I never did get around to posting a Tanzania trip thread, but better late than never! My digital photo frame at work seems to be showing me a lot of African shots so I'm wistfully daydreaming about going back.
A while ago, Jenn and I decided our big trip this past year was going to be to Africa. We planned a 2 week adventure to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and go on safari, with a company called African Walking Company. We didn't want one of the big agencies, and National Geographic Expeditions was really lousy to talk to - they were rude, would not answer questions except to copy/paste out of their website, and wouldn't even commit to having vegetarian options for Jenn. All that for twice the price of everyone else. Would not recommend.
Unlike Peru, we did not spend any time acclimatizing. We had an 8 day hike up Kilimanjaro, so that would be sufficient. Landed in Tanzania after 24 hours of travel, get a briefing and get some sleep. Up the next morning, ready to go. We met Jonas and Jonas, our two guides - at least I wouldn't have to remember many names.
The route we chose was Lemosho, which was both one of the longer routes - allowing us to see more of the mountain - and also less trafficked.
We started out in a rainforest, which isn't really what one expects when climbing a mountain in Africa. It was very beautiful, though! Lots of heavy mists, lush greenery everywhere, and something like Spanish moss hanging from the trees - they called it Old Man's Beard.
We see huge Colobus monkeys in the trees. They're enormous, with fluffy large tails that fly behind them as they leap from tree to tree. They're shy and don't get near us.
It's kind of funny, but Kilimanjaro is a free-standing mountain, and yet we drove to the start of the trail and hiked a day and a half with no glimpse of Kibo, the famous peak. You start to wonder if you're even in the right place. We came out of the rainforest, still no sign. Then you level out at 11,000 ft. on the Shira Plateau, and suddenly...
Once you get out of the rainforest, the animals and plants become fewer and smaller. There are plenty of birds, though. The white naped ravens were friendly and intelligent - the locals consider them pests but I was fascinated with how they would play. They would break off branches from trees and toss them to each other in midair, with one swooping up and dropping a branch, and another one diving to snatch it out of the air.
One of our guides - Big Jonas - was a botanist and taught us about flowers and plants along the way. There are a few types of everlasting flowers on the mountain which have an amazing paper-like texture, almost like cellophane. The Shira Plateau is a scrubby grassland, not much grows taller than a few inches off the ground.
To help acclimate, we scramble up Shira Cathedral, about 1,700' of hands-and-knees climbing. The ravens are circling the cliff edges and throwing sticks to each other. I could have watched them all day, but eventually we have to come back down and head towards the next campsite. Mt. Meru is in the background there.
The night skies are beautiful. On the second Shira Plateau campsight, I set up the tripod and capture some stars, with an eerie glow coming from the rising fog that is diffusing the light from a small town far below us:
Eventually, the grassland gives way to a barren, rock studded wasteland with a few grasses and mosses growing, but otherwise nothing but huge volcanic rocks including large chunks of pumice and obsidian. Kibo peak actually appears to be getting closer...
On this day we go from our campsite at 12,600', up and over a pass at Lava Tower at 15,200':
Then back down to Baranco Valley at 12,800', where Kibo looms over us as we make camp:
A while ago, Jenn and I decided our big trip this past year was going to be to Africa. We planned a 2 week adventure to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and go on safari, with a company called African Walking Company. We didn't want one of the big agencies, and National Geographic Expeditions was really lousy to talk to - they were rude, would not answer questions except to copy/paste out of their website, and wouldn't even commit to having vegetarian options for Jenn. All that for twice the price of everyone else. Would not recommend.
Unlike Peru, we did not spend any time acclimatizing. We had an 8 day hike up Kilimanjaro, so that would be sufficient. Landed in Tanzania after 24 hours of travel, get a briefing and get some sleep. Up the next morning, ready to go. We met Jonas and Jonas, our two guides - at least I wouldn't have to remember many names.
The route we chose was Lemosho, which was both one of the longer routes - allowing us to see more of the mountain - and also less trafficked.
We started out in a rainforest, which isn't really what one expects when climbing a mountain in Africa. It was very beautiful, though! Lots of heavy mists, lush greenery everywhere, and something like Spanish moss hanging from the trees - they called it Old Man's Beard.
We see huge Colobus monkeys in the trees. They're enormous, with fluffy large tails that fly behind them as they leap from tree to tree. They're shy and don't get near us.
It's kind of funny, but Kilimanjaro is a free-standing mountain, and yet we drove to the start of the trail and hiked a day and a half with no glimpse of Kibo, the famous peak. You start to wonder if you're even in the right place. We came out of the rainforest, still no sign. Then you level out at 11,000 ft. on the Shira Plateau, and suddenly...
Once you get out of the rainforest, the animals and plants become fewer and smaller. There are plenty of birds, though. The white naped ravens were friendly and intelligent - the locals consider them pests but I was fascinated with how they would play. They would break off branches from trees and toss them to each other in midair, with one swooping up and dropping a branch, and another one diving to snatch it out of the air.
One of our guides - Big Jonas - was a botanist and taught us about flowers and plants along the way. There are a few types of everlasting flowers on the mountain which have an amazing paper-like texture, almost like cellophane. The Shira Plateau is a scrubby grassland, not much grows taller than a few inches off the ground.
To help acclimate, we scramble up Shira Cathedral, about 1,700' of hands-and-knees climbing. The ravens are circling the cliff edges and throwing sticks to each other. I could have watched them all day, but eventually we have to come back down and head towards the next campsite. Mt. Meru is in the background there.
The night skies are beautiful. On the second Shira Plateau campsight, I set up the tripod and capture some stars, with an eerie glow coming from the rising fog that is diffusing the light from a small town far below us:
Eventually, the grassland gives way to a barren, rock studded wasteland with a few grasses and mosses growing, but otherwise nothing but huge volcanic rocks including large chunks of pumice and obsidian. Kibo peak actually appears to be getting closer...
On this day we go from our campsite at 12,600', up and over a pass at Lava Tower at 15,200':
Then back down to Baranco Valley at 12,800', where Kibo looms over us as we make camp:
