Blogs from North, Tanzania, Africa - page 4

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

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

So our first "what the h*ll were we thinking?" moment came on our cab ride from Arusha to Moshi, when our driver pointed out the mountain in question...at first I thought he was referring to this gradually sloping hill covered in trees, but was soon corrected as the clouds (yes clouds) parted and the peak revealed itself...Kilimanjaro! The ice-capped, tallest free-standing mountain in the world was now before us, and with the realization that we would be starting to climb this beast the following day some doubts began to creep in... It was a shame we had to bolt so quickly from the safari gang in Arusha, but with only two hours to spare to get to the kickoff meeting for our climb it was certainly urgent to get to Moshi asap, and fortunately our driver ... read more

After successfully not getting eaten our first night we had to be up bright and early for another must-do on this adventure: Serengeti Balloon Ride...oh yeah, vowed if/when I ever got here that I would not miss doing this, so at the tender hour of 5am we woke up and with some trepidation made our way in the dark to the toilets, scanning the surroundings for beady eyes scoping us out...none to speak of fortunately...did however get to see this amazing storm way off in the distance, the flashes of lightning in the clouds were spectacular... It was just the two of us and a new amigo Michael from our group that would be doing the balloon ride, and sure enough at the appointed hour we could see the headlights of a jeep approaching to pick ... read more