Entries By casey grom
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
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
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
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
Jambo Everyone back home.
Well we’ve finally arrived at our
high camp, after a good nights rest and a short hike up to 15’000 ft. It has been mostly sunny all day with great views of Kilimanjaro and our route for tomorrow. Everyone is doing well and feeling good at this new altitude which is a good sign for things ahead.
The team just wrapped up lunch and discussed in great detail the plan for tomorrow’s climb. Everyone knows what what we’ll be wearing and what will be in the pack as well as the schedule. Our game plan will be to wake at 11 pm and have a quick breakfast at 11:30, then hopefully hit the trail right at midnight. Normally we try to leave a touch later, but there are quite a few climbers here tonight so we’re going to try and get a jump-start on most of them.
I’m expecting the team to reach the summit in 7 to 8 hours if things go according to plan. There have been several rounds of trivia with the winner getting a chance to make a satellite phone call from the summit. So everyone back home please keep your phones handy and if you receive a call from a strange number please answer.
That’s all for now. And keep your fingers crossed for us!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili Crew
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
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
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
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
Hello Everyone -
We awoke early today and left behind the comforts of our beautiful lodge and have headed to the mountain towards the start of the climb. Starting shortly before 8am we drove along the rural country side for two hours to reach the Kilimanjaro National Park entrance. Most of the area surrounding Kilimanjaro has been cultivated and primarily used for coffee production and for a variety of other agriculture needs, but there are still some areas that have been untouched and resemble more of a savanna that Tanzania is known for. The base of Kilimanjaro is more forested and resembles a jungle or cloud forest. Traditionally it supports a large part of the banana production for this area.
Once at the gate we had all of our gear weighed and divided into loads for our porters to carry before hitting the trail. Once everything was in order we started our climb slowly making our way up the winding trail. The team hiked for a little over 5 hours to reach our camp for the night. Everyone did great and enjoyed finally getting some much needed exercise.
After settling in the team was served a nice warm meal and then headed off to bed for a nice full night of rest.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
On The Map
Jambo everyone back home.
Casey Grom here checking in with
RMI's Kilimanjaro Climb.
All is well here in Tanzania and most of the team arrived late last night after some very long flights. It was a short and uneventful ride 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 leisurely morning and had our first official meeting at 10 where we did a round of introductions and then discussed the program for the coming days ahead.
We spent the remainder of the day 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!
Sounds like you really had a great time at the crater, and the pictures tell it too! Lovely post! Thanks for sharing. The Ngorongoro really is a must-visit destination when heading to Tanzania. Just looking at the photos make me want to head to the country at once. Did you seek help from a tour operator for your trip? Would love to hear about it. Anyways! Keep safe and looking forward to reading more of your adventures!
Posted by: Krisan Sablaon on 4/15/2019 at 1:08 am
You guys look you had a blast visiting the crater and the village! I can’t wait to do the same during my trip. I heard visiting the Maasai village is a must if you’re in the area. I am honestly excited to get to know the Maasai people and their way of life which seems so different from what I am used to. I also read that the Maasai people welcome visitors to their village warmly with a song and dance. They even do this traditional dance known as the “adumu” or mostly commonly known as the jumping dance. Did you guys to experience this too when you went for a visit?
Posted by: Ana Katrina Lopez on 3/15/2019 at 7:35 am
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