Entries from Kilimanjaro
September 19, 2018
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Elevation: 12,570'
Hello again everyone
The team had a really nice day here on Kilimanjaro today, waking to beautifully clear skies and hiking in sunshine all day. We started the day waking at 6:30 to start packing up before moving into our dinning tent for a nice breakfast with porridge, fried eggs, toast, avocado and even some fresh fruit, and most importantly plenty of hot coffee.
We hit the trail shortly after 8am and slowly made our way up the rocky trail with good views of Kili above. The trail climbs up a ridge and eventually out of the trees and allows for some truly spectacular views of the valley below. The team hiked for about four hours before reaching out next camp that sits on Shira plateau, which is an ancient lava flow.
Everyone is doing very well and we are currently relaxing in our tents.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
On The Map
September 17, 2018
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Hello Everyone:
Casey Grom here checking in with RMI's
Kilimanjaro Climb.
All is well here in Tanzania as the team arrived late last night after some very long flights and a very long process getting through immigration. Normally things go pretty smoothly after landing but last night took a little over two hours to get everyone through. Thankfully everyone is accounted for and all of our bags too!
It was a short drive to our Lodge that is nestled in between Arusha and Moshi and not so far from the base of Kilimanjaro. The team had a quick but wonderful dinner and headed for bed as the time change has us all feeling just a little off and we were a little tired after all the traveling.
We had a nice relaxing morning today and had our first official meeting at 10:00 where we did a round of introductions and then discussed the program for the coming days ahead.
The remainder of the day was spent getting our gear packed up, exploring the grounds of our Lodge, which is incredibly peaceful and has monkeys and Dik Dik running around.
See for yourself.
We wrapped up the evening with another delicious meal and plenty of friendly conversations. Everyone is doing well and excited to hit the trail tomorrow and get a little bit of exercise.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili crew!
September 13, 2018
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Hello everyone,
Today we headed to
Tarangire National Park know for its abundant elephants, and it didn’t disappoint. There were plenty of elephants around, and we parked on an overlook to watch a large group of them play in the river.
There were lots of giraffes, impalas, monkeys, ostriches, and many others. One of the highlights was seeing three cheetah not too far off just relaxing under a tree.
We are spending our last night here in Africa at Tarangire Balloon Camp, which has beautiful tented rooms with screened windows to allow the sounds of the wild African night in.
Everyone is doing great and we are hoping to see a few more big cats on our way out tomorrow. Then it will be back to our main lodge near Arusha for a brief stop before catching our evening flights home.
Thanks for following,
RMI Casey Grom and the Safari crew
September 12, 2018
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Jambo everyone,
Today we visited
Ngorongoro Crater, considered by some to be the eighth wonder of the world. The crater is roughly 100 square miles and is home for more than 25’000 animals that have taken up residence. We hit the road early with hopes of catching a few more animals before the heat of the day sent them in search of shade.
There were many sightings today of hyenas, jackles, ostrich, and countless other birds. We manage to see a ton of Lions, 24 to be exact. They seemed to be everywhere and we got really close to a large group of 11 of them.
The also managed to see 1 Black Rhino, although not as close as we would have hoped for.
We wrapped up the day with a visit to a Maasai village not far from the craters rim. The Maasai people are a semi-nomadic tribe that exist almost entirely off of their cattle. The team spent time asking questions and enjoyed being shown around their small and simple village.
We have just finished another wonderful meal here at the plantation lodge and the team is off to bed after a long, but very rewarding day on safari.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the safari crew
September 11, 2018
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Today was our first day of safari and we headed west to visit the beautiful
Lake Manyara. The lake is a brief stopping ground for many migratory animals, beautiful and exotic birds and even tree climbing lions.
We manage to see a few wildebeest, zebras, Cape buffalo, baboons, impalas a few distance hippos, and elephants so close you could almost touch them. We also even managed to see two of those tree climbing lions. It was a pretty nice introduction to the incredible wildlife that Africa has and the team is looking forward to seeing more tomorrow.
Everyone enjoyed the day cruising around in our safari vehicles with cold beverages in hand while seeing the animals.
We wrapped up the evening relaxing at the beautiful Plantation Lodge.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Safari crew
September 10, 2018
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Today we started at 7 a.m. feeling good and refreshed after a much needed night of sleep. We had breakfast and then enjoyed some goodbye songs and dances from our amazing African crew of porters, cooks, and local guides (numbering 50 in total). We finished the little celebration by handing out their well deserved tips before hitting the trail one last time.
