Entries from Kilimanjaro
Another very nice day on Mt. Kilimanjaro. We set out at 8 am after yet another delicious breakfast we are definitely not losing any weight on this trip. We left the moorland zone of vegetation and moved into the alpine zone meaning not much living up there. A couple of white necked ravens would visit us at our breaks thinking they may get a hand out but doing our best at the leave no trace policy they would have to rummage else where for a snack. Right at high noon we hit the high mark of just under 15,000' which was a new altitude record for most of the team. We then descend down to 13,000' where the Baranco camp is and home for the night. The whole team is feeling good and climbing with great style.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
On The Map
The gnarled trunks of giant heather disappeared as we entered the area of the mountain called the Moorlands. We enjoyed nice weather conditions during our 5 hour climb to the Shira Camp at 12,500 ft. Situated on a plateau we are enjoying a great 360 view as we snack on peanuts and popcorn. Once again the team did fine and pulled into camp in great shape.
Our local staff continues to assist us in a seamless manor and we appreciate it very much.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker & Team
On The Map
Hi Mark- hope I got your group-a dream of a lifetime for you- we stayed at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro when we were in that area- great memories - we will be following you. Good luck.
Posted by: Vi on 7/26/2014 at 8:05 am
Hello from Mt. Kilimanjaro.
It was a great day for our team and a good start to our climb. We had a smooth departure from the lowlands of Arusha as we left the Dik Dik Hotel and headed to the mountain. Our local mountain staff and climbing team gathered at the Machame Gate of Kilimanjaro National Park (5,900') to register our climb and begin our ascent. We started climbing with low clouds above which remained for the majority of the day. It did not rain but we had our rain gear close just in case. We arrived at Camp One, Machame Camp, 9,800' and have finished dinner. We also had a special celebration for team member Brian's birthday. Our staff sang a fine version happy birthday and we all enjoyed a bit of cake.
It is nice to get on the trail, get our feet underneath us and start our mountain adventure. We are looking forward to more tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
On The Map
Posted by: Mark Tucker
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Our team has gathered in Arusha, Tanzania and we are sorting our gear, weighing our mountain duffels and getting ready to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro! We also took a little time for golfing and goofing around. We need to get away from this lap of luxury we find ourselves in and start climbing, we are eating way to much.
Tomorrow we will wake early, enjoy our last restaurant meal for a while and then take a drive to the Machame Gate. Here we will register our team with the Kilimanjaro National Park, don our packs and begin our climb toward the Roof of Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Way to go Brian & Christy. Anxious to see pictures.
Posted by: Jeff & Anita Sheridan on 7/25/2014 at 3:59 pm
Happy belated birthday, Brian! Enjoy it all!
Posted by: Karen Easterday on 7/24/2014 at 8:13 pm
Posted by:
Categories: Guide News Kilimanjaro
Happy Father's Day! See the video of Peter Whittaker's climb of Kilimanjaro, Africa's tallest mountain, with his daughter Gabriella and on sharing the experience of the mountains, presented by Eddie Bauer/First Ascent.
Whittaker Father-Daughter Kilimanjaro Climb from Eddie Bauer on Vimeo.
Thank you to the Whittaker family for sharing this inspiring family achievement.
Much appreciated.
Kind regards
Sue Newby-House
Posted by: Sue Newby-House on 7/13/2014 at 9:00 pm
Posted by: Jeff Martin
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Hello from Kikoti Camp,
It was another amazing day on safari. We left the Plantation Lodge this morning and headed south to the last park we will visit on our safari, Tarangire National Park. En route, we stopped at a few curio shops to get gifts for our family and friends back home. Wood animal carvings, Maasai blankets, African masks, carved bowls, and few paintings will all make the journey home.
Once we got into the park, the game viewing was a little slow at first. Our luck certainly changed after lunch. Not only did we see a leopard, we also saw a female cheetah with three cubs, several big elephant herds, giraffes, warthogs, and even a unicorn. Actually it was Thompson Gazelle that lost a horn, but from a distance, it definitely looked like a unicorn.We have seen a lot of animals the last few days and covered a lot of beautiful miles. We are now at our last lodge, a luxury tented camp right on the edge of Tarangire. The views are incredible and the sounds around camp remind us that we really are out in the African bush.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and what a perfect spot for our last night in Tanzania. Tomorrow, we drive back to Arusha, pick up our climbing gear and head to the airport for our flights back home.
From literally the snows of Kilimanjaro to the African plains, this has been a hell of a trip. Thank you again to those who checked in daily to read our dispatches and to everyone who left the motivating comments while we were on the mountain.
Best regards,
RMI Guide Jeff Martin & Team
Posted by: Jeff Martin
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Hello from the Plantation Lodge,
The Ngorongoro Crater did not disappoint today. In fact, it was a five star day! We started off early so we could spend the whole day down in the Crater. The first sighting was a big bull elephant, followed by seeing 5 black rhinos, a pride of 7 lions, a lone male lion, many hippos including a hippo out if the water and three hippos that were 15' away from us at our lunch spot. Hyenas, baby jackals, and Grant and Thompson Gazelles, plus all the other animals we saw yesterday, but in even greater numbers.
