March 2, 2018

That’s a Wrap!

We just heard from Tye that the team is resting comfortably at The Farm House, our luxury safari lodge just outside Ngorongoro Crater. They had a fantastic last day on safari. Woke up at Ndutu Safari Lodge and hit the road towards the Crater, with a quick stop at Oldupai Gorge. Oldupai is where some of the oldest human remains have been found. It’s really neat to learn about the history of this region and our mutual ancestors! A couple more hours brought the team to one of the highlights of the safari, if not the entire trip. Ngorongoro Crater is home to a massive concentration of all types of wildlife. It’s always a tough place to leave as it’s so full of animals. Finally they made their way up out of the Crater and over to some very comfortable accommodations for their last night. The team was getting ready for their final meal together. I know they’ll have some amazing stories to swap. Tomorrow they will make their way back to Arusha – no doubt stopping for some souvenir shopping along the way – and on to the airport for their flights home. I can’t think of a more successful and fun trip. They had 100% of the team summit Kili together and they saw incredible wildlife on the Serengeti. Can’t really top that.

Congrats again to the team on an amazing summit of Kilimanjaro. As the long rainy season starts to set in over in East Africa we take a break from Kili climbs until summer. We have a full load of summer and fall Kilimanjaro trips lined up starting in June. Some with a few spots left, so don’t wait to sign up!  And check out Tye’s portfolio of animal photos he forwarded.

Dustin Balderach

March 1, 2018

BIG elephant in the Crater (Phil Ershler)

Tye called early this morning.  Wanted to let us know that Day 2 on safari wasn’t bad, either.  They worked their way across the Serengeti to the south, ultimately ending up just outside the Park at Ndutu.  He said the highlight of the day was a couple of lions feasting on a zebra who had just lost a foot race.  I always like Ndutu this time of year.  Lots of wildebeest and zebra.

Tomorrow will be super full.  Up early, driving further south and ending up at the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater.  Perhaps a stop at one of the Masaii villages and at Oldupai Gorge on the way.

From the rim of the Crater, they drop down the main “in” road to the Crater floor.  They’ve already seen the ‘Big Four’ but a sighting of the black rhino would get them to ‘Five’.  Hope it happens for them.

Phil Ershler

February 28th, 2018

Busy over in Tanzania but, as Tye relayed, ‘solid’ first day on safari.  Up early, finish packing, drive to Arusha, lunch, flight to the Serengeti, rendezvous with safari vehicles and drivers and then start seeing all East Africa has to offer when it comes to game viewing.  Text from Tye said…..lions, zebra, wildebeest, elephant, giraffe, warthog, topi, leopard, and more.  A thunderstorm ended their day with a BUNCH of rain in a couple of hours.  He ended the text saying thunderstorm was already ending and clearing up.  Nice thing is that it will cut down the dust for Day 2 of their game viewing.

Check out the photos from their first day!

Phil Ershler

February 27th, 2018

View of Kilimanjaro from our hotel in Moshi (Dustin Balderach)

The team’s down and relaxing at the hotel. A quick 3 hour hike brought them to the Mweka Gate where private transportation was waiting. Once at the hotel they were able to shower, eat, pack, and soon were heading to their celebratory dinner. And they do have something to celebrate! 100% of the team stood together on the summit and they had some amazing weather too. Can’t beat that. The celebratory dinner is always a fun time as the local guides join us and the conversation is usually a split between stories from the climb and anticipation of the upcoming safari. Tomorrow some of the team members will be flying home and the rest of the team will be flying out to the Serengeti to begin their safari. We look forward to hearing about what the team sees. Congrats again to entire team! Now go enjoy that safari!

Dustin Balderach

February 26th, 2018

Kili Team Reaches the Top (Tye Chapman)

100% on top of Kilimanjaro is always good news.  100% down at Mweka Camp and safe is even better.  We received two messages from Tye Chapman last evening and early this morning – one from the summit and one from their final camp.  Mweka Camp is at 10,000 ft and there’s a lot more oxygen there and temps are much warmer.  Add in all the effort of the summit day and it all makes for big appetites and some great sleep for a seriously tired team.  What a great kind of ‘tired’!

A good night’s sleep and a few hours of hiking tomorrow and the team will be heading for the showers at K’s Hotel.  Time to start celebrating the summit and to start thinking about the upcoming safari.  All is well in Tanzania.

Phil Ershler

February 25, 2018

The team is at Barafu (high camp), and all is well. Light lunch, early dinner, get packed for summit attempt, rest/sleep as much as possible — done or in process of ‘getting done’. Everyone’s planning on taking a shot in the morning, very early in the morning. It’s game day, and everyone’s excited.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Phil Ershler

February 24, 2018

IMG guide Tye Chapman just checked in from Karanga Camp over on Kili. He reported that everyone really enjoyed the the Barranco Wall today and that everyone is happy and healthy. That’s great news. And the weather continues to cooperate too!

After a steep hour and a half climb to the top of Barranco Wall, the rest of the hike over to Karanga Camp is pretty easy. And scenic! About 5 hours of hiking for the team today. Once they got to Karanga and moved into the tents, they enjoyed a nice hot lunch — french fries, chicken, and fried bananas! Then they had the afternoon to rest and enjoy the views.

Tomorrow is another short day for the team. They will hike for about 4 hours before arriving at their high camp. The high camp is called Barafu which means ‘ice’ in Swahili. This is fitting, of course, as it sits at over 15,000 feet. The anticipation is really starting to build at this point. The team will only spend about 12 hours at high camp before starting their ascent. They are getting close!

Dustin Balderach

February 23, 2018

Tye Chapman just checked in from Barranco Camp over on Kilimanjaro. The team had a big day today. This is always a long day as you really cover some terrain and pop up to 15,000 feet before descending down to camp. Its good trail though and not very steep, just slow and steady. It’s usually about 8 hours of walking and second toughest day of the trip – after summit day of course! A bit overcast this morning but cleared off this afternoon and clear now, which is pretty much normal weather for this time of year.

That’s good news as the views today are incredible. The first half of the day you spend walking directly towards the mountain with Kili staring right at you. After lunch you drop down and traverse below some of the southern glaciers. This is always cool to see and I love the hike from Lava Tower down to Barranco Camp. Just before camp you walk through a high elevation grove of the Giant Groundsel trees that are endemic to the high volcanoes of east Africa. Awesome trees! Then you arrive at Barranco Camp at 13,000 feet but sitting inside a deep ravine. Because of this, the sun sets early and rises late so it tends to be a fairly cold camp. The views of the steep southern face of the mountain are totally worth it.

Dinner’s finished and the team’s settling into tents for the evening.   Dinner conversation included plans and the trail for tomorrow. I’ve had this discussion many times. From camp you can plainly see the trail tomorrow zig-zagging right up the Barranco Wall. It looks really intimidating from camp. However, it’s not nearly as bad as it looks and it is often remembered as one of the highlights of the whole climb. It’s about 1,000 feet of steep trail and some scrambling (occasional use of hands) and takes around an hour and a half. But there is very little exposure and the trail is quite good. To alleviate any concerns I always point out that the porters all do this with 30 pound duffels on their heads! The team is going to have fun tomorrow!

Dustin Balderach