Entries from Kilimanjaro

It was just a little on the cold side this morning at Shira Camp.  Kibo -Kilimanjaro’s main peak- was between us and the sun.  But  we were far above the clouds and it was clear up high, so the views more than made up for the cold temps.  The sun was on us by the time breakfast had finished and so things were comfortable when we got walking at 8:30 AM.  Our path led directly toward Kibo and the terrain was easier than what we’d dealt with yesterday.  We worked up broad, gently angled slopes.  Old lava flows.  Obsidian chunks were easy to find amongst the sagebrush and wildflowers.  By 11 AM we were higher than Mount Rainier and a short while later we were higher than Mt Whitney… thus breaking altitude records for everyone on the team (except Kim who has been to 19,000 ft).  We made it to the Lava Tower -at 15,200 ft- just after noon.  Clouds had formed up again and so it was cool, but not so bad that we couldn’t enjoy some lunch.  We began working downhill at 1 PM.  It felt good to drop altitude and to get back into warmer air.  We took a break just as we got into a garden-like grove of giant senecios and lobelias… the “Dr Suess plants” of Kilimanjaro.  Another careful hour of descent had us walking into 13,000 ft Barranco Camp just after 3 PM.  We settled in at the base of tomorrow’s main objective -the great Barranco Wall. 

We napped and read and sipped tea through the remaining afternoon hours. Dinner finished up by 8 PM and we marveled at the stars on this moonless night.

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

We woke up to low clouds over Rivertrees Inn… but that has been an everyday kind of thing, so it wasn’t much of a concern.  We had our breakfast and did our last-minute packing and gear sorting and then boarded the team bus at 8 AM. 

It took about two hours to get to the Machame Gate of Kilimanjaro National Park.  We did a lot of people watching on the way, seeing how Tanzanians go about day-to-day life.  And we watched the plants and vegetation change as the bus climbed up to the 6000 ft gate.   As expected, there was a little time to kill at the park entrance as the permitting process was completed.  We used the time to review efficient walking strategies and to discuss the terrain that lay ahead.  Finally, at about 10:30, we got walking with our staff of local guides.  Tom, Naiman, Phillibet, and John set the perfect pace, as usual.  We had about four thousand vertical feet to climb in about six miles.  Before long we were climbing in the clouds rather than under them.  It was easy to understand why the thick forest had moss on every surface.  The cool conditions made for the perfect walking temperature. The trail was a little muddy and slimy underfoot, but not to the point that you’d sink into the muck.  We didn’t have much trouble with traction or with maintaining a steady pace.  We took a few breaks for snacks and water, but by mid-afternoon the forest was changing to smaller trees, and it was clear that we were getting somewhere.  We came out above the clouds and the trail dried out.  The last hour or so into camp was in fine, blue sky and sunshine weather.  We rolled in at 3:30. Such a pleasure then to see that our staff already had camp built and ready for us.  We just had to move in and enjoy life at 10,000 ft.  That got easier when the last clouds above fell away and Kibo (Kilimanjaro’s central peak) came out for sunset. 

We spent the time before dinner staring at the giant rock walls and impossibly steep ice fields and glaciers. In our dining tent, we had a great feast and a little story time as John -our lead guide- explained his progression into becoming a full climbing guide, 255 Kili summits ago. The team checked out a few Southern Hemisphere stars before crawling into tents and calling it a day.  A good day. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

Today was an easy day of getting packed and ready for the mountain.  We began with an after breakfast meeting outside under the big trees while monkeys jumped from branch to branch above us.  We discussed the plan for our climb and talked about how the gear needed to be ordered and arranged for starting out.  Then we conducted equipment checks back in the rooms to help folks decide what to leave in and what to take out.  There was then plenty of time in the afternoon for packing, napping away the jet lag, walking the peaceful grounds of the hotel, and eating.  We got together for a team dinner at 7 PM to cap things off.  Everything is set to go now, we’ll head for Mount Kilimanjaro in the morning. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

