Entries By dave hahn

Ok we didn’t get eaten by lions that last night in Tarangire National Park.  There were fresh overnight Hyena tracks in the dirt where we were loading up the Landcruisers though, so we’ll count it as a close one.  It was still dark when we ate breakfast at Nyikani Tent Camp and just beginning to get light when we drove away -on the prowl again for a final morning of wildlife viewing.  Our excellent naturalist guide/drivers Johnson and Chacha kept finding (and explaining) the good stuff, including a big python on an overhead branch, and “strangular“ fig trees taking over baobobs.  Safari couldn’t last forever though, so at 10:30 we left the park finally and began making our way back to Arusha.  We made a final stop for shopping, some culture and a picnic lunch before returning to the familiar Rivertrees for the afternoon.  By evening the team was going separate ways; some to Zanzibar, some to the Serengeti and several of us back into uncomfortable airplane seats.  We shared a fun and memorable adventure on the roof of Africa…more than making up for airline/airport tediousness. 
Thanks for following along. 

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Always tough to leave the Plantation Lodge in Karatu.  It is only made possible because we then get to move on over to Tarangire, home of the Elephants!   It is hotter and drier once we left the Ngorongoro highlands, but we had a thin cloud cover for much of the day, so the sun wasn’t oppressive.   Within minutes of entering the park today we were looking at a pair of lions.  A big male sitting regally beneath a shade tree and a female who seemed to have the hunting job for the day.  A few minutes later we began seeing the elephants.  Tarangire has a million big baobob trees, every one of which has been scraped by elephant tusks in search of moisture.  We saw family groups everywhere, with plenty of youngsters staying close to their moms.  As we got deeper into the park we saw giraffes and Cape buffalo (zebras and wildebeest barely rate a mention anymore, but we saw thousands of them) we saw antelopes of all shapes and sizes, from Dik Diks to Elands.  We just barely saw a leopard (a tail hanging down and a couple of paws as the cat lay sprawled over a branch within a thick canopy). And we just barely saw a cheetah -or cheetahs if you believe those that think there was another speckled thing behind that bush. 

It was a great day in a great big park.  And we look forward to one more morning of Safari.  But we are still in the park tonight, experiencing a “tent camp” out in the bush.  There is no fence separating us from the wild animals tonight.  If there is no dispatch tomorrow, you’ll know what happened.  

Best Regards, 

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

PC: Dave Hahn
 

We may be just tourists now, but today we still got an “alpine start”.  It was still pitch dark as we were driving away from the lodge at 5:40 AM.  Our guides had recommended the early start for Ngorongoro Crater as a way to see better wildlife.  Most animals are a bit more lively in the cool mornings than in the hot afternoons.  The light came up as we were crawling toward the caldera rim in our landcruisers.  After a bumpy ride in the clouds along the rim, we made an important stop at a Maasai village.  We wanted to learn a little more about this colorful tribe (one of 128 in Tanzania) hanging on to their traditional ways in a rapidly changing world.  They greeted us with singing, then showed how they make fire without matches or lighters.  They took us into their Boma (village) and into their homes. We thanked them for taking the time to answer our many questions and then we headed for the “crater”   Immediately upon reaching the valley floor we began seeing bigger and bigger herds of buffalo, wildebeest, zebra and gazelles.  There were a few ostriches mixed in for variety.  Eventually we did a picnic breakfast -spitting distance from a flock of hippos.  By the time we followed up with a picnic lunch, we’d seen rhinos, lions and elephants.  There was a bonus encounter with a skittish cerval cat.  We climbed out of the caldera around 3 PM under still cloudy skies, but it was a pretty good day all around.  After a bunch more rough roads, we were back at the ultra-comfortable Plantation Lodge at 4:30. 
Tomorrow we’re bound for the land of elephants   -Tarangire. 
Best,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn

PC: Dave Hahn

Yesterday we were a climbing team, today we are tourists.  But comfortable tourists.  We slept in real beds last night, on level ground, after hot showers and an excellent dinner.  We rolled out of Rivertrees at about 8 AM, heading west.  It took a few hours on two lane highways to reach Lake Manyara National Park.  We did plenty of people watching on the way and saw many cattle herds being shepherded from place to place on the way. 

We spent the afternoon cruising dirt roads through the forest looking for animals.  We saw elephants, a bushbuck, a monitor lizard, baboons and monkeys, impalas, and lion tracks.  There was a leopard… which turned out to be a bird’s nest upon closer inspection.  The lake levels are quite high, reducing animal habitat in the park for the time being, but we enjoyed what we did see.  Our guides, Chacha and Johnson were able to explain what we did see and taught us about the cultures and communities we passed through today. 

 At day’s end we headed up out of the great rift valley and moved toward the Ngorongoro highlands.  Near Karatu, we made our way to the fabulous Plantation Lodge.  It was a pleasure to stroll through lush gardens to luxurious rooms.  We explored the wine cellar and enjoyed a gourmet four course dinner. 

An early start is in order for tomorrow. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

Today was big in every way.  We woke at 11 last night and got climbing at midnight, as planned.  It was a beautiful night with a big moon and not much wind. There were plenty of other climbing teams on the move at the same time. It looked like a big Christmas parade with all the headlights.  Thomas, our lead guide, did a wonderful job weaving our team through the traffic on the route. 

It was progressively colder as we got higher and closer to dawn, so of course we were interested in keeping moving.  We took short rest breaks to add more clothing and to take in food and water.  It was still dark as we hit Stella Point on the crater rim a few minutes after 6 AM, but the sunrise was imminent. We enjoyed the victory lap along the rim over to Uhuru (the true summit) as morning broke.

