Day 3 - January 26

The alarm went off at 6am, waking Jer from a sound sleep and Jess from a fitful one. We got up, dressed and went out to the verandah of the main house to watch the sun rise over Mount Kilimanjaro. It was too hazy to be really dramatic, but we did see pink sunlight glinting off the snow on the mountain's peak. We then trekked out to River Trees' main gate to see the sunrise on Mount Meru. Given its proximity, that was quite dramatic. There were groups of schoolchildren in blue uniforms walking along the road, and they stopped to watch us take pictures, staring openly but too shy to respond to our greetings. Jess was quite taken with them, especially one little girl who grinned back when Jess smiled at her.

We trundled back to our room to shower (in blissfully warm water, having turned on the water heater) and dress. Then Jess watched Jer practice kung fu on the porch before breakfast. After putting away eggs, bacon, a slice of tomato, a small pancake, juice and tea, we were ready to head back to Arusha National Park. Our plan for the day involved driving to a higher elevation than the previous day (in this case, onto the lower slopes of Mount Meru), then walking back down to a lovely waterfall (Maio Falls) and picnicking there. Along the way, we saw more animals than the day before, including many giraffes, one of whom lunched with us. We also watched a troop of baboons cross the road, with the babies skittering along behind their parents. Among the new animals we saw were: bushbucks, a red duiker, a blue duiker (which Jess spotted unmoving in the brush - even Shange congratulated her on her good eye), a chameleon (who changed from brown on the dirt to green in the grass), and a dik-dik (which was really hard to see, we were all glad for binoculars and the field scope).

We had planned to go visit the local market after our wildlife drive, but it was getting late. We decided to stop by anyway. After a brief drive, we arrived. Most of the group didn't want anything to do with the market, but a few of us intrepidly ventured in. As we feared, many people had gone home, but plenty of vendors lingered on hoping to lighten their load. Most were selling staples or vegetables (maize, beans, cassava, shallots, carrots and avocados, among other choices) on low benches or on cloths spread over the dirt. We encountered a few people selling tea and home-roasted coffee, and others selling non-food items. One had a huge pile of flip-flops, another had knives, strainers, and herbal medicine, and another had plastic baskets and handmade tin stoves. None of the m'zungu bought anything, but Shenge picked up a couple baggies of medicine. We did, however, receive many stares and more than a few requests for money.

We headed back to River Trees for a rest, shower and/or drink before dinner. Sadly, Mount Kilimanjaro was shrouded in clouds, but we watched the sun set and chatted with our group members. Joe handed out tin mugs that he had ordered and had engraved with our names, for drinking around the fire in our campsite, since this was our last night at River Trees. Jess also borrowed the public computer to send a quick e-mail home. Dinner was a barbeque of lamb, chicken, beef and pork, served with a variety of sauces. Preceding that was a wonderful vegetable soup, fish cakes with tartar sauce, and several different salads (Jess particularly liked the minted peas and tomatoes). Dessert consisted of chocolate cake and raspberry cream cake. Jess sampled both and declared the raspberry cream her favorite; Jer skipped the chocolate for two pieces of the raspberry cream! Having an earuaryly day ahead, we headed back to our room to pack and go to bed early.