Entries By casey grom

Today was our first day of safari. The team headed west to visit the beautiful Lake Manyara, the closest of the 3 National Parks we will visit. The lake is a brief stopping ground for many migratory animals and home to more than 300 different birds. Everyone enjoyed the day cruising around in our safari vehicles with cold beverages in hand while seeing the animals up close.

The remnants of the last rainy season are still very visible, and the park is lush and dense, which makes seeing some animals difficult. However, we did see what seemed like record numbers of baboons and elephants. Many of them were so close, we could almost touch them. It was a nice introduction to the incredible diversity of wildlife that Africa has. The team is looking forward to seeing more tomorrow.

We wrapped up the evening with a wonderful meal at our new lodge. See for yourself!

Casey and the Safari crew

Today the team woke at 6:30 feeling well rested, had breakfast, then hit the trail one last time. It took a little over three hours to reach the Kilimanjaro park gate where the team had lunch then enjoyed a goodbye song and dance from our gracious crew of porters, cooks, and local guides. We finished the little celebration by handing out their well deserved tips and then hopped aboard our awaiting bus for the ride back to the lodge.

Finally we are all safe and sound, and a little cleaner after an amazing seven day journey up and down Kilimanjaro.

The team is currently relaxing and looking forward to safari which starts tomorrow!

RMI Guide Casey Grom and a happy Kilimanjaro crew

The RMI January 24th Kilimanjaro Climb & Safari team reached the summit of Kilimanjaro, the Roof of Africa, on Sunday January 29th.  The team enjoyed clear skies and sunshine as the sun rose over Tanzania.

Congratulations everyone!

Hey everybody, this is Casey Grom checking in from the Kilimanjaro Climb. Just want to let everybody know that we're doing great here on Kilimanjaro. We've had some technology difficulties with our satellite modem, but luckily today I've got a little bit of cell service. So calling to let you guys know that the last couple of days have been great. We had a nice hike from the park entrance, on day one up to the forest. And yesterday we made it up to Shira Camp, up on the top of the Shira plateau. Today, Day 3, we made our way up to Lava Tower which was about 15,000', sort of a high point for a number of folks on the trip.  I am hoping to get that satellite modem going here at some point and will try to get a few pictures out  to everybody. Currently the team is doing really well and the weather's been pretty nice for the most part. We just wrapped up dinner here and we're going to head to bed shortly. Our game plan for the next couple days, in they off chance that we can't get a message out, tomorrow we're going to climb the Barranco wall and make our way over to Karanga Valley which will be our last camp before we move up to our High Camp and make our Summit attempt from there. Our goal is going to be to try to get to the summit around 7:00 or 8:00 in the morning on Sunday morning for us. So that'll be Saturday evening for a lot of folks back home.

Just checking in all is good, and we look forward to getting some pictures to everybody as soon as we get an opportunity. So keep your fingers crossed we have good weather for the climb and we'll check in as soon as we can.

Thanks for following,

RMI Guide Casey Grom

Hello from Tanzania! 

Everyone and all bags have arrived in Tanzania and the team is doing well and in good spirits after some very long flights. Nearly 20+ hours for many of us. 

It was a short and quiet 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 dinner and headed for bed as the time change had us all feeling just a little off and pretty tired after all the traveling. 

Luckily we had an extra day here because of flight options. I say luckily, because the time change is pretty tough being about 12hrs difference for us. The extra day will certainly help us adjust. 

Today we had a leisurely morning and then rolled into our group meeting after breakfast, where we did a round of introductions and then discussed the upcoming program for the days ahead. The team spent the remainder of the day getting our gear packed up, exploring the grounds of our peaceful Lodge and dodging the gaggle of monkeys patrolling the grounds. 

We wrapped up the evening with a delicious meal and plenty of friendly conversations.

Everyone is doing well, excited to be here and looking forward to stretching our legs tomorrow as we head to the mountain. 

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the 2023 Kili crew!

Hello everyone,

Today we headed to Tarangire National Park known for its abundant animals and plentiful elephants, and it didn’t disappoint. Not sure how many elephants we saw, probably several hundred at the least. It wouldn’t seem like we could get tired of seeing elephants, but there were so many that eventually we had to keep driving so we could see other animals. There were lots of giraffes, impalas, monkeys, ostriches, and many others. One of the highlights was seeing a male Lion up close, only about 30 feet away. He was just relaxing under a big tree with some shade and a nice breeze, hardly seemed to notice us.

We are spending our last night here in Africa at Lolkisale Camp, which has beautiful, tented rooms with screen windows to allow the sounds of the African night in. Everyone is doing great and 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 quick shower before catching our evening flights home.

Come join us for an adventure sometime!

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Safari Crew

Hello again everyone,

Today we visited the famous Ngorongoro Crater, one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. The crater is roughly 100 square miles and is home to more than 25,000 animals that reside here year round, as its one of the few places that has natural springs. We started early with hopes of catching a few big cats before the heat of the day sent them in search of shade.

We saw many hyenas, jackles, ostrich, plus countless other huge birds, and even managed to get close to a large pride of lions with very full bellies. There was a Black Rhino spotted not to far off of the road also which was a highlight.

We wrapped up the day with a visit to a Maasai village not far from the crater's 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

Safari time!

Today was the first day of safari for us and we headed west to visit Lake Manyara, which is known for its tree climbing lions, and vast species of birds. We didn't manage to see any of those famous lions, but we had a very close encounter with a few elephants. Nothing dangerous, but they passed close enough that we could have almost touched them.

It was a pretty hot day here in Africa, so I'm sure that keep many of the animals hiding in the shade. We did manage to see a few zebras, Cape buffalo, giraffe, hippos, baboons, impalas and so many birds I lost count. It was a pretty nice introduction to the incredible bio-diversity that Africa has, and everyone enjoyed the day riding around in our safari vehicles.

We finished the day spending a few hours relaxing and exploring the grounds of our amazing lodge.

That's all for now,

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Safari Crew

Our final day on Kilimanjaro!

Today the team got up at 6:30 a.m. refreshed after a much needed night of sleep. We had breakfast then hit the trail one last time. It took just around three hours to reach the Mweka Gate of Kilimanjaro National Park where the team had lunch and said our final goodbyes to our amazing crew that took such great care of us on the mountain. We finished the little celebration by handing out their well deserved tips and then hopped aboard our awaiting bus for the ride back to the lodge. 

Now we are all safe and sound, cleaner and smelling fresh after an exciting seven day journey up and down Kilimanjaro. 

Stayed tuned, safari starts tomorrow!

RMI Guide Casey Grom and Crew

We did it!!!

All team members are safely back to high camp after standing on the “Roof of Africa”. 

The team did a great job climbing and stayed positive, even though it was tough at times. It was slightly chilly, and the route was busier than we would have liked. However, our early departure saved us from the more than 100+ climbers all stuffed together. We even had the summit to ourselves for a little while!

We spent about 30 minutes on the summit celebrating, taking photos and even made a few phone calls to loved ones back home.

We are headed down the mountain to our final camp in the thick warm air at 10,000’ where we’ll have dinner then head off to bed for some well-deserved sleep.

Casey and a happy Kili team!