When we humans observe animals and their behavior, we’re often tempted to anthropomorphize them, ascribing to them our human qualities. The zebra “wears” stripes, the cheetah “eats breakfast” and the warthog “hangs out with his buddies.”

While we were on safari in Tanzania, all those lions, elephants, cheetahs, and hippos prompted us to take this one step further and ask: What could the wild animals of Tanzania teach us about life, and possibly even business?

If all the safari animals were contracted for an motivational speaking conference, here’s who might show up and what they might say.

Warning: Cheetahs feature prominently. We were fortunate to run into them several times in the Serengeti.

1. Cheetah brothers: Practice Makes Perfect, Learn from Failure

We were lucky enough to see a pair of cheetah brothers two separate times on our safari — once in the late afternoon as they played and again in the early morning as they searched for food and tracked a herd of gazelles in the distance.

Unfortunately, the cheetahs’ morning approach was too slow and far too obvious for the alert gazelles who’d fled long before the brothers ever had a chance.

Their hunt was a failure. But this is how the less experienced learn: by trying, through practice.

In this case, their hopes are pinned on the next outing. Eventually, they’ll succeed. Their survival depends on it.

For most of us, we can’t expect to succeed without practice and a few moments of failure along the way. Failure happens. What makes the difference to your future: if and how you learn from it.

2. Cheetah mother: It All Begins with Vision

Shortly after watching the cheetah brothers and their failed hunt, we came across a mother – likely theirs — lazing about on the cool ground of early morning.

We watched for a bit and almost lost interest.

Just as we were about to abandon her for something more dramatic, she began to move deliberately. She glided past a herd of gazelles that looked to us like the obvious choice for a kill. Then she bypassed another.

What was she thinking?

Little did we know, her vision was to the horizon, something a little less obvious.

This was her strategy for the morning hunt. Only moments later, she amped up her gait. We followed her as she turned her focus to another, much larger herd of gazelles. They began to move quickly, but it was too late.

The mother cheetah moved with stunning speed — the sort you expect from a cheetah — and zeroed in on the slowest moving gazelle of the bunch. In seconds, it was over.

When we left her, she was sitting, panting heavily over her kill. Although she was exhausted, she knew she didn’t have the luxury of time. She had to eat quickly; hyenas and vultures were on their way to take a share.

Three lessons in one. Know what you want. Scan the long horizon. And sometimes you skip the obvious in front of you for a better opportunity.

3. Hippopotamus: Don’t Shit Where You Eat

It might sound odd to take life advice from an animal that spends its days in a poop-laden pool of water, but stick with me on this one.

Hippos spend nearly all day in the water in an attempt to stay cool as they digest last night’s dinner. The result: hippopotamus pools fill to the brim with 6000-pound pollution devices farting, pooping and splashing themselves in their own glee. Water churns. (Stomachs do, too.) It’s foul, it’s mesmerizing. It’s stench-laden, almost stifling.

The hippo pool is a battering, an all-out assault of the senses. It’s not a place where you light a match.

OK, enough of the scatology. The point? The survival of the hippopotamus seems odd given their size and circumstances. Three tons, vegetarian, and a sensitive skin that forces them to spend their daylight hours immersed in foul water and nighttime hours searching for and eating plants.

How have they not become extinct?

When it’s time to eat, the hippopotamus knows to go far, far away from their fetid bathing pools.

Good advice, both literally and figuratively.

4. Elephant: Sometimes Size Matters

No one messes with elephants. They aren’t predators, they aren’t ferocious. They’re just bigger than everyone else.

This size advantage confers certain benefits.

When you’re bigger than everyone else (either literally or figuratively), aggression isn’t required to earn respect.

5. Guinea Fowl: No One is Too Small to Help

When the two cheetah brothers began their hunt, they passed by a rasp of guinea fowl feeding on the ground.

Guinea fowl – in the background – make a racket to warn other animals of cheetahs

These birds knew they were safe, for they weren’t the cheetahs’ target. Their behavior went beyond themselves and they raised a ruckus to alert the other animals in area of the approaching danger – a calamitous noise that belied their size.

Never underestimate your ability to play a role, to help, or to make a difference.

6. Leopard: Get the View from Above

Leopards spend much of their day perched in trees, which is why they’re among the most difficult animals to spot on safari.

The leopard’s camouflaged aerial position allows him to take in the whole of the landscape, observing all animals and their movements. Best of all, nobody knows he’s up there.

When the leopard has finished his reconnaissance, he comes down from the tree and makes his move based on the intelligence he’s gathered.

Get an overview, gather your intelligence, then act.

7. Hyena: Persistence Pays

Say what you want about the hyena. They don’t look pretty and they always wear hangdog looks as though they’re up to no good, plotting something unsavory. It’s easy to dislike them.

However, as our guides tell it, hyenas are successful hunters because of their persistence. They rarely give up and they keep trying until they get what they want.

Sometimes persistence isn’t pretty. But it sure can be effective.

8. Wildebeest: There’s Strength in Numbers

On its own, the wildebeest can be an easy target for big cats like a lion or leopard. Yet one wildebeest in the midst of hundreds or thousands is enough to keep the cats away.

The wildebeest know there’s strength in numbers and value in working together.

9. Cheetah: A Solitary Life Can Be Difficult

Of all the big cats, cheetahs are the most vulnerable – in great part because as adults they are among the most solitary of all animals. Each cheetah relies only on itself for food. This means that if becomes seriously ill or injured (and therefore cannot effectively hunt), it will likely die of starvation. No other cheetahs will be there to share food or to help it recover.

Going it alone has its advantages, but a life without community or support may leave you vulnerable.

10. Lions: Live and Share in Community

Lions, on the other hand, live in communities – called prides – whose numbers can grow to ten or more. In a pride, female lions are responsible for hunting, for male lions are too slow and cumbersome.

In order to take down a big animal (like a buffalo) to feed the pride, lionesses must work together. After a kill, food is shared between members of the pride, each member takes his turn depending upon hierarchy, and injured members of the pride are ultimately taken care of.

Who do you want to be? A cheetah or a lion?

11. Vervet Monkey: In Grand Creations, Inject a Sense of Humor

A monkey with blue balls? And they are permanent! Mother Nature absolutely has a sense of humor.

What does this tell us? Perhaps, “Don’t sport blue balls if you are camera shy.”

Beyond that, take a cue from Mother Nature. Every so often, a nod to the not-so-serious — even in your magnum opus.

12. Rhinoceros: Generate Demand

After four days on safari, we were missing one animal in Africa’s legendary “Big 5” – the rhinoceros. On our final day, in our final hour, we saw one – elusive, far off in the distance, a dark silhouette almost more mystical than real.

Oohs and aaahs. Cameras clicked away even though our camera lenses captured the animal as a mere smudge.

Can you find the rhinoceros in this scene?

Being elusive adds mystery and builds demand.