The grass in the Crater is really green because of the recent rains, and the animals were everywhere. After we were almost cross-eyed from looking at all the animals, we headed up to the rim of the crater and went to a Maasai Village. The Massai are a tribe of 70 different clans, totaling almost 55,000 people. They inhabit the land around Ngorongoro and to the north into Kenya. They are trying hard to live in their traditional ways but still exist in a modern world. This was our opportunity to see first hand how they are doing it.
It was definitely a very full day. Now we are back at the lodge, just finished dinner and making our plans for tomorrow. We'll head south to Tarangire National Park for our final two days of safari. Still on the list of animals to see - a leopard.
Best regards,
RMI Guide Jeff Martin & Team
Wow! Sounds like a fabulous day on safari. It’s great to hear that all of the rain we witnessed has been so good for the Tanzanian flora and fauna.
35 hours after leaving the Dik Dik I arrived home, safe and sound with all of my luggage in tow. Dang the air is thick and heavy here at sea level! I think about you guys all the time and I can’t wait to see your animal photos.
Hugs,
Sarah
Posted by: Sarah on 2/19/2014 at 10:17 pm
Posted by: Jeff Martin
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Hello from the Plantation Lodge,
We had a great day today at Lake Manyara National Park. Located about two hours from Arusha, it is the first stop on our safari circuit. This is a hidden gem of a park as most people only drive right by it on the way to the bigger named parks. It is the perfect introduction to how to safari, getting us oriented to many of the different animal species and habitats, as well as figuring out how to get some really good pictures.
We had some excitement during our "bush" lunch when a troop of 60 baboons passed right by us, and three of the males caused quite a ruckus when they began fighting over one of the female baboons.
There were lots of elephants today, giraffes, monkeys, hippos, dik diks, warthogs, wildebeests, and ostriches. The list goes on and it was a very successful day.
We are now at the Plantation Lodge, a wonderful small lodge that sits on the highlands above the Great Rift Valley. It's absolutely beautiful here and they have thought of every detail in making this one of the best lodges in the area.
Tomorrow we are off to Ngorongoro Crater, where we will see what most consider as the eighth wonder of the world.
Best regards,
RMI Guide Jeff Martin
Posted by: Jeff Martin
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Hello from the Dik Dik,
Our mountain adventure ended today with 10 very happy climbers. Even though we had a very long day yesterday, the team wanted to get an early start and hike down to the Mweka Gate. You could tell that everyone wanted showers as we made record time descending the 4,400' to the end of the trail. You can feel it is the last day as porters are ready to get paid, and the climbers are still on the high of summiting yesterday. We had a big lunch spread waiting for us at the gate and then we tipped out our mountain crew for all their hard work over the last seven days.
Now we are back at the hotel and sitting down for drinks before our celebration dinner. We are all cleaned up and have packed away all our mountain gear.
Tomorrow we are heading out on our safari. The perfect way to recover from the physical effort expended to reach the top of Kilimanjaro. First stop is Lake Manyara!
Best regards,
RMI Guide Jeff Martin
Wooo Hooo
Congrats you guys. Way to go.
xo Beck
Posted by: becky on 2/22/2014 at 12:06 pm
Holly and Chris, CONGRATS on the summit!! Enjoy the Safari
-Adam
Posted by: Adam on 2/18/2014 at 6:37 am
Hello from Mweka Camp,
We did it! The entire team made it to Uhuru Peak, the Roof of Africa, this morning at 7:30 am. But there were no gimmes today, we fought hard for every step. What started out as fairly decent weather when we woke up, quickly changed as we were about two hours into our climb. At first, it began snowing lightly, but the higher we climbed, the harder the snow fell. The trail was completely covered by the time we reached 18,000'. By Stella Point, the crater rim, it was blowing about 30 mph and 4-6 inches of snow had fallen. Definitely not your typical summit day. Despite the challenges of the weather, the team did great today.
We left camp at 12:50 am and were on top at 7:30 am. We only spent about 10 minutes at the summit sign, and then it was time to get back down. The fresh snow made for an interesting descent, and new snow had fallen all the way back to high camp.
After changing out of our summit gear, we re-packed our duffels and headed down to Mweka Camp, 5000' below us. We arrived in camp just before 5:00 PM, and our 17-hour day is now over. We are all tried, but in great spirits and looking forward to a good night's rest.
Best regards,
RMI Guide Jeff Martin
On The Map
Way to go Boehms!
Posted by: Lindsay on 2/20/2014 at 9:48 am
When the road gets tough, the tough get going! We bow to your efforts and successes! Enjoy the first of your celebrations and the rest of your journey!
Love,
R&C
Posted by: Rondi Saslow on 2/17/2014 at 9:00 am
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Been checking on your progress everyday Brian and Christy! Safe travel my friend! Share the love of MPACT in areas that may need it.
Posted by: Klay on 7/26/2014 at 8:08 pm
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