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.All Trips / Africa / South Africa
Cape Town: Grand Dame of Africa
It’s hard not to love a visit to Cape Town, a grand old city, one of the finest anywhere. It’s the oldest city in Southern African and has been captivating tourist’s hearts for centuries. A blend of old colonial charm and modern amenities, Cape Town has much to offer a visitor. I was very impressed not only at the beauty of the city and its setting but also at its multiculturalism and how, even though only 20 years had passed since Apartheid ended, the country’s racial groups have make great strides at integrating into one culture. This city was our first destination in Southern Africa, after the exhausting 20+ hour flight from New York (and connection in …
.All Trips / Africa / Tanzania
Mount Kilimanjaro (Part 3) Summit and Descent
We had spent the past week slowly working our way up the slopes of Kilimanjaro via the Shira route, an experience I’ve previously described in blog posts here and here. Finally, after a chilly night’s camping beside the Furtwangler Glacier on the Summit Plateau, the Roof of Africa was only a few hours away.
Looking back at the Western Icefields, near the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. You can see our camp being disassembled, bottom right.
We were up before dawn, enjoyed hot tea and a light breakfast and were eager to tackle the 800′ climb separating our camp from Uhuru Peak (19,340′). It was slow going in the thin air and steep slope but what an experience to watch the early light of sunrise on the eastern horizon! The sky above us was mostly …
.All Trips / Africa / Tanzania
Mount Kilimanjaro (Part 2): Ice and Snow
We had ascended the western base of the volcano this past half week, had hiked through jungle and moorland, as I’ve described in a prior blog post here, and were now entering Kilimanjaro’s alpine desert zone, characterized by wide open spaces with sparse, small plants. We began feeling the altitude as our pulse and breathing grew more rapid in the thin air. The views were unobstructed and wonderful — it seemed like you could see all of Africa from here. But in reality we enjoyed the African plains, the Shira plateau to the west and the iced peak of Kilimanjaro to the northeast. Often the clouds would roll by thousands of feet below our camp (Like …
.All Trips / Africa / Tanzania
Mount Kilimanjaro (Part 1) Ascent to Shira
Mt. Kilimanjaro has fascinated me ever since I read Ernest Hemingway’s classic novella, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro“. Little did I know as a schoolboy that I would one day walk its slopes. As it turned out my journey to the Roof of Africa was one of my greatest travel experiences.
Some facts about the mountain: At 19340 feet (5895 m) above sea level, Kilimanjaro is the tallest mountain in Africa. Even though the mountain is near the equator, it’s so tall the summit is always covered by ice and snow (“Kili” means cold.); this snow-pack is an important source of water for the foliage and animals living around its base. The lower slopes …
.All Trips / Africa / Tanzania
Perspectives on East Africa: 3) Lake Manyara National Park
The last safari destination we visited in Tanzania was Lake Manyara National Park. We left our camp after breakfast and drove the Ngorongoro Crater Rim Drive through misty rain-forest We stopped for some memorable views and then left the Ngorongoro Crater. After having spent a week in the wilderness, the transition to “civilization” was abrupt and not pretty, with many poorly kept homes, scrawny domesticated animals, and lots of people. We drove east past farming fields, though with no crops really growing — off season, I guess (normally corn, wheat, millet and coffee are grown). There were many towns and villages but no cities and also no wildlife.
By late morning our travels bring us to Lake Manyara National …
Tagged Lake Manyara National Park, Safari, Tanzania, wildlife
.All Trips / Africa / Tanzania
Perspectives on East Africa: 2) Ngorongoro Crater and the Ulduvai Gorge.
In all my travels, visiting the Ngorongoro Crater remains one of my most precious experiences. The setting of this collapsed volcanic crater, its many animals and beautiful landscapes are still fresh in my mind. A nomad I met in Guatemala once described his visit to the Ngorongoro Crater like “visiting Noah’s Ark” — now I know why, because there are so many different animal species here. It’s a destination worth flying half way around the world to see by itself. When you combine it with a visit to the Serengeti and a trek up Mt. Kilimanjaro, you’ve an itinerary that’s hard to beat!
The journey to the Ngorongoro Crater:
From Serengeti National Park we drove overland heading …
.All Trips / Africa / Tanzania
Perspectives on East Africa: 1) Serengeti National Park. “The place where the land moves on forever”
It takes a l-o-o-o-ong time to fly from the western USA to Tanzania, at the limits of my travel endurance really. But I’m about to head out on one of my greatest adventures, a week’s wilderness safari in Tanzania followed by a trek to the “roof of Africa”, the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Both have been on my travel “bucket list” for a long time and when I saw Wilderness Travel offer them as a combination, coupled with a seminar, “Perspectives on East Africa”, I knew it was time to go.
The journey to the Serengeti:
My flight is on KLM airlines and the first leg is a nonstop red-eye flight, Los Angeles to Amsterdam, via …
