Waterfalls and homeward bound

Thursday June 10, 2010

This is the day we leave Africa. One more adventure before we set off - we get to visit the Marangu waterfall. The clouds have cleared this morning and from the back of the hotel grounds we can actually see the peaks of Mt. Kilimanjaro - something that was obscured yesterday. It really is breathtaking.
We are driven to the nicely designed park by the Marangu waterfall and descend to the base. It is a glorious sunny day and the waterfall is very picturesque. Spend a lot of time just enjoying the day and taking pictures. Hike back up to the top (yes, the legs are still a bit tired) and read the various bits of information. The students had learned a folklore tale about the waterfall and related the tragic story about a maiden who leapt to her death rather than facing a leopard after being cast out of her tribe for becoming pregnant.
Some people choose to wander around the village of Marangu. It is one of the semi-weekly market days so the village is very busy and colourful with lots of local produce for sale. Devin and Matt manage to trade their shoes for soccer jerseys. Marangu is obviously much more prosperous than Karatu, no doubt thanks to the high number of tourists in the region. They say that 100 climbers a day make it to the top of Kili.
Head back to the hotel to pack up, load the buses and have a last excellent lunch before setting out for the airport. The weather is the best we've seen - more like what we expected Africa to be like every day. Too bad it is time to go home. Stop briefly at one last craft market in Moshi and then straight on for the airport.
Getting everyone in and processed is a bit of a gong show in this tiny airport. Other passengers were a bit dismayed at the size of our group, but Peter manges to smooth everything out and gets all the baggage and the people loaded. By the time we take off at 7:40, it is pitch black as the sun has set on our last day in Africa. I have a seat beside, surprise!, another Canadian (east coast) who was doing some mission work in the Congo and decided make the full climb on Kilmanjaro before heading for home. He had some great stories, and made the puny hike we'd finished seem relatively tame in comparison. Still, I feel good about our accomplishment.
3 hours to kill in Nairobi Airport so we investigate all the little shops, buy snacks. Going through security I was stopped for a small pocket tool (tweezers and scissors) I had honestly forgotten in one of the pockets of my backpack. It's gone now - very embarrasing (sorry, Greg - it was yours).
The flight after we get off the ground was long and uneventful, yet still very difficult to sleep, although some manage.