Blogs from Tanzania, Africa - page 6

Michele's version from an email sent December 26, 2001 Subject: Kilimanjaro climb Hi! Wow, where to start?! It was incredible! We had 7 really delightful days of hiking with one night of - hell might be too strong, but it was tough!! (we have only been back down @ 5 hours, so lest my story soften too much by the time we get home, here's the honest impression.) this is so weird, I am sitting in an internet cafe in Moshi Tanzania, the day after Christmas, listening to Dolly Parton! But, we made it to the top - Uruhu peak at 5950 meters of 19,300 feet!! I honestly can't take credit for getting to the top. At about 3am, had i had a choice I probably would have turned around. It was incredibly windy and we ... read more

After not achieving my goal of reaching Uhuru Peak on Mount Kilimanjaro, I book to go back in February 2016. This time I booked with a company called Climbing KILIMANJARO, based in Perth. I also chose the Machame route, one day shorter than my previous trip, but basically the same route. I also made the decision to book a single tent after my previous experince. On a business trip to Papua New Guinea, I was talking to a friend, who asked, "So what are you going to do different this time?" Well I hadn't thought about that, but after thinking my answer was, "Not let others dictate my outcome." That may sound selfish, but this time, my decision was too prove correct. So in Febuary, 2016, I return to Moshi and Mount Kilimanjaro. I had decided ... read more

Once again we got up early, hoping the roads would be better but this was ill judged and it proved a very long and tiring day. We left Kasulu after managing to re-fuel and head off on a 200km mud road. The conditions were variable with potholes and corrugations but for the most part the mud was well compacted and we could drive at about 30-40mph without too many problems. We were now driving through the middle of nowhere over the course of about 4 hours we probably saw about 10 people, 10 trucks and 1 car. We were driving through endless forest on all sides with little in the way of human evidence. We eventually got to the entrance to the Kaprivi National park, which gets less visitors in a year than the Serengeti gets ... read more

I look out over this part of the expanse of the green Serengeti and see acacia trees and, because of all the rain this year, high grassland. This is dangerous because wild animals can hide in the tall grass; we cannot see them from the ground unless they move. We are constantly being warned not to walk alone at night; someone on the crew always accompanies us to our tents and makes sure we are safely ensconced inside before they go back to the main lodge tent. Last night, as soon as my head touched the pillow, I heard something big moving around outside. It knocked over the moveable water table out in front of my tent, then pushed against the canvas side; I was tempted to blow the emergency whistle provided for each tent, but ... read more

After stopping awhile to visit with a group of Maasai villagers near their water wells we drove to another Maasai village just outside the boundaries of Tarangire National Park. But here we were inside their village, among their houses, chatting with the delightful eldest son of the chief, and the chief as well, although he was busy with a friend, both of them thinking and drinking, apparently the main job that males do in the Maasai society. The chief's very short hair was grey, but he didn't know how old he was since only the most recent generations are now required to receive an education at schools; earlier no one had known - or known how to - keep records of births or deaths. The females in our group spent the morning interacting mostly with the ... read more