Presenting Sponsor
THANK YOU TO
July 10- 21
Our Climb to Conquer Team made it to the Top!
Climber's Blog
Safari
Hi Everyone,
We have just spent the last three days on an amazing Safari. We started the day after the climb, but and the internet connection in Tanzania where we were was so remote we could not connect. It was made worse by the power brown outs. We have been hosted by Remy, one of the owners of Zara Tours and she has been giving us all the background into Tanzanian life. She was educated at Western Tech in Toronto and York University, sponsored by her sister who lives in Toronto, but returned to Tanzania to be with her mom who was ill. She is the daughter of 11 and she joined her older sister who started the Tour company 17 years ago. It is a big operation and it is the same company that took us up the hill.
Tonight, as I write this note, we are staying in a hotel in a huge game reserve. In fact, when we checked into our room we looked out the back window and we have a water buffalo sitting 10 meters from our patio door. Allan and Neil, on the other side of the hotel, had elephants grazing in their yard a few feet from the door and the entire compound was the home of mongoose and other little “ratbits”-like creatures.
The past four days have just been a mecca of wildlife. We started the first day Thursday, in the Lake Mamyara reserve. We got close and personal with elephants, hippos, baboons, wild boars, water buffalo, zebras and we viewed giraffe’s from a distance. We stayed in a beautiful hotel that evening over looking Lake Mamyara and feasted like royalty. We have not stopped eating since we stopped climbing. Ben said there would be residual effects after the climb and the metabolism is definitely at an all time high.
Friday, we drove to the Ngorongo Crater and saw it all. Male lions, rhinos, wildebeasts, zebras, herds of elephants. Every animal that you can imagine. Our group was placed in three Land Rovers with the extended tops so you could stand and look out over the roof. We had radio communication with the other vehicles so if something was seen we would be alerted and we would head over for a wonderful viewing. We have millions of photos between all of us. We headed to a hotel that sat on the side of the crater wall and overlooked the entire basin. We watched some of Ron’s pic’s on the computer while sipping on Kilimanjaro and Tusker Beers (Oh yes, an odd rum/cola was consumed again.) while the sun set replaying our experiences of the day. We have become one big Kili family! The temperature was very cool at the top of the basin and we all froze that evening (temps. 5 degrees). We headed to bed early at 9 with our bellies stuffed from the buffet.
Yesterday (Saturday), we headed back west to another game reserve called Tarangire. Before we arrived we made a pit stop at Remy’s sister’s home in the little farming town of Keratu. She farms the land for income and has a hourse with no running water. Her home is very modest with three bedrooms, a large living room, dining room and a stand up toilet room and a flush toilet in the main bedroom. She served us chai tea, coffee, chicken livers, and a fried donut bread item that was tasty. After an hour we headed off to our destination. We hit the park and ate our boxed lunch, had a toilet break and then headed in to view the animals. It turned out that we hit the big time. Herds of everything. Elephants of every size, Giraffe herds, Lioness’s sleeping with cubs. It was amazing. We toured around for 4 hours up and down the hills. We headed to the hotel for a cocktail around 5:30 as the sun was getting low. The hotel was in the middle of the park. We met a group of ours at the pool who had been soaking up the sun. We joined in and sat outside amongst the animals till it was dark, cleaned up and then met for cocktails prior dinner at 8 pm. The hotel and staff at this hotel were amazing. So hospitable! Such a contrast from the night before. We had a barbeque dinner that everyone had looked forward to for weeks. It was quite a contrast from what we have been dining on. It was delicious. We all are still eating like pigs due to the climb so the skinny pants are starting to tighten again. Tomorrow we are going to rise and leave for our safari adventure at 10 am. We will all sleep well, full bellies, safe in our tree house rooms, while the animals roam outside our doors. Good night………….
Bye for now.....Love, Kar and Ron xoxox
- posted via Android mobile
Older entries - click here
Click Here for More Climber Photos and Larger Videos
Latest Photos
Oakridges Walk
The Goodbye