Safari time!

For our safari, we visited 3 parks: Tarangire National Park, Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park.  All three parks are quite different from one another!  Tarangire is wooded, huge beautiful baobabs (they can be 3000 years old!!), a variety of plants and trees and many animals.  The Ngorongoro Crater is a smaller area, animals are there year round, lake in the middle, wooded on the rim but grassy in the crater. The Serengeti is pure grasslands with a few acacia trees here and there.  In this park, the animals migrate, following the rain and the green grass.  Because of this, depending the time of year, you could see less animals.  We saw lots of animals in this park, but most of the big numbers were now in Kenya.

All three parks offer great views of wildlife.  We were treated to magnificent views of large and small animals.  We saw the big 5 (lion, hippo, rhino, water buffalo and elephant) and many other species as well.

Baobab

So what do you do on a safari?  Well, you sit in a jeep - in this case Toyota Land Cruisers, and ride all day looking for animals.  You get your bones rattled as the roads are quite bumpy!  When you see something interesting, you tell the driver to stop, if you want, you stand up and look at whatever it is you saw.  Each person has their own window so it's easy for everyone to see.  When the driver spots something or hears of something interesting on the radio, he drives you there.  

It's clear the animals here are wild and you don't want to be walking around... you could very easily end up being dinner for something.  What is sad is that the animals are so used to seeing a large amount of vehicles it's like they don't even see them anymore.  The lions would walk right by not even looking at the vehicles.  The antelopes looked at your while you drove by, not moving.  

I'm surprised to see the appearance of lack of rules and regulations.  There are hundreds of jeeps filled with people "fighting" for the best view, following the animals around.  At some point, the government will have to come up with some sort of system to control the amount of vehicles.  We know it all has to do with money... money always speaks louder than anything else...Our driver was saying there are about 3000 companies running jeeps - each pays taxes - which amounts to a ton of money for the gov.  So... I guess things won't be changing anytime soon.

Our group slept in tents 3 out of the 4 nights.  These tents were fabulous!  They were spacious, had their own toilet, sink and gravity shower.  The bed was comfortable as well.  The other night was spent in a "hotel" room.  It was freezing cold in this room as we were at higher altitude.  

Once it was dark, we were not allowed to leave our tents without a guide as animals walk around the camp as they wish.  One night, we had water buffalos in around the room all night!  Another camp, we had wildebeests walking around!   The third camp we had various antelopes including the dik dik (the smallest of all antelopes).

I will always cherish this very special experience!  It was another dream come true!  To see a momma cheetah sharing an antelope with her offsprings, hyenas munching on a catch, watching a lioness hunt, a leopard up in a tree with its dinner, seeing a baby elephant feeding on his mom, the list goes on and on.  Truly a spectacular experience! 

mongoose

Visited the Cradle of Humankind - where they found the oldest humanoids

flamingo

warthog

cheetah

lion

Nile crocodile

spotted hyena

lioness hunting - she just missed

we waited for an hour for the leopard to go to his meal. 
We went back next morning and finally saw it. We can see its tail on the right side. 

girafe

Cheetah family - she had 6 or 7 cubs which is quite rare! 

finally came out

zebra

vervet monkey

male ostrich

Day 8

It’s the last day! Today we make her way down the mountain back to the gate. We got up at 5:30 AM, had breakfast and off we went. 

Today’s trail started out with rocks and cement mixed together and we walked down some pretty steep slopes for about two hours.  It was very slippery on the rocks - a few close calls for different people  Duma, our guide for the day, had a fall.  He broke one of his poles on the way down.  Luckily, he wasn't hurt.

After the rocky downhill came the muddy downhill!   It was thick, sticky mud that was extremely slippery.  Falling in that mud would have been messy!!  I believe we walked for about 4 1/2 hours to get to the bottom of the mountain where our bus was waiting for us.  It took some of our group much longer to get down to the bottom.  Two of our members were brought by helicopter to Moshi to seek medical help.  It's a good thing they didn't walk down this hill... I don't think their bodies could've handled it.  Two other members were picked up by jeep about 2 km from the end.  They were completely exhausted. 

It was another gruesome day of walking down the mountain.  At some point on the downhill, we came across a young porter who could barely walk.  I took care of her blistered feet the best I could with what little we had.  I gave her many words of encouragement and told her I would do better at the bottom when I had access to my bag.  I saw her multiple times on the way down, always encouraging her to keep going.  Once I got to the bottom, I saw her coming down, slowly but surely.  I ran up the hill to give her a hug and help her the rest of the way down.  We both had tears.  She was so thankful for my help... and I was happy to be able to help her.  

After everyone arrived, we made our way for our group lunch. I’m not sure we can call it eating it all together... we were segregated, the white tourists at a beautiful table and the black porters and workers on the ground.  I felt quite uncomfortable sitting at a beautiful table while our porters, guides and others had to be served after us. They didn’t even have cutlery or plates, they had to bring their own old plastic container to be served some food. It was a little heartbreaking.  I wonder if this would happen here in Canada.  I would like to think it wouldn't...

After speaking with Ian about this, he made Remi and I realize that things work differently here.  If we made the first move - for example take our plate and go sit with them on the grass, that would be viewed as ok... but the other way around, never.  They would probably lose their jobs.  This is so odd to me.  I regret not taking my plate and joining them... it was supposed to be a lunch for everyone together...

