Moshi

We'll start on 27 November. A hectic day getting the house ready for sitters. Afternoon taxi to George Best airport, short flight to Amsterdam, where there was a proper Christmas tree.

And tulips, natch.

Spent the night in an airport Ibis hotel with Paula, who will also be my tentmate.

Our morning flight was delayed but, after stopping over in Dar es Salaam, we made it to Kilimanjaro more or less on time. I think we were on that plane about 12 hours. I watched six episodes of White Lotus, Season 3. We had a very bumpy bus ride to Moshi ("African massage"), possibly 2 hours. Very happy to fall into our mosquito-netted beds.

Our first full day in Moshi we started by repacking into three bags – one into storage, one for the porters (15kg), one my day pack (8kg). Then a swim in the lovely pool! So refreshing in this heat – mid 90s? After lunch we went with a guide to tour the markets of Moshi. First we visited a school funded by our tour group, Zara Adventures. Below is the leader of our group, Cathy Reavy. Her business is called Wild Mountain NI. So she organised the 15 hikers from Ireland (north and south) and Zara is the local partner handling all logistics.

Moshi is fed by many rivers and so is very fertile, as shown off in thousands of market stalls coming down with watermelons, tomatoes, bananas, sugar cane, sweet potatoes. There was alley after alley leading off each road – a warren of stalls. Most stalls were small but this looked like one big market.

Tanzanians remind me of Haitians – they hustle. They are hard working and entrepreneurial. Check out the woman below selling plastic bags of water. If you buy a bag, you pierce it and drink the water.

Lots of stalls sold garlic, ginger and onions. It goes without saying that the food was excellent the whole trip. Lots of yummy curries and bean sauces. Even on the mountain, the food was excellent, particularly the soups.

Below is a band playing for a wedding – they were excellent.

The local Coca Cola bottler funded the town square landscaping – in exchange for a Coke clock. Good old American capitalism.

Here I am at the hotel in the number I bought for wearing on the safari – trying to cover as much skin as possible.

27-29 Nov.