13. Zebra: From Ordinary to Icon

Add a few stripes and you become an icon. How else can you explain why zebras – in Swahili literally “striped donkeys” — are so prized while their donkey cousins are so underappreciated?

Next time you’re looking for a new designs, consider adding stripes.

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Slideshow of our Tanzania Safari: Lake Manyara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater

If you don’t have a high-speed connection or you’d like to read the captions, you can view the Tanzania Safari photo set.

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Disclosure: Special thanks to our G Adventures tour leader, Moses, and our driver, Emilian, both of whom proved expert on the animals and the layouts of the parks. Our tour to Tanzania is in cooperation with G Adventures as Wanderers in Residence. As always, the opinions expressed here are entirely our own.

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The experiences above were from the G Adventures Tanzania Encompassed Tour. If you plan to book this or another tour with G Adventures, please consider starting the process by clicking on the ad below. The price stays the same to you and we earn a small commission. Thank you!

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 28 comments

Expectations: dangerous stuff. It’s virtually impossible not to have them when it comes to an iconic experience like a safari in the Serengeti.

You’ll understand if you’ve ever watched Animal Planet or a National Geographic documentary and imagined yourself — dressed in “safari” clothes, of course — peeking out of the roof of a four-wheel drive vehicle as a lion takes down a zebra and begins to devour it, all only a meter away. You’re snapping away with your DSLR camera, and its huge lens allows you to zero in on the drops of blood on the lion’s whiskers. Vultures hover overhead, hyenas grow in number and close in. The drumbeat of the soundtrack in your head (all daydreams have soundtracks, don’t they?) comes to a crescendo. Will the hyenas and vultures take their cut of the kill?

Not ringing a bell? OK. So maybe this is all just me, including the soundtrack.

But I digress. Back to reality and expectations. So now that I’ve been on safari in the Serengeti, what was it like?

It’s much like being invited to Mother Nature’s cabaret, a show with its own rhythm and drama, complete with life and death. We are there for a short time to watch, learn, enjoy. Then we exit the show and return to the real world, our heads spinning with everything we’ve seen.

Serengeti Timing – Ours and Theirs
Like any good show, timing is everything.

The Serengeti has a rhythm and a pace: everything happens in its own time, the right time. We humans must be patient, we must learn to enjoy the wait.

During our first late afternoon in the Serengeti, we set off on a game drive (such a dramatic term, isn’t it?) onto dusty roads and into vast open space. I’d seen it on TV: the veldt, an expanse into which are tucked tiny pockets of ferocious animals doing their bit to live.

We sought every animal we could imagine, but we truly hoped for cats, for their hunting and eating habits seem to anchor our safari excitement. They are clearly the big stars.

But there’s nothing that you can do to help animals appear. You just go where you might find them and you hope that you do.

“Oh my god, lions!!” And there they were. A group of female lions lounging on a mound of dirt. In one breath, amazing to us and so ordinary to them. It was fabulously climactic and anti-climactic at the same time.

The lionesses just lazed around, sprawling, doing nothing dramatic outside of an occasional yawn or lick of the paw, but that didn’t matter. We could have watched those lazy, lounging lions for hours. Each of their simple movements sent us all into squeals of delight.

You could see our guide and driver – veterans of the Serengeti – laughing quietly to themselves about our excitement and elevated reactions to absolutely everything, from a family of warthogs zipping across the road to giraffes noshing on the high leaves of an acacia tree.

That’s the beauty of this show: just about everything is exotic, exciting.

Rhythm of the Day
Animals follow their own cadence, one that seems to track the daily cycles of hot and cool. They can’t escape the heat to an SUV, they can’t retreat to their tents. No return to a campsite with a fully cooked meal waiting for them. Theirs is a cycle of hunts and feeds, rests and never-ending watches for scavengers.

Early morning is a good time for tracking the big cats. The day is still cool, the air is fresh. Animals of all sizes graze along the plains. This is the time for all animals, especially the weak and the slow, to be on alert.

We see nothing for an hour or two. Then in a span of minutes, we witness two cheetah brothers’ in an unsuccessful hunt followed by their mother’s snaring of a gazelle.

We see another failed hunt, this time from a lioness. She’s too slow, almost lazy. We’re beginning to notice the personality of the big cats emerging.

Afternoon comes, the sun hangs high overhead. The animals seek relief in the shade of the tall grass and under the umbrella-like acacia trees.

It’s a time for sleeping, eating, conserving energy. We pass another lioness eating a gazelle she’d caught that morning.

While I had seen this scene on TV, the soundtrack in real life was more profound: crunch, crunch. The lioness chewed through tendons, crushing the remaining bones. This lady is hardly delicate, and the atmosphere about her is far more dramatic in real life than it ever seemed on television.

When evening falls, the air cools again and it’s time for another hunt. Our driver hears reports of a leopard over the CB radio. We drive off to find a leopard in a tree, scanning the horizon.

He comes down off his perch. We all wait expectantly, wondering which gazelle is his target.

Instead he sits on the ground, taking his own time. He doesn’t move.

We leave him, still sitting on the ground in the fade of the late afternoon. It’s as if he knows our campsite curfew is 7:00 P.M.

We’d have liked to witness a hunt, but we don’t control the show.

Serengeti, Life and Death
On television, the process of hunt and kill seems more gruesome, brutal, and unfair than when you actually watch it the wild.

Why? The context. When you’re in the Serengeti, you realize that this is just the way nature works. Some animals eat plants, others eat meat. There’s a system — -an ecosystem — that’s delicate and well-fit. Without the gazelles and other small animals whose presence we all begin to take for granted, you’d have no big cats. Random yet purposeful — that’s the way it is.

And so perhaps this is why everyone in our truck was rooting for the cheetah to get some food.

Her hunt began slowly, deliberately. But when she broke into to sprint – going up to 100 kpm/70 mph, it was amazing. And quick.

She got her gazelle.

The story doesn’t end there, however. There’s no rest for the weary. She must eat quickly, particularly once she punctures the gazelle’s stomach, for the hyenas in the distance will sense the fresh meat almost immediately. Their interest: taking away her kill. Her interest: eat enough to stave off hunger that much longer and maintain her energy for those short yet full sprints that are critical to her staying alive.

Brutal, yet balanced. That’s life in The Serengeti.

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Note: During our safari with G Adventures we visited Lake Manyara, Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater National Parks. In this piece, we chose to focus on the Serengeti. Of all of our experiences, it was our favorite and it best represented the spirit of safari to us.

Slideshow of Serengeti’s Big Cats: Lions, Cheetahs and a Leopard

If you don’t have a high-speed connection or you’d like to read the captions, you can view the Big Cats of the Serengeti photo set.

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Disclosure: Special thanks to our G Adventures tour leader, Moses, and our driver, Emilian, both of whom proved expert on the animals and the layouts of the parks. Our tour in Tanzania was provided by G Adventures in connection with its Wanderers in Residence program. As always, the opinions expressed here are entirely our own.

