Between our late night partying, rowdy cohabitants at the hotel and bed bugs we were a bit sleep deprived this morning, and let’s just say one of us woke up a bit more spotty than they went to bed.

All sorted with the hotel, new bed linen in place (hopefully bullet proof) so we are hoping for. Better sleep tonight.

Today we went to the gate of Kilimanjaro- the assembly point for the walkers and the masses of porters carrying their gear/food/water. Some of the porters have climbed to the summit over 300 times. Most tourists take between 3 to 6 days to walk depending on which of the 8 routes they take, but the world record is just over 6 hours!

The vegetation on the mountain is tropical with lush undergrowth ofcoffee bushes shaded by banana palms. Banana beer and Killi coffee are two of the main produce – we tried the latter only. The coffee was hand ground, shelled and roasted over a fire for us – so strong it nearly put hairs on our chests, but actually lovely flavour.

After a couple of hours walking round the base of the mountain we went to a local cultural centre   – then visited some local waterfalls.

This little guy came along with his dad (our guide)- very sweet and perfectly behaved.

Last stop was at a local tailor where Caitlan and I are having some fabric made up into a dress each (hard to limit it to one given the fabrics are so gorgeous). We pick them up tomorrow on the way to the airport- so prepare for the new look!