Global Adventures

When you think of Tanzania you probably think of lush green rainforest, the majestic and dominating Mt. Kilimanjaro, the picture quality plains of the Serengeti and the beautiful Island of Zanzibar. The reality is, the post cards don’t lie, it truly is that magnificent!

After a couple days drive from the Maasai Village in Kenya we started our adventure in Tanzania at the most African of locations, the Serengeti National Park. The Serengeti is actually the southern region of a large plains area, which in the North (Kenya), is referred to as the Maasai Mara, all being part of the Great Rift Valley and the setting of the ‘great migration’. Driving into the park was like travelling into a novel. As the towns and villages disappeared we headed into the rolling green hills and rainforest of the Ngorongoro Crater (a large extinct volcano), which after a couple of hours of driving, opened up to the vast expanse of the plains and one long, dusty, corrugated road into the Serengeti National Park.

Travelling through the lonely threshold that marked the start of the national park was like stepping over an invisible boundary. Almost immediately the grass greened and animals started to appear. First a few scattered wildebeest and a zebra or two, but as we progressed into the park it unfolded into a real life version of the Lion King. At several stages we had to stop our dusty journey to let a large herd of wildebeest cross the road. Then, so as to stay in the Lion King theme we came across ‘Pride Rock’, a large granite pluton protruding out of the surrounding plains and with the imaginary mastery of the film atop of pride rock, BAM, a pride of lions! Unfortunately we had to make camp before nightfall so we only got in a few distant snaps and were back on the dusty corrugated road.

Now, there is a degree of ignorance all tourists have while abroad. Be it language, customs, or security etc. Our ignorance was quickly dispelled when we realized why our driver was so nervously ushering us to go and it was to avoid setting up camp in the dark. Our camp, we were told on arrival, is a regular thorough fair for elephants, hyenas and other large and/or carnivorous animals. Of course, this is Africa right? Once at camp an additional briefing with stern instructions that we should spend as little time as possible out of our tents or the secure mess house, never go to the bathroom alone during the night and if attacked NEVER SCREAM! Putting our fears to rest about sleeping exposed in the Serengeti we had a quick feed and were off to bed with the sound of lions and hyenas calling not far enough from our camp…

We spent a couple of days in the Serengeti seeing everything from elephants to cheetahs and of course the great migration. The highlight of the Serengeti though had to be a large pack of hyenas we came across very early on a morning game drive. Hyenas are not very easy to find on the best of days so to find a whole pack on the way back to the den after a late night out was incredible. The pack must have been some 15 strong and included several babies all frolicking and rolling in puddles of water that had collected on the road from the previous nights rain. Our guide told us that the hyenas will ‘wash’ themselves off after a kill to avoid attracting lions to their den. While we didn’t see the kill we were lucky enough to see the whole gang paddling and playing with each other afterwards and were able to get within a meter of some of the younger more curious guys.

After a strategic Tetris pack of a camp for 15 people into the back of 2 Land Rovers we returned to the beloved corrugated road en route to the Ngorongoro Crater, well that was the plan at least! Half an hour into the 2 hour journey we were on the side of the road with our guides, drivers… and Aj…. staring grimly at our back wheel. The wheel, which apparently should have 6 wheel nuts, now only had 3, loose at best. The solution? Make some ‘bush style’ washers, crank up the nuts and stop every 4-5minutes for the next 100km and give ‘er an ol’ tighten! Our bumpy 2-hour drive now turned into a 4 hour African massage.

While the drive took double what it should have it was totally worth it. Having to slow down between the ‘must see points of destination’ allowed us to take in the beautiful landscape and people around us. At several stages along the way local herders would come out of nowhere and observe us working on the car on the side of the road. From young herders and their dog, to Maasai boys finishing their initiation into manhood, everyone came to have a look. After the long journey we crawled up the to the rim of he Ngorongoro Crater just in time to watch the sunset.

Next on our agenda was the ‘Spice Island’! A small island off the coast of Tanzania famous for its rich history of pirates, still operating spice trade, postcard sandy beaches and its magnificent coral reefs – hello Zanzibar!

