Day 1: Mt Kilimanjaro, Machame route. Mt. Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa and the tallest freestanding mountain in the world. Standing at 5,896 meters (19,340 feet)
Kilimanjaro was formed around 750,000 years ago as lava flowed from faults in the Great Rift Valley.
There are five distinct vegetation zones on the mountain. The second zone is between 1,800-2,800 meters (5,905 - 9,187 ft) and is mostly covered by forests. Over 96% of the water that falls on the mountain originates in this zone. Frequently covered by fog, there are tall date palms, fig trees, junipers, and olive trees. This area contains the majority of the mountain's wildlife, with Colobus monkeys, leopard, elephant, bushbuck, reedbuck, duiker and bush pigs.
Hassan, Henrik (walking), Dickson, our guide (waving).
William, asst guide
Hassan at the first ranger (check-in) station
Machame Camp (9948 ft, 3031 m)
Hassan and Henrik enjoying our first popcorn snack.
Day 2: first view of Mt Kilimanjaro.
Dickson, our guide, climbing up.
Dickson
New Shira Camp. The third vegetation zone, located between 2,800-4,000 meters (9,187 - 13,120 ft) is classified as a low alpine zone. Heath, moorland, heathers, grasses cover this area. Small animals are found; mole rats and other rodents are the most common. Birds of prey often visit this area: buzzards, eagles and ravens.
Sunset at New Shira Camp
Day 3: View of Kili.
Fourth Zone: Highland desert ranging from 4,000-5,000 meters (13,120 - 16,400 ft). Only the very hardiest of plants survive in this area where temperatures drop below zero at night and frozen ground water uproots plants. Bare, rocky slopes are covered with hardy lichens, the odd tussock grass, and moss balls. Very few animals live at these altitudes, with just a few insects and spiders found deep in the tussocks. View Of Mount Meru
Heading towards Barranco Huts where we will sleep for the night.
Hassan and Henrik trying to enjoy lunch. ~4493m, 14,741ft
Hike To Lava Tower
Lava Tower and me. 4642m, 15,230ft
Heading down to Barranco Huts
Day 4. View from the start of the Great Barranco Wall (aka as the breakfast wall by the guides and porters).
Made it to the top of the Great Barranco Wall. 4233m, 13,888ft
Heading towards our next campsite at Barafu Huts.
William, Dickson, and Henrik
Sunset View Of Mount Meru (2nd highest peak in Tanzania and part of the greater Kili crater).
Breakfast
The final vegetation zone is the summit area. Starting at 5,000m (16,400 ft) and continuing to the peak, this area has Arctic conditions. Crusty lichens and the very occasional spider are the only forms of life in this area where virtually all water is permanently frozen. Bare rocks, snow and ice form the landscape here.
Base camp at Barafu Huts. Barafu is Swahili for "ice". It is a bleak and inhospitable camping area to spend the night. 4681m, 15,358ft.
View from Barafu Huts. Mount Mawenzi (5149m, 16890 ft).
Looking up towards the mountain we'll be climbing in less than 6 hours.
Sunset from Barafu Huts.
Sunrise from Mt Kilimanjaro summit. Photo: HB/Dickson
Photo: HB/Dickson
Me. It was pretty cold at 19340 ft (5895m). Photo: HB/Dickson
Kili summit: Martin, me, Hassan, and Dickson. Photo: HB
Hassan comes alive! Photo: HB/Dickson
Starting the down climb. Photo: HB/Dickson
The Southern Icefield, on the descent from Uhuru Peak. Photo: HB/Dickson
Mt Kilimanjaro's crater. Photo: HB/Dickson
Down climb
Old emergency vehicle
Banana plantation
Dickson delivers PROOF!
William, Martin, and Dickson
William, Martin, Dickson, Hassan, and myself.
View from our room at the Springlands Hotel in Moshi (Moshi means 'smoke' in Swahili).