It was pretty incredible to wake up deep within Tarangire National Park just before daylight.  Birds were starting to sing, monkeys were at play a few feet from our tents and lions were about.  Someone heard an elephant.  We drank coffee and watched the light come up.  The team ate breakfast, bid the hotel staff goodbye and hopped into our now familiar Landcruisers.  We set off on our final morning of Safari on a big cat mission… no stopping for zebras and wildebeest… bring on the kitties.  And sure enough, we struck lion gold.  First there was that big, beautiful male hanging out with four females… but wait, wasn’t that another couple of lions over in that tree and still more under it?  All told there were thirteen, big and small in the pride.  We watched them watch us and we watched them wrestle and climb trees.  And then we made slowly but steadily toward the park gate (we did indeed still stop for zebras and wildebeests).   The day got ordinary -though still pleasant- as we commuted back to Usa River and Rivertrees Hotel to repack and prepare for the airport. We recalled our favorite parts of the climb and Safari, we planned out future trips.  Then the team busted up finally… hopping on planes and departing Africa.

I’ll stay on for another climb and Safari that will begin soon.  Thank you for following. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn and Team

We came down from the highlands of Karatu.  Down from the rich farmland surrounding the Plantation Lodge and out South and West into drier and hotter terrain.  But on the way we stopped at a great tourist shop and found a few things to remind us of our journey.  We then set out for Tarangire.  We entered the park at about midday and immediately started seeing animals.  We also saw about a thousand giant baobab trees.   Tarangire is an interesting contrast to our last two “parks” because both of those are confined in geographical terms by mountains or water.  There is no sense of confinement at Tarangire.  It is a huge expanse, and one eventually looks out at zebras and elephants and giraffes as far as the eye can see.  We were lucky enough to see two big lions passed out over tree branches.  We saw hundreds of elephants, mostly in family groups with little duffel bag sized babies stumbling along next to their moms.  We saw Eland and water bucks and impala and wildebeest.  We saw dry riverbeds and acacia trees and palms and grasslands.  As the afternoon went on, we got farther and farther away from other visitors and deeper into the wilderness.  In the early evening we pulled into a tent camp with no fences… zebra and giraffes were wandering a few hundred feet from the lodging- but with extremely friendly and helpful staff who made us feel at home.  We sat around an outdoor fire pit and watched the sun go down and the trees sway and the clouds flow… they call it “bush television”.   Then we ate an incredible dinner and shared mountain stories for one last evening. 

We’ll still be looking for animals tomorrow… but at the end of the day the team will be boarding jetliners.  Tonight though, that can all wait.  We’ll sleep to the sounds of wilderness tonight with perhaps a lion’s roar or an elephant’s trumpet to “disturb” us. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

A great day on Safari, according to our Kili climbing team.  We got out early (7:15 AM) on the drive to Ngorongoro Crater.  It takes a bit to drive the rough road up onto the crater rim, to cruise along that rim for miles and miles and then to drop down the steep road into the caldera itself.   Immediately upon hitting the valley floor, we saw two male lions a few hundred feet from the road.  But they might as well have been rocks.  They were sleeping so hard that we never even saw an ear twitch.   We moved on and began to encounter everything from wildebeest to jackals to hippos and Corey bustards.  The abundance of zebra and Cape buffalo and gazelles was stunning.  There were herds beyond herds stretching to the distant crater walls.  We cruised amongst the ostriches and wart hogs for hours, at one point getting great views of a Cerval Cat on the prowl.  Finally we stopped for a picnic lunch and then began our exit of the crater.  We stopped at a Maasai village on the crater rim and spent an hour with the villagers as they danced, sang, made fire, threw spears and generally explained why they choose to hang on to their traditional methods in a modern world.  Then we went back to that modern world, relaxing for the evening at the very comfortable Plantation Lodge. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Jambo from Safari Day One.  We left the Rivertrees Inn just past 7:30 this morning with our safari guides (and drivers) Simon and Nixon.  It took nearly an hour to break free of the big city of Arusha and to get traveling through the arid countryside to the west.  Before long we were seeing herds of cattle tended by Maasai in their distinctive tartan blankets.  We peppered our guides with questions about Tanzanian history, society and life in general.  By the time we reached Lake Manyara at 11 AM we were considerably smarter.  We entered the forest and the National Park all at once and began looking for wildlife.  Monkeys and Baboons were first up.  We began to see some great birds as well.  There weren’t great numbers of animals but eventually we were finding elephants, giraffes and Cape buffalo.  Simon and Nixon were clearly on a mission following our picnic lunch.  They were chasing clues that took us farther and farther into the park, basically a strip of forest between the gigantic lake and a steep escarpment of the Great Rift Valley.  Finally, we hit a small jackpot.   There were a family of elephants on one side of the dirt road we sat on -and three lions lounging amid trees on the other side.  About a hundred feet separated these two factions of the “big five” (and we were directly between them).  The lions (a big male and two females) were napping, but it was the kind of napping where they put their heads up to watch every move the elephants made.   Eventually we bid them goodbye as it was getting a little late and we had some distance to go to reach the town of Karatu and The Plantation Lodge hidden away back in the farmland.  We pulled in just before 7PM and quickly made ourselves at home.  Tomorrow we’ll get an early start on our journey into Ngorongoro Crater. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

