Gary's Safari Tale



Happy New Year to all! I'm sending this trip report to family, friends, and a few old backpacking buddies to report on our recently completed adventure.



On December 13th, Chris & I flew to Nairobi and then bused to Arusha, Tanzania to start our trek up Kilimanjaro the next day. Mary and 6 friends then joined us 10 days later for a week of safari.



The 14th started off well. We left Arusha about 8 and meant up with the big rig full of gear and porters shortly before the check-in / weigh-in point a couple hours later. All went well; crew was 16 porters, cook, camp manager, our guide, and the two of us (19 + 2). We all headed back for the trail head, but shortly later the big rig broke (clutch / gearbox?) so we took on some key gear and a few porters in the Land Cruiser with us. An hour later after going thru some ruts and water holes big enough to swallow a VW, we got to the trail head pretty much on time. The only problem was that the Land Cruiser now had to do another round trip to get everyone else and the rest of the gear. As a result, there was not any big rush to get started, so time for lunch. Out came the table, chairs, tablecloth and a platter of veggies, fruits, juice etc. It made me laugh as it was way beyond anything I was expecting; the trek ended up being full of pleasant surprises like that.



Our guide briefed us and said that if there was anything we wanted, just let him know. I kidded him and told him I wanted to see the monkeys on the first day or two before we left the rain forest zone. Well, we heard them, but none to be seen, so the joke became that we would find the monkey on top of the mountain.



Weather was good the first several days. We were generally lucky. Another couple left two days before us (with the same company/same route) and they were getting rained on every day. As we would find out, the mountain is big enough it sort of makes its own weather systems. We would see it cloud up during the day and then clear out before sunset till the next day. Fairly cold at night; light frost the first night and went down hill from there. It is very strange that by the end of breakfast (we ate with gloves on), our feet and hands were very cold. Then, an hour after we started walking, we are sweating and shedding clothes. On day 6 we got started early and got to Barafu camp (about 15,200 ft) late morning feeling healthy and strong with no ill effects from the altitude. We sat in the mess tent and watched as it started to snow/melt off and on for the next several hours. I really felt bad for the folks struggling in mid afternoon, some wet and looking very tired. They had only about 9 or 10 hours to try to recover before they started hiking again around midnight for the top. It made me really glad we were on a longer 9 day trek and planned the one night camping up in the crater. We woke up the next morning about 5AM to a light coating of snow. The first picture shows Chris in the mess tent. We heard then that two people had to be rescued thru the night from our camp, one for altitude sickness and one for hypothermia. That morning, we hiked up up up for 5 ½ hours thru blowing light snow in the clouds as we headed up for Stella Point (18,800 ft) -- where we got another pleasant surprise. Behind the big rock, out of the wind, was our crater camp crew. They start singing us the Jambo welcome song, out came the table, chairs, hot vegetable soup, fried chicken, juice etc. ( Picture 2 ). We had already planned to head for the summit (19,340 ft) before going down into crater camp so after lunch, 5 steps from behind the rock and it was back to feeling a lot like a blizzard. The 3rd picture is the money shot (note the horizontal icicles growing on my hat);.. but, no monkey on top??