The place (I believe it was Safari HQ's main building) had a beautiful garden filled with colourful flowers. I found a nest of beautiful sun bird! There are also tortoises eating cabbage. 

After lunch, we made our way back to Moivaro plantation, where we spent the night. Tomorrow morning off, we go to the Safari.

A beer to conclude a very difficult trek!  I bet it never tasted so good! 

Coke and Pringles were my choice!  Man they were good! 

Myriam - 19, her first time as a porter... her poor feet! 
Natalie was looking to give her boots so I helped  to facilitate this! 

Day 7

It’s 11pm and time to get up to the roof of Africa! We eat a bowl of porridge before we get going on the mountain. We start hiking up at 12:00am.  It starts well.  The journey starts up an old lava flow which turned into rocks, which finally turned into dust/small gravel. 

 This Has to be the most difficult thing I have ever done. It was more difficult than running a 50 K race!  I could barely keep my eyes open, and was truly exhausted, which makes it very difficult to climb a mountain.  Experience, the lead guide did not want me to stop. He kept pushing me as he carried my bag. When I had had enough, I sat down and said I need to sit and take a minute. This went on for a short while, and I ended up with Ian for a guide. He was more understanding and let me stop for one minute whenever I needed to. I felt so nauseous. I wish I could’ve vomited! I would’ve felt so much better. Thanks to Ian, Remi and the porter who carried my backpack, I managed to make it to the top.

We made it to Stella’s peak but opted not to continue to Uhuru peak. I had already pushed my body to the limit. As much as I would’ve like to continue the 100 vertical meters, that would’ve added 2 hours... I am happy with my decision to come down instead of continuing. A peak is a peak! With a gruelling descent still ahead, and another 3-4 hours of walking after that... wise choice!  

We did manage to see a beautiful sunrise, but my head it wasn’t functioning properly I completely forgot to take a picture. But trust me, it was absolutely glorious.  We took a picture with the sign at the top, drank some warm water (yuck) took a video and started to make our way down. The way down was difficult but a lot more fun you can watch the little video.

The descent was something else!  You come down a different path, down a steep hill of scree- sand and gravel that came down the mountain at some point. I believe it’s caused by erosion…🤷‍♀️

We made our way back to our tents with a stop at the public washroom.  Poor Rémi went to sit on a rock while waiting but completely missed the rock and fell on the ground! He hurt a finger and has a giant bruise on his thigh. 

This does not conclude our day! Once we got to Basecamp, we had to pack our tents, eat lunch, and make our way to the next camp, which was a few hours away. Was I ever glad to see my tent at the end of this very long day.

Today was a very busy day for helicopters evacuation. We saw at least 10 helicopters between yesterday and today. That’s not very good.  I found out later that some people will pay for a helicopter after they summit so they don't have to walk to the bottom!  Really?  Who does that??  Rich people I guess.

On our way down we, we saw one of the Parisian team members deep trouble getting carrie down by two guys. She was totally out of it, oxygen mask, and carried down the mountain by her armpits. I stopped to see if I could help as I knew she spoke French. I gave her some words of encouragement, I gave them my water bottle, and my guides went to help them to bring her down the mountain.

I managed to catch up to them a few times as they had to stop to cool her down I suppose, I helped them take her coat off as she must’ve been sweltering under her giant poof jacket, and windbreaker. I offered her more words of encouragement. I hope she made it out ok.

Climbing mountains is no joke. Somebody tells you you don’t need to train to climb Kilimanjaro, they’re full of shit. Train as best you can, and go from there. I am a very fit person. I trained my hardest and I still had a heck of a time. You don’t know what the altitude will do to you, the lack of sleep, the cold… there are so many variances.

Out of 17, three group members did not make it to the summit. I’m glad that all three listen to the bodies and turned around when the time came... could have been tragic had they gone on.

I’m very proud of Paul, who made it up the mountain, sick as a dog, never complaining, not even once. What a trooper! That was a class act!

I am also very proud of Beth, Heather and Kathy who never gave up. They went at their own pace, and proved that no matter your age, size, or ability, you can do this. Whether you do this with a lot of help, a little bit of help or no help at all doesn’t matter! What matters is you didn’t give up, you persevered!  

Our Kilimanjaro adventure is not done!  We have one more hike to get to our pick up spot. I’m hoping for a short day! 

Inspiration- As I was on the massive struggle bus going up the mountain, wearing my Midnight Moose Buff, I thought of Ray Zayhab and his adventures, his training through Chemo. If he can do that, surely I could get to the summit. 

lights up Kilimanjaro

Finally made it! 

two of our group members were carried in this contraption. 
It takes 8 people! 

You can't begin to understand how nice this felt! 

Day 6

Day six started like every other day getting up at 6 AM washy washy, breakfast and leave. 

Interesting day because it’s split into 2. in the morning we hiked to the next camp, which is Basecamp. When we arrived, we got to rest because we will need to get up at 11pm to ascend Kilimanjaro at night.

Remi and I went up the rocks to the sign as we all missed it on the way in.  Chuse and Michael brought us up.  It was quite the trek! This camp is awful - shale and rocks - can be treacherous!   It is beautiful though.

Not too much to say about this day as we slept, ate and slept.

11pm will come very quickly. 

Excited about what’s to come. 

The helpers always want to be in our photos! 
Chuse and Michael here with us.