The team hit Uhuru at 7:05 AM. We took pictures and gazed around in wonder from the continental high point. By 7:30 we were headed down.  About three hours later, we were back in Barafu being serenaded by our staff as they sang a few traditional Kilimanjaro songs. We repacked and ate a great lunch before taking on one of the bigger challenges of the day - dropping another 5,000 vertical feet to reach Mweka Camp.

It would be a rough hike on fresh legs, which ours were not. But by 5 PM, we'd all made it. Life is considerably easier way down here at 10K.Especially with the excellent dinner our team put together. Quality sleep is next.

Best Regards, Dave

Barafu. High Camp, 15,200 ft, poised for the summit push.  We are into some nice weather now.  It was calm and clear and not all that cold this morning at Karanga Camp.  After another of chef Tosha’s wonderful mountain breakfasts, we set out for high camp.  Naiman led the way today, taking us up broad and easy terrain for the first hour or so.  Above 14,000 ft the trail got a little more rocky and narrow in places but it wasn’t giving our seasoned team any real trouble.  We took a couple of long and lazy rest breaks today so that our staff of porters and camp builders could get out ahead.  Even so, we were walking into Barafu by 11 AM.  This gave plenty of time for resting and rehydrating and strategizing for tonight’s climb. 

It’ll be an early dinner and then early to bed for this team.  We hope to launch for the summit at midnight.  All systems are go. 
 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

We took on the Great Barranco Wall today. It was a wonderfully clear night and calm clear morning at Barranco Camp. We got all ready for some rock scrambling and set out behind Thomas - our lead guide - at 8 AM. Naturally, everyone else in Barranco Camp took off at the same time. Before long we were rubbing shoulders with an extremely diverse mix of climbers and porters as we reached for lava holds and footholds connecting the various ledges. Inevitably, there were some traffic jams and bottlenecks at the spicier features of the route. We were patient and eventually we were through the crowds and moving well.

Our staff beat us to the top of the wall and had a table set with tea and snacks when we topped out. Since Karanga Camp wasn’t so far away, we lingered at the top of the wall, people watching and mountain gazing.  We used the final hours of today’s journey to practice some efficient techniques for our hill climbing. By 2 PM we were eating lunch in another perfectly constructed camp - Karanga at 13,200 ft. We rested and ate our way through the afternoon. 

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

We were in clouds from daybreak at Shira Camp today. We could still see Kibo, Kilimanjaro’s central peak, from time to time but mostly we saw clouds and more clouds. It was not necessarily bad for walking though. We got on the trail just before 8 AM and walked up gently inclined slopes toward Kibo. The trail was much less steep than yesterday’s workout, but we still gained altitude steadily. By noon we’d reached our intended high point for the day, 15,200 ft at the base of the “Lava Tower” we were denied the big views as the clouds were particularly thick and a little cool there.  That did not stop us from enjoying a picnic lunch provided by our amazing kitchen staff.

We were certainly ready to get lower, so we followed Omar down the steep track leading to the Barranco Valley. Omar is one of our five local guides. Yesterday we followed Happyson and the day before that Godlove. It didn’t take the team long to go from the “Alpine Desert” vegetative zone to the Moorland. We came down into a garden of Giant Senecios and Lobelias. Dropping to 13,000 ft we rolled into Barranco Camp at about 2:30 PM. Eventually the clouds parted to reveal Kibo with its hanging glaciers and ice fields as well as the Great Barranco Wall -our challenge for tomorrow morning. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

We bit off another chunk.  The day started at 6:30 AM at Machame Camp, which was cool and shady before the sun came over the mountain.  We had breakfast and threw our packs on just before 8 AM. The trail today was a little steeper and a little more relentlessly uphill compared to yesterday.  But we made fine progress up through a forest of giant heather.  Eventually we could look out to see that we were above a sea of clouds, and we could look over to Meru, a neighboring 15,000 ft volcano on the western horizon. 

We began to identify Senecios and Lobelias -two of the distinctive plants endemic to Kilimanjaro.  We worked hard today, but nowhere near as hard as the many porters who passed by with loads balanced on their heads, somehow staying at ease on the difficult rock steps.  Eventually we took a left turn, traversing between old layers of lava to turn the corner onto the Shira Plateau.  We reached Shira Camp at about 12,600 ft at 12:30 PM.  This marks our westernmost point for the climb, and the next days will have us moving east on our wandering route to the summit. 
 

The team enjoyed a restful afternoon and evening in our comfortable new camp. 
 

Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

We woke to clear skies at the Rivertrees Inn. Previously it had been overcast and even drizzly in the mornings.  The team was done with breakfast and packed up right on schedule.  We boarded the bus just after 8 AM and got on the road to Kilimanjaro.  The mountain was visible from the highway but the view got better as we approached and had less smoke and haze.  The Machame Gate to the National Park was bustling and busy.  It was a relief to have all paperwork and permitting done and to finally get walking, which we did shortly after 11 AM.  It was a stair master day as we started at 6000 ft bound for 10,000 ft.  The trail was in fine condition and it was clear that the National Park had been taking on major improvement projects.  We were lucky to see several families of black and white Colobus monkeys playing in the big trees as we walked.  It was hot and sweaty at first, but eventually things clouded over and the air cooled as we approached 10,000 ft.  We managed the walk in 5.5 hours.  It was a true pleasure to come into a perfectly constructed and completed camp.  Our staff greeted us cheerfully and showed us our tent home. 

We moved in and then got together for tea time and a 6:30 PM sumptuous dinner in the dining tent. Judging by the laughter, the day hadn’t been so difficult for our team.  We went over plans for getting going to new heights tomorrow and headed for bed at 8 PM, pausing -of course- to see the southern cross and a few other unfamiliar southern hemisphere constellations. 

Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave & Team