March 2, 2015

Time to get caught up with Mike Haft’s Kilimanjaro crew and safari.  Mike’s messages keep talking about how many animals they’ve seen and all the ‘kills’.  It truly is amazing to see the interaction between all the animals and to experience ‘mother nature’ up close and personal.  Can you imagine sitting out by the campfire after a day of game viewing with your favorite drink in hand?  It’s especially fun AFTER having worked hard and succeeding on Kilimanjaro. I would never want to do the safari first.

With the end of Mike’s second expedition, so ends our winter Kilimanjaro season.  The long rains will come to East Africa soon.  We’ll be back at the end of June to take advantage of the long spell of good weather that comes each summer.

Phil Ershler

February 26, 2015

…10 hours later Mike Haft called in from the summit of Kilimanjaro. 100% success. By now all team members are at Mweka Camp sacked out in their tents enjoying the thick air! Tomorrow they’ll head down to the trailhead and then on to the hotel for the long awaited shower!

The safari awaits!

Tye Chapman

February 25, 2015

Mawenzi at sunrise on summit morning

IMG Guide Mike Haft called in from High Camp on Kilimanjaro early this afternoon as they set out on their summit bid. Mike reports that “a few hours ago, as we got into their tents for a short sleep, the weather shifted a bit. A few clouds and some light snow rolled that worried us a little, but when I got out of my tent I was thrilled to see nothing but stars. A lot of stars”

Summit day on Kili is a tough day, usually 7 or 8 hours to the top and a few more down to camp. We’ll hear from Mike tomorrow once they’re all in camp.

Tye Chapman

February 24, 2015

Karanga Camp (Allison C. Schwartzman)

More good news from Tanzania, IMG Guide Mike Haft reports from Karanga Camp that the team had a blast climbing the Barranco wall in great weather today. They had a huge lunch this afternoon made up of fried chicken, fried bananas, frybread, and more fruit than they could eat. The team was still pretty full at dinner time so they kept it simple with some rice and beans.

Tomorrow’s a pretty short day up to High Camp, 3 hours is all, so they’ll likely be in camp by noon. They’ll spend the early afternoon relaxing, then get an early dinner and likely get to bed by 5pm in anticipation of the 11pm wake-up call.

Summit day is just around the corner and everybody is doing great. We’ll hear from Mike again tomorrow afternoon before they head towards the summit.

Tye Chapman

February 23, 2015

Perfect day on Kilimanjaro

“Pretty much a perfect day on Kilimanjaro”.  That was the message from Mike Haft and his team just a few minutes ago.  Long pull up to the Lava Tower at around 15,000 ft, but that effort was rewarded with a hot lunch in the sunshine.  Sweet.  It’s all downhill from there, literally, to Barranco Camp at about 13,000 ft.  They capped off a great day with a birthday celebration for Mark, one of our team members.  Banana cake at 13,000 ft. on the slopes of Kilimanjaro.  Probably a lot worse ways to celebrate your birthday.

Barranco Wall in the morning and it should be another terrific day.  Mike said everyone was walking well, eating well and having trouble wiping the smiles off their faces.  All is very good on Kilimanjaro.

Phil Ershler