After reaching the top (really just a high point on the crater rim) and taking the obligatory pictures in front of the sign, the next thing that comes immediately to mind is getting out of the cold wind! We headed on around the crater rim a little ways and our guide thinks he sees (we are still in the clouds so vis is about 100 ft) where to start down into the crater; wrong! So we go a little farther and try again. Of course the blowing snow that has been coming up over the rim of the crater all morning has to go someplace; good size snow drifts now cover the rocky switch backs (that are supposedly underneath) as we head steeply down. My glasses finish frosting over! This was probably the only place on the trip that my confidence in our guide briefly faltered and I wondered; What the hell did we get ourselves into; But, after a short time, he called out and we heard voices call back; our crew was somewhere below. They had come down the easy trail strait from Stella Point and had camp set up and waiting. We eventually got there, had some hot tea, and started congratulating ourselves! A short time later, it starts thundering and the snow (pellets) really started coming down;.. it sounded like hail hitting the tent. Before it finished, we had maybe another 6 inches! Through the night, the skies cleared, and the temperature dropped. We woke up early and found for the first time that we didn't just have condensation on the inside of the tent, but had FROZEN condensation. Needless to say, we were a little slow getting out of the warm sleeping bags as we put on about every layer of clothes that we had brought. The first picture is of our tent and one of the permanent glaciers in the pre-dawn light. The snow was crunchy and it was about 5 deg F (-15C). The plan was to skip breakfast (didn't have to wait for the feet and hands to get cold this morning) and start walking right away. We made it back up to the crater rim at Stella Point just as the sun was rising, lighting up the snowy landscape and highlighting the spectacular glaciers. True to form, the feet and hands were a little less numb and very soon, we are shedding cloths. The bright high altitude sun put us on sunburn alert at 8 AM. By 9:30, we were down in the clouds again and a short time later it started snowing. After a short rest stop back at Barafu camp we continued down and the snow transitioned to hard rain showers. We made it down to Mweka camp (about 10,000 ft) mid afternoon and had a little sun to dry a few things. This day was one of the toughest as we went from 18,800 ft down to about 10,000 ft (over 7 miles), starting in artic conditions, going thru bright sun, clouds, snow and rain; finishing the day back on the edge of the rainforest. There wasn't much partying at this camp, just a lot of tired people enjoying air again and awaiting a good night's sleep. I woke up once thru the night and swear there had to be at least 100 people scattered around the camp site snoring. We started early again one last morning to try to beat the rain to our pickup point another 6 or 7 miles downhill at about 5500 ft (Mweka gate). Finally, about ½ hour before the end, our guide orders up the monkey!! Soon, we have seen 30 or so playing in the trees. The second picture is one of the Colobus monkeys. Squares filled. Trek done;.. we got to the gate, signed out, picked up the certificates and had a cold (sort off) Kilimanjaro Lager and awaited our ride. Time for one last surprise; the vehicle arrives, and out pops a bottle of iced champagne (Oh darn, I hate it when that happens!). So, we had to drink a little and make a final toast (last picture). Edward, on the right, was our guide and Ayoubu (with the sprite) was our camp manager and Juma (behind left) was the cook. We rode back to Arusha feeling no pain, got checked in to the hotel about noon and headed for that long awaited shower. Good timing; about 20 minutes later, Mary + 6 arrive to start the next phase of the adventure; safari time!

Finally, here is the safari part.



After the trek, this part was very relaxing (and much warmer). Over the next several days, we made what is called;the northern Tanzania circuit; through Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Parks and some of the associated protected areas. Then we worked our way back to Nairobi, Kenya for our return flight to Cairo.



ANIMALS, ANIMALS, ANIMALS ; everywhere. Probably not much else needs to be said, so I'll talk about the attached pictures. Three won't do, but I'll limit it to 6 (out of several hundred). We were fortunate to see the Big 5 & Big 9;. Can you name them? Hint; the big 5 is a carry over from the old rifle hunting safaris.



1st Pic; probably Chistopher's favorite. We were driving along when our driver spotted a cheetah loping along through the grass towards where we were;.. but, our driver didn't stop?? Soon we saw why, up ahead 150 yards or so was a group of small gazelle (cheetah food) so he pulled up there and stopped. A short time later, all of a sudden, the chase was on. All 10 -15 seconds of it. The picture is the result -- lunch. The cheetah is the one predator that can flat out run its prey down where the others have to do a certain amount of stalking to get close enough first.



2nd Pic; probably Mary's favorite. A large outcropping had 5 lionesses and an amazing 10 cubs scattered around on the rocks. At one point 8 of the cubs were climbing all over each other on one big rock. This picture captured most of them.



3rd Pic; another of lions et al. We saw a few different prides of lions where there was a mating pair separated from the rest. As we learned from our driver; when the time is right, the lions mate for 7 days, doing the deed about every 15 minutes == 700 times in a week!! Of course when we came on this pair resting up about 100 ft from the road, the clocks started and we watched. We waited 28 minutes (driver said it must be late in the week!) and about 30 seconds later came this picture. She is saying ;OK, now get off you big lug; and He replies, Yeah, its time for a cigarette. Notice the close eye the wildebeests were keeping and also look at the density of animals (wildebeest & some zebras) in the background. It was like that for miles & miles in all directions in the southern Serengeti. The signs at the ranger station said that 2 to 3 million animals congregated and were part of the great migration that occurs annually following the rain / grass.

4th & 5th Pics -- the leopard. It took till the last day and we only saw one, but what a beauty. He hung close by for about ½ an hour, but just wasn't having very good luck getting close enough to the small gazelle to do himself any good. The monkeys in the trees kept screeching to warn the gazelle away every so often. The second picture shows how the leopard came right alongside our vehicle. You can see Chris & my head shadows as I took the picture straight down.



6th Pic; giraffes. Maybe not my favorite picture, but one of my favorite sites was seeing this large group of giraffes galloping across the plain. Hard to believe these long legged creatures can look so graceful as they move along; and they cover a lot of ground with that long legged stride.



Well, that is only 4 of the many different critters, but if you throw in elephants, hippos, rhinos, cape buffalo and zebras it gets you to the big 9.



Cheers,



Gary