Porters' song

Day 6
Mweka Camp (3068m) - Mweka Gate (1640m)

The previous day I was in a lot of pain while coming down the mountain - we walked for 4 hours to Barafu camp then rested for 2 before setting off towards Mweka Camp.

Myself, Elly and Adam were all injured in one form or another - I had very bad pain in my toe, it felt like I'd broken it. Elly had problems with her knee, and Adam had blisters all over his feet (due to cheap boots). We had really bad pace compared to the rest of the group. The guides told us that if we kept up this pace then we wouldn't reach the camp until midnight, so we tried to hurry ourselves up. We soon came to a steep point, where there were lots of steps which were problematic for me - every step I took hurt.

The guide who'd stayed behind with us three was clearly annoyed at our pace, especially mine, and had radioed for extra porters to help us. A man turned up and simply put me on his back and ran down the mountain at an alarming speed. We met other porters along the way, who then took it in turns to give me piggy-backs down the path. There were 4 men in total, it was pitch black night-time, and we were going through the forest. For all I knew they could've been taking me anywhere!. After about 15 minutes I was getting scared and wondered if we'd ever reach camp. After what felt like forever we reached the camp - the guys even took me right to my tent for me.

In the morning, we were told to give our tips to the porters (the required amount was $60 but we were free to give more if we wished). I gave $100 - without these guys I'd have never made it to the top, and I was so grateful (if a bit scared) to them for carrying me down the last bit to Mweka Camp.

The porters then sang some songs for us as a final goodbye - and this is what the blip is of today, a still out of one of the videos which can be seen here. They were amazing throughout the trip - always trying to cheer you up and their own spirits were always so high.

After this performance, we had a 4 hour descent to Mweka Gate, which I took very slowly as my toe was even more painful. - people joked about getting carried down again, but the terrain was easier to walk on so I just took my time and eventually made it to the gate.

here we had the chance to buy souvenirs and drinks, before getting on a bus back to the hotel we started in.

It was all over.