With morning we get our first glimpse of paradise.

Dinner this evening is served outdoors in a unique circular enclave defined by a tall natural fence made of tightly spaced long thin poles. The lack of light precluded a photo of this very beautiful venue but did not prevent Nicolai from making several long exposure motion blurs of the candle at our table. We were joined by a group of six Irish lawyers (Marie, Ciaran, Michael, Sara, Gillian and Teresa) who had also come from climbing Kili. It was wonderful comparing stories and when they learned of Nicolai’s fundraising efforts they suprised us at the end of the meal with a very sizeable donation for the cause. We were entertained with live music all evening and when I was pulled from my seat to dance with the very attractive lead singer, Nicolai was quick to grab the camcorder and switch to infra-red recording. Mysteriously that footage has been deleted to protect the innocent.

The drive from the airport to our destination at Matembwe Beach on the northeast side of the island takes about an hour and by the time we arrive it is close to dinner time.

As we approach Zanzibar and the small islands surrounding it, we are exposed to an entirely new palette of colors.

Flying out of Kilimanjaro, we get a nice bird’s eye view of a traditional Chagga extended family homestead. The central structure is a pen for livestock surrounded by the dwellings for the parents and their grown children.

With the climbing phase of our adventure over, we are off to the island of Zanzibar for several days of rest and relaxation.

When we arrive back at the Kilimanjaro Mountain Resort our first priority is long hot shower, the need for which should be apparent from this photo of Nico’s foot.

Nico and I celebrate our success with two ice cold Cokes while Charles attends to the paperwork required to obtain the official certificates signifying we have climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.

At 4:30PM we reach the end of our 7-day journey at the Marangu gate.

As we stopped for lunch we were fortunate to come across a troop of a half dozen monkeys. They foraged through the trees and brush for perhaps 15 minutes before moving out of sight.

Charles with assistant guide Lasti, the strongest person I have ever met. I told Lasti that he either helped save my life and/or gave me the greatest thrill ride ever on our tandem scree descent. Nico and I will never forget these guys along with Zeblon our third guide who had desceneded ahead of us on this day.

This Impatiens Kilimanjari can only be found on Kilimanjaro. It stores water in the curved structure below the petals.

This flower has been petrified by fire and captures Nico’s attention.

It may be the lingering effects of high altitude on my perceptions, but I really believe that Nicolai looks more like a man today then when we started.