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The experiences above were from the G Adventures Tanzania Encompassed Tour. If you plan to book this or another tour with G Adventures, please consider starting the process by clicking on the ad below. The price stays the same to you and we earn a small commission. Thank you!

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 18 comments

No shortage of digital ink has been spilled on this topic. Even so, every article we’ve read seemed to be missing a little something.

Based on our Kilimanjaro climb experience, here are the nuts and bolts of what an average, ordinary hiker will need for a Kilimanjaro climb. We’ll address choosing a Kilimanjaro route, costs, equipment and hiking gear, ways to avoid and manage altitude sickness and other illnesses, and whether or not you really need to train for a Kilimanjaro climb.

Don’t worry, it’s not as daunting as it sounds.


Skip Ahead:

• Choosing a Kilimanjaro Climbing Route
• When to Climb Kilimanjaro
• Cost to Climb Mount Kilimanjaro
• Key Gear and Equipment for Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro
• Avoiding and Managing Altitude Sickness on Kilimanjaro
• Medication and Water Purification
• Advice on Summit Day
• Do I Need to Train for Kilimanjaro?
• Peeing on the Kilimanjaro Climb (a Woman’s Perspective)

Since all routes lead to the same place – Uhuru Peak, we recommend not to belabor this decision. Choose a route that you think best fits your timing, sleeping preferences, fitness level and budget.

We highly recommend booking a group tour instead of climbing alone. Going Kilimanjaro solo may be for some, but we found it more fun to trek, summit and share the experience with a group.

Marangu Route: This route is affectionately known as the “Coca Cola Route” because you sleep in huts (instead of in tents) along the way. Read all about our experience on the Marangu Route, Day by Day.

Note: Since our firsthand experience speaks only to the Marangu route, the remaining route information comes from our guide and conversations with other trekkers.

Machame Route: Known as the “Whiskey Route,” this route takes 6-7 days and is popular because you ascend and descend on different paths and experience a wider variety of scenery. Sleep in tents.

Rongai Route: This 6-7 day route begins close to the border with Kenya on the northern side of the mountain and then joins up with the Marangu Route at Kibo Huts. It features the same summit day and descent as the Marangu Route. Sleep in tents.

Umbwe Route: Another 6-7 day route in tents. Our chief guide described this as the most difficult of all Kilimanjaro routes.

Lemosho Route: Six-eight days, also in tents. This route begins in the west and meets up with the Machame route after a few days. It is said to have some of the best scenery of the Kilimanjaro routes.

Shira Route: Similar to the Lemosho Route, but features a higher trailhead starting point (3,800 meters).

Note: For any given route, differences in duration are due to optional acclimatization days where you spend an additional night in a location to better adjust to the altitude. If you are especially concerned about altitude sickness, you should consider taking an extra day on the ascent.

High season for Kilimanjaro treks runs from late June to September and December to February. Consider climbing during the shoulder seasons to get good weather while avoiding the crowds.

For us, late May to early June was just about perfect: weather was great, skies were clear, and it was not too hot. Huts, trails and bathrooms were not overrun with climbers.

Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is not cheap. Kilimanjaro entrance fees and permits to Kilimanjaro National Park are steep. The climb also requires A LOT of people to help you get up the mountain — porters, guides, assistant guides, and cooks.

Our five-day Marangu route trek was included in our Gap Adventures Tanzania Encompassed tour. If you book the Kilimanjaro Marangu route trek separately, it costs around $1,500 (including two nights at a hotel in Moshi). Machame and other camping treks are more expensive ($1,700+) because the trek is longer and requires additional porters to carry additional camping equipment.

Tipping for Mt. Kilimanjaro? Estimate about $100-$200 (depending upon which route you take and how satisfied you are with your experience) in tips for your entire entourage of guides, porters and cooks. Many of the local staff earn more in tips than in salary.

We were thankful for the extra support our Gap Adventures Kilimanjaro team provided. This included additional manpower and support on summit day, plentiful and well-planned meals, and the peace of mind that comes with an experienced team whose aim is to help you summit safely.

If you book a tour on the ground in Moshi or Arusha, you can probably negotiate a cheaper price. However, we do not recommend risking a tour that cuts corners and leaves you without proper food and support. Make sure you know exactly what you are getting for your money. If you have even the slightest doubt, trust your instinct and find an alternative provider.

Some questions to ask: What kind of food will you have? What specifically is served for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Are the porters members of the porter’s association so that they have some protection, insurance and benefits? Will you have summit porters or additional help on summit day? Will your chief guide carry oxygen in case you need it? If you are taking a route where you sleep in tents, in what condition is the equipment?

We can attest that there’s no need to go out and spend a fortune on special gear for the climb. We arrived with just the basic stuff we carry with us all the time. We rented the remainder of the clothes, gear and equipment needed when we arrived the day before the trek began. (Most Kilimanjaro hotels and tour companies offer this.)

To give you a sense of rental costs, we paid $126 total to rent two sleeping bags, two pairs of waterproof pants, one waterproof jacket, walking sticks, two pairs of gaiters, two big duffle bags (for porters to carry), two waterproof bags, and one day pack.

Basic hiking/trekking gear for Kilimanjaro:

Before we enumerate clothing and equipment you might need, you should prepare yourself to go without a shower during your Kilimanjaro trek. The basic items:

• Basic walking/trail pants (zip-offs if you like, or carry shorts, which we never used)
• Hiking socks
• Hats (one trail hat for sun, another wool hat for warmth)
• Long-sleeved trail shirt and t-shirts
• Silk long underwear or Capilene top/bottom
• Gloves (ideally, with liners that you can strip down to when it becomes too warm for gloves)
• Fleece jacket
• Underwear (of course)
• Pajamas, or something clean to sleep in at night

Your porter will carry 15 kilos for you; this includes the weight of your sleeping bag. This should be more than enough weight allowance for what you’ll need to carry.

At night and on summit day, it can get very cold, as in down to -25C/-13F. Be prepared for this with many layers.

Slightly more technical gear and clothes for Kilimanjaro:

Waterproof pants and jacket: At the beginning of the climb you may need this to protect against rain. On summit day, you’ll need it for wind protection and warmth. We found that a simple winter/shell jacket is usually sufficient if supported by good multiple layers underneath.

Bundled up at Uhuru Peak in our waterproof pants and jackets

Hiking shoes: Make sure your shoes/boots have some ankle support (for summit day ascent and descent). Dan wore his low hikers for the first two days and switched to a rented ($15) pair of leather hiking boots on summit day.

Walking sticks / walking poles: We would recommend renting at least one pole — you’ll find it useful if not essential for balance, stability and pacing, particularly on the descent. Dan and I split a set and used them only on the descent. However, after talking with other climbers, it’s worth carrying a pair and using them for pacing and planting on the ascent up the frozen sand and scree switchbacks on the way up to Gilman Point.

