Monday 27 May 2013

The Last Adventure the Waterfall Hike

We scheduled breakfast at the late time of 9:00 am so that everybody could sleep in after yesterday's strenuous hike on Mount Kilimanjaro. After a buffet of fruit, served sausage, toast, eggs, and bacon we repacked our stuff and showered before our 11:00 a.m. hike.
"This is just an easy hike, we walk down some stairs and that's all. You can even wear flip-flops!" said Mrs. Athayde. As it turned out, either Mrs. Athayde's memory is going or we went to a different waterfall.

Our short drive ended up being a drive down a bumpy dirt road during which our driver had to make a couple of good guesses when the road split. We ended up in a dirt "parking lot" aside a field with people herding cows. Our guides showed us some banana trees, coffee bushes (from which 10 of us were able to order fresh-roasted coffee beans delivered to the hotel), lemon trees, and papaya trees. All of these were along a dirt path gaping through what looked like people's back yards. When we got close enough to hear the waterfall it sounded BIG.

At the begining of the descent to the bottom of the waterfall the guides handed out walking sticks, everybody started questioning how "easy" this hike would be. There were about 4 deep concrete steps before we started descending the mud slope. Any other "stairs" we had were sticks and stones and mud. Mama P headed back up for a different view once the path started to get worrisome (after the first 2 steps), but everyone else who came pushed onward. There was a lot of slipping but nobody actually fell. As we got closer to the bottom, the path got closer to the edge, at some points close enough to look over into rushing water.

At the bottom of the waterfall it was an amazing sight. The waterfall towered above us and within minutes we were soaking wet from the cool waterfall mist. We clambered over slippery rocks to get pictures in front of the waterfall, even though a slip could mean being swept down the rapids (Ms. Athayde would like it noted that we weren't allowed out that far and the water was only ankle deep and not actually dangerous, but it seemed exciting).

The climb back up reminded me of the Kilimanjaro hike, except with wet clothes and slippery footing. We all made it up an had a drink and captured a chameleon with our cameras. Everyone had a great last experience before the numerous plane rides home.

Written by - Kyle Ward



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