day 6

The final day of our adventure and every muscle aches as we creak into life. It’s rained during the night and the campsite around Mandara is awash with mud. It’s just a 4-hour hike down to the Park Headquarters in Marangu. Once more we’re into the forest. The soil is soft and fertile and the forest is alive with the sound of birds and animals. We walk slowly, absorbing the sounds of the forest – we examine the flowers – watch the Colobus monkeys playing in the trees – and marvel at how, in one day, we’d managed to walk from a high-altitude environment devoid of vegetation into a beautiful forest full of beauty and life.
At the Park Headquarters Tim is presented with his Summit Certificate and we all embrace one last time.

Any regrets?
One of the questions I’ve asked myself is whether I regret turning back before I’d reached the summit. The answer’s no. I shared a grand adventure and while it was physically demanding, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute. The Canadian chap who’d decided to continue for the summit eventually reached Stella Point (about 100m below the summit) but collapsed immediately afterward and was not able to descend on his own. He was later hospitalized. My expedition wasn’t about reaching the summit – it was about enjoying the experience and spending time with my brother. I’m proud of his success, and glad that he was able to achieve something that I wasn’t able to.