Gaiters: These clip on to your shoes and pants to protect your shoes from getting inundated with dirt, sand and snow, particularly on the descent. We wouldn’t consider these crucial, particularly when we trekked during the season of limited/no snow. Rent them if your guide says you expect to walk through snow, otherwise you can probably skip them.

Sleeping bag: The warmer, the better. Try to rent a sleeping bag that is comfort rated to -20 or -30 C. Do not skimp on your sleeping bag — better to be too warm than too cold.

Extra batteries/portable charger: There is no electricity for charging batteries on the way up the mountain. Bring your own solar charger, self-contained portable charger, or stock up on extra batteries.

Head lamp: A head lamp is so much better than a torch on summit day. The last thing you want to do going up the mountain is hold something in your hand. Even better, carry a headlamp with an infrared light option. When you’re sharing a hut with a group of people and need to take pee breaks in the middle of the night, the red light is less disturbing to your hut-mates than a regular light.

Ear plugs: As you know, we love ear plugs. Sleep is critical during the climb. Do yourself a favor and get some good ear plugs so you don’t hear the bathroom breaks or snorers in your hut/tent. Also useful when the people bunking next to you squeal like 13-year old girls all night.

Duct tape: Miracle tape for preventing blisters, taping up hot spots and preventing awful blisters from getting any worse. Especially useful when wearing new shoes (which we do not recommend, but I had to do).

Fortunately, this was not one of our feet.

Handywipes: Helps you to stay “fresh” when you haven’t had a shower in days. Not going to go into more details here.

Electrolyte powder packets: When you’re drinking so much water, it gets boring. Also, sugars and salts are useful to help the body absorb and retain water.

Peanut butter (or your favorite snack): When you are tired and your appetite is waning with elevation, something smooth, easy, familiar, and loaded with energy may just be what you need to eat.

No, we do not have sponsorship from Skippy. We just like peanut butter.

Our assistant guide told me on the first day: “You will make it up to the top if you follow the rules.” Here they are:

1. Water: Drink it until you almost feel sick. This is perhaps the most important factor when dealing with high elevation. Drink at least three liters per day. If you can drink more, do so. Yes, you’ll be get up to pee during the night but this is a better alternative than succumbing to altitude sickness. Particularly as you climb, skip the diuretics (stuff that makes you pee like tea and coffee) in favor of hot water.

2. Pole Pole (Slowly, Slowly): Walking slowly allows you to conserve your energy and acclimatize as you go. Does your pace seems ridiculously slow? Then it must be the right one for Kilimanjaro.

3. Food: Your appetite declines as you gain elevation. This means you need to power eat on the first days of the trek and try to force yourself to eat at elevation. Not having enough energy reserves, particularly on summit day, isn’t good.

4. Sleep: Sleeping well becomes more difficult the higher you go in elevation – your heart races and your mind is wandering in and out of hallucination-like dreams. Go to bed early and sleep as best you can (see tip above for ear plugs). You’ll need all the rest you can get.

Having said all this, everyone reacts to altitude differently. Prepare yourself mentally for some discomfort. Even the fittest person can succumb to altitude sickness.

Other tools and tip to manage altitude sickness:

Acclimatization walks: At the end of each day, ask your guide to take you on an acclimatization walk. The idea is to walk/hike up to a point higher than where you’ll be sleeping for the night and then descend back down. This helps your body better adjust to the lack of oxygen.

Acclimatization walks also provide some nice views, too.

Altitude Medicine (Diamox) – Yay or Nay? Although we carry Diamox, we have always avoided taking it. Our guides in Nepal and Peru instilled in us that Diamox should be taken only as a last resort. The Kilimanjaro guides were a little more forgiving regarding their opinion of Diamox. It is heavy chemistry; it does very strange things to the acidity level of your blood and it requires that you drink even more water on the day you begin using it (4-5 liters if you can imagine that).

Garlic pills: In Nepal, the traditional wisdom says that garlic thins the blood. So on the Annapurna Circuit and Everest Base Camp hikes, all the tea houses offer garlic soup. We ate a bowl almost daily on our way around the Annapurna Circuit.

Knowing that garlic soup wouldn’t be available on Kilimanjaro, we carried garlic pills and took a double dose twice daily.

Did it help? Who knows?

Did we stink. Hells yes. But we stank anyway. (No showers, you know.)

A few other medical items to consider.

• Tylenol or Paracetamol for head and body aches: Light headaches and body aches are rather normal as you gain serious elevation. Our guide suggested that Tylenol/paracetemol is better than taking aspirin. It’s also easier on your kidneys than ibuprofen. If you choose to take Ibuprofen, be sure to drink even more water.
• Anti-nausea or diarrhea medicine: Stomachs also tend to suffer from elevation gain. For diarrhea, you can take immodium or lomotil, but they simply mask the symptoms. For nausea, controlling your breathing is the best if you’d like to avoid vomiting.
• Purified Water: We were provided boiled Kilimanjaro stream water at each stop. The higher the elevation, the less water actually boils at high heat. We drank the water without any purification tablets or drops and were fine. If you are nervous about water, bring water purification pills, drops, or a sterilization pen (Note: Our SteriPen stopped working – don’t know if it had something to do with elevation or cold weather killing batteries.)

(Note: No matter how tough you think your stomach is, don’t drink the tap water in Moshi or Arusha before you begin your trek. We’ve heard horror stories, as in someone being carried down the mountain on a stretcher due to amoebic dysentery. There’s no sense tempting fate.)

• Take many breaks on summit day: Don’t be afraid to ask your guide to take a break as often as you need. If our stomachs began to feel queasy, all we’d need is a short rest with concentrated breathing to re-center. Very deep breathing — vocal exhales and yoga-style breathing, as bizarre as it sounds –can also help with oxygen intake and nausea management.
• Play games or sing songs to take your mind off the climb: When you’re plodding up volcanic scree for hour upon hour in the black of night, boredom can weigh on you. Try to come up with mind games or sing songs in your head to distract you from obsessing about the time. This is where “99 bottles of beer on the wall” comes in handy.
• Go easy at the top: When you get to Uhuru Peak, you’ll feel exhilarated. You may want to jump for joy. Go for it once, but not twice. Control your excitement and movement. Otherwise, you may find yourself wanting to vomit on the way back down.

If your lifestyle is 100% sedentary, you have some work to do. If, on the other hand, you’re accustomed to regular exercise and being active, including hikes and activities that get your heart rate up, you’re probably in the league of people who can summit Kilimanjaro.

Although we did nothing specific in preparation for climbing Kilimanjaro, we’re inclined to think that some regular exercise would have been useful. There were others on our trek who prepared with regular training sessions. I suspect this preparation helped them as much mentally as it did physically.

After all, Kilimanjaro is a mental exercise, one about fortitude and confidence as much as anything else.

When you’re drinking at least three liters of water per day, you’re doing a lot of peeing — both during the day and at night. Basically, you’re going to need to get used to peeing in the great outdoors.

