After the week we had just experienced, everyone was well and truly ready to go back to civilisation, where we would get showers, proper beds and simply be able to wash our hands rather than use hand sanitizers!
It was a further 5 hour walk to get back to the gate, so we set off at 8am so that we would be back in good time. But before we did, the Shirpas put on a farewell show for us and we took this opportunity to say our thanks and goodbyes to them.
On the walk down we trekked back through the many landscapes again – Alpine Desert, Volcanic Rock, Moorlands and Jungle / Rain Forest, however this time the route was much shorter as we didn’t need to acclimatise to the altitude.
It was a great feeling to see the gate to the national park and be getting on the minibus back to normality.
Over the week I met some amazing people, made many new friends and got to know others much better and don’t think I’ve laughed so much in such a short space of time. Plus, between us all, we managed to raise thousands of pounds for lots of worthy causes.
If anyone is considering climbing Mount Kilimanjaro I couldn’t recommend it higher, we used a company called Discover Adventure, who were absolutely brilliant.
I was apprehensive about going at first and didn’t know what I’d let myself in for, there were a few low points but many more high points and it turned out to be one of the greatest experiences of my life so far.
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