The Arusha Hotel Kilimanjaro National Park

... with Tore (as he walked much faster than me). We had lunch at a designated spot beside the road used mainly by the porters and the rescue car. Started talking to another group who were a father and son team from Montana, USA - Gary and Jake.

Hiked for another 2hrs, finally arriving at Mandara Huts at Alt. 2700m. We are staying in one of the 4-bed A-frame huts and sharing with Gary and Jake. At 4pm we went on a little hike 875m up the path to Maundi ...

... are very friendly people and like their lifestyle alot. As for Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro Crater, it is hard to go wrong there. Both are very dependable spots for safari. Even though close in location to each other, they are quite different and it is well worth visiting both. Also, two things that Ngorongoro lacks, giraffes and families of elephants are plentiful in Lake Manyara. I have been to both parks a few times before but I don't get ...

... op en dan 2 uur om weer naar beneden te wandelen. Dat viel ff tegen; uiteindelijk anderhalf uur bergopwaarts gegaan en toen weer terug. We waren kapot! De lodge bij de Kili was heel leuk, allemaal kleine huisjes met uitzicht op de berg bij helder weer.

... excitedly try to get him out of their room. (I had a similar reaction this evening when a 4” bug flew by my ear while I was writing this entry. Still can’t find it – just hoping the mosquito netting will keep him somewhere where I am not.)

We had lunch in the main dining room and were left to relax in our rooms until our four o’clock game drive.

We are reunited with our luggage for just a night. So ...

... of taking my malaria pills is supposed to having vivid dreams and even....wait for it...erotic dreams. Now I usually don't remember my dreams and can't say it it's the pills or just a little frustration but I can say that for whatever reason my dreams have been a little more well...entertaining. Other than the dreams though once again my sleep sucked.

Day 4

Today was a lot of hills and I absolutely hate going down hill over these enormous boulders ...

... be 'nice to have' based on the amount of cash that my girlfriend and I had with us; an interesting process to say the least.

Departure and Arrival

In the following days airfares with Kenya Airways were arranged via Nairobi to Kilimanjaro International Airport in Tanzania so all that was left was to wait. I departed Dubai at approx 2am on the 5th August thinking this would give me plenty of time in Moshi and surrounds to rest and prepare before the hike. In hindsight, I ...

Approaching the foothills of Kilimanjaro, we got our first and only sight of the mountain - a shard glimpsed through the clouds from a children's home in Moshi. We had visited the Amani home ('Peace' in Swahili) to see the work done by the foundation in reintegrating street children, first of all with other kids, and then maybe with their family. These were kids who had run away because of domestic abuse, because ...

May 22 2009 I write this post with a bittersweet tone. My time in East Africa is waning - fast - and as you can all imagine it is breaking my heart. I am flying to Cairo tomorrow evening and although I am looking forward to the second leg of my trip, I keep wishing I had budgeted more time here in Africa. (I went as far as almost canceling my time in Egypt but was convinced otherwise by numerous people who have traveled there ...

... a good break from the re-packing I had been doing so that I could leave a bag of unnecessary things in the hotel safe storage room. I suppose I should explain that showers over here (if they have an actual shower head) are not a separate part of the bathroom... it's just the shower head coming out of the wall and so the water just goes all over the floor, toilet, sink, etc. If you're lucky you might get a piece of tubing that sections off the shower area. Unfortunately mine ...

... br>myself falling facefirst down the side of a cliff and dying horriby. In
order to avoid this, I looked down the whole time, occasionally looking
up to see a monkey in the trees to the side of us, and once to stare
incredulously at Sophie when her object in 20 questions was a safety
pin ("you can find it in schools"-- who takes safety pins to school?!).
After about 2 hours, we abandoned 20 questions as that would take
precious breath that ...