Tanzania

Seven Argentinians and me at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. From left to right, top row: Raul, Mariano, Miguel, Mariela, and Gustavo. Bottom row: me, Jose Maria, Juan.

I arrived in Moshi, Tanzania, to meet my guide and porters to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa, rising 15,100 feet from it's base. I also met a group of eight Argentinians, all who spoke little English, that I would be hiking with for the next week. I figured it would be a good time to practice my Spanish before we head back to South America at the end of the year. I was excited for the walk, but a bit apprehensive since I heard many stories of climbing difficulties.

Our first view of the mountain through the clouds as we drove to the start of the Machame route up Kilimanjaro. Machame is one of the most popular routes, offering some of the best views. I descended a different trail called Mweka.

A Kilimanjaro flower only found on this mountain.

Our assistant guide Antile heard I was from Boston so wore an appropriate shirt for the occasion!

To break the ice with the Argentinians, I introduced myself to Gustavo. Gustavo then introduced me to another member of their group, "This is Miguel. Miguel is a gay in Argentina." I asked him to try again in Spanish and learned that Miguel is actually a professional mountain guide in Argentina. We had a good laugh when I explained what he had said! Miguel claimed it was only one time.

Miguel a.k.a. "Colorado" for his red hair and sun burnt face. He and Mariano are professional mountain guides in Cordoba, Argentina, for a company called Alto Rumbo (http://www.champaqui.com.ar).

Climbing Kilimanjaro is a bonding experience. The Argentinians were a warm, wonderful and fun group to be with on the climb, which helped ease my apprehension. Elizabeth and I plan to visit them in Cordoba to do some hiking in December with their mountaineering company Alto Rumbo.

Juan "Commando", the eldest of the group (age 53) and retired special forces marine, flew the Argentinian flag during the climb. I left my American flag at home ;-)

The group on day three.

Raul was the best English speaker of the group, so I looked to him as a translator, when the Spanish talking was too rapido.

Jose Maria with Juma, our wonderful mountain guide who has been climbing Kilimanjaro for 12 years. The day after our climb finished, Juma headed up the mountain again with another group. I was exhausted, so this is an amazing feat by the guides and porters who work non-stop.

After three long days of climbing from 4000 feet up to 15,000 feet and back down to 12,000 feet to help acclimatize, we were ready to get to the summit. Our guide's instructions were 1) if you feel dizzy it's normal, look down for a minute or so, 2) if you feel like you want to vomit it's normal, force yourself to vomit and 3) if you are losing your balance it's normal, I'll give you a Red Bull and you will feel better. These instructions didn't settle our nerves much.

Hiking through the giant lobelia trees. We climbed through five different vegetation zones making for interesting flora.

Eating dinner before summit day.

The summit day seemed like the longest day of my life. It was certainly the most physically demanding thing I've ever done. We left at 7 a.m. on day four, climbed to 15,000 feet, arriving at 3 p.m. We ate and slept for a few hours, and then left for the summit at 10:30 p.m. after forcing down some popcorn and cookies. We all felt some dizziness from the altitude and breathing got more difficult as we climbed higher. A couple people in my group also felt nauseous, but overall we were "un grupo fuerte (a strong group)." We saw several other people being rushed down the mountain with altitude sickness.

Eight out of nine of us from our group (unfortunately, one stayed back with altitude sickness) reached the Uhuru peak summit at 19,340 feet just after sunrise on day five around 7 a.m. Everyone was emotional at the top. We all felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment, and the view was amazing! I also felt very lucky to have experienced this with new Argentinian friends.

Sunrise as we climbed to the summit.

Kilimanjaro's disappearing glacier with Mount Meru in the background.

I made it! I'm at the summit with Juan beside me kissing the sign post in relief.

After the summit we made a long descent all the way back down to 12,000 feet, making for 20 hours of climbing and descending in a row. We danced and sang the Kilimanjaro song with the porters in celebration.

- Dave

PS. For those of you considering to climb Kilimanjaro let me know. I'd be happy to share my research on routes and guides. I had a great experience with Juma and his crew.

Note: Miguel did a great job capturing the entire climb. You can see his photos at Expedicion al Kilimanjaro

Dave and I traveled through most of Africa in a large overland truck. The distance between stops was great, so we weren't able to spend as much time as we would have liked getting to know locals. This portion of our trip was more about seeing the landscape and wildlife.

