January 31, 2006: First view of Kilimanjaro

I woke up as the sun rose, anxious to see the landscape that had been cloaked by the darkness of the previous night. I was greeted by this view, looking due north from the balcony of Springlands hotel. The main peak of Kilimanjaro, known as Kibo (19,340ft/5895m), is on the left. Mawenzi (16898ft/5149m) is the smaller peak seen on the right (east). At one point in time, a third peak was present equidistant to Kibo on the western side, but has since collapsed into a large caldera (13,000ft/3962m).

This view was fleeting, at least while we were there, as thick cloud cover usually engulfed the peaks by late morning.

January 30, 2006: Springlands hotel

After the dusty ride from the airport to Moshi, we arrived at Springlands hotel situated approximately one mile south of the town. Springlands is the base of operation for ZARA Travel. When they open the iron gate to admit the minibus, it feels as if you are arriving at an oasis in a desert, especially at night. The rooms surround a beautiful courtyard containing colorful tropical flowers. Lit gravel paths lead to the various buildings that house the rooms. The quality of a lodging is certainly an individual's opinion. In general, my idea of a good room is indoor plumbing, private bathrooms, and sleeping arrangements that don't involve a sleeping pad and sleeping bag. By those standards, Springlands is luxurious. Hot water, swimming pool, internet access, outdoor bar... is anything else necessary?!

We were tired after close to 20 hours of travel, but we were able to sit in the courtyard and enjoy our first Kilimanjaro beer while soaking in the reality that we were finally in Africa.

January 30, 2006: Arrival at Kilimanjaro International Airport

We landed on the dusty airstrip at 9pm (8 hours ahead of the east coast of the U.S. (EST), and 3 hours ahead of GMT (UTC+3). We were the last ones through the lines at customs and were relieved to find that all our baggage had arrived with us. The arrival hall was clogged with representatives of various tour companies looking to pick up their parties. We found the representative of our company, ZARA Travel, a driver named Slim. We boarded a minibus along with about a dozen other travelers from what sounded like Germany, Italy, and the U.S., just as the winds were kicking up and a brief rain shower began. We began the 40 minute drive to our hotel. The highway was lit only by the headlights of passing automobiles, the solitary bulb or flourescent light that marked the front entrance of the roadside houses, and the occasional stars that peeked around the cloudy Tanzanian sky.

Although you couldn't see it, you certainly felt like Kilimanjaro was looking down upon you through the darkness.

January 30, 2006: Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro

[Photos. Top and Center: Killing time at Schiphol Airport, the Netherlands; Bottom: Flight to Tanzania]

3,852 miles and 7.5 hours after leaving Washington DC, our flight touched down at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It was now Sunday, 7 am in Holland, and the airport was slowly coming to life. We had just disembarked and were still squinting from the early morning sunrise and trying to figure out where to track down Ajay when he casually sauntered up to us while we were still wandering in the middle of the boarding terminal. He looked remarkably well considering he had been up most of the previous night at work.

We set up shop upstairs near the business center to kill time during our 3 hour layover. I was pleasantly surprised to find my Cingular cellphone service could roam on the Dutch "Orange" network and dropped a quick email to Lisa to let her know we were halfway there. She immediately replied despite it being 2 am in Washington DC, so we ended up being able to talk a bit before our group finally decided to look for some food.

After eyeing the 4.5 euro ($6) pizza slice I decided on a bottle of white beer instead despite this essentially being breakfast. It was after all cheaper and in europe afterall.

KLM flight 569/NW8383 left on time at 1030am. This flight was unfortunately pretty full and was not one of the snazzy Airbuses that we had just arrived on (it was an M11). We hunkered down in our center seats for the 8.5 hour/4288 mile journey to deliver us to the African continent.

REWIND: Flashback to January 29, 2006

(Photo: Preparing to leave Washington, DC, Dulles Airport)

This blog is gonna read like a crazy Quentin Tarantino movie in terms of time line. Before the details start getting fuzzy, here's the pics and the stories that go along with them.

January 29, 2006 (Sunday):

Lisa drove me to Dulles to catch NW8652/KLM651, scheduled to leave at 520pm from DC to Amsterdam. We detoured into Adams Morgan in DC to pick up Jeremiah at his Swann St apartment that he was still subletting. Jeremiah had arrived the previous day from LA. We were running a tad late, but the counter lines at Northwest were minimal and we got there with time to spare. Jen had been dropped off by her parents and was waiting for us when we arrived at departure. We picked up some Wash DC keychains/bottle openers from a souveneir shop to give as gifts to our guides/porters. I bought a slice of pizza as one last reminder of good ole' American junk food and we boarded our plane just as sun was setting on the Dulles Airport tarmac. Around the same time, Ajay boarded NW 38 at Logan airport in Boston at 615pm.