The Maasai are an indigenous African ethnic group of semi-nomadic people located in Kenya and northern Tanzania. Due to their distinctive customs and dress and residence near the many game parks of East Africa, they are among the most well-known African ethnic groups internationally.
Farming.
Visitors center at Lake Manyara National Park. This unusual park lies in the shadow of the Great Rift Valley whose reddish brown escarpment wall looms 1,950ft (600m) on the eastern horizon.
Baboon. Lake Manyara National Park.
Waterbuck. Lake Manyara National Park.
Vervet Monkey. Lake Manyara National Park.
Yellow Bark Acacia. Lake Manyara National Park.
Oribi. Lake Manyara National Park.
Lake Manyara National Park.
Zebra. Lake Manyara National Park.
Hippo. Lake Manyara National Park.
Hippo and the savanna. Lake Manyara National Park.
Giraffe. Lake Manyara National Park.
Tree. Lake Manyara National Park.
Elephant. Lake Manyara National Park.
Candelabra Tree. It grows up to 20 m (66 ft). Its fleshy branches are 3- to 5-sided and up to 10 cm (4 in) in diameter. The thick, 5-mm (0.2-in) long spines are reddish-brown. The flowers are yellow-green and the fruit capsules are divided into two or three segments.
Two of the biggest owls I have ever seen. Lake Manyara National Park.
Buffalo. Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Ngorongoro is situated 180 km (112 miles) west of Arusha in the Crater Highlands area of Tanzania. It covers an area of 8,288 km (3,200 square miles) - about the size of Crete.
Zibras playing down on the Ngorongoro Crater floor. This Crater is the world's largest unbroken, unflooded volcanic caldera. The Crater, which formed when a giant volcano exploded and collapsed on itself some two to three million years ago, is 610 m (2,001 ft) deep and its floor covers 260 km² (102 square miles). Estimates of the height of the original volcano range from fifteen to nineteen thousand feet (4500 to 5800 meters) high.
Although the Ngorongoro Crater is thought of as "a natural enclosure" for a very wide variety of wildlife, up to 20% or more of the wildebeest and half the zebra populations vacate the Crater in the wet season.
Hyena and wildebeest in the Ngorongoro Crater.
Hippo. Ngorongoro Crater.
Hippo roll. Ngorongoro Crater.
Ngorongoro Crater.
Hassan and lake. Ngorongoro Crater.
The Superb Starling, a member of the starling family of birds. Ngorongoro Crater
Superb Starling. Ngorongoro Crater
Our first LION! Ngorongoro Crater.
Close-up of Simba. Ngorongoro Crater.
Buffalo. Ngorongoro Crater.
Acacia trees and the road out of the Ngorongoro Crater.
Maasai carrying wood. Road out of the Ngorongoro Crater.
The Ngorongoro Crater highlands (conservation area). Populated by the Maasai. This area receives 800–1200mm of rain a year and is covered largely in montane forest, while the less-steep west wall receives only 400–600 mm; this side is grassland and bushland dotted with Euphorbia bussei trees. The crater floor is mostly open grassland with a few wooded areas dominated by Acacia.
A Maasai village in the Ngorongoro Crater highlands.
Hike up the Olmoti volcano.
The Crater Highlands is a range of extinct volcanoes that rise steeply from the side of the Great Rift Valley in Northern Tanzania. North of Ngorongoro Crater is Olmoti volcano (3100m).
View into the Olmoti Crater ~3700m.
Olmoti Crater. There are a number of Maasai living in this crater.
Olmoti Crater.
Hassan and the Olmoti Crater.
The Crater Highlands.
Napping
View from our camp in the The Crater Highlands.
Hassan flying his kite. Both were a huge hit among the Maasai community.
Maasai checking out the kite.
Maasai boy, his dog, and his goats.
Hassan and I had a culture hike with Daniel across the Crater Highlands to Empakai Crater where we climbed down into the crater.
Still active volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai. A Holy mountain for the Maasai.