Elephants wander in the wild of the Serengeti, Tanzania.

We got sore tushes on this truck, but the views were great!

TANZANIA definitely seems modern by Malawi standards. Although some people are struggling, there seems to be more evidence of positive employment and education. Tanzanians are very clever, and the country certainly knows how to profit from tourists. Home to Mount Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti, the Tanzanian government charges astronomical fees to visit, climb and explore both, but we felt it was worth it.

It should also be noted that the northern part of the country is mostly Muslim. We were there during Ramadan, a time when most of the population observed fasts for a better part of the day and closed up shops for prayer time. People also dressed a lot more conservative than in other African nations.

DAR ES SALAAM, arabic meaning abode for peace, is the largest city in Tanzania, but it is not the capital. Unlike its name, the city is extremely busy with businesses lining every space of street and traffic is horrendous. This may explain why the majority of Tanzania's population are farmers living in rural areas.

ZANZIBAR is an island off the coast of Tanzania popular for its beaches and spices.

Stone Town is the main area of Zanzibar. It is a maze of narrow roads with shops and homes at every turn.

The architecture is beautifully old in Stone Town.

Business is slow during Ramadan.

Zanzibar shops sell traditional wood crafts and lots of wild fabrics.

At night people enjoy freshly cooked fish and other local treats in the town square.

Stone Town was the center of the slave trade in the 1800s. This is a monument so locals never forget.

Spice plantations are everywhere on the island, growing everything from cocoa, vanilla, black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, jackfruit, passion fruit and lemon grass.

A worker climbs up a coconut tree to get the goods.

Crazy tree, Zanzibar.

Life on the beach with some of our friends.

Faasai are fake Maasai. They are dressed similarly to Maasai, with their wool blanket, lion sword, and staff, but they have the tell tale fancy watch, sunglasses and sandals. They wander the beaches making money for photo opportunities and "massages," an apparent cover for prostitution. More on the real Maasai people below.

Muslim women heading to fish.

Zanzibar women use an old fishing technique of slapping water with a stick while walking round and round in a circle with a net to catch the fish.

SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK is home to the 'Big 5': lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhino. We saw four out of the five. Apparently there are only about 20 rhinos left in the area and on the day of our visit they decided to go on vacation. As a concilation we saw some other favorites, like the giraffe. Serengeti is a Maasai word for 'endless plain,' which makes sense since it is 14,763 square kilometers and home to thousands of plants and predators.

Sunrise in the Serengeti.

The elusive leopard.

African buffalo.

Part of Serengeti is the Ngorongoro Crater, which is the world’s largest intact volcanic caldera. There are a large number of animals living there because of its rich pasture and permanent water supply. Giraffes are the exception, since there aren't many tall trees at the base of the crater.

A Maasai man herds cattle on the rim of the Ngorongoro crater.

The Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater region are home to the Maasai people. This tribe lives a very simple life, yet by modern standards it could be considered sexist. Read up if you are interested to learn more.

Here is our day in the crater:

Enjoying the ride on the safari truck.

Scoping for action.

A Serengeti cheetah is the fastest land animal and is even more elusive than the Leopard.

We didn't see too much action on these safaris. The exception was when a few hyenas were pestering these wildebeests. They decided to herd together into a collective charge with the young ones in the middle to scare off the hyenas.

Serengeti hyena.

The warthog was definitely hit by the ugly stick.

Jackal.

Gazelles are everywhere in the Serengeti. They fill fields as far as the eye can see.

KENYA

I left Dave in Tanzania to climb Kili and headed to Nairobi, Kenya, for two days. The city seemed strikingly modern, but I didn't explore too much because locals call Nairobi Nairobbery, so I just saw the markets and daily life from a bus, and only talked to locals at a campground. I was en route to London so perhaps didn't give it a fair shake.

Nairobi streets are lined with vendors much like the rest of Africa, but when you enter downtown it turns modern with western-like shops and malls.

Traffic into downtown Nairobi is a nightmare, but the good news is you can buy everything from bananas to steering wheels to blowup chairs right outside your window!

In closing, you can't go to Africa without spotting President Obama. He is everywhere; on shirts, scarves, buses and signs. Like us, the locals have high hopes for him.

Obama store in Tanzania.

Hakuna Matata,
- Elizabeth