When hiking during the day, the easiest thing is to pop behind a bush, rock, tree along the way. We usually had group water and pee breaks at the same time. When the landscape becomes more barren at higher elevation, it’s a bit more difficult to find cover but you can usually find a small mound of dirt or rock. At night, the goal is to find a spot near your hut or tent that is somewhat protected, but easy to get to in your half-asleep slumber. Your inhibitions about peeing outside go away pretty quickly.

I didn’t use the She Wee or other urine funnels that allow women to pee standing up without making a mess, but might consider it for next time. Sounds like it would make things easier, faster and more efficient during the day and at night. If you use one of these on your Kilimanjaro Climb, let me know in comments how it worked out.
(Note: this section added on July 21, 2011 after receiving questions about this topic in the comments section and by email.)

One of the great things about climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is that it does not require a lot of technical skills or climbing gear. However, being prepared for the trek allows you to focus on the task at hand – getting to Uhuru Peak – instead of worrying about what you’re missing in your pack or how to handle altitude sickness.

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What are we missing here?

If you are contemplating a Kilimanjaro climb and have other questions, please post them below in the comments. If you’ve climbed Kilimanjaro and have your own tips or secrets, please share them below.
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Disclosure: Our tour in Tanzania was provided by G Adventures in connection with its Wanderers in Residence program. As always, the opinions expressed here are entirely our own.

————-

The experiences above were from the G Adventures Tanzania Encompassed Tour. If you plan to book this or another tour with G Adventures, please consider starting the process by clicking on the ad below. The price stays the same to you and we earn a small commission. Thank you!

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 29 comments

Poa kichizi kama ndizi.

– Swahili for “Crazy cool like a banana,” the most appropriate response to “How are you?” while climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.

So we climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and shared some of the life lessons we learned along the way. But what did the climb look like? How did it feel?

This five-day trail catches hell for not being very interesting in terms of landscape and for forcing a rapid ascent. Our experience? We thought it was great. Aside from an especially challenging final ascent, the progression is fine. Regarding views, we were pleasantly surprised by the variety and beauty of the landscape. Hopefully our photos underscore this.

To give you a sense of the pace of our climb, we’ve included the distance we covered and the elevation we gained each day. Quite frankly, every time we look at these numbers and consider how rapidly we moved, we whip the calculator out just to verify.

Take a deep breath. Let’s get moving.

Begin: Marangu gate 1,840m/6,036 ft; End: Mandara Hut 2,720m/8,923ft
Elevation gain: 880m/2,887ft; Distance: 8km/5mi

The climb begins much like a walk in the park. Gauzy moss hangs from trees, waterfalls whisper in the distance. Red clay and forest: this is one of nature’s finest complimentary color combinations. Our pace is absurdly slow, like shuffled footsteps. We feel like dancing to get our hearts beating once again.

As we make our way up, porters and trekkers fresh from their summit experience bound down at a quick pace, eager to wind things up and experience a shower. (We can smell this.)

“I want to be them.” (Aside from collective body odor, that is).

We pass members of the Drake University football team on their way down the mountain. Many of them – huge, fit guys – look exhausted, wracked.

“Oh man. What are we in for?”

Washing hands outside our hut at Mandara. So civilized.

We settle down for the night at Mandara Huts. We’re told that the ascent will whittle away our appetites, so we force down as much food as possible for dinner while finishing well beyond our three liters of water for the day.

(Speaking of drinking, I wake up at 9:30PM and exited the hut to pee. I have seen many a star-stitched sky in my life, but the one overhead at that moment may have been the best I’ve ever seen. Getting up to pee in the middle of the night does have its benefits.)

Begin: Mandara Hut 2,720m/8,923ft; End: Horombo Hut 3,720m/12,204ft
Elevation gain: 1,000m/3,280ft; Distance: 12 km/7.5mi

The landscape changes from willowed rainforest to shrub-strewn heath and moorland. The land becomes textured, perfect for mid-mountain light.

Peaks begin to appear. First Mawenzi Peak and then the snow-capped Uhuru Peak in the distance. Our final goal is in sight. Doesn’t look too far, right?

When we flew past Kilimanjaro on our way from Nairobi just days before, we saw a cloud line wrapping around one side of the mountain. At Horombo Huts, our stop for the night, we realize that we are now above those clouds. We feel a lift, thinking how far we’ve come, but we also take deeper breaths to capture more of the oxygen our bodies need.

The rapid ascent to high altitude begins to register. Broken sleep, too. Besides getting up to pee four times a night, bouts of anxiety and hallucination-like dreams take hold.

I wake up in the middle of the night, my heart racing. I know this feeling from other ascents. My head tells my heart this is normal. A few deep breaths and I fall back asleep.

Repeat until the guide knocks on the door at 6:30 AM.

Begin: Horombo Hut 3,720m/12,204ft; End: Kibo Hut 4,703m/15,430ft
Elevation gain: 983m/3,225ft; Distance: 12 km/7.5mi

Just outside Horombo Huts, we come across a stretch of grassland covered with dendorsenecio kilimanjari, the unmistakably-shaped signature trees of Kilimanjaro. The clouds stay away, and our views of the peak and its glaciers remind us not only of how fortunate we are to be here, but also how we must continue to earn our way.

After lunch the walk becomes mind-numbingly monotonous. A road is carved to the horizon. Each time we reach what seems like an end, a new beginning awaits us.

Barren and brown, this path seems infinite.

I sample mantras to deal with my fatigue and boredom. I like the four-step mantra, “one…foot…in front of the…other.” Timing my footfalls to match my breath feels like yoga. If there’s a prevailing cycle in the universe, I experience fleeting moments of becoming one with it. Then I fall out, reflecting on the monotony and appreciating the beauty in turns.

Then Kibo Hut appears, a spartan gift to bring this day to an end.

There’s no mistaking that this is base camp territory. We’ve seen it in the Himalaya. It’s basic, it’s barren. Short-drop toilets are not for lingering. There’s no running water. For so many reasons, time here must be limited. No need to force it, for our climbing schedule is about to take an inhumane leap.

A short acclimatization walk, then rest, then early dinner. In an attempt to reassure us, Suliman, our guide, shows us two giant aerosol cans of compressed oxygen, which in the worst of all cases will save us. (The moment you take oxygen is the moment your climb is over. It’s a sign that you’ve succumbed for good and you go no further.)

We are cold. We are tired. We all wonder what summit day will feel like. We wonder whether we’ll make it.

For the next couple of hours, we “sleep.” But this is no sleep, it is just short of full-blown insomnia.

Ascent: Kibo Hut 4,703m/15,430ft to Uhuru Peak 5,895m/19,341ft (via Gilman Point and Stella Point)
Elevation gain to Summit (Uhuru Peak): 1,192m/3,911ft; Distance: 10km/6.2mi
Descent: Uhuru Peak to Horombo Hut: 2,175m/7,135ft; Distance: 22km/13.7mi
(Yup, you did the math correctly – that’s 32 km/20mi of walking in one day.)