Empakaii Crater. Empakaii's 300m deep caldera is dominated by a salt lake. Unlike most salt lakes which are quite shallow, Empakaai's measures 85m in depth. Even so, familiar waterbirds like the black-winged stilt, cape teal and flamingo still dot its shores.
Walking down the the lake in the Empakaai Crater.
Flamingos in the Empakaai Crater lake.
Lake in the Empakaai Crater.
The "Cradle of Life". The Oldupai Gorge is a steep-sided ravine in the Great Rift Valley, which stretches along eastern Africa. Olduvai is in the eastern Serengeti Plains in northern Tanzania and is about thirty miles long. It lies in the rain shadow of the Ngorongoro highlands and is the driest part of the region.
The variant "Oldupai" is the Maasai word for the wild Sisal plant that grows in the gorge. The tall, thin plants seen here.
Excavation work there was pioneered by Louis and Mary Leakey in the 1950s and continued into the twenty first century. The first artifacts in Olduvai (pebble tools and choppers) date to circa 2 million years ago but fossil remains of human ancestors have been found from as long as 2.5 million years ago.
The first artifacts in Olduvai (pebble tools and choppers) date to circa 2 million years ago but fossil remains of human ancestors have been found from as long as 2.5 million years ago.
Hassan near the Serengeti National Park gate.
LIONS! Serengeti National Park.
Serengeti National Park
Meow. Serengeti National Park.
Rock outcrops called kopjes (pronounced "copy") made of ancient granite. Serengeti National Park
Kopjes. Serengeti National Park.
Leopard. Serengeti National Park
Giraffe. Serengeti National Park
Animal. Serengeti National Park
Lions, post copulation.
Lions are stimulated ovulators; the female does not ovulate until she is stimulated to do so by lots of sex. As a result lions will mate roughly every 15 to 20 minutes for two or three days—200 to 300 times in succession. During that period they are inseparable and will not hunt or eat.
The mating process for lions is over very fast. So fast, I was only able to get a photo of the post-bliss.
Lion on the hunt. Serengeti National Park
Kopjes are favored look-outs for major predators, but also provide excellent habitats for smaller animals.
Blue Heron. Serengeti National Park
Cheetahs. Serengeti National Park
Cheetah. Serengeti National Park
Very narrow lizard found near our camp in the Serengeti National Park
This elephant was not happy. He had a stare down with our car which lasted what seemed like forever. At one point, I thought he was going to charge us; but he eventually walked off to pee on the side of the road (seen here).
Lions. Serengeti National Park
Yellow Bark Acacia. Serengeti National Park
Sunrise in the Serengeti
Our home for three nights in the Serengeti
Baboons. Serengeti National Park
rarr
Hassan at the Serengeti visitor's center
Hyena. Serengeti National Park
Birds. Serengeti National Park
Kopje. Serengeti National Park
Elephant remains. Serengeti National Park
Lake. Serengeti National Park
Elephant. Serengeti National Park
Buffalo. Serengeti National Park
Impala. Serengeti National Park
Hippo pool. Serengeti National Park
It stunk
Cheetah hunting. Serengeti National Park
I really liked the Cheetah.
Warthogs. Serengeti National Park
Backside of our cook, Charro.
Lake Manyara National Park. Heading back to Moshi (nearing the end of our Safari).
Baobab tree. Tarangire National Park
Tarangire National Park
Turtle. Tarangire National Park
Baboons in a Baobob tree. Tarangire National Park
baobab tree
Baboon. Tarangire National Park
Indian Ocean. Stone Town, Zanzibar
Zanzibar museum.
Sunset from Stone Town, Zanzibar
View from our bungalow at Nyota Beach Resort, Zanzibar.
Beach in front of where we stayed at Nyota, near the quiet village of Matemwe on the North-Eastern coast of Zanzibar.
Fishing.
Man fishing
Local women collect seaweed, dry and, and sell it.
Local boys playing
Sunrise, Zanzibar.
Hassan early morning
Bicycle shop. Zanzibar.
Greenland (from the air)