After a short (and very hot) two hour ferry ride from Dar Es Salaam we came into view of Stone Town. Stone Town is a photographer’s paradise with narrow lanes winding through buildings dating back to the 17th century. It’s a place that, although must have a huge influx of tourism, has held onto its heritage in place of high-rise apartments. After a nights rest it was off to Prison Island for some 5 star snorkeling and then into a spice tour where we sniffed, rubbed, licked and tasted the islands spices for which Zanzibar is so famous. Back in town we ventured out into the streets, awkwardly at first in such a conservative community, to see the wonders of the town including the night food markets. The array of food was amazing and the seafood piled high, if it was readily available in the area then you could buy and eat it here! It was here in the markets where Aj had a somewhat frightening but eye opening experience. He had to convince an obviously disgruntled and distressed Nigerian man that he was not an American soldier and that he did not have to kill him! For whatever reason, this man had it in for Aj. Throughout the night he would, from across the market sneer and curse at him, or come from behind and whisper in his ear that he was “going to kill him”! Aj, however he does it, kept his cool and later in the night when the man started cursing under his breath as he stood and stared at him from 2 meters away, decided to call the man over and offer him some food. Next thing you now, from such a simple token, they spent the next hour talking. By the end of it, they both shook hands as equal men and will forever hold that memory.

After only a day in Stone Town we headed to the north of the island for some well-earned R&R. Here we spent the next three nights in real beds (after camping for so long a bed and a fan truly are luxuries), ate seafood, took a sunset (booze) cruise on a traditional wooden boat called a dhow, swam in the hot waters of the Indian Ocean and went scuba diving in the marine park off an island apparently owned by Bill Gates. What a beautiful introduction to Zanzibar!

Our next stop, Malawi!

Our adventure in Africa starts in Nairobi, Kenya, our very first taste of Africa only days after grenade attacks in the city center. We expected there to at least be some unrest in the city that had just been attacked by a terrorist group but much to our surprise there was nothing. Had you not heard it on the news, you wouldn’t have even known it even occurred! So we did what any tourist in their right mind would do – we went on safari!

Our first port of call was the Nairobi National Park, a small park only a few minutes outside the sprawling metropolis where you can watch the animals that make Africa so famous while airplanes fly overhead and skyscrapers dot the horizon. Our first taste of wild Africa! We saw the entire park and almost all of the mainstay African characters in only a few hours, buzzing around in a pop-up van with only the two of us. The highlight of the park, however, had to be the Black Rhino we saw only a few minutes into the trip. We all know the plight the Rhino is having in Africa, with illegal poaching and all, so to see one in the flesh going about his day was a real delight.

From the park we headed to a baby elephant orphanage (Sheldrick Wild Life Trust), which rescues and raises orphaned elephants to be reintroduced back into the wild. Here we watched almost a dozen bounding babies ran in from the woods for feeding time while their caretakers chased after them and tried to stop them ‘bumming’ the viewers who gushed around them. It was an amazing and heartfelt experience as most of the babies were orphaned due to poaching or other various unfortunate events. After the elephant babies we visited the Giraffe Park to kiss some giraffes. Now we don’t want to be ones to kiss and tell but we may have had to pay them in the form of food pellets for their affection however fleeting and openly shared!

With so many amazing things experienced already we couldn’t help but start looking over the photos to revisit the scenes we’ve longed to be apart since watching our first documentaries, but much to our dismay our little point and shoot camera was no match for the task. This would not do especially considering the places we’ll be visiting so we embarked on a mini adventure in an unknown 3rd world city to track down a camera worthy of the task.…taxi!

