Africa, BABY!, Africa....

Off i went again about a week ago, where this time i am dragging my bum across Africa! First part was a bit more touristy, but no less fun, climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro with my dad, and then doing a safari with mom and dad across the serengeti.

At Kilimanjaro airport we had no visa problems, getting our bags right away and our guide was already waiting to take us to the hotel, it was almost scary how everything worked out. Well until I unpacked and found that my hairgel had exploded (what dork travels with hairgel anyways, serves me right I say!!!) I am currently still brushing my teeth with that faint taste of gel, I think it s pineapple flavor!

After a good nights sleep we got up the next morning and found the porters, cook and guide, already preparing everything, our bags were (despite our disagreement) taken by the porters and we were given these tiny backpacks to carry, we had the mandatory guide, assistant guide, cook and four porters that all carried up to 35kg up the mountain. A little on the insane side when you see that they are carrying tables, chairs, and non-dried food up there... but hey, arguing was senseless, that s the way it s been done, no change to come... hmm....

Us and our porters/guide/cook...

Several groups on their way...carrying their load on their head



Camp 1

After starting from Machame gate at 1500 meters we walked slowly (pole pole, in the Swahili language) up to the first camp, enjoyed the easy hike through the jungle, talking to the cook and learning the most important words of Swahili, now, after a week me and my dad can already properly introduce ourselves, talk about the weather and most importantly haggle and bargain, its great fun!! We slept at 3000 meters the first night (about 10000 feet) and over the next three days slowly hiked up to 4600 meters, to properly acclimatize... of the 50 people or so that tried to summit the mountain the same day we did, many were already complaining of AMS (accute mountain sickness), which can occur above 10000 feet and lead to headaches and vomiting in the beginning, but become much more serious later if not properly treated. Having learned a thing or two from Lucas, the swiss doctor i traveled with in Nepal, I tried to help a couple of people that complained about problems, and explain basics how to minimize the altitude problems (e.g. staying above camp for a couple of hours before sleep if there is time, lots and lots and even more fluids, nope guys, beer wont do the trick!).

Last leg we were supposed to get up at 11.20 pm, no sleep for me as my dad was snoring like he s at sea level.. all the power to him if he can sleep at that altitude... we got up to get ready, had a hefty breakfast... strange only 5 hours after dinner.... and set off at midnight to watch my most spectacular hike i have done so far.... star lit sky, the moon lighting some of the way.... it was bitter cold... about -20C/-10F, so the breaks we took were many but short, again hydration was very important... at 5 30 am, about 2 hours ahead of schedule we arrived on top of Kilimanjaro at 5895 meters, 19345feet, VERY exhausted (me that is, my dad is a machine, I dont know how he does it with 57 years old, but i sure hope its heredetory!!)

Creatures at the top... my dad, guide and porter...

Did it!

Amazing bud sadly slowly disappearing glacier...

Picture of a lifetime: Glacier, Mt. Meru (small one) and shadow of Kilimanjaro (big one)

I was hyper taking tons of pictures as the sun came up, it also kept me warm. After an amazing sunrise and about 45minutes rest we descended at six fifteen, passing by all the ones slowly making it to the top. Back on the steep volcano rock face we could easily surf down the gravel, but had to take care, falling would have been quite painful, we descended the 1200 meters elevation in 45minutes, and finally got breakfast, WONDERFUL....

My mom arrived a day later, having made the trip by herself to Tanzania. She was picked up by achmed, our fantastic tour organizer. Like so many others that have booked tours with him, I inquired about 1 year ago about kili and safaris, and though i knew little about this guy called achmed, with flawless english and good german skills (never occurred to me to ask), I was very surprised to see this tall skinny English guy picking us up at the airport. Truth is i would have been less surprised by a 5foot1 Pakistani with a small mustache...

Achmed proofed to be a great choice, no surprise after the meticulous answering of my questions and thorough inquiries.

At the serengeti, we witnessed all the wonderful wildlife (we saw the big five over and over... (big5 being elephant,lion,buffalo,rhino and leopard, the latter two really hard to encounter), plus lots of cheetas, birds, baby lions playing...a male lion 5 feet from our car, etc....), then returned to a wonderful lodge, and reviewed the day by having a cold beer and looking at the pictures on the digital camera, followed by a wonderful dinner....

Impressions from the Serengeti....

I knew already the days of plenty and posh hotels would soon be over. After spending the last night in a gorgeous hotel in arusha and having a grand time with my parents, i left last Saturday to backpack again, .... first i visited Kate and her family in Nairobi, a girl i met while skydiving in New Zealand. She was so nice to offer her "hilton gardens lodge", a shack they have below their huge house in a nice district a bit off Nirobi downtown, like the beverly hills area. I was received very nicely with a great curry her dad made and spent two days there, visiting museums and a snake farm, and decided to go off by myself to the north a bit too.

That was quite the trip I have to say.... I haven't seen another traveler in two days... just taking matatas (like minibuses for locals), spent yesterday at lake naivasha visiting a gorge. I had to stay in the hotel all night since I ran out of money, the banks close at three and the cash machine was broken.... so crackers and water is was.

Hiking the devil's canyon

Now i am in nankuru, it is deserted from travellers (the tourist hotel is absolutely empty, I am the only visitor and have been for days)... after the extremists set fire to three german hotels in kenya people are scared, but I feel very safe here... its totally off the radar out in the boonies. Not what most of you would call "nice traveling", a lot of poverty and no tourist facilities, but people are very friendly and it is certainly interesting and gives you a different perspective. I ended up taking a 5h minibus, cramped in with 10 locals and about 20 boxes of young chickens (2000 chickens, not chicks unfortunately!! :), the noise was UNBEARABLE, i am still coughing up feathers, but its a trip i wont forget.

Roger and the 2000 chicks

p.s. 1
note that the correct translation for roundabout in swahili (as found in the official english-swahili dictionary from daressalam university), is keepylefty keepylefty

p.s. 2
it is said to be a fact that the great massai tribe that live in his area, claim to be the rightful owners of all cows around the world...they just haven't had the time to collect them yet....

p.s.3
katia (a friend i met traveling in bolivia, chile and new zealand, gave me a book called "the essential survival kit for traveling", and I actually already used it: there is a section called "how to pass a bribe", which I had to do yesterday since I was out of money and could not pay the entry fee to a nice park, the guard, after a textbook bribing conversation let me in for free (after i paid him a third of the entry fee i was supposed to pay... good stuff to know!