I guess some props needs to go out to the sweet ride we were on the Airbus 330-200. This plane was brought into service in 2005 and they have the nicest entertainment system that I've seen, at least in the peanut gallery economy class section; which is pretty much the only thing I have to compare to. Good stereo sound, with the ability to start a movie or music selection whenever you want, pause, etc. They had a pretty good selection to boot as well, in both music (the White Stripes!) and movies. The cabin was amazingly empty during our flight so we each sprawled out on our own. Jeremiah claiming a 4 seat row in the back, I got a 3 seat row in the back as well, and Jen held on to her window seat in the middle of the plane. I watched Corpse Bride, then after hearing Jeremiah cackling in the back, followed his lead and watched the 40 Year Old Virgin. Uncut mind you. Not that it was all that shocking, but certainly a surprise from the heavily edited stuff I'm used to on a flight.

Number one sign that you have returned to Western civilization

From Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, Netherlands (February 12, 2006):

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning for a happy meal...

This clown provides more than just comfort food.

The Aftermath...or is the beginning (again?)

(Scene's from Kilimanjaro International Airport, February 11, 2006 (L-R): Jen shares a tender moment with Ajay's well worn sock; Jeremiah beginning to exhibited signs and symptoms of the dreaded East African Not Sleeping Sickness; 'Aren't vacations suppose to be relaxing?!')



It has now been exactly one week since we have returned to the U.S. from Tanzania. We all made it back safe although it wasn't without incident for all. Jeremiah picked up GI bug that starting kicking in somewhere on the flight from Tanzania to Amsterdam. His flight was extra special as a result. It was somewhat ironic since he was the most careful to try to avoid, this during the trip itself. Our return flights also coincided with a blizzard that hit the east coast of the U.S. last weekend. Although Jeremiah, Jen, and I somehow were able to make it to DC without any delay, Ajay's return flight from Amsterdam to Boston took him on a very special tour of Detroit, Michigan, where he got to spend an extra night of vacation at the Quaility Inn before they finally got the runway on Logan swept off the next day. A couple of days after returning, I came down with a respiratory illness that left me somewhat washed out and apparently Jen may have had something similar. All in all we can't complain. We all stayed healthy enough to accomplish our main objective of summiting Kilimanjaro, and overall, to have an unforgetable two week trip.

All good things must come to an end

After the Kili climb, we spent 3 days in the Ngorongoro Crater/Serengeti Bush on safari. I'll have to admit that before we left, the safari had been overshadowed by the preparations we were making for the Kilimanjaro climb. However, the safari held it's own in terms of absolutely amazing things that we were able to see and witness in nature. It's going to take forever to edit down some of the pics we have taken (probably close to 20 GB between the 4 of us).

Right now we are half way home. Just completed the first leg from Kilimanjaro airport to Amsterdam. Currently waiting to see whether the big snowstorm forcasted for the east coast will prevent us from making the last jump across the pond. Hakuna matata.

Either way, it's been an epic trip. Stay tuned.

Four to the Summit

(Photo: Bruce (chief guide), Living (assistant guide), Phil, Jeremiah, Ajay, Jen, Hamasi (assistant guide)

Sung to the tune of "Tomorrow" from the musical "Annie:"

When the sun comes up tomorrow,
We'll be standing on Kiliman-jar-o, tomorrow,
when there's sun.
Just thinking about tomorrow, Kiliman-jar-o, when there's sun!
Tomorrow, Kilimanjaro,
Tomorrow, Kilimanjaro,
You're only a step away.

It seems as if a novel could have been writen about summit day alone. In the beginning, there was suspense, anxiety, and uncertainty. During the climb itself, there were tears, frustration, determination, and cannibalism. OK, no cannibalism, but it would make a good novel. In the end, the four of us, Jen, Ajay, Jeremiah, and I all summited together, reaching Uhuru peak (19340/5895m), after a 8 hour summit climb in -15 degrees celsius temperature (wind chill not included) around 7:30 am (Tanzania time) on February 6, 2006.

We've got a million pictures and stories between the 4 of us and hope to share them with you soon.

For now, it's Kili (beer) time.