Day 9

Breakfast was at 8, but as I woke early, I dressed and sat on the veranda reading for a while. We had fruit and toast in the lovely dining room again. Apparently, the bar we were in last night has only been open for 3 days. It’s a great addition to the buildings with its wine cellar underneath. We weren't meeting Kim until 10, so we walked through the gardens again, trying to identify various sunbirds and others - maybe a robin chat, as well as mountain wagtails. On our way round we found a tiny shop and bought a mahogany bowl inset with bone and a matching spoon for Jane & Matt and a small bone salt spoon for ourselves. We said goodbye to Plantation Lodge, leaving some favourable comments in the visitor book, and met Kim by the car. Alan and Kim spread the map of Serengeti Park over a bench and Kim showed us where he had taken us. It’s quite an area but only a small part of the whole park. At least we have an idea of where we saw everything. Then we set off for Arusha - no animal spotting, so the roof was closed. We came down the steep slope towards Lake Manyara Park, with wonderful views of the lake as we descended. We stopped in Karatu town to buy PCs and stamps at the PO. They only accept T shillings, so Alan and Kim went off to the bank to exchange some dollars. I sat in the PO and a young lad tried to sell me some trinkets. Kim had warned us not to buy from these lads as they should be in school and it would only encourage others to leave school early if they saw a living could be made easily! Once we paid for the PCs we set off again, soon entering the Maasai Steppe stretching away to our right. Kim planned that we should stop at an Arts and Crafts place to have lunch. Apparently the tour people all stop here as there are tables and chairs under baristi umbrellas for us to use. A vast warehouse holds masses of Africana as well as gemstones and jewellery. After we had delved into the boxes of lunch, we wandered around the place, but there was precious little to buy - sad that none of the really classy stuff finds its way into these tourist traps.

Next stop was Arusha and L'Oasis. Here we have said our farewells to Kim and thanked him a lot for being a marvellous guide over the last nine days. He told us that he now has a few days rest and is having the christening of his daughter, Faith, on Sunday. Surprisingly tucked in behind some local housing up an unpromising side street, L'Oasis seems a pleasant place to stay with individual round cabins with pointed baristi roofs. Tranquil gardens are there to sit in and a resident crowned crane has entertained us with the odd honking and walking up and down stairs opposite our cabin door. We have sorted the bags and Honest from Mt Kili Safari Club visited us with weasely words about our trek up the mountain. He was a bit sceptical about our clothing, and advised us to wear both pairs of trousers as well as thermals, and waterproofs on summit day. We can leave stuff in his office that we won’t need up the mountain. We have ordered our dinner, which we can have at 7pm. An early night as the driver will meet us at 8 am to take us to the start of our awfully big adventure. We have a map of the mountain, and we have been studying the contour lines. It doesn't seem overly steep until the summit day, so we will see how we go. Pole pole as they say here - take it slow, and that's what we must do.