Climbing Kili!

Well...I did it! Hopefully you're not too surprised... was a great week, much more fun than the week of hell I had been anticipating. I did the trek with 2 other volunteers, Fiona and Jenna who were really good company. We had a fantastic team of 7 porters, a cook, waiter (!) and 2 guides - one of whom was called Hallelujah! We did the Machame route which is meant to be the second most demanding, but is good because it allows plenty of opportunity for acclimatisation, which is the cause of the majority of failed attempts (including Roman Abramovich's last week).

The nights were freezing and the food pretty monotonous, but i'm so glad I did it. The feeling of achievement was great - but not as good as the feeling of my first shower after 7 days without washing! I am back on terra firma now and have only 3 weeks left on my placement, before travelling down through Botswana and Namibia with an overland tour group. While I am excited for my next adventure I am very sad at the prospect of having to say goodbye to the many friends I have made and of course the wonderful children who I will miss terribly.

A little something that people from the Dengie will appreciate - last week I was waiting for the bus into town (I say bus, its more like hitch-hiking) when a C.J Bardwell lorry went past - in my tiny little Tanzanian village a lorry from the Dengie was the last thing I expected to see. I was standing with a group of maasai school children and I started screaming like a mad woman, it was such an incredible coincidence!