RMI Expeditions Blog
Our Kilimanjaro team of ten climbers and one guide showed up ready to get ready this morning. We met at 9 AM to introduce ourselves, and to review strategies, itineraries, policies. In short order, we'd completed equipment checks, weigh-ins for loaded bags, and general preparations for hitting the trail. This left team members with plenty of time for relaxing away the afternoon and chipping away at the evil jet lag. Most ended up wandering the park-like grounds of our hotel and checking out the wildlife. There were dik diks aplenty -the smallest of the antelope family. There were velvet monkeys and small gangs of mongooses. Occasionally we'd venture up the hotel's
Kilimanjaro observation tower, but the mountain never showed itself on this otherwise cloud free, blue sky day. Too much haze and smoke toward the horizons. We had a quiet and fine dinner and turned in excited for the coming day. We get to walk uphill in a beautiful national park tomorrow.
Best regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The
Mt. Rainier Summit Climb team, led by
Brent Okita and
Jess Matthews, called from Camp Muir. High winds, blowing snow and poor visibility kept the team at Camp Muir. The team began their descent at 8:45 a.m. and will be back to Rainier Basecamp around 1:00 this afternoon.
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guides Casey Grom and Solveig Waterfall reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The team climbed into a cap with some light precipitation and winds of about 15 - 20 mph. They spent a short time on top before starting their descent.
Congratulations to today's team!
Our
Four Day Summit Climb September 13 - 16 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning.
RMI Guides Brent Okita and Andy Bond led their teams to the crater on a clear and windless day. The teams will enjoy the views from the top before returning to Camp Muir and then continuing their descent to Paradise.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
Our
Safari and Kilimanjaro adventure came to an end today. But not with a whimper... it went out like a lion. And coincidentally with lions, as it turned out. We were up for an early start with great help from the friendly staff at Balloon Camp. Setting off in our Landcruisers, we hadn't gone more than a few hundred feet before seeing fresh tracks from lions and elephants in the dirt road. When we got to the actual wildlife: Cape buffalo, (barking) zebras, wildebeest, hartebeest, eland... we were interested to see that their behavior was markedly different in early morning than what we'd seen during midday. Our excellent naturalist/drivers Edson Kahangi and Juma Msangi explained that all the critters had been up in the hills hiding from predators in the night but were now a little desperate and nervous to get down to the watering holes and streams again. We eventually saw why... the predators were well represented down there. We saw a big mom cheetah and a cub having fun with each other and making a game of chasing Impalas. We saw a big burly male lion striding proudly over for a drink while all other animals sprinted away. We saw a lioness and her two cubs up in a tree for a snooze... nearby, a hundred vultures were cleaning up whatever the lions had breakfasted on. And then it was time for us to flee all the predators too. We had to get on the highway again, back toward Arusha. We made a final stop at the cultural center to make a few more purchases (Maasai blankets were a big hit) and peruse the great art museum, then it was on to the Arumeru River Lodge. We showered and repacked and had one last team dinner before most of the gang headed for the airport and ultimately home. We seem destined for reunions and future trips together... reliving the wild time we had way out in Tanzania. We made a pretty good team. Thanks for following along.
I'm going to snooze for a day and then start it all up again with another group. Our last Kilimanjaro climb of the season.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
We began the day with a "so long" to Cory, who headed off -as planned- to compete in a marathon down in Capetown. Then we set out from the delightful Plantation Lodge for our next Safari destination:
Tarangire National Park. Along the way, we toured a traditional Maasai village, watching tribe members dance and build fire and asking a lot of questions along the way about how the Maasai are able to hang on to their traditional ways in a modern world. We entered Tarangire just after noon and within just a few minutes were seeing Impala, Zebra, and Wildebeest in numbers difficult to keep track of. We saw great elephants and giraffes in the immense park and a few lions here and there, but for certain the highlights came close to the end of the day when we saw seven lion cubs playing and napping together while their mom/babysitter lounged nearby. And that prepared us for the final sighting -a leopard napping in a tree with a freshly killed Impala stored in the crook of the same tree. He/she didn't pay much attention to us, but we payed plenty of attention to such a beautiful and formidable animal. A few short minutes later we drove into Balloon Camp, our safari hotel. Tonight we are back in tents, but more correctly they are tent-cabins and quite comfortable ones at that. The staff put on a fine barbecue for our team, out under the stars near the swimming pool. While dining, we could still hear nearby elephants trumpeting. Just one more day to go, hard to imagine though that it will surpass today.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The
Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir Team led by RMI Guides Elias deAndres Martos and Christina Dale reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today! Elias reported great climbing with clear skies, and cool fall temperatures. The team has spent their week on the mountain learning alpine mountaineering skills. They will finish out their week of training before descending tomorrow afternoon.
Congratulations to today's Team!
We drove up into clouds and fog along the rim of the
Ngorongoro caldera. It was jacket weather, but that didn't prevent us from popping the tops on our Toyota Landcruisers and going down in to the Crater to see some wildlife. Immediately, we were right up close to cape buffalo, zebras and wildebeest. We saw ostriches and kori bustards by the dozens. As we cruised the network of dirt roads, we began to see lions. We stopped to watch a pregnant female take a drink, and to see a big proud male searching for the perfect shady tree to lounge under. We saw hippos doing what they are known for doing at midday (darn little) and we watched animals by the hundreds interacting at waterholes. By our picnic lunch site, we spied a couple of giant, solitary bull elephants roaming the marshland. By midday, much of the clouds had burned off and we could see the entire layout of the giant volcanic remnant we were exploring. We eventually climbed back out the steep crater walls as the afternoon progressed and left the wildlife behind. A few rough roads and then the smoothest of highways took us back to our fine lodge for a restful finish to the day.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Our
Mt. Shuksan team checked in with us last night. They were at camp eating dinner and all is well. The team will train today and start their alpine start to the summit in the early morning.
Here are some photos of the view from their camp.
RMI Guide Steve Gately
Packing for Safari is far easier than packing for a climb. Getting up and getting on the road from our hotel was a low stress enterprise... we headed west at 8:30, squeezing between Arusha and Mt. Meru. Most of our 3 hour drive was through fairly dry and dusty cattle habitat. As we neared
Lake Manyara National Park, the change in climate was dramatic, with water easy to find and lush vegetation everywhere. Animals like that sort of thing, as we discovered. Immediately within the park we saw baboons and monkeys aplenty. Before long we'd graduated to elephants -up close and personal, so that one could hear their big ears swishing back and forth in the air. Manyara is known for harboring tree-climbing lions, but when we got to see the king of the jungle, he was lounging and in no mood for trees. There were hippos and thousands of exotic birds enjoying the shoreline and bordering marshes of the Great Lake. Toward the end of the afternoon we encountered warthogs among the zebra and cape buffaloes. Lake Manyara was a fine primer for tuning up our game sighting reflexes. From the park exit, it just took 40 minutes to drive out of the great rift and into the highlands, where we found the beautiful and luxurious plantation lodge. We unwound and refueled in immaculately clean and comfortable buildings set in a lush garden. We'll strike out bright and early tomorrow for Ngorongoro Crater.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Lynn and Patrick, wonderful to be able to follow your progress each day, we are all excited for you ..... love from all of us xxx
Posted by: Robert and Jane Kilroy on 9/20/2017 at 12:15 pm
It’s exciting to see you begin this wonderful journey! We’re looking forward to your progress each day. This is a great adventure!
Jim and Travis
Posted by: Jim Reid on 9/19/2017 at 7:48 pm
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