It took a little over three hours to reach the park gate where the team had lunch before hopping aboard our awaiting bus for the ride back to the lodge.
We are all safe and sound, cleaner, and smelling fresh after an exciting seven day journey up and down
Kilimanjaro.
Stayed tuned, our safari starts tomorrow!
RMI Guide C
asey Grom and the Kilimanjaro crew
September 9, 2018
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Elevation: 19,340'
100% on top!!!
Today we had a wonderful albeit long day climbing to the
summit of Kilimanjaro. The team woke at 11pm as we planned to thankfully clear skies after a cloudy evening that had us wondering the lay ahead.
We had a quick breakfast of porridge, tea and coffee before hitting the trail at 12am.
We climbed in hour increments with 10-15 breaks in between, which we've been doing every day thus far. The weather was pretty nice with just a little wind that kept us bundled up for most of the day. Thankfully the wind died just as we reached the crater rim know as Stella Point. It was one of the busiest days I’ve seen on Kili with more than 200 climbers, but the team timed everything just right and took great care of themselves.
The climb took about 7 hours to reach the top, and thankfully the sun had risen shortly before to help warm us and boost morale after climbing through the night. Once there, we hugged each other, enjoyed the view and took plenty of pictures of the sign that adorns the “Roof of Africa”.
It was a true test of endurance for most of the crew, and I'm really proud of everyone. We safely descended back to High Camp, had a quick lunch, repacked and continued further down the mountain to our final camp, where we are about to have dinner and then head to bed for some well deserved sleep.
Everyone is really looking forward to hot showers tomorrow to say the least.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili summit crew
On The Map
September 7, 2018
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Elevation: 13,160'
Hello again everyone:
Things are good here on
Kilimanjaro and the team is doing great!
Today started like the last few, beautiful and clear and then slowly clouded up as the day went on.
We left camp a little later today to allow the many porters to hit the trail before us as we had our only major obstacle right out of camp. This obstacle is the great Barranco Wall, which rises about 1,000 feet and looks as intimidating as it sounds. Thankfully there is a nice narrow trail that weaves its way up and through the wall and all the way to the top. Most of it feels more like steep hiking, but there are a few places that require our hands to help us climb up. The team did great and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.
After reaching the top we took a nice break but were unable to enjoy the amazing views due to the gathering clouds. Nonetheless we continued our hike for a few more hours before reaching camp.
We spent the remainder of the day relaxing in our tents and playing a few games of cribbage!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili crew
On The Map
September 6, 2018
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Elevation: 13,030'
Jambo Everyone.
All is well here on
Kilimanjaro!
Once again we woke to beautifully clear skies with even better views of Kili and clouds obscuring the valleys below. Our morning ritual has been waking around 6:30 and getting everything in our tents packed up before heading into our very spacious dining tent for quite the feast. Normally there is fresh fruit, fried eggs, bacon, and plenty of hot coffee awaiting us, obviously we’re being spoiled up here by our wonderful staff!
We hit the trail once again around 8:00 am and hiked for an hour before taking our usual 15-minute break, then back on the trail for another hour. All total today we hiked for just over six hours before reaching camp which is set up and ready for us.
Along the way we passed around the famous and beautiful Lava Tower reaching just over 15,000ft, setting new altitude records for some and we also chatted with a few other climbers who are on the same schedule with us. All in all it was a really nice day with clouds gathering in the afternoon to help keep the temperature comfortable for hiking.
That’s all for now.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili crew
On The Map
September 5, 2018
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Elevation: 12,570'
Hello again Everyone
It’s been a bit cloudy the last few days, but the team awoke to beautifully clear skies and views of
Kilimanjaro looming above us.
We started our day with fresh fruits, eggs, porridge and plenty of coffee, before setting off on our second day. The trail out of camp slowly ascends through the last remaining trees and makes its way along a rocky ridge that climbs up onto the Shira Plateau. We hiked a little more that four hours to reach our next camp arriving shortly before the clouds returned and a light drizzle started.
Everyone enjoyed the warmth of the sun and the views of the valleys below as we continued slowly moving upward.
We are currently relaxing in our camp enjoying good conversations and stories from team members.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili crew!
On The Map
Pole, pole Dad! You got this!
Love from Texas! ❤️
Posted by: Keith Elizabeth on 9/18/2018 at 6:34 am
To my wonderful husband Ken and beautiful daughter Jessie, hope your first day was fantastic! I can’t wait to see the pics!!
Posted by: Lisa Williams on 9/18/2018 at 5:58 am
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