Entries from Kilimanjaro

Hello from Tanzania! 

Everyone and all bags have arrived in Tanzania and the team is doing well and in good spirits after some very long flights. Nearly 20 plus hours for many of us. It was a short and quiet ride to our lodge that is nestled in between Arusha and Moshi and not so far from the base of Kilimanjaro. The team had a quick dinner and headed for bed as the time change had us all feeling just a little off and pretty tired after all the traveling. Luckily we had an extra day here because of flight options. I say luckily, because the time change is pretty tough being about 12 hours difference for us. The extra day will certainly help us adjust. 

Today we had a leisurely morning and then rolled into our group meeting after breakfast, where we did a round of introductions and then discussed the upcoming program for the days ahead. The team spent the remainder of the day getting our gear packed up, exploring the grounds of our peaceful Lodge and dodging the gaggle of monkeys patrolling the grounds. We wrapped up the evening with a delicious meal and plenty of friendly conversations.

Everyone is doing well, excited to be here and looking forward to stretching our legs tomorrow as we head to the mountain. 

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili crew!

There were elephants walking between our tents in the night. We went to sleep to the sound of them eating grass and shrubs. Breakfast at Lokisale was just before sunrise and so we got the maximum value from our final day on Safari. We hated to leave such a comfortable camp, but we were excited to see what we could see. Within a few minutes drive, we’d crossed back into Tarangire National Park, but a considerable distance from the main gate. Our drivers took us along a gigantic swamp which was teeming with wildlife. We had the place to ourselves for hours.  The team was still looking high and low for leopards when we found lions. Two big males, out for a mellow morning of hunting. They simply walked toward herds of hartebeest or Cape buffalo without much stealth, hoping to get lucky. 

Then we saw a lioness and her two cubs laying about and doing cat things. Before the morning was out we’d gotten glimpses of another leopard and a couple of Cheetahs.  Not close enough for photography but close enough that we felt very lucky to see them. We headed for the main gate eventually, after a hundred more eagles and giraffes, a dozen hippos, a million impala and wildebeest and zebra. There were hyenas and mongooses and darn near everything else… except bears and tigers.  And mile after mile of beautiful East African savanna and forest. 

By noon we were out of the park and driving east toward Arusha. We made a final stop at the cultural center on the city outskirts and stretched our legs while surveying the artwork. We reached our comfortable and familiar Rivertrees Hotel just after 3 PM. Then we started having to say goodbye to one another as our itineraries diverged. Some of us are flying today, some tomorrow, some are continuing the expedition to the shores of Zanzibar. It was a good team and so we are confident of seeing each other again on some future adventure. Even so, there is just a little sadness that it all has to end for now. 

It was pretty fun. Thanks for following along. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

We made the big move from the Ngorongoro Highlands to the Tarangire dry lands.  But we didn’t rush it.  A leisurely 9 AM departure gave us lots of time to enjoy the comforts of the Plantation Lodge.  We made one stop for souvenirs and artwork, but then drove south and west to Tarangire.  We entered the park at midday on what turned out to be a blazing hot day.  All the usual players were visible immediately -impala, wildebeest and zebra.  It took a little more poking around to see the odd Eland and Hartebeest.  Tarangire is a series of three rivers running in parallel through arid land.  It is a vast network of rough dirt roads going back and forth from one drainage to the next.  Animals need the water and so we always have good luck in Tarangire.  Especially with elephants.  The team loved seeing giraffes but there were mixed feelings about eagle-owls.  We saw a male and female lion, but we didn’t watch them for long…they were napping and we like our lions to be a bit more fiesty.  We went deep into the park looking for leopards and finally Jacob jammed on the brakes and pointed up an acacia tree at a beautiful cat in a tree.  The leopard was skittish though and hopped down to run off in the tall grass.  We’d all gotten a look at him/her and seen the beautiful color and pattern of spots.  This elusive leopard completed our “big five” hunt… but we want more.  We’ve got an excellent chance of seeing leopards and lions early tomorrow on our final day of Safari.  We are in a “tent camp” just out of the park boundary (the animals don’t know there is a boundary) and so we’ll begin the morning deep within the habitat already.  Our last evening together was magical.  We sat by a campfire as the sun went down and the super blue moon came up. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

It was worth another predawn start to get into Ngorongoro Crater first thing in the morning. The animals are a bit more active in the cool morning than on a hot afternoon. We wanted action. The drive to the gate from Plantation Lodge was brief, but then the drive on rough roads up to the crater rim and along that rim was a good deal longer. It was slightly surreal as well because we did it in thick fog. We got under that cloud layer though as soon as we began our descent into the “crater” (which is really a caldera). At first there was some enthusiastic pointing at individual zebra and wildebeest… until our team realized there were thousands of zebra and wildebeest… not to mention gazelles and cape buffalo. 

