Entries By casey grom
After a short hike today we finally arrived at the exit gate of
Kilimanjaro National Park and meet up with more of the Dik Dik staff who had prepared a wonderful lunch for us. It took about two hours to reach the Lodge where we greeted by all of the lodge staff outside awaiting our arrival singing and dancing. It was a very warm welcome and left everyone with big smiles.
As you can guess there were hot showers for all and a few naps too. We finished the evening with a celebration dinner and handed out summit certificates to everyone.
Now it's time to enjoy the success and do a little animal watching!
Safari starts tomorrow!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
9/10/13 6:49 am PT
Hello all -
The team has finally made it all the way down to Mweka camp situated around 10,000' and are resting after such a big day.
We had a wonderful day for climbing today with clear skies, moderate temps and very little wind. Everyone did a great job of taking care of themselves the entire day and really impressed me by making the summit in a little over 6 hours. We spent about a half hour taking in the spectacular views and getting the obligatory summit photos, then headed back down to high camp. After a brief rest we packed up and headed further down valley to tonight's camp.
Everyone is doing well and I'm sure will sleep well tonight.
Looking forward to hot showers and clean clothes tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
9/10/13 3:10 am PT - Success!
Our entire team reached the summit of
Mt. Kilimanjaro today.
We have safely returned to high camp and are getting packed up for our descent.
We'll try to update this evening.
On The Map
Hello again everyone.
Day 5 and we have arrived at
Kilimanjaro's high camp, 15,000ft!
The team once again did a great job of getting to camp in just under our 3-hour target time. It was another nice day here this morning and now we are sitting in the clouds, which will make for perfect napping temperatures.
We have just finished another enjoyable lunch and have discussed the plans for our upcoming climb. Everyone seems excited and as usual, a little nervous too.
Our plan is to wake up at midnight, have breakfast at 12:30 p.m., and hopefully start our climb around 1 a.m. If all goes according to plan, we should reach the summit somewhere around 7 - 9 a.m. EAT (5 - 7 a.m. PST).
Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Hello all.
It was a beautiful day here on
Kilimanjaro today. Clear skies and relatively warm weather made for an enjoyable day.
The team easily climbed the 1,000-foot high and intimidating
Barranco Wall on our way to camp today. We made our way via a series of broken ledges and small steps and we were in awe of how easily the porters climbed this wall while still balancing their loads on their heads.
We are currently resting at Karanga Camp, which sits above the great Karanga Valley and has views of the towns far below.
Everyone is doing well and we are in good spirits!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Jambo everyone!
Day three here on
Kilimanjaro was a little windy and cloudy. But those conditions allowed us to make good time on our hike by keeping us cool but not cold. We hiked up the Shira Plateau for a few hours and reached our high point around 15,000' (new heights for some) at a place called Lava Tower. We stopped and took a nice break and enjoyed the limited view then easily descended down into the
Barranco Valley to camp. Along the way we saw some of the unique vegetation that only grows in this part of the world. The giant Senecio trees that look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book, groundsels,and lobelias.
We are all currently relaxing in camp either taking naps or playing cards. Everyone is doing great and having a good time!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Once more into the breach, dear friends. Today was a shorter hiking day, but I thought much more technically challenging. We ascended 2500 feet, ending up at tonight's camp sitting at 12,500'. The road to the camp was dusty and narrow. I personally found it difficult to maintain the pace of the group due to some stomach issues, but Eric, one of our 40 porters helped me out by carrying my sack for a spell. I'm happy to report that I feeling much better. The group is working very well together. Peter and Fatima brought a high end camera and are on charge of high end shots. Heidi and Jami are heading up the bunch and in charge of the "walking" photos. Heidi has dual duties, in that she has to give distance and altitude reports. Rosa is in charge of local PR with the porters. Rick, who wanted me to give a special shout out to his two girls at home, is in charge of culinary spicing. Kendyl and Dan are in charge of fact verification and chocolate supplies. Me, I'm comic relief. And Casey, he keeps us all in line and moving toward our goal. In short, all parties are necessary and I'm glad they are here.
Looking forward to tomorrow,
Dawn & The RMI Team
Hello everyone or as they say here in
Africa, Jambo,
The gang is finally all here after their long flights. Today we had our official team meeting where we did a round of introductions and had an overview of the Kilimanjaro program, shared a few stories and discussed all the gear needed for this adventure. Most of us spent the rest of the day relaxing here at the peaceful Dik Dik Lodge or snuck off for a quick nap to help adjust the nearly 12hr time difference. And just so everyone back home knows, we are about a 1/2 day ahead of you. Everyone seems excited and ready to go and we finished the evening off with another delicious 5 course meal.
Stay tuned,
RMI Guide
Casey Grom and Crew
Sorry about the delayed dispatch. We were literally off grid and out in the African bush.
It's been one amazing adventure from start to finish and yesterday our last day on safari didn't disappoint. We spent the day in
Tarangire National Park which is home to more elephants per square mile than any other place on earth. The elephants were plentiful as were many animals, but the highlight was seeing not one, but five leopards! We first came upon a male who had just killed an ostrich and then just few minutes later we pulled up on a mother and three cubs. Needless to say everyone has enjoyed the trip and are looking forward to getting home and sharing a few photos.
Happy 25th birthday Jess! Glad we were all able to share this with you.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
It was another majestic day here in Africa!
Today we visited the
Ngorogoro Crater, considered by many to be the 8th wonder of the world. It's a 2 million year old caldera that over time trapped many animals inside its walls as it eroded. There are natural springs that feed the many bodies of water which keep the animals from migrating. We saw three of the big five and got nearly within arms reach of a female lion.
It was a pretty amazing day being so close to all the wildlife and it has left many of us in awe!
We rounded the day off with a visit to a working Maasai village and have returned to the Plantation Lodge for another great meal.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Hello again everyone,
After all the hard work to prepare for this trip we have finally arrived at the time to reward ourselves.Today we set off on our 3 and half days of safari and started off with a stop at
Lake Manyara known for its plentiful flamingos and tree climbing lions. Although we didn't see the tree climbing lions, we did manage to see plenty of wildebeest, zebras, flamingos, giraffe, baboons, and got up close to several elephants. We even had a rare sighting of a green mamba.
We have arrived and are fully enjoying the hospitality of the amazing plantation lodge. See for yourself [url=http://www.plantation-lodge.com]http://www.plantation-lodge.com[/url]. Living the good life!
RMI Guide
Casey and Crew
That certificate will be framed and hung in a place of honor!
So proud! Have fun on your safari! Love you!
Posted by: Tracy O. on 9/12/2013 at 7:52 am
A JOB WELL DONE
Posted by: randy on 9/12/2013 at 5:29 am
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