Kili Day 2

The landscape is changing and we are now out of the rainforest that plagued us with mud yesterday and into alpine forest. Tiny little plants with limited leaf mass. It resembles a desert…except for the abundance of rain and the number of streams crossing the path. Nevertheless, the surface of the trail is substantially less muddy, making our progression up the mountain quicker and more scenic (I no longer feel the need to keep my eyes on the ground the entire time). 

We have seen many new and unusual plants and I have to admit that I have been thinking about taking one home with me. I know, I know, if everyone did this, then there would be nothing left for others to enjoy - but thinking about taking one doesn't actually do any harm to the landscape. The thing is I figure these plants ought to be particularly well suited to grow under my care; they are used to harsh conditions. 

mysterious plant

I get a bit frustrated that I can't walk as fast as I can bike, so I am happy to be doing this with someone who doesn't dilly-dally and need to take a lot of breaks. In this way, Pierre is turning out to be a great hiking companion (translation: we passed a lot of people today and he didn't complain that we were going to fast). He's also pretty fun to be around. As an added bonus, because we are on a condensed schedule, we skipped a camp and had the trail entirely to ourselves for the second half of the hike today. An open trail is so much more enjoyable; even if it is in the rain!