Ngorogoro Crater to Serengeti

Jul 22

We rise again early for a long drive to the Serengeti. Little do we know that these will be the worst roads yet! Could they really be any worse? The answer to that is definitely YES. Its interesting because I was recently reading an article about the fight over building a super highway through the Serengeti. It was in national geographic. I tried to insert a link...

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Tarangerie to Ngorogoro Crater

Jul 21

Breakfast buffet at Tarangerie and there were elephants walking around just outside. We walked out on the deck with our coffee and watched them for a few minutes. How’s that for an amazing start to the day. John was still getting ready so I had breakfast with Suz, Nathan and Jeff. I stopped by the gift shop to pick up some maps. I had tried to bargain with her...

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Safari – Arusha to Tarangerie

Jul 20

I woke up at 5:30am so I went ahead and took another shower and went down to breakfast. John got up when I got out of the shower and was rushing around thinking he was running late until I told him it was barely 6 and we weren’t leaving until 9. He stayed in the room for a bit and finished organizing his stuff. The dining room was mostly empty except for a...

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Long Way Down, aka “Highway to Hell”

Jul 19

We woke at 5 am, an hour before wake up. We had gotten a good nights rest thanks to our level of complete exhaustion and the fact that I was still so dehydrated that I didn’t have to get up and pee at all during the night. We were packed and ready just as some of the group were rising. I was ready to get down the mountain to a shower. 7 days of caked on dust...

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July 17-18 – Summit Night and Day

Jul 18

We have dinner at 5:30 with the final