Wake up is 11 PM. While the rest of Africa is just going to bed, we are getting up. Our “day” begins with porridge. I’m not the least bit interested in eating, but I force it down all the same. Maija captures the worst of what we are feeling, “My bones ache. Even my teeth ache. It’s like I have growing pains.”

Though my bones do not ache, it’s clear that my body is not especially pleased with what I’ve done to it.

We pile on every layer of clothing we have — Audrey counts 10 on top — and we’re out the door to climb. It’s midnight. “Let’s do this thing,” I say. Audrey and I clasp hands. I choke up.

We are here. It’s time.

Setting off with our guide and summit porters. Without their support, we wouldn’t have made it.

We begin to walk, plodding. “Pole, pole,” our guides remind us. (Slowly, slowly.)

12:30 AM
Up scree switchbacks. God, I hate volcanic ash. Though it’s not as bad as one step forward, two steps back, it’s something close.

“If I climb like this another 12 times, maybe I’ll make it to the top,” I say to myself, playing mathematical rationalization games.

1:15 AM
I see Audrey looking up, checking out the lights of the climbers ahead of us. “Don’t do it,” I say.

“It’s demoralizing. Keep your head down.”

I’m irritable, almost forgetting all the great wisdom that comes too easily while tapping on a laptop in the comfort of an oxygen-rich warm apartment.

2:00 AM
I look up, ignoring my own advice. The lights from head lamps that punctuate the darkness snake up the mountain to the edge of the sky. I wonder if I’ll be able to sustain this.

2:30 AM
The first of our potential casualties, one of our fellow climbers has a break down. The guides act quickly, ushering the rest of us onwards so she can be attended to properly. (Spoiler: She continues and makes it all the way to the top.)

3:00 AM
I feel like I want to throw up. I quickly debate the merits of doing so and decide against exchanging relief for an uncomfortable burning in my mouth and nose. I begin to exhale heavily and inhale in musical patterns to stave off the nausea. It works, fleetingly.

My exhaustion is so thorough that I catch myself falling asleep as I walk. This is the downside of sleep-starved yoga breathing. Sleepwalking while mountain climbing — I cannot believe this. (Maija later confirmed that she was both sleepwalking and dreaming on the way up the mountain.)

Every time we stop on a rock or turn to catch our breaths, I catch a wink of sleep, inadvertently. I could fall asleep here forever. I know this is dangerous. Our guides do too. They nudge us to keep moving.

4:00 AM
Why do I keep looking at my watch?? I feel like tearing it off and throwing it down the mountain.

Head down, one foot in front of the other. There are those bottles of beer on the wall again. I keep losing count. Not that it matters.

4:30 AM
We stop occasionally, but not often enough for my needs.

I look down and see a chain of headlamp lights snaking below. I’m torn: pleased to have made it so far, but wondering how much more I have to go.

In darkness, there’s comfort in not knowing how infinite this mountain might be.

5:00 AM
I look up. I think I can see the crest of the hill. “A night mirage,” I think.

5:20 AM – Gilman Point (5,681 m/18,638ft)
The first big milestone of the day. I don’t feel like I’m dying anymore. We rest, but not for long.

“Uhuru Peak is not that far away,” Hatibo, our summit porter, offers a morsel of motivation.

(Note: Pace yourself. Ideally, you’d like to arrive at Gilman Point when it’s still dark, and finish at Uhuru Peak around sunrise so that you can enjoy the view and the early morning sun. However, if you climb too quickly, you’ll get to the top when it’s dark and far too cold to linger.)

6:10 AM Stella Point (5,730m/18,800ft)
On your way up, NEVER EVER listen to anyone coming down who says, “It’s not long now.”

It’s long. Trust me.

Another climber on his way up adds, “I heard it’s mostly downhill from here.” Either he is joking or he is full of crap. Either way, I resent him almost completely.

The reality: we have plenty of uphill remaining.

Taking a break on the way to Uhuru Peak. Yes, we’re as exhausted as we look.

The sun appears on the horizon above the clouds. Kilimanjaro’s glaciers begin to glow in the early morning light. Under other circumstances, I’d be taking photos by the hundreds, but I focus my energy uphill. (Kudos to Audrey for assuming the reins of the big camera.)

From here, I can see the peak, but not the place where climbers are celebrating. I can beat this, but it’s slow. Very slow.

7:20 AM – Summit, Uhuru Peak (5,895m/19,340ft)
Our final steps are all emotion. Fatigue is forgotten and adrenaline takes over. I’ve imagined this moment countless times.

A posed shot by a little wooden sign has never felt so satisfying.

The summit is known for cold and rapidly changing conditions, but we luck out. The sun blazes and skies are clear. The temperature is almost comfortable and the wind is nothing like what we prepared for. We linger, snapping photos and getting drunk on thin air. The views are even more impressive than we imagined.

We can’t recognize the potential danger. At twenty minutes, we’re pushing our luck; our guides “encourage” us to head back down.

In an aim to return to Kibo Hut as soon as possible, we move very quickly. Too quickly, it seems. I’m overexerting myself. Before I know it, I feel miserable and exhibit the tell-tale signs of altitude sickness: my stomach is in knots, my head is pounding.

As we bounce down the scree below Gilman Point, I’m amazed by what we’d scaled. And I want to throw up again.

When we arrive at Kibo Hut, I collapse into my bed. No time for sleeping bags. I wake up to breakfast 45 minutes later, my rain pants only half off.

After a full breakfast and a short rest, it’s time to hit the road to Horombo Hut to retire for the night. And to breathe.

Begin: Horombo Hut 3720m/12,204ft; End: Marangu Gate 1840m
Elevation loss: 1,880m/6170ft; Distance: 20 km/12.5mi

It’s a long way down, so we get an early start. But as early starts go, this is a good one. We all feel relatively well. We didn’t wake up to pee as much. We slept. Our appetites return.

We even do morning exercises. We laugh.

We enjoy the early morning light and clouds as we walk. This is the second time we’ve seen this stretch of terrain, but this time it looks different. It’s in the shadow of the summit, a place we’ve been.

Now we’re the ones coming down –- a bit more stinky, a little more confident — and we’re encouraging those heading up.

How much can change in just a few days.

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Mount Kilimanjaro Photos

If you don’t have a high-speed connection or you’d like to read the captions, you can view the Mount Kilimanjaro photo set.

Coming up next: All the practical details you need to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, from packing the right gear to dealing with altitude sickness.

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Disclosure: Special thanks to the leaders of our Gap Adventures climbing and summit team: Suliman, Issa, Isaac, Hatibo and Masa. Without you, we might still be on that mountain. Our tour in Tanzania was provided by G Adventures in connection with its Wanderers in Residence program. As always, the opinions expressed here are entirely our own.