Crisis averted, the time had come to embark on our overland trip. Many of our friends and family can attest that this trip was something we could not keep quiet about. How could we! This is the type of trip you dream about going on and here we are, pumped and ready to take whatever Africa has to give. After the briefest of briefings and a thorough staring of the roof overnight we were off to join the tour, which had already travelled into Uganda to partake in the gorilla trek and were now waiting for us at Lake Naivasha, Kenya. There we were introduced to the people who we would, for better or worse, be stuck with for the next 49 days. Getting eaten by a lion, stung by a scorpion, kidnapped by terrorists are rational fears a traveller can have but we had one of own - in Aj’s words: “I hope there’s no d*ck heads on this trip”. After introductions we sat back and looked at each other and were happy as a hippo in a swamp, they we’re all like minded cool people. We decided to take a short boat ride on the lake to see our first hippos and then onto Crescent Island to do a small walking safari amongst giraffes, waterbuck, zebra, wildebeest and various birdlife. An amazing start to our overland!

Our next port of call with our new found crew was the Maasai Mara Game Reserve for our first ‘real’ safari and African camping experience. Here we saw our first pride of lions and a cheetah. We were lucky enough to see her with her three cubs out in broad daylight taking a stroll through the savanna right in between our safari vehicles! We also encountered our first ‘bogging’ of the truck, right in between a pride of lions and a cheetah. Surely enough it took AJ all of about 3 seconds to jump out and start digging! On that high, the next day after our morning game drive we headed out of the game park into an actual living breathing Maasai village. We knew there were many tribes in Africa but given the expanding human population and western influences tribes were getting wiped out and forgotten, this was a real treat to see the Maasai people and learn that they are the biggest tribe in all of East Africa. Like the setting of a National Geographic film, we were greeted with a traditional song and dance by the men of the tribe. The song consisted of large belly grunts as they lined up and jumped towards our group of unsuspecting tourists. Right as we were all thinking that perhaps it was wasn’t such of a welcome ceremony, they grabbed all of our hands and we skip stepped together amongst the goats and village onlookers. They then proceeded to impress us with the token Maasai jumping ritual. The man who can jump the highest in this ritual has the right to any woman he wants in the village so naturally, the boys in our crew were invited to join and test their manliness. Apart from looking somewhat gangly compared to their well-practiced Maasai counterparts the boys did well. None of them however (Aj in particular) earned their right to a Maasai woman! Lucky for me! After the jumping they invited us into their village where they explained to us the ins-and-outs of traditional Maasai living and one of our guides invited us into his small dung and stick home of which both he and his parents lived. The Maasai, we were told, are one of the only tribes to have held onto their traditional way of living. They still wear traditional dress, live in traditional housing, drink blood and milk and farm as traditionally as the government will allow. They still follow their customs, which is wonderful to see in a world so invaded by the west.

Our time in Kenya is coming to a close and the border of Tanzania is only a few days drive away!

We all the know the stats...kili is huge! Whenever I heard about anyone attempting to climb it there were fund raisers, sponsorships, training sessions, team bonding, research notes. But once I caught my first glimpse of the mountain above the cloud line I knew why people did all that stuff, its because its freaking huge! I thought there is no way I'm going to make it to the top of that - I'm going to die!
After an 8 hour "African massage" bus ride from Nairobi to Moshi we arrived at our accommodation. A quick check in, climb briefing and final gear hire saw us proceed to a vantage point where we could see the mountain. I couldn't believe we're still an hours drive away from the closest entry point to the park and it still looms over me like the shadow of the Minotaur from Lord of the Rings ready to rip me a new hole - except with snow and not fire!

I thought I would skip the 3 hour drive and the first 4 days of climbing and go straight to the summit attempt and share with you in summary what we encountered base camp onwards...