More than a few of us got up this morning saying we’d slept better than on any other night on the mountain. 

Mweka Camp was calm and quiet… except for the now familiar sounds of our kitchen crew going to work to get breakfast on.  We enjoyed one last meal on the mountain and then threw packs on for the final walk down.  We needed to get rid of four thousand feet of elevation.  Almost immediately, we were into the rain forest and the trail was slick and a little treacherous as a result.  We picked our way carefully down muddy stairs as porters from various expeditions ran at full speed a few inches to one side of our team. We reached the Mweka Gate at 11:15 a.m. and signed out with the Kilimanjaro National Park.  A short bus ride took us to our celebration lunch hosted by our fabulous mountain staff. They sang a few traditional songs and got our gang dancing.  We took the opportunity to distribute tips and thank the entire team of hard working men. 

A two hour bus ride got us back to Rivertrees Inn and showers and fresh clothing.  We relaxed and started the process of shifting gears from climbing to safari-going. 

We’ll head out first thing tomorrow to see what we can see at Lake Manyara. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn and team

We reached Mweka Camp at 2:50 PM to finish our 16-hour climbing day. 

The “day” began last night at 11 PM when we woke for our summit bid.  After a little breakfast, at 12:05 AM we hit the trail behind Naiman - our lead guide. 

Our team made rapid progress, passing several other teams on the dirt and rock switchbacks.  It was a fairly cold night, and that was before the winds started up.  By our second rest break, a few hours into the climb we were adding clothing layers and putting on bigger gloves.  By our fourth break, most of the team had all available clothing on.  We hit the crater rim at Stella Point by 5:40 AM and took just a brief pause there for food and water before pushing on toward Uhuru - Kilimanjaro’s summit.  The light of day came slowly and beautifully on as we walked on the rim at 19,000 ft.  Sunrise was most welcome at 6:30 but by then our attention was on the phenomenal shadow cast by Kilimanjaro in the skies to the west… exactly over the summit of 15,000 ft Mt Meru.  

We hit Uhuru at 6:40 AM and shed a few tears, shook hands, hugged, and snapped photos.  It was an amazingly beautiful time of day.  But it was also bitterly cold and windy, so we got out of there at 6:55 and headed back to Stella without delay.  Winds were really picking up at Stella then and putting a lot of dirt and dust in the air, so we cruised right on over the edge and started dropping altitude.  The descent was a combination of careful steps and full-on boot skiing through steep gravel and pumice. 

We were back to camp at a respectable hour 9:40 AM, rubbing our eyes and wiping dirt and dust off our faces.  Our fabulous staff treated the team to a full brunch/lunch of 15,000 ft pizza and coffee, after which we left camp bound for Mweka - 5000 ft lower.  The trail down is direct and rough, we certainly were cautious and ready to be done for much of it. 

Now it is a relief to be camped in the forest for one more night.  The air has moisture again… and oxygen in abundance. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & team

Yet another perfect weather day, calm and sunny… clear above and cloudy below. We ate breakfast in Karanga Camp and then said a temporary goodbye to two of our climbers.  John Bobbitt aggravated an old knee injury and Erika Bobbitt wanted to make sure he got down safely.  They set off for the Mweka Gate of the park as we set off for high camp at 8:30 AM. In an easy three hours, we had climbed the 2000’ vertical feet up to Barafu and begun to settle in.  From 15,100 ft, we now had unobstructed views of our climbing route to the top.

The afternoon was taken up with resting and getting our gear and clothing ready for our planned alpine start. Chef Benson’s fine spaghetti dinner was served early so that we could get to bed just before sunset. We want as much rest as we can get before our 11:15 PM wake-up time.

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team