Hi there. It's been a while since i wrote, and for that i appologize. Life is a whirl-wind sometimes, especially when returning from a two-week hiatus! But..... i wanted to at least give us an update of our trip and discuss a few things. Over the next two weeks, Kirk, Brad and I (Yes- all three of us, can you believe it!!!) will be entering posts on the blog site to talk about different aspects of the trip. The posts will give general facts, as well as a personal spin as to what our thoughts were on that specific topic. We will each take two topics, and will each do one this coming week, and the second the following week. the topics are: ecology/flora/climate zones; animals/wildlife; our interaction with tanzanians (guides, vendors, etc); orphanage visit; the climb for sight component of trip (others we met, accomodations, etc); and the actual physical climb itself. So please keep checking back for these things.
Kirk and I (brian) also are starting to compile our pictures. Between us we took close to 1400 pics, plus i took a great deal of video. Combine that with the pics that our buddies Tom, Paul and Jeff took, we have quite a task ahead to 'boil' them down into a managable quantity that effectively shows the beauty of the trip, the sights we saw, and the feelings we felt. We will be putting together a slide show of between 100 and 150 pics. I also have created an account with shutterfly to be able to post the video clips and some more pics. when these are done, we'll be sure to post the necessary access info for everyone to view and enjoy our pics.
I'm gonna just ramble for a bit now to give some of my initial thoughts on the trip. The trip was phenominal. We got to go on a safari (no guns-camera only), 8 days on the mountain, and we spend our last day in Africa at an orphanage for street children. It's safe to say the trip has changed all of our lives for the better. We were very fortunate to meet up with 4 other guys in our group on the evening of Day 3. They are all excellent people, and we all 'jelled' very nicely. They were all very supportive of brad's vision limitations, and were increasingly helpful in guiding Brad on the trail and around camp. It was quite touching to see their level of effort and care in this area.
We all enjoyed the staff that we had on the mountain. The first 3 days, we had 10 staff for the three of us. We had a guide, Douglas, and assistant guide, Alfred, and eight porters to help set up/tear down camp, cook, and carry supplies. I only remember 7 of their names, and spelling does not count: david, simon, jonas, brospa, pasco, and serraphim. Ok, i only remember 6 of their names, but that's because we picked three of them up at the gate/ranger station. The 5 that rode in the vehicle with us for 2 1/2 hrs, i remember them all. It was quite a sight... there were eleven of us jammed into a toyota land cruiser. we had the driver, the two guides, the three of us, and the 5 porters. Most of us were holding our packs, and miscellaneous gear. All of the large things were roped on the roof.
Once we met up with Tom, Paul, Jeff and Justin, and the rest of their staff, we had a big ole' group trudging up the mountain. In all we had 7 hikers, 2 guides, 2 assistant guides and 23!!! porters. and believe me, we were not the only ones on the mountain.
There was always a nice feeling at camp, even when several were tired or not feeling quite up to par. The 7 of us got along like we were old friends, and were very noticing of each other's mood; which normally equated to health. We laughed, played some cards, mostly drank tea and milo, and some crazy native herb flower tea they made us drink to supposedly "help with the effects of high altitude". It seemed to work for some, but we all agreed that it wasnt our top choice for 'drink of the year'. it was served warm, and had a bitter taste, and was red/purple in color. Paul said there is an herbal tea such as it in England. When we got to the cooler temperatures of the higher elevations, it was nice to always have warm drinks and warm soup to give us the initial warming of our bodies, both in the AM and in the evening. A mountain ritual that most outfitters follow includes being woken up each morning, then having hot tea served to you in your tent while 'dusting the cobwebs off' and getting dressed. It was a nice tradition to follow. Oh well enough for now. talk to you later.
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