11am - After an early wake up and 3-4 hour trek we arrived at base camp. Setup camp, lunch at 12, couple hours rest now and then a short walk booked in later to further acclimatise and maximise our chances of success.
1pm - Severe stomach cramps, off to the long drop for hardcore drainage, back to the tent, cancelled the walk, popped imodium tablets
2-6pm - No sleep, several more long drop vacations, cramps and nausea, start preparing packs and gear
6:30pm - Dinner call, sat in mess tent and could only look at food, not a chance, had a cup of tea, attended ascent briefing, back to bed, need sleep
11pm - 2-4 hours of patchy, long drop interrupted sleep, unzipped door to watch snow slide off door into tent, awesome start, breakfast served
12:15am - Managed half a pancake and a cup of tea before setting off under headtorch, wearing nearly all of my clothes, with gastro, in the snow
1:15am - Puffing hard already, Niki starting to get dizzy, nauseous and vision narrowing. My headache starts, intense pain in top of my head - water!
1:30am - Niki still pushing on but starts to black out and nearly falls down backwards and was caught by one of the guides, tries to vomit & release bowls while snowing, call is made to take her back to camp and if no improvement has to start 3 hr descent immediately to lower camp. Assistant guide and I continue on into the snow covered scree slopes zig zagging our way up, turn headlamps off as the moon is bright enough. Headache pounding
3:00am - Make it to the 5,000m mark, breathing very hard, energy levels on empty, water in tube freezing up now need to blow it back into bladder
3:45am - Make it to half way cave, shattered when told that's its only half to Gillman's Point and not to Uhuru Peak!
4am - Steps are one foot in front of the other now, just, headache worst I've ever had, dizzy, can't stomach any chocolate or lollies, no energy, exhuasted
4:30am - Several people so far brought back down, shuffling along, over took 2 groups, guide singing and dancing to distract me, tried humming along, snowing hard, never felt this low on energy before, so much longer to go, doubting if i can make it
5am - Finally make it to the end of the zig zags, stomach cramping searching for any energy it can find, no break here due to threat of loosing too much body heat, straight into long rock scramble, still snowing
6am - GILMANS POINT!!! Made up the slope, collapsed in a heap arched backwards over whatever was behind me, there for 5 mins getting covered over in snow before taking some photos and heading up the ridge line
7am - Headache extreme, having 1min rest stop every 10mins now, headache zapping anything in me, first glimps of Uhuru Peak but still just a speck
7:30am - I rounded the last rock outcrop to see the path to the famous Uhuru Peak sign!

Extreme, uncontrollable emotion flooded over me. Niki wasn't here. We set off together from Australia on this journey together and we smashed the first 4 days. The pride I felt knowing that she pressed on to the point of blacking out in the dark, in the snow, at 4,800 and something meters, with gastro, with her ass hanging out in minus 15 degrees was intense. What a woman. After all that hard work through 4 days and leaving for the summit with no food or sleep and with gastro, all for what. I now felt pain for her, even guilt - should I have gone back with her even though we agreed to continue if either of us dropped off?
I have 50m left now. I barely have enough energy to hold a thought let alone walk. Another wave of emotion hit me - Wholly f#*k that's the sign that's been my iPod wallpaper for the last 3 months - I stopped. Have I slipped and fallen off the edge and this is some sick joke my brain is playing on me? Crap! A minute or so of deep breaths later and what little oxygen I managed to suck into my useless lungs I came to. I refocus my eyes to see the sign again, this is for real - I made it. I f#*ckin made it!!!!
The sun was bright as, the view spectacular and the temperature munis 20 degrees. After half an hour of taking photos, one holding my grandfather's home town's crest, and some well earned rest I put my pack back on and looked downhill - or down mountain. I had no water left, couldn't stomach any sweets and it took me 7 and a half hours to get here - WTF. I looked at my guide and he was just as stuffed as I was. I said "Lets get the f#*k of this rock!", he agreed. 2 and half hours later we were back at camp. The final half hour we were greeted by the the crew and my darling wife. She made it back to camp and despite feeling like the ass end of hell she got up marched up with them to meet me. I ran to her. We walked the final half hour together. Awesome!

Given the circumstances in the hours leading up to the summit attemp its easy to understand why this was the hardest thing I have ever done. Mental hurdles were inevitable but I never expected a hurdle army! The best thing I can personally take out of this trip is knowing how high the bar is (so far) and the stuff that used to irritate me was just me being so lame...Kili will be my rock - LOL!