Our guide Jacob made the sighting of the day, pointing out four lionesses. We watched them move and rest… but they were clearly hungry and making their moves with breakfast in mind. We were all watching when one of them charged a Grant’s Gazelle. The Gazelle was moving fast but the lioness had cut off his exit possibilities and took him down before our wide open eyes.  The other three big cats made their leisurely way over to enjoy a snack as we watched. It was a cool day in the crater, the clouds never really did go away. But that seemed to be fine conditions for viewing wildlife.  We saw everything from hyenas to hippos… lots of hippos. But we weren’t seeing rhinos.  They exist in Ngorongoro but they are notoriously shy.  Finally, we spotted a pair of black rhinos from the crater rim on our exit. Emmanuel, our guide found the pair with binoculars and we each ticked them of… making four of the “big five” down… elephants, lions, cape buffalo and rhinos. Just missing leopards.

On the crater rim we visited a Maasai village and saw some fine dancing and chanting, watched the men make fire and throw spears and then entered their small huts to try to understand what it really is like to hold on to traditional ways and means in a modern world.

We were back at Plantation in plenty of time to enjoy the sunset, some excellent cocktails and a perfectly prepared and presented dinner.

Best Regards

RMI Guides Dave Hahn & Team

Sleeping in a bed again is pretty good, we decided. Even so, we didn’t sleep late this morning. We got driving west by 8 AM, excited to be on Safari. We made a brief stop on the edge of Arusha for provisions and then pushed farther west in our two Land Cruisers. 

Our guides, Jacob and Emmanuel, explained that the arid zone we were traversing was Maasai country. We began seeing herds of cattle being marched to and from dusty waterholes by men and boys. We passed many “bomas” which were clusters of huts around a central animal corral. 

Finally, we came to lush vegetation again on the shores of Lake Manyara and entered the National Park of the same name. Our first animal sightings were of waterbucks in the dense forests. Then bushbucks. Before long we were adding elephants and Cape buffalo to our rapidly growing list. Naturally there were plenty of monkeys and baboons.  We enjoyed a picnic lunch on the shore of the vast lake and then got back on the dusty roads in search of more.  Eventually we saw zebras and impala and warthogs.  One shy giraffe appeared momentarily.  There were egrets and eagles and hornbills. 

As the afternoon stretched on, we headed for the park gate and drove up the steep escarpment to the Ngorogoro Highlands… out of the great rift valley.  In Karatu our drivers took a side road through fields full of crops out to the Plantation Lodge.  We enjoyed a very civilized evening sipping cocktails in a splendid bar in a splendid garden.  Dinner was delicious… but we admitted to missing Tosha’s miraculous mountain cooking.  You can take the climber out of the mountains, but…

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

At breakfast, there was overwhelming consensus that a whole night at 10,000 ft was better than half a night at 15,000 ft.  We were rested and we had appetites again and we were talking about showers.  But we still needed to get down the final 4000 ft of trail to the Mweka Gate.  Our staff pulled out all the stops for a good sendoff breakfast and then we got walking down through the forest.  At first the trail was dry and pleasant, but around 9000 ft that changed.  It got slick and muddy and treacherous.  The forest was beautiful, of course, but we couldn’t look around much because every step required care and concentration to avoid slipping.  Cheerful porters balancing great awkward loads came running down the slippery track but we had to tiptoe.  That technique worked well though, by 11:00 we were on drier and easier ground coming to the Mweka Gate at 6000 ft.  We signed out with the National Park and then rode a short distance to a local shop that hosted our team lunch and farewell ceremony with our staff.  It was a cheerful session of dancing and singing.  We tipped each and every one of the 44 Barking Zebra staff and tried to express our gratitude for their efforts.  After goodbyes and a little souvenir shopping the team boarded the bus for the two hour ride back to Rivertrees Inn in Usa River.  Showers at last!  After all of that we got together for a celebration dinner out in the garden.  The trip isn’t over, by any means, but we are entering a far more comfortable phase as we head toward Safari. 