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The experiences above were from the G Adventures Tanzania Encompassed Tour. If you plan to book this or another tour with G Adventures, please consider starting the process by clicking on the ad below. The price stays the same to you and we earn a small commission. Thank you!

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 30 comments

Located at a confluence of a few of Stone Town’s many windy old town streets, the Jaws Corner intersection forms a sort of community courtyard. People gather to drink small cups of 100 shilling ($0.07) Arabic-style local coffee — strong, unsugared black stuff brewed in a metal kettle heated over a sidewalk charcoal stoves. If you happen to be in a rush, hop off your bicycle or motorbike, down a quick cup, and hop back on your way.

Everyone hangs out here: Zanzibaris of African and Arab descent, old and young, locals and tourists. This is what makes it such a great place to rest, people watch, and talk with ordinary people. Jaws Corner is also the one place in town where there seems to be a tacit ban on touts and souvenir pitching.

Easily one of our favorite places in Stone Town.

Panorama: Jaw’s Coffee Corner in Stone Town, Zanzibar

For best panorama viewing results, press fullscreen (four arrows) and navigate around with your mouse.

Articles About Tanzania

Climbing Kilimanjaro: Life Lessons from the Top of Africa

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Tanzania: My 7th Continent, A Mountain to Climb

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Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro

Other Tanzania Photos

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 5 comments

Like any journey of significance, themes emerged. Somewhere beyond Kilimanjaro’s snow-patched Uhuru Peak, I learned and relearned some lessons that resonated beyond the mountain-climbing task at hand.

In no particular order:

1. Sometimes life’s greatest competitor is not the person next to you, but the one inside your head.
On Mt. Kilimanjaro, if it’s not (wo)man vs. mountain, it’s most definitely you vs. yourself. On the way up, it’s easy to let the anxiety demons stop you in your tracks.

“Am I getting altitude sickness? I’m not going to make it. I’m not strong enough.”

These fears take over during the day, and when you’re trying to sleep, they sap precious mental and physical energy.

You must overcome their chorus to get to the top.

Sound familiar? Maybe you’ve got a big project coming up or you’ve been staring down the barrel of something completely new. In either case, don’t let the voices of panic and the ghosts of failures past cloud your success story. Allow deep breaths and your perspective to put them in their place.

2. Support is a beautiful thing.
Understand in life that you are not going it alone, and that often you’ll need the support of others.

Stephen Covey called it interdependence. And you’ll need it to get up the mountain. Before you go, it comes in the form of words from friends and fans. On the mountain, it comes in the form of a mob of people including guides, porters, and cooks all watching out for your wellbeing. Not to mention, your partners in the climb.

Our entire Mt. Kilimanjaro team: climbers, guides, porters, cooks and all.

In life, know that even in the midst of your greatest challenges you are not alone. Take comfort in others who have taken the challenge before you, with you and in your wake. Along the way, graciously accept their genuine support. And give it, too.

3. Appreciate the journey, in all directions.
Keep your head down if you need to, but look up, look down. Look forward primarily, but occasionally look back to know where you’ve been and to appreciate the beauty of where you stand.

At Horombo Huts, appreciating how far we’d come.

Good advice on the mountain. Good advice in life, I believe.

4. Take it slowly, slowly.
“Pole. Pole.” (Swahili for “Slowly. Slowly”) If you hear it once on the mountain, you’ll hear it a thousand times. It cannot be said enough. For us mere mortals, it is the single greatest key to the enjoyment of climbing and the satisfaction of summiting Kilimanjaro.

In the beginning of the climb, the plodding seems so maddeningly slow as to be ridiculous, but there’s good reason for this. A slow but deliberate pace is the key to continually managing energy and acclimatizing to altitude.

One foot in front of the other on Day 2 of the climb.

I’ll tell you why I’m convinced of this. On the way up the mountain, especially on the night of the final ascent, I had my struggles. We all had our struggles.

Oddly enough, however, it was on the way down that I felt like my guts were going inside out, my head pounded, and my vision was blurred.

On the way down? Why?

I made the mistake — in a fit of great excitement – of over-exerting myself at the summit. And I paid for it. All the way down to our overnight camp.

In life, sometimes pole pole – one foot in front of the other; slowly, slowly, surely and deliberate — all the way to the end — is the best way to ensure you reach your goals.

5. Have the right tools.
From firsthand experience, I can tell you that climbing Kilimanjaro does not in any way need to be belabored with equipment anxiety in the run-up. But having a few key items in your bag (either upon arrival or renting on the spot) is important.

When you’re struggling to put one foot in front of the other on summit day, the last thing you need to mind is being cold, wet or uncomfortable. Make sure you have the right gear so you can channel all your energy into the task at hand.

There’s no need to overthink the gear you need for life and go gadget-crazy, but having a few key tools to allow you to do your work will enable you to focus on what you do best.

6. Allow yourself to acclimatize and adjust.
On the mountain, this means taking an extra day if you feel you need to, or taking short hikes to higher elevation at the end of each day. The idea is to take a taste of the thinner air that awaits you and return to a comfortable place so you can sleep at night; you will be better equipped – mentally and physically — to take on the challenge in the morning.

Particularly when life is about movement from one comfort zone to the next, give yourself time and room to adjust along the way.

7. Be confident, but don’t underestimate the task at hand.
How was Kili? Doable (obviously), but not to be underestimated. Although Kilimanjaro is not a technical climb, ascending to 5,895 meters (19,340 feet) in just three days is no easy feat.

Where many often stop. Exhausted, but not yet at the Uhuru Peak (5,895 meters)

There is a fine balance between confidence and underestimating the task. Kilimanjaro is within reach. I suspect that’s why so many people try to climb it. Unofficial reported rates of summit success are something like 80%. Apparently after the official log books are cleared, the official rates are something like 30%. Let’s say the actual number lies somewhere in between.

Don’t freak yourself out about a daunting project to the point of not doing it, but understand that it may take more energy and determination than you ever bargained for.

That’s OK. You can do it.

8. Water for life.
“Water for life.” It’s a mantra on the mountain. There’s even a bizarre statue (of a man with a rifle) in tribute to the concept on the main square of the town of Moshi.

Water, it is said, helps clear the body of what ails it. No more so than at altitude. We were instructed to drink at least three liters of water each per day. In reality, we drank between four and five. (And yes, that means a whole lot of bathroom trips in the middle of the night.)

Drink more water. You’ll feel better. Period.

9. Personal victories are satisfying. Shared victories are sublime.
On the night of our final ascent (we set off at midnight after only a few hours of broken sleep), I envisioned us at the peak more times than was healthy. I am grateful that Audrey and I made it together, but that wasn’t enough.

There were five of us in our group.

