Keg Spirit Foundation Kilimanjaro Expedition Dispatch

August 16, 2010 – Arusha Coffee Lodge, Arusha, Tanzania: We Are Done!

What a terrific feeling to wake up this morning with the incredible satisfaction that our team had all summitted Mount Kilimanjaro! There is no question that all of us were sore and all of us were tired, but most of all, we were happy. And not the smallest reason for that happiness was the fact that we had spent our last night in a tent for a very long while!

That having been said, we also still had a hike of about four hours to get from 10,000 feet down to the Park Gate at 5,000 feet. On very sore legs. After eight days on Mount Kilimanjaro. But we knew that a great celebratory farewell awaited with our full Berg Adventures crew; we also knew there was no other way off the mountain! So off we went.

After a long downhill trek on surprisingly wobbly legs, we got to the end of our time on Mount Kilimanjaro and to our long-awaited chance to say a proper thank you and a fond farewell to the group of strong, experienced and hospitable men that had seen us complete our adventure as we had hoped we would. It would be impossible to convey how important a role these men played not only in our success, but in the quality of the experience we enjoyed on the mountain and in the overwhelmingly positive impression we took away of Tanzania as a country and the Tanzanians as a people. As a group and as individuals, these men will never be forgotten by any of our team and will in fact always be fondly remembered as warm and generous people who went far beyond the call of duty to make perfect strangers feel safe and welcome at a time when we were feeling quite unsafe and anxious. Clearly, Berg Adventures doesn't just talk about service, hospitality and pride. Berg delivers exactly that. To everyone at that fine organization both at home in Canada and abroad, thank you for all that you have done for us at The Keg.

We did indeed enjoy a warm and joyous celebration, followed by a longish ride back to The Arusha Coffee Lodge for our last night together as a group in Africa. The ride from Mount Kilimanjaro was quiet and restrained as we were all very tired; the evening was somewhat more lively! And that would be a good place to leave this last dispatch from our Keg Spirit Foundation Kilimanjaro Climb.

Over the next couple of weeks, we will have a few more dispatches on this site. Some of my fellow climbers will want to contribute some of their reflections on our truly remarkable adventure, as will I after the benefit of a bit of time to look back on the past ten days or so. But as much as I hope you will stay tuned for those future thoughts, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all very much for following our trek through to its successful conclusion. Please don't underestimate the motivation that we felt as a result of your interest and support. From all of us here in Africa, a most heartfelt thanks to everyone who has been rooting for us!!

– By David Aisenstat