When Aj and I made the decision to attempt to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro (the world's tallest volcano, the world's tallest free standing mountain, and third tallest mountain the in world) it was a decision made somewhat rashly and without much preparation. Despite this, and possibly because of it, we set off from Nairobi, Kenya (where we had been enjoying a weeks R&R and a little sightseeing) to make for Tanzania and the summit. For those of you interested in the boring details, it took six days and what was over 80km from start to finish. We had seven local Tanzanians for just the two of us including four porters, a cook, and two guides. The first four days of hiking to get us to Kibo base camp were relatively easy and consisted of short, three to four hour doddles uphill to the next camp, lunch , a nap, and then another stroll in the afternoon to help with aclimitisation. And as if to lull you into a false sense of security and self assurance, the last two days (summit and descent) were something else entirely. After reaching Kibo base camp mid way through the fourth day we had enough time for lunch, and a fitfull four hour sleep before making pace for the summit at midnight. Before leaving we had a cup of tea and half a pancake (you lose any semblence of an appitite at that sort of elevation) we set off by moon light. I might mention, however, both Aj and I were experiencing some pretty bad gastro (now affenctionatly referred to as Kili belly). That coupled with a lack of sleep and no food made for difficult going. I dropped off like a fly in the first hour but Aj powered on despite his obvious ailments, and made for a successful summit at 7:30am- after seven and a half hours of subvertical climbing. After two and a half hours back down to base camp he was allowed a quick feed and a nap before we were off to begin our decsent. After 36 hours awake (managing less than four hours sleep) and over 17 hours of hiking, Aj was finally allowed to go bed. Our last day (much to Aj's dismay) was another 20km (still suffering from Kili belly I might add) before we could finally say we were finished.

There are many things I can say about the Kili climb.

1. I don't care what anyone says, unless your a sucker for punishment, leave the mountain summiting for those who are.
2. You can go a long time without without a shower so long as you have an ample supply of wet wipes.
3. Porters are some of the hardest working people I have ever met and if you are ever considering a portered hike, TIP WELL.
4. Mt. Kilimanjaro offers breathtaking views, spectacular and breathtaking changes in ecosystems that are just awe inspiring.
5. My husband is both the strongest and most inspirational human being I have ever had the honor of meeting. Not only did he push on despite it being "the most difficult thing he'd ever done", he pushed on to the summit because he promised me he'd take me a photo from the top.

Aj- you are amazing and an inspiration.

We had no idea what to expect when we were arriving into Athens airport. We knew of Greece, some of its history and a small understanding of the people's culture from back in Australia, but what does it look like? Sure we've seen photos on the internet, but catching our first glimpse descending down through the clouds was exciting. It was beautifully baron! We spent 4 days on the beach for some well earned R&R including dinner on the sand while watching the sun set over the Aegean Sea, dodging the wild dog packs roaming the beach and enjoying 10 euro massages on the sand. Unfortunetly once Priscilla arrived the strikes in Athens intensified and attractions were closed - including the Acropolos! So our last days in Athens comprised of riot police lining up within a meter of our kirbside table, almost getting stuck in a city lock down and hoping the ferry to Crete was still going ahead. Thankfully it did and after 11 hours overnight we arrived in Iraklion, but we were not out of the woods yet! Our intended 7 day stay turned into 14 as there was no way off the island! In true Aussie spirit we battled on and with a "she'll be right" we soaked up every ray of sun, several bottles of Mailbu and Jack Daniels, hired a scooter, a quad bike, a car, toured caves, an inland lake, old mountain villages, hiked through hills blanketed in olive groves, ate awesome bbqs at Zorbas, snorkelling, first tastes of Greek rocket fuel called Raki and met the wonderfully inspirational Vlaskamp family, the extremely humble Roberto and the 50 year old German hippies Ruli and Tommy. To be honest, every single local person, shopkeeper, tourist and Zorbas staff were incredible and a big thanks goes out to the Zorbas crew for not only putting up with a bunch of crazy Aussies but for accommodating all of our needs while were stranded! Bloody awesome! Crete was a magical place for us. Mix a beautiful old mountain village life with the coast, add 30 million olive trees, a deep rooted history and passion for life and food and you have one really cool place to live!