Bellhops packing heat...

Check out my safari look. You see, it’s a little dusty viewing wild game so I wore this bandana as a way of not breathing in half the Tarangire. I’m also ready if I decide to hold up the souvenir stand.

Our last night in Africa was spent at the Kikoti Safari Camp (click) which is literally out in the middle of nowhere; something like 100 miles from Arusha. We arrived around 6:00 PM after spending the day viewing game in Tarangire National Park (click). Tarangire was the last of 3 major wildlife areas that we had a chance to see over a 3 day period. Each one was unique and amazing in it’s own way.

In Africa, remote lodges are usually surrounded by a fence to keep out unwanted visitors (both animals and people). The Kikoti, however, has no fence and since it is located in a major migratory route for plains animals you are actually escorted to your room by a Maasai warrior carrying a loaded rifle or bow and arrow. I thought this was some sort of tourist thing but they actually take guest safety very seriously. The guns are loaded and they know how to use the bow and arrow. It would be very ugly PR to have a guest actually eaten by one of the local attractions so they take precautions. The rooms by the way are large A frames that have the feel of a tree house. I can actually say that I’ve never spent a night anywhere quite like it and, since we were a long way from any city lights, the stars were incredible. It was a great night to have a few Kilimanjaro beers and experience the African night sky.

Friday morning, we went back through the Tarangire and caught the main highway back through Arusha to The Dik Dik. We had a chance to shower, pack for our trip home and grab one more great meal before catching our plane to Amsterdam at 10:35 PM. After something like 18 hours in the air, I’m back home, readjusting to West Coast time and thinking about everything that’s happened over the last 2 weeks.

This was a great experience to say the least. RMI and our guide, Mark Tucker were terrific and I was lucky to be joined on the trip by 9 other people who really got along. We spent 2 weeks together in very close quarters, in all sorts of situations and we didn’t end up wanting to kill each other. They were a great group and I miss them already.

This will be the last entry of the Kili blog. Thanks for joining me on the trip. I hope it gave you a taste of a very unique place and that you’ll be able to experience Aficas for yourself someday.

As the Maasai say, "Kiduwe ade" (see you later)

Good times at Ngorongoro…

Strange things happen on Safari like baboon attacks. More about that later.

First of all, check out the 2 zebras in the picture. We were quite excited about seeing these 2 because they were the first animals we saw as we entered the Ngorongoro Crater. We were fumbling around, grabbing our cameras to get this once in a lifetime shot as they patiently looked on. Little did we know that we would see hundreds of zebras as the day went on along with water buffalo, elephants, hyenas, gazelles, hippos, monkeys, ostriches, baboons (more about those guys later) and, yes…lions! I was shooting video for most of the day and it should be pretty cool stuff. The Ngorongoro Crater is a self contained eco system and all of these animals live together in this basin and, believe me, they are everywhere. It was pretty incredible.

We started the day, at an actual Maasai village. To say it was rustic, would be an understatement. It was like walking back in time. The Maasai live as they have lived for thousands of years. They herd cattle and live in circular villages with a corral in the middle for the livestock and which is surrounded by small huts made of cow dung, mud and ash. By the way, the next time you’re unhappy with where you live…maybe the carpet is the wrong color or the drapes just don’t work…think about how it would be to live in a cow dung hut. Just a thought. We watched them dance and took a tour of the village and one of the huts. Our guide did a great job telling us about the Maasai culture. You can tell, however, that things are changing. You see Maasai warriors walking along the road with a staff in one hand and talking on a cell phone with the other. These people are slowly becoming a part of the 21st century so it was good to see their way of life while it still exists.

