Location ……Middle Of the Atlantic Ocean.

Life after Africa! After the Safari we moved into the city.. A little time spent alone on the Serengeti will spoil you. We checked out of the ever corporate Sopa Lodge on the rim of the Ngorogoro Crater early so we could spend a little time in the city of Arusha. I knew the Sopa Lodge was a little out of the mix when I paid $4.50 us for a 320ml Tusker (normal price $.50 per 500ml)

We stayed during the day at the Kia lodge where Team Roma/Doug parted ways with Team Offret. We were sad to split up but every good thing must come to an end. Here was the last photo taken of the group with our humble, patient, charismatic, genuine driver “Steady Freddy”













Dad went to meet contacts at the UN Tribunal for the Rwanda crimes, the rest of the group explored the city. “Mzungos at the Market”…. Can you find 3 Mzungos?
















This picture was taken at breakfast Doug and I are merely decoys the focus is on the individual who happens to be male and wearing a pink velour 2 piece leisure suit!!??

















Doug and R.A.O stand in to show their support for classic “Hitari” and Tuskers.

















In Amsterdam posing around town pretending to be tourists.





































I found a sign leading people to the Canadian “boots”.. how aboot that, eh?



















R.A.O Kicks it up a notch and eats some “Frites” with straight up MAYO!!! Greeze the joints Guy!!





















Oh the Red Light district was peeking its head around every corner.. Here is R.A.O once again mesmerized by the ladies in the window.

How about a picture of the Cheetahs?? Here are a couple walking around trying to make a living

















Some other animals that don't seem to get credit around here very often are the Zeebs.. they are EVERYWHERE... seriously.. they are like plankton in the ocean... yet no two are alike... so put your hands together for the Zeebs!!!!


















I broke the rules today and had a picture taken of me with some Giraffes outside of the cruiser... Freddy (guide) was almost in tears.. he believes there are lions and cobras in all patches of tall grass.

















Hyenas are gross... Seriously the way they slink around with their back legs way too short for their bodies... plus the look on their face is always wicked... Freddy hates that they steal the cheetah's food from them
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Location Lake Ndutu, Seringetti


Today we were lucky enough to spot 13 Dik Diks I was very happy about this, mainly because they are my favorite species out here.. These things are litterally 14 inches tall from head to toe with minature antlers just like a little baby deer.
















Later on in the day we did a little grass plains levitating as I am demonstrating here then posed for a group shot in front of the 50,000,000 shilling cruiser, yeah you heard right 50 mil in shillings for one of these things new... !!!!
















We saw and watched another family of cheetahs today 3 total, in addition to the 2 we watched yesterday... They cheetahs are very relaxing, they just lay around like housecats swatting their tail around to keep the flies off.


Pictured below is the group of warthogs we saw close to camp and a very fine impala..

Current Location.. Africa wilderness somewhere in tents.








































Our Safari trip today was quite an experience.. We started out driving through the city of Arousha.. most of the folks were excited to see all the people through the comfort of the Land cruiser.

A couple hours later we made it down to the national wildlife preserve around the Lake Manyara. There was some spectacular wildlife viewing there from the Cruiser.. It was nice to pop out of the roof hatches in the Land Cruiser to get unobstructed views of the Elephants, Hippos, Gazelles, Cape Buffalo, Giraffes and countless others that crossed the path.

The favorites were as follows:

Ron: Elephants/Giraffes
Roma: Velvet Monkey
Doug: Fighting Hippos
Craig: Dik Diks

Our driver “Freddy” was about at his wits end with us. We are thinking of ways to sneak out of the cruiser without him noticing. I am working on making a to scale dummy of Doug and replacing him in the back seat so Freddy won’t know he is gone, in an attempt to get us all a little closer to the dangerous game.

We are staying in another over the top lodge in the mountains. The Kirumu tented lodge calls these tents but really they are four star rooms with giant verandas. We have had and amazing night of great cuisine and chatter about the great game viewing we did today.

Tomorrow we are checking out and heading to the Serengeti National park, we will be staying at the Ndutu camp.

Life in Africa is a couple steps off the path that you’re used to taking, combine that with a 7 day camping / hiking trip up the continent’s highest mountain and you have got yourself a real situation.

Probably the first thing that jumps out at you being here is that the people are a little musky. Everyone wears their body odor like a badge and maybe can’t smell it or doesn’t care. But every local that passes you get the full effect of their particular and unique scent. Our support team for the mountain had a cornucopia of smells on the way to the mountain so you can only imagine what was in store for us on the trail. Every porter that passed, every time someone talked to you it was impossible not to smell.

The eating ritual around here is something else. When I go camping I would just like to eat a hot dog roasted on a fire and call it good. That will not pass on this mountain excursion. Every time we had to eat, which was breakfast and dinner, we had to be seated at the table!! No exceptions. Goudez, the assistant guide with his English vocabulary 145 strong, would insist. It always went something like this:















Goudez: Hello…..Guys…….Hello……
Craig: No!!….
Goudez: Fine…. I am Fine OK…come ..Ok
Craig: No. leave me alone !
Goudez: Yes Come it is necessary you eat
Craig: I am not eating today… your food is gross
Goudez: Ok I bring tea…..Ok tea here… yes
Craig: I don’t want any tea. I have an F-ing headache.. beat it !!
Goudez: Yes good I bring tea…. Fine

No matter what you said or did, this Goudez character would persist until you sat at the silly table in the middle of a campsite at 12,000 feet. Every time the table was set with plates, bowls, silverware, salt and pepper... the usual right.. Then sugar, Instant coffee, hot water and tea. Then there were always the items we never used, such as the peanut butter, the margarine, the Palestinian quick oats (which I knew profits supported the PLO), the cocoa, the tang like drink mix called mola, some jar of black paste we didn’t know anything about and of course the marmalade jam made of some type of mango. Don’t try to tell these guys that you don’t need all this stuff at every meal they will resent you.

