to Tanzania in Africa

What happens when there are 9 seats and 10 passengers

Dar es Salaam to Arusha via Zanzibar

Baggage claim in Zanzibar

Arusha has a rather grand idea of itself

The road to Kilimanjaro:Arusha to Marangu

The Kibo Hotel in Marangu

First view of the mountain

The road to Kilimanjaro:the trek

Kili from the road(that’s Mawenzi on the left and Kibo on

the right)

Schematic of the Rongai route

1850m 2600m

3600m3600m

4700m

5895m

4330m4330m

Rongai Route

Day 1

Starting out:

signing in

instructions

organizing the porters

1850m / 6060 ft

meeting some locals

Day 1 terrain changes

At Camp 12600 m / 8500 ft

The Kenyan Plains from above Camp 1

Rongai RouteDay 2

and we have rain …

Looking back down – the plains obscured by the clouds

Huge burned area

Lunch scene at the Second Cave

And the ubiquitous crows

The skies clear when we arrive at Camp 2

3600m / 11,800 ftthe plains of Kenya are now far below

Rongai RouteDay 3

Morning view from Camp 2

Giant Lobelias

Kibo Peak looms in the distance

Our guide shows us the summit

route

At the 4100 meter point

It’s getting colder

Approaching Mawenzi and Camp 3

Mawenzi

At Camp 3 Mawenzi Tarn

4330m / 14,200 ft

Acclimatization Hike

Above the clouds …Looking back down on Camp 3 and the Kenyan

plains

the route to the summit

Kibo Hut

Gilman’s Point

SummitUhuru Point

Rongai RouteDay 4

Climbing up onto the “Saddle”

Last close-up views of Mawenzi

Don’t be fooled by those smiles, we’re suffering!

(at almost 15,000 ft)

We reach the “Saddle,” but the mountain is shrouded in clouds

It starts lifting eventually

We walk for hours but never seem to get

any closer.

Finally we arriveCamp 4

4700m / 15,400 ft

Rongai Route

Day 4 – continue

d into Day 5

To the Summit

And back down

The route to the Summit

What it looked like for 6 hoursAnd what it looked like in the light

First goal achieved:Gilman’s Point – the crater

rim5681m / 18,638 ft

6 a.m. Temperature: very

cold

Sunrise over Mawenzi

6:12 a.m.

A quick brew before heading off to the summit

The sun rises and illuminates the glaciers

Where we were going -From Gilman’s to the summit

The beginning of the track to the summit

One man and his mountain

These ice cliffs are over 100 ft high

At the summit 5895 m/ 19,340 ft

8 a.m. temperature: even colder than dawn

a cloud rolls in on the summit route

Going back down – note the smile

Everyone is happy to go down

Back at Gilman’s – looking back from where we came

Going back down the Jamaica Rocks

Kibo Hut

Looking back up to Gilman’s Point from Jamaica Rocks

Did we actually walk up that?

Express route to the bottom

Scree running

Getting closer

Almost there … except we had to go further down than camp

Rongai RouteDay 6

dragging ourselves off the

mountain

Last sunrise from the mountain

The summit from the last camp(hard to believe we were on top of it 24 hours

before)

The long road home

Through different climate zones

The last 3 hours was through the

rain forest (boring)

And finally we were done, with the certificates to prove we’d

done it!

The road to Kilimanjaro:back to Arusha

Back in civilization:

Moivaro Coffee Lodge, Arusha

That’s Mt Meru in the distance

Sure beats a tent on the side of a mountain …

On to Pemba …

Fundu Fundu LagoonLagoon o

Arriving at Fundu Lagoon

The jetty bar first stop !

reception

Breakfast with a view

Tree art

“Rooms”

“Bathrooms”

solid teak and hot water!

Spectacular sunsets

Dolphin Safari

Hard days by that jetty bar!

Traditional “dhow”

Traditional “dhow” beer !

A room with a view

Island wildlife

A “bithday” to remember !

Followed by drinks,

dancing and Hugs !

Alas, we had to leave …

back to the Stone Town on Zanzibar for one final

night

Typical street

Emerson & Green –

our hotel in the heart of the old

city

Stone Town is known for its doors

Even the manhole

covers are interesting

The best views were from the roof of our hotel

Rather than in Stone Town which requires a bit of tidying

up!

And that’s it folks !