Marangu Falls... by Noah S

Blog #2

Hey everyone its Noah, Day 1 in Tanzania was a very big success. The morning started off with a lovely breakfast of Chapatti, eggs with peppers and toast, then as we said goodbye to Dan, Mr. McMorrow and Allie, we ourselves headed off on an impressive journey.

Our first stop was at the Kilimanjaro National Park where we followed a tour guide. He explained to us that it takes approximately 6 days in total to climb from the bottom to the peak of the mountain. Also, the first European explorer to ever climb the mountain was Hans Meyer in 1889. We stopped at a hotel that Jimmy Carter stayed at while visiting Kilimanjaro. Inside there was a variety of animal skulls hung on the wall, they were fun to take pictures of.  Another neat part of the hotel was a big fireplace in the center of the dining room with chairs circles around to relax at. The next stop was at one of the many caves that run underneath Tanzania. We learned some of the history of those caves and the tribe known as Chagga that inhabited them for 500 years. The caves were really underground tunnels that one tribe made to hide from another tribe that was pushing war. During our brief history lesson, a few bats interrupted us and made the women scream frantically. After we ascended back to modern day, we made our way to Marangu Falls where we would be swimming, the route we took was a rather odd one; we traveled through people’s backyards on a dirt path and passed by Eucalyptus, Aloe Vera, Avocado, Peppermint and several banana trees. Then we stopped to have lunch atop the falls. After a very long anticipation period, we got our lunch of sweet and sour chicken, rice, curry, beef, and tiny bananas. When we made the steep trek down the falls, you could hear and see the tranquility of the falls. The water was a little cold at first, but as soon as we realized how refreshing it was, the focus was on getting under the falls and testing the waters. While under the falls, David lost a Croc™ and a very hefty crab trying to climb up the waterfall pinched me. After taking several pictures in the water, we got dressed and made our way back up the shoddy staircase. After getting back on the bus, we got back to the lodge and had a dinner of chicken, potatoes, assorted fruits and a noodle dish mixed with peppers.