At altitude your appetite at least cuts in half.. Mine was totally gone. It was always another argument with Goudez when I left the table about how I didn’t eat enough.

We kept the average amount of porters around for a camp which is 4.5 per person. I was a little shocked when I found out we had 7 porters and 2 guides going along. Until I realized the necessity of them all. For example, you need one guy to carry the outhouse even though every campsite has 10 or so you need a portable one that is nice and clean. Then one guy carries the tents, 3 of them. You have 2 guys carrying personal stuff for the climbers, that was Paul and Saimon.. they were my favorites. Then you have Christian carrying an aluminum box full of food. Then the two others are carrying all the dishes camp stoves, kerosene, dry storage food and other misc items that are necessary such as table and chairs.

The funny thing about these guys is they just love every minute of this hike. They are all excited to have a job for a week and are celebrating. You would think they have special skills and taking hiking very seriously, but no, they are a drinking and smoking bunch of jokesters who stay up late at night laughing and carrying on with 4 or 5 per 3 man tent.

These fellas love to carry stuff on their heads.. there is not doubt about it. I tried my best to explain using actions and examples about the benefits of a pack with a good waist belt. I just didn’t seem to get through to them. Most of the waist belts won’t fit snug on these guys anyway because they all have about a 24 inch waist. So they put all the backpacks into duffle bags and balance them on their heads all the way down the trail.


The trip up the mountain was great. It was like hiking on another planet, actually when we were walking around on the rim at 19,000 feet I was telling my Dad I can’t believe we can even breathe up here in outer space. It is quite the spectacle when the sun finally comes up and you can see that you are walking on the highest spot on the continent. I swore I could see the oceans on either side but then again I was a little weird in the head at that altitude.

I have to give props to Dad for sticking to it up the hill, I hope when I am that age I have enough tenacity to do something that extreme.

Next stop the safari… Hopefully we are not in tents any more… Dad believes we are in fancy hunting lodges with verandas.. Who knows we will have to wait and see.

We have made the summit and returned to the jungle!!!

There is nothing better than waking up at 11:30 pm getting suited up and hiking for 6 hours until you reach the summit of this god forsaken mountain. Hiking the whole while in the dark with headlamps on staggering around like zombies trying to catch their breath.

We made the crater ridge just about sunrise. It was pretty cool, I was a little involved with a massive headache and trying not to vomit, so most of the pictures I look a little agro.

The hike down was slow and painful, Dad’s non existent ACL in the left knee was making the go very slow. When we got back to our 15,000 foot camp I was ready to pack in the sleeping bag and get some shut eye.. but no, they wanted us to do another 5 hours of descent!!! Hiking down these river gorges just about killed the old guy and he now has a swollen left knee and a bad attitude.

We will be out of here tomorrow afternoon and back at the hotel.. I will charge the batteries and we can each give our full report. Dad might blog later tonight if he gets his ibuprofen.

Location Barufa Hut 15,000 feet.

The altitude has taken a hold of me, I have no appetite the guides try to force us to eat. Dad and I sit in the tent kicking back listening to the 85 different Swahili conversations taking place all around us, then we hear Peter the guide “ Hello…Hi, Suppertime” then I yell out. I am not hungry go away. He persists with “it is necessary.. you eat ok” then I tell him to get lost but he will not give up until we sit at the stupid table on top of this mountain and eat their food.. they take it way to personally if you refuse.

Tonight at midnight we wake up and take the final 4000 foot hike to the summit, then back down to this hut, pack up and head down to around 10,000 feet. We should be back at the hotel the day after tomorrow. I can’t wait to sleep in a real bed and wash the Kilimanjaro off my body.

We will blog if we make it probably around noon tomorrow.

Peace out

Location Karunga Valley 13,000 feet

We took off this morning to head up a canyon wall that was clost to 1500 feet vertical in less than a quarter mile. Dad was really feelin it today. We have traversed this mountain from one side to the other now and I am ready to go to the top. We have been at over 12,000 feet for the past 3 days and I have had a headache the whole time.

Tomorrow we only hike for 3 or 4 hours then rest and head for the summit at midnight. Every day up here seems to be the exact same weather. Early in the morning it is clear as can be, then about 10 am the fog sets in and you have less than 100 yards of visibility for the rest of the day and night. It is really discouraging to be trapped in the cloud all day.

We went through at least 3 canyons today that were 14,000 at the tops and probably 12,500 in the valley, it is really hard for the pop to get down the steep slopes. Every night it gets below freezing but that is nothing we cant handle. We sleep in this tent for at least 12 hours a day, there is really nothing else to do up here but hike, eat and sleep.

I am ready to summit and go. I miss my girl, hawai'i and sea level. Hopefully the batteries will last for dads blog tomorrow and when we get back from the top.


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