Best regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Sunday, August 27, 2023 - 7:56 am PT

Big Day!  And night.  We were awake at 11 PM sharp last night.  Thankfully, it was calm and not too cold at 15,200 ft at that hour.  We geared up, ate a quick “breakfast” and got walking at 12:05 AM.  Everybody else at Barafu Camp did so too.  It was a great parade of headlights converging on the steep start to the route.  Naiman led our team nice and steady through various teams that were stopping and starting to deal with difficulties.  Once we were through the rocky start to the route, the walking got a little easier and one could pay a little attention to the stars and the lights of Moshi and other towns and cities.  The moon was about half full and threw back some useful light for us.  As expected, it got cold as we got a few hours into the climb.  By the halfway point we pretty much had every scrap of clothing on.  Water bottles within our packs were freezing up.  Our main strategy for dealing with the cold was to keep moving.  We hit Stella Point at the crater rim at 6AM.  The walking got easier then… and absolutely beautiful as the light came up.  Sunrise came as we were halfway to Uhuru -the highest point.  We got to Uhuru at 7 AM.  It was a little cold and breezy at 19,341 ft above sea level and so we didn’t stay long.  Long enough for some victorious pics with the big sign board up there.  The breeze/wind motivated us to move down the mountain at a pretty good clip, boot skiing in the scree.  We were back to Barafu at 10:10 AM.  Tosha presented us with a pizza brunch and we had some time for taking care of ourselves and packing up.  Nobody was all that psyched at the prospect of four more hours on our feet to descend 5,000 ft but we got after it anyway.  We made it down to a 10,000 ft camp in the woods by 3:35 PM.  The team is safe and relieved to be back on flat ground (everything at high camp is tilted) and so happy to be breathing oxygen rich air with actual humidity again. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

It was a pretty start to the day down at Karanga Camp. There were just enough clouds around to make the sunrise colorful, but not enough clouds to make us worry about the weather. It was calm and clear when we walked uphill just after 8 AM. The path upward was an easy one, on broad open slopes. Our gang had no trouble matching Naiman’s pace and in just a few hours we were going up the final, slightly steeper, slopes to Barafu Camp. As fast as we were, our support crew was faster still and we moved into a fine camp and took shelter from the strong midday sun in our tents.  Tosha served up a great lunch and then the team sat for a detailed meeting about the big climb and how to prepare for it. This all left plenty of time for resting through the afternoon in preparation for our “alpine start” tonight. In s few minutes we will chow down on an early dinner at 5 o’clock… Spaghetti! And then we will go to bed before the sun sets at 6:30.

We’ve got big plans for the night!

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

It was a beautiful morning down in the Barranco Valley, but we were excited to get out of there and get on the Great Barranco Wall. 

We began walking at 8:00 am in the cool shadow of the wall. The weather pattern of the past few days continued, it was clear up high and cloudy down below and where we were, there was no wind. And thankfully, there were not too many other people trying to get up the wall when we were. This made it a little less stressful to figure out the handholds and footholds when the going got steep. Our team cruised through the tough parts with some fine coaching and spotting from Naiman, Philibit, Freddy and Thomas. We took a short break when we hit the easier going in the sunny midsection of the “wall” and then pressed on. At about 14,000 ft we pulled over one last edge and found ourselves atop the Great Wall. And even better, we found that our camp waiters had beaten us to the top with tea and snacks. We lounged in the sun, took photos and enjoyed the unreal views of Kibo’s imposing south face. 

We then cruised through a couple of shallow -- but pretty -- valleys as we moved east. The final challenge of the day was to get down one steep side of the Karanga Valley and up the other steep side to Karanga Camp. The team had no difficulty though and we came into our new camp at 13,200 ft at about 12:30 pm. 

We had an excellent lunch -- Tosha’s specialty pork schnitzel -- and some welcome hours of rest. Clouds formed up in the afternoon and we were actually thankful to get a little relief from the high altitude sun cooking the tent walls. We finished with dinner and storytelling and stars (as the clouds dissipated). There is s lot of excitement among our climbers at the prospect of getting to high camp tomorrow. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Perfect weather today! Not terribly cold at 6:15 AM today in the shadow of Kilimanjaro.  Clear skies above and the sea of clouds far below. 

We were eating another of Tosha’s fine breakfasts by 7 AM and walking behind Philbet by 8 AM.  The terrain rose gradually as we headed straight East toward Kibo.  We began breaking a bunch more altitude records for our climbers as the morning progressed.  We topped out for the day at 15,200 ft at the Lava Tower, right up against the massive ramparts of Kibo.  Our excellent staff had a picnic lunch all set up for us there and so we lounged for some time in the intense sunshine.  Then we began dropping altitude as we made our way into the Barranco Valley.  Lava tower had taken us into alpine desert zones with little vegetation, but over the two hours of our descent, we came back into a relatively lush zone full of endemic Lobelias and Senecios. 

At 3 PM we came into our new home at 13,000 ft.  This allowed plenty of time for an easy afternoon of resting and recuperating.  We’ve still got an excellent dinner and some star gazing to look forward to… and a big day of climbing tomorrow. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team