About one-third of the way up, around 2:30 A.M., one of the women in our group sat on the ground and broke down. “I’m totally exhausted,” Jo said in tears. Her husband, Damian, held her in support. I could empathize and sympathize with that sentiment, right down to every last weary, altitude stretched, sleepwalking bone in my body. Based on the climb ahead, I put her chances of reaching the summit at an even 50/50.

Apparently her porters said all the right things and she did all the right things. In one of life’s miraculous and satisfying swings — only five minutes after Audrey and I reached the summit — we turned around to find Jo and Damian just behind us.

Joy in the success of others. It’s a great thing.

All of our group at Uhuru Peak, the top of Africa

10. Sometimes it’s about more than you.
On summit day, we also climbed with a young woman from Finland named Maija. When we reached Gilman Point, a sort of pre-summit two hours short of Uhuru Peak, she sat down and said, “I am happy. I think I will stay here.”

She was fatigued from the last five hours of climbing, masking persistent altitude sickness and enduring stunning blisters across her heels with a determination that betrayed little of the physical pain she must have been experiencing.

Five minutes later, she was leading the way to Uhuru Peak.

Maija’s story is one that I’ll never forget. She received news from home just two weeks earlier that her father had died suddenly. After talking with her family, she opted to do the climb as scheduled, as a tribute to her father, an avid traveler and adventurer. He had been so excited for her to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.

I’m inclined to think he had something to do with her determination and final burst of energy.

And I’m certain he’d be proud.

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If you’re curious as to the route we took up Kilimanjaro, how to prepare, what gear to bring, and what to do about altitude sickness, then stay tuned. It’s all coming in a separate post. Oh, and photos, too. Lots of ‘em.

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Disclosure: Special thanks to the leaders of our G Adventures climbing and summit team: Suliman, Issa, Isaac, Hatibo and Masa. Without you, we might still be on that mountain. Our tour in Tanzania was provided by G Adventures in connection with its Wanderers in Residence program. As always, the opinions expressed here are entirely our own.

————-

Our experiences above were from the G Adventures Tanzania Encompassed Tour. If you plan to book this or another tour with G Adventures, please consider starting the process by clicking on the ad below. The price stays the same to you and we earn a small commission. Thank you!

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 60 comments

We’ll be posting more photos and stories later from our climb. Trust us, there are lots. But for now, it’s time for a celebratory Kilimanjaro beer with the group. And some rest.

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 35 comments

Tucked deep inside a cardboard box in Prague, Czech Republic, there’s a half-torn crumpled piece of yellow legal pad paper that reads somewhere in the middle, scribbled in blue ballpoint: “Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.”

Those words date back to December 31, 1999. Audrey had been visiting me in San Francisco on a break from her Peace Corps stint in Estonia. As some people frantically stacked cans of beans in their cellars in anticipation of a Y2K meltdown, Audrey and I sipped coffees and each scrawled out “25 Things” – 25 things we’d hoped to do before we died. (If I were writing more formally, I’d call it an “exercise” and make it sound like something from an expensive self-help personal growth program you’d find in Skymall.)

On my legal pad I wrote, “Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.” (Just under that, I incidentally also wrote, “Shoot an honest game of golf under 90.” Please, I’ve already been given a lot of grief about how uninspired that particular entry is.)

When our exercise concluded, Audrey and I compared lists. And wouldn’t you know it, she had “Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro” on hers, too. Alignment. Nice.

But all these years living, traveling, and thinking about the world, Audrey and I somehow always missed our Africa landing. (In fairness, Audrey spent time in Africa growing up.)

No longer.

This Sunday, we fly to Tanzania to begin a tour with Gap Adventures (Tanzania Encompassed) that takes us to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, to game parks like Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, and Lake Manyara to witness the migration of the wildebeests and catch a look at some of the Big 5 (elephants, leopard, lion, buffalo and rhino), and finally to Stonetown on the island of Zanzibar.

Why Tanzania?

Three things.

I want to see the real-live Wild Kingdom (Or, as some of you may remember from watching it as a kid “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom”). Marlin Perkins’ voice would rise only slightly – the pounce! A poor zebra or gazelle sipping at the water’s edge was another animal’s lunch. Aerial shots of great movements of wildebeest running across the veldt spoke to lifecycles and the vastness of our small Earth.

Then, looking eastward to the Indian Ocean, there is Zanzibar. Spice markets, beaches, and thoughts of pirates (a friend who was a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania had taught me to say “Zanzibar!” with a pirate’s accent.) Arrrgh.

Finally, there’s Mount Kilimanjaro, a mountain peak whose upper reaches are within our reach. A place where you can just put one foot in front the other and end up on the highest point on the African continent — that is if the altitude doesn’t get you.

While I know I have time to hone my golf game, all reports are that climate change is taking its toll on Kilimanjaro and its glaciers are retreating to the point that perhaps in my lifetime, they will be gone. I’d like to see them before they go.

Africa, My Final Continent

This trip to Africa also marks my seventh and final continent. Before I took my first trip abroad when I was 26, it never really occurred to me that I’d see them all.

From my first travels abroad, it will have taken me almost fourteen years.

My first steps were in Scranton, Pennsylvania in North America. In 1997, Hong Kong offered me a first glimpse of Asia while Sydney was my first touch down under. The following year in Europe, my first taste was an unlikely Tallinn, Estonia in the grayest of winters. Eleven years later, the crisp, blue skies of Quito, Ecuador welcomed me to South America, a long continent whose southern tip was the launch point for a frosty welcome to Hanusse Bay, Antarctica.

In a few days Moshi, Tanzania at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro will be my first taste of Africa.

Now, I feel this is all a bit unfair to Audrey whose life travels began 22 years before mine. But for her, one continent remains: Australia.

We need to do something about that.

Where Else in Africa?

Traveling to Tanzania and saying “I’ve been to Africa” strikes me as a bit unfair to the continent. It’s akin to saying, “I had a piece of that pie” when in fact you’d only eaten a fragment of crust just rubbed with filling. You think you know what the whole thing is like, but you really don’t — and you won’t be certain until you’ve tasted more.

So a taste of East Africa I’ll have. But there’s much more to East Africa than Tanzania. Add to that North Africa and the Sahara, West Africa and southern Africa and you’ve got yourself another lifetime of travel. This is just one of the ways in which Africa overwhelms me when I think about it.

But for now, Tanzania. I’d like to think of this journey as planting a seed of something bigger, much as our first trip to Asia together in 2004 planted the seed of our current travels.

And yes, I know. I still need to get that honest game of golf under 90.

But until then, I’ve got a mountain to climb.

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Follow our journey to Tanzania with us. We’ll be posting photos of our travels in Tanzania via Twitter (#dna2tanzania) and Facebook and in our photo gallery.

After this trip, we are going to be still for several months. I know, I know. We’ve been saying this for months, but barring an offer we absolutely cannot refuse, we actually mean it this time. The location, still to be finalized, points again to Berlin. Stay tuned.

Originally posted on the Uncornered Market travel blog. Find beautiful travel photos from around the world. | 31 comments