the bumpy ride to Moshi, at the foot of Kili

04.December:
When I woke up I felt a bit better than during the night. I didn’t eat much for breakfast as I was still nauseas, but I bought heaps of bottled water and slipped some croissants into my backpack. At 7.45am I was picked up by two guys in a shady old car and dropped off outside some hotel about 1 km from my hotel. Then I got into a shuttle bus that was gonna take me across the border to Tanzania. The bus was not exactly in mint condition to say the least and it was already full when I stepped in. I crammed in between a guy and a girl in the last row in the bus, closed my eyes and hoped that I would not need a a toilet for the next 8-9 hours. More people entered the bus, making it packed to the rim! The last guys were now sitting in small fold out seats in the aisle. Everyone on the bus were Africans except for me.

in the shuttle bus

The bus started to move and I got nauseas while my stomach upset once again. Fingers crossed. Eyes closed. I made it to the first stop some 3 hours later. I was relieved and feeling better. Everyone got out of the bus and I realized that there was a German guy in the the front of the bus next to the driver. This guy was travelling around Africa while working for SOS and was now heading for Tanzania. He’d been in Africa for nine months now and planned to stay for 1.5 years altogether.

Crossing the border to Tanzania was unproblematic, but I would definitely recommend bringing along a lot of dollars in small bills as just entering Tanzania will cost you 50 USD (if you’re not a citizen in an East African country) or 100 USD if you’re from the US. From the border we drove off to Arusha. Once in Arusha, my new German friend left the bus and we continued to some kind of shuttle bus and taxi station. We had now been driving for about eight hours on some of the bumpiest and dirt roads I’ve ever been on (with the exception of Bolivia). Most of the time we would be going in the wrong lane (that if you could say that there were lanes..) to avoid getting into the numerous holes in the ground.

After talking to the bus driver at the station, he told me to switch to another shuttle bus for the last leg towards Springland Hotel in Moshi. This bus was a lot more comfortable as we were only six people in it. During the one hour drive to the hotel, I got to know Barry Irvine and Hiten Shah two friendly guys from the UK and one happy chap from Aussie who were all also attempting Kili. I finally arrived Springland Hotel being the last person to leave the bus and feeling dead tired. The first thing I learned was that my guide had not arrived yet and I was the only person in my Kili trekking group.. It would be just me, the mountain and the locals, I guess. I tried to have some dinner, but I couldn’t eat much as I was feeling nauseas once again and my stomach was still not on my side. Then I checked in, repacked my stuff and stashed away things I wouldn’t need on the trek in a storage room. This service was fortunately free. The room I got was great. It was spacious, had a  toilet and a shower, a fan, three beds and I was the only one sleeping there.  I hit the sack and had an amazing sleep

my room at the Springland Hotel in Moshi