As we were leaving the park, we stopped at the gate to sign out and our driver, Joseph, reminded everyone to roll up their windows because baboons were known to enter vehicles and steal food. Tuck, our guide and I were in the back seat putting on our shoes (you have to take them off to stand on the seats to get the best view through the open roof). As I was lacing up, I looked up and thought, “Wait, that’s not our driver!” There was a huge male baboon, sitting in the driver’s seat with a nasty look on his face that said, “You got a problem with this, pal?” Joseph had forgotten to take his own advice and left his window open. I took immediate action by shouting and waving my arms more in panic than any premeditated line of self-defense. Thankfully, the baboon took the hint, grabbed a box of tissue and left by the open window. As I sat there trying to figure out what just happened, the baboon was in the parking lot tearing apart the box of tissue, pissed off because he hadn’t grabbed a box with food inside. And, he obviously didn’t need to blow his nose. I may be able to take a baboon in a fair fight but I don’t want think what it would be like to go at it with one of those things in the closed confines of a Land Cruiser. Another day at Ngorongoro.

We’re on Safari!

After a climb like Kilimanjaro, RMI thought a little R&R would be in order so, since we’re in the neighborhood, we’re touring some of Africa’s most famous Safari destinations. Yesterday, we went through the Lake Manyara National Park (click). It’s an amazing place where we were able to check out elephants, zebras, hippos, baboons, impalas, buffaloes, dik diks and others I’ve forgotten at this point. I was shooting video for most of the day but I did get this great shot of the lake that will be my new screen saver. I think it really looks like Africa.

Late in the day we were caught in a huge dust storm followed by a torrential downpour which I think is standard fare for this part of the world. It was like being in a movie.

We’re staying at a place called The Plantation Lodge (click) for this part of the trip. It’s a beautiful place that’s an actual coffee plantation. This has really been a trip of extremes; from living in a tent in a muddy camp on Kili to this place. We got in late last night and it was dinner right away so there wasn’t time to do any proper blogging. Today, we tour a Maasai (click)village (should be an opportunity for some great video) and then it on to the Ngorongoro Crater (click). More tomorrow!

Made it!!

19,340 feet! We made it to the summit at sunrise Sunday morning. It was an amazing experience and I’ll have all the details for you later when I have more time to set it all down. In case you would like to know what sunrise on the top of Africa looks like, check out the shot. Hopefully, you’ve been able to follow the story on the RMI site. Let me just say it was cold, windy, oxygen deprived and absolutely incredible.

We came off the mountain yesterday and I’ve never been so tired in my life. I also picked up a little intestinal problem our last day in camp. I think it’s known as the African squirts (TMI?) so last night it was sleep and Cipro. I’m feeling much better and today it’s a little R&R in Arusha and one of the Tanzanian national parks. More later.

Back to the old neighborhood…

I woke up this morning to sounds that I don’t normally hear in Santa Monica: strange sounding, jungle noises. Birds? Monkeys? Hyenas? It all sounded very tropical.

My roommate here at the Dik Dik is Gary, a great guy who has a 5,000 acre farm in Minnesota. He farms in the summer and spends the winter months in Phoenix or out climbing mountains (sounds like a nice life style). He's also starting a winery by planting new variety of very hardy grapes that actually thrive in colder climates. Good to know we'll have wine even if we have another ice age. Career-wise, we have a very diverse group that even includes 2 Air Force pilots. One flies F-15s and the other pilots the B-1 bomber. Talk about cool jobs.

We met at 9:00 for our breakfast meeting. Tuck went through the dos and don’ts of the trip and we discussed the itinerary, gear, medication, etc. I’m really getting excited to hit the trail…it’s going to be a blast. RMI is actually doing a blog on our trip and will be posting the first entry including our group photo, soon. I believe I’ll let Tuck do the blogging honors as we head up the hill since I won’t a satellite phone. You can check out the RMI blog here:
RMI Kilimanjaro Blog (click)

I saw a great series awhile back called The Incredible Human Journey (click) that was hosted by Alice Roberts, a medical doctor and anthropologist. The series is about where we come from, the origins of the human race. As it turns out, the earliest human remains, the earliest traces of our species were found a little north of Kilimanjaro in Southern Ethiopia. It was the remains of an early human who lived in this region over 200,000 years ago. Most scientists now believe that we’re all from East Africa. If you don’t live in Africa you are are related to a small band of early pioneers who left the continent around 70,000 years ago and colonized the rest of the earth. With DNA testing, they can trace all of us right back here…the old neighborhood. A very interesting thought.

We leave early tomorrow morning and I will be out of touch for about a week. In the meantime, you should be able to follow our trip by clicking on the link above. Here it is again: RMI Kilimanjaro Blog (click).

That's it for now. Talk to you next week. Onward and upward!

The first African post...

I’m in Tanzania. The Dik Dik Lodge (click) to be more precise. We got in around 9:00 PM and got to the lodge around 10:30. It’s seems to be a terrific place and I would imagine it’s even more impressive in the daylight.

Its been a very smooth 24 hours. It felt so good to stare down at the “Self Check In” monitor yesterday morning and see all 3 of my flights were scheduled to leave “on time”. The travel gods seem to be smiling down on this one. As you know, it’s been a bear of a winter in most parts of the country and thousands of flights have been cancelled over the past several months. My timing, for at least this part of the journey, seems to be perfect (knock on wood).

I had a long layover in Amsterdam and since there aren't many flights to this part of the world, I met most of the people in our group including our guide, Mark Tucker, on the plane to Kilimanjaro. It’s a great group.

I didn’t get much sleep on the plane (any of them) so I’m a little tired and jet lagged. We’re 11 hours ahead of the West Coast and basically on the other side of the world. I tried to stay awake all day so tonight I would lapse into a coma, catch up on my sleep and hopefully reset my inner clock to East Africa time. We have a meeting at 9:00 tomorrow morning and then we'll go through our gear for the climb. That's it. Sweet dreams.

Packed!!

Wow, that's a headline. Yes. I’m finally packed and ready to go. I think I’ve remembered everything but if I haven’t, so be it. I’m really tired of thinking about it. I’ve finally realized why this is such an undertaking. I’m taking clothing for everything from the tropics to the arctic. It’s like packing for a vacation in Tahiti and The North Pole and everything in between.

At any rate, I’m posting this and going to bed. I’ll be up at 2:00 and leave the house at 3:30 for a 5:45 AM flight. Then, I’ll have all the time in the world to write a coherent, thoughtful blog entry about something other than getting ready for this adventure.

Next stop – Africa.

Back to the blog...

Sorry, I’ve been a little tardy to the blog party, lately. Have you ever noticed how things seem to really get busy at work just prior to taking some time off? That’s the way it’s been these past few days. I’ve really been trying to stay focused on work matters but, I’ve got to admit, this is my last day on the job and I’m really beginning to get into a “vacation frame of mind”.

Right now, I’m in La Jolla, it’s early and I’m about to go out for a run. The route down by the La Jolla Cove (click) and along the beach is one of the greatest runs you’ll find anywhere and I should be out there as the sun comes up. You’ve got to love Southern California.

The preparations are continuing. Last night, I was finally able to finally spend some quality time with my new camera. It’s been a crash course on this thing and I’m pretty amazed at what it can do. Luckily, my neighbor stopped by last weekend and gave me a few tips. He’s an actual cameraman who works in television (shot “Everybody Loves Raymond” and is currently working on “Hot in Cleveland”). He’s a great guy and the right person to have around when you’re learning a new piece of gear. He also reads this blog, by the way, so here’s a shout out, “Thanks, Paul”!

I have one more meeting today then its back to LA and dinner out with Kathie (the lovely Mrs. Evans) tonight at Shutters. I’ll be out of town on Valentine’s Day so we’re celebrating early. Tomorrow, it’s packing up and going through the check list one more time. Saturday morning it’s off to Africa!

Mountains & murder mysteries...

It was a beautiful day in LA yesterday and I went on my last long hike before I take off for Africa next weekend. I would like to do more but there doesn’t seem to be time. I went on my standard “training hike”, the route I usually take when I’m getting ready for these things. I take off from Will Rogers State Park (click) off Sunset and go out for about six-hours with a 40 lb pack back up into the Santa Monica Mountains. Am I ready? I’ll let you know in a few weeks.

The “training hike” is a beautiful trek but I’ve done it a hundred times so I usually take along my iPod and listen to audiobooks to make things a little more interesting. I’m not one of those guys who necessarily needs to be alone with my thoughts in the wilderness. I’d actually rather listen to a book and lately I’ve been into James Patterson (click) murder mysteries such as The Post Card Killers, Swimsuit or Run for Your Life which was yesterday’s entertainment. Not real highbrow stuff but they hold my interest and they usually run about 6 hours so I can almost listen to a whole book in one hike.

Today, I’ll be watching the Super Bowl while I work on the checklist (yes, still working on that). I actually have almost everything I need. Last week, I picked up an inexpensive cell phone to take along. I should be able to buy a SIM card in Tanzania, activate the phone and buy minutes. That was the situation in Ghana when I spent some time there a few years ago. They had little, makeshift, cell phone stands along side the road. You simply gave cash to the person behind the little counter and they would call the phone company and add minutes to your phone. It’s a crazy financial model but it seems to work. Everybody has a cell phone. I was talking to a guide at RMI and he thought the porters actually take their cell phones up Kilimanjaro so I may be able to make a few calls to the States from the trail. You’ve got to love modern technology.

A programming note...

I was talking with a friend of mine (one of the people I’ve conned into reading this blog) about a link I had imbedded. I think I was talking about the link to the website that shows off the new camera I picked up. At any rate, he said “What link?”

It occurred to me, that perhaps I had been a little too clever by simply making the links in “bold” font of a slightly different color. Like this. Unless you run the cursor across the words and see the little hand pop up, you wouldn’t know the words were actually linked to a site. So, now that you know this, you can go back through the past posts and click on all the bold words and check out all the cool sites you may have overlooked. Of course, you have the time and inclination to do that, right? Just a thought.

From now on, I think I’ll put a little (click) next to the words that are linked to the fascinating websites I’ve found and make sure we’re all on the same page (or pages).

I'm going on my last long hike today (before the real long hike). More on that tonight.

Speed blogging...

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I found this great shot of an African town with Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background and thought I would "borrow" it for today's entry. I think my blogging is done for the day.

Picture this...

I picked up a great piece of gear yesterday. It’s a JVC GY HM100U Pro Camcorder. This thing shoots beautiful HD, pro-grade video and it’s only 3.1 lbs. (4.5 with the extended battery pack). I thought, since I was traveling half way around the world to a very exotic location, I would try to bring back the best images possible. I’m actually thinking about doing a documentary about this trip and entering it into a few outdoor film festivals like the Mountain Film Festival in Telluride or the Banff Mountain Festival. I have no illusions that I will actually win a prize since I’ve seen films that do well at these things. Usually, the awards go to films about guys scaling shear walls of rock hanging, barehanded, from cliffs high above or strange people living with bears in the desolate regions of Alaska. Our trip isn’t going to be anything like that unless something really dramatic happens. Something like being captured by African rebels in the jungles of lower Kilimanjaro or getting caught in a massive snow storm and forced to resort to cannibalism as we wait things out in a remote snow cave near the summit. These are great themes for a film and would definitely increase my odds of doing well on the festival circuit but nothing I really want to live through (or not). I think I’ll do a film about how our world is changing. Maybe the title will be “The Lost Snows of Kilimanjaro” which has a slightly dark, forlorn, indy feel. That could work but, right now, I need to think about other things. I have to learn this camera and make it to the top of the mountain. After all, “How I climbed half way up Kilimanjaro” isn’t much of a film title.