Entries from Kilimanjaro

The team was smiling right from the start today.  Excited to have had such a wonderful summit day, and energized by a full night’s sleep at the relatively low altitude of 10,000 ft.  We finished with a morning in the rain forest.  Thankfully it wasn’t raining as we carefully picked our way down the steep and muddy track for 4,000 vertical feet.  We were entertained and amazed by the many porters running down the same track at high speed with heavy loads.  As we made our way through the giant camphor trees, we saw a few shy monkeys and hyraxes.  Above and beyond expectations since our wildlife safari doesn’t officially begin until tomorrow.  At the gate, we signed out with Kilimanjaro National Park and then went a short distance to have a last lunch with our mountain staff.  They sang, we danced and expressed our deep gratitude for the help and friendship they extended.  And then we said goodbye and boarded our bus for the rough ride back to Rivertrees -our hotel in Usariver.  We’d earned showers and clean clothes, a celebration dinner and a night in a bed.  But the trip isn’t at all over.  Safari starts in the morning. 

Best
RMI Guide Dave Hahn

The biggest day of the trip was enormous.  We were up at 11 last night and walking uphill from our 15,200 ft camp just after midnight.  Conditions were perfect.  It was cold but dead calm.  And we had most of the moon shining, so headlights were helpful but not essential.  We targeted an ascent lasting about seven hours but as it turned out we were a little faster than that -unintentionally.  We stopped for rest a few times, naturally, but the cold and the traffic on the route (all teams were basically on the same schedule) meant our breaks needed to be darn quick.  The team was up to the task.  Our guides threaded us through the “crowds” and helped us in a million ways, singing to entertain us as we trudged up endless, steep paths through the rock and scree.  It was still dark when we hit the crater rim at Stella Point but a cold wind with a wisp of cloud made us skip the normal rest break there.  We just marched along the rim -the roof of Africa- as the light and colors came up in a magical display.  The entire team hit Uhuru -the summit- at 6:50 AM.  19,341 ft never felt so good.  We loved it… and we loved that the sun was starting to warm things up.  Our descent to high camp was completed at 10 AM and we tried to wrap our heads around the idea that we still had to climb all the way down to 10,000 ft to finish the day.  Tosha and Michael, our world class chefs made it all possible by serving us pizza for brunch and fortifying us for the four hour journey.  Clouds had come in to Barafu Camp and at noon, we were eager to get walking as it had gotten quite cold.  We ducked out of those clouds in the first hour and by the time we reached Mweka Camp it was sunshine and blue sky again.  We’re breathing thick air again and relaxing… and still a little amazed that we reached the highest point in Africa this morning. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Now it gets exciting—we are at 15,200 ft in Barafu (Ice) Camp.

The team had no trouble coming up from Karanga this morning. The clouds and murk of yesterday afternoon and evening were nowhere to be found by this morning. We came up in calm and sunny conditions, with unlimited views of the big volcano we’ve been spiraling in toward. We reached high camp in the late morning and spent our time eating, resting, and preparing to climb. Clouds came over again in the afternoon, but they’ve cleared away again this evening, just as we’ve all tucked in for an early (6:30 PM) bedtime. Before too long, we’ll be going high.

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

PC: Dave Hahn

It was a day without sun.  Mostly.  We had it for a few minutes this morning as we walked to the base of the Great Barranco Wall. But then we were swallowed in cloud and mist just as we started to get serious on the wall.  Perhaps that helped those of us with a fear of heights to concentrate solely on the rock and the path ahead.  Our guides, Freddy, Naiman, and Thomas kept us moving well and guarded us on the tricky steps.  We’d prepared for traffic jams on this normally busy section of the route, but there were none.  We cruised the wall in just over an hour’s time -about half of what it might have taken with normal traffic.  Our amazing dining tent “waiters”, Hamedi and Shwahibu, had scaled the wall even faster and had tea and snacks out within moments of our arrival at the 14,000 ft “summit”. Although we had no view whatsoever from this normally stunning viewpoint, we lingered for forty five minutes anyway, enjoying the snacks and the swirling mists. The remaining hours to camp were easy by comparison. We took the time to review efficient hill-climbing techniques on our way up the final steep path into Karanga Camp at 13,200 ft. Now, in early evening, we’ve yet to see the place. The visibility is perhaps 100 ft although the weather is not unpleasant. Just a little static. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

PC: Dave Hahn

We broke a bunch of personal altitude records today.  The team stood at 15,200 ft by the Lava Tower and didn’t seem much worse for the wear.  In fact we had a picnic lunch up there before dropping down below the stunning and immense south face of Kilimanjaro to descend to Barranco Camp at 13,000 ft.  We took seven hours from Shira Camp (including the picnic) which is just what we were aiming for.  The team enjoyed walking through the Giant Senecios and Lobelia plants that guard the approaches to Barranco.  It was breezy in camp as we rested and recuperated.  We ate another of Chef Tosha’s excellent dinners and told each other mountain ghost stories to finish the day. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

PC: Dave Hahn

Shira Camp!
We made it up to 12,400 ft and reached our westernmost camp. Actually, we climbed even a little higher before dropping down to finish the day. We left the big trees behind and ascended steeply through Giant Heather, eventually passing our first senecios and lobelias. We were above a sea of clouds—and sometimes below an upper deck of clouds as well. Conditions were pleasant: not too hot, not too cold, and not too windy.

Today, we got our hands on the rock in a few places. It was great to spice things up with the short rock steps we needed to traverse and scale. But ultimately, the best part of the day was finishing the climb and turning the corner at the edge of the Shira Plateau.

We had an easy afternoon in our new camp—eating, drinking, resting, and watching the sun set.

—RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

We’ve begun!! After so much anticipation and travel and preparation, today we finally started walking. Getting from Rivertrees to the Machame Gate of the National Park all went smoothly, as did the final steps of getting permitted for the climb. We began walking at 11 AM, following Freddy, one of our local guides, through cloud and light mist. The day was spent winding through big trees, at first in a rain forest. Over the course of six hours the trees got smaller and things got drier as we eventually climbed through the clouds into sunshine. At 10,000 ft we strolled into a perfectly constructed camp and moved right in. We even got a brief view of Kibo, Kilimanjaro’s central peak, just before the sun went down and the full moon rose. Our team was excited to sit down to a great dinner and then just as excited to hit the sleeping bags--folks are still feeling the jet lag of shifting all those time zones in short order. But somehow it is better to be feeling it in a camp under the stars, partway up a beautiful mountain. 

Best,

Dave Hahn

It wasn’t easy, but we got our Kilimanjaro climbing team together in Usariver, Tanzania. Today was meant to be an easy day of gear sorting and packing at the comfortable and quiet Rivertrees Inn—under the watchful eyes of curious monkeys. But with flight delays and reroutes, some of our team just barely made it into town in time for the climb—and predictably, the airlines lost their luggage. So it was a bit of a scramble—greatly aided by our Arusha-based outfitter, Barking Zebra—to come up with the required equipment on short notice. We think we’ve got it.

Dinner—our first face-to-face meeting for the complete team—was pleasant and relaxed despite the gear deficit. The hotel staff surprised Lisa, and all of us, by recognizing her birthday with a beautiful cake. Things are coming together, and we’re excited to get on the highest mountain in Africa tomorrow morning.

Best regards,
Dave

Jambo one last time everyone! 

Today we headed to Tarangire National Park known for its abundant animals and plentiful elephants, and it didn’t disappoint. Not sure how many elephants we saw, probably several hundred at the least. It wouldn’t seem like we could get tired of seeing elephants, but there were so many that eventually we had to keep driving so we could see other animals. 
There were lots of giraffes, impalas, monkeys, ostriches, and many others. 

We are spending our last night here in Africa at Nyikani Camp, which has beautiful tented rooms with screen windows to allow the sounds of the African night in. If you’ve ever heard the term “Glamping” that’s exactly what we are doing, it’s not exactly roughing it. 

Everyone is doing great and we hope to catch a sighting of a few more cats on our way out tomorrow. Then we will head back to our main lodge near Arusha for a quick shower before catching our evening flights home. 

Come join us for an adventure sometime!

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the safari crew

Hello everyone,

Today we visited the world famous Ngorongoro Crater, considered to be the 8th natural wonder of world. The crater is roughly 100 square miles and is home to roughly 30,000 mammals that reside here year round, as it’s one of the few places that has natural springs. We started early with hopes of catching a few big cats before the heat of the day sent them in search of shade.

All the usual suspects were there, zebras, wildebeest, Cape buffalo, hyenas, jackles, ostrich, many many birds, and even manage to get very close to a few lions. There was a Black Rhino spotted not to far off. Everyone was amazed at the abundance of wildlife to say the least.

We have just finished another wonderful meal here at the Plantation Lodge and the team is off to bed after a long, but very rewarding day on safari.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the safari crew