Getting to Moshi, Tanzania

Being stuck in a plane for 8 hours is no fun, but it’s part of traveling!! My flight from Montreal to Tanzania went well, althought there is a short delay because of the snow in Amsterdam. After waiting maybe an hour, I hopped on my flight to Nairobi but as the plane was moving from the gate, it just stopped. And we were stopped for 8 hours because the wheels got stuck in the snow! Since there is only so much one can do to occupy their time for 8 hours, I began talking to my neighbours. The girl next to me wasn’t very talkative so all I know is that she was staying in Nairobi. The guy next to me was a young High School student who was flying to Nairobi to visit his dad, who works from the US embassy. They were both flying to Mauritius islands the next morning. After waiting 8 hours, the plane finally took off and we arrived in Nairobi at 3:30am. By then, it was clear that I missed my flight to Kilimanjaro but KLM was very organized and our tickets were already re-booked. So I sat and spent a few hours sleeping on a chair in Nairobi airport, a very narrow airport. At 8am, I flew to Kilimanjaro with Precision Air, a charter plane, that literally flew right next to Kilimanjaro. It was really nice!

As I walked out of the airport, I looked for a representative of Zara Tours and luckily found one. There were two other backpackers staying at the same place as me so we all met at the airport and spent the rest of the day together at the hotel, jet lagged and sipping away Kilimanjaro beers by the hotel pool. Peter is a university geography teacher in Colorado and Graham and med student from Australia. Later that day, we met Marcel from Zurich, Switzerland, and to my luck, he’s on the same hike and safari as me! So that’s really cool! The other two began their hike this morning so I’m hoping to meet up with them somewhere on the mountain!

Today was my first real day here. We began the day visiting a Chagga cave. Chagga’s are a specific type of people who live by Kilimanjaro. But when the Maasai migrated here, they began fighting because the Maasai were stealing their cattle and women. Because of that, the Chagga’s built caves to hide from them. But they then reached out to missionaries to help them and they now both get along well, the Chagga and Maasai. Additionally, the missionaries helped the Chagga’s build schools which now make the Chagga’s one of the more educated and wealthiest people in Tanzania. After this history course, we head to the Marangu falls, swam in a natural swimming pool and drank away banana beer (10% alcohol, go figure!!).

The rest of the day will be spent relaxing my the pool and then a short stroll in town. Let’s see what tomorrow has in store!!