The ferry back to Dar was uneventful and we proceeded from the ferry port to Michelle’s place, where we picked up the car. After a quick lunch, and some grocery shopping, at Slipway, we bid farewell to Dar and headed northwest to Moshi. We will be meeting four friends from school in Moshi and will be hiking Kilimanjaro between July 14th and the 19th. Not surprisingly, one hour into the drive we, again, encountered police corruption. This time, it was somewhat more blatant.
As we drove into one of the villages the speed limit dropped from 100 km/h to 30 km/h. An officer up ahead waved us over and showed us that we were doing 86 in a 30. Niki explained that there was no time to slowdown, but there was little room for debate. The officer explained that we were in violation and would have to sign a ticket, appear in court, and pay a fine. We asked how much the fine was and they said $20. I asked them if they would give us a receipt when we paid them $20. They both looked at each other and said, “You want a receipt?”. I said yes, and they looked at each other. Niki then asked how much the fine was without a receipt. The answer was $10, and two minutes later we were on our way to Moshi, having paid $10 with no receipt. Once again, we do not want to support this activity, but quite honestly, our alternative would have taken hours, or even days, and more money.
The roads from Dar to Moshi were great and we made decent time, although we still managed to complete the last two hours of the trip in the dark. The landscape throughout the drive turned increasingly lush and green, and the sky throughout the day turned overcast. We were therefore unable to catch a glimpse of Kilimanjaro, the mountain we would be climbing in two days time. Once in the city we found that most of the nicer large budget hotels had been booked and we had to settle for a place with unsecured packing and the occasional cockroach. Luckily they had a night watchman that kept an eye on the car, and we were able to go out for dinner before going to bed.
The only thing we had planned for the day in Moshi was to meet up with our friends, and our Kilimanjaro guide, in the evening. As such, we slept-in, toured around the city a little, and then eventually made our way over to Ashante Tours, our Kilimanjaro guide company. The city is functional, nothing special, and annoyingly, there are a number of touts, so you are almost constantly being approached to buy something.
Around noon we drove over to Ashante and were pleased to find out that they had a secure compound, and that they would allow us to keep the car parked there. It was Sunday, but staffers at the office called Methley, the man we had been communicating with over email, and he arrived shortly after with his family. Methley is a native
Once back at the hotel we came across Christine, Zhalisa, Tricia, and Liam checking into the hotel. They were exhausted after days of traveling and quickly vanished to sleep or run errands. Unfortunately Christine and Zhalisa’s bags did not make it, but luckily they had carried on most of their needed clothing. Liam also informed me that it was Tricia’s birthday and that he wanted to put something together. I told him to go run errands and that I would make a reservation at a restaurant. Luckily, I was able to easily find birthday supplies at a nearby vendor and make a reservation for dinner. A few hours later we met Methley and Moses, our Kilimanjaro guide, in the lobby of the hotel Ashante had booked for us. They checked all of our gear and made a list of other equipment that would need to be rented the following morning. Once the check was complete, we all headed to Indo-Italiano restaurant to eat and celebrate Tricia’s birthday. Tomorrow the fun begins – With the first leg of our Kilimanjaro hike to start around noon.
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