocated to Tanzania after marrying a man from Moshi and has lived and raised her family here ever since. After hearing Chris was "back in town" with friends, she immediately invited us to her husband's family's home in the mountains to spend a week vacation together.

After arriving in Kiboroloni, which is located at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro a few miles outside of Moshi, we all loaded into the back of an open-top Land Rover (yes, safari style) and trekked up the mountain, at times hanging over the edge of cliffs bouncing back and forth over the rough roads that had been carved out of the mountain by hand years ago and most likely traveled on by fewer vehicles than I can count on my fingers. People daring to drive those “roads” really need to be familiar with the routes because one slip-up and the likelihood of going over the edge is almost inevitable. Fortunately for us, Justin – our driver – grew up in that region and is the local go-to for transport down the mountain, so he was a pro. At one point when we hit a really hard rut, Liz asked, “Whoa, was that an axle?” and Bryanna responded without missing a beat, “Yes, correct tense: WAS an axle!” Whenever the truck backed up, instead of making the warning beep most larger vehicles do in the U.S., it played “Silent Night” in a really tinny sounding way, like one of those teddy bears in the department stores at Christmas that you press their paw and they move and play the song while their lights flash and occasionally eyes blink (creepy...). I thought it was hilarious, and come the end of our church's evening service on Christmas Eve, I'm not sure I will be able to enjoy the serenity of the candle-lighting while trying to stifle my giggles over the memory.

After arriving at the house, Mama Macha gave us the grand tour which included a spectacular view of Mount Kilimanjaro from the path behind their "backyard," I guess you could call it, although there aren't really yards seeing as the houses are built on the hills. Almost every night and early morning, the mists cleared away enough to see the top of Kili, and yes, it was even more spectacular in person than the picture shown above. Just like with the Ngorongoro Crater entries, I'm writing about our Kilimanjaro visit in smaller bits so that I can post more pictures. However, the trade-off is it might take a few days to post all the entries, as it takes as very long time for pictures to upload. But no worries, I will work at it provided the internet connection is available (which is here today but could be gone indefinitely tomorrow); thus, please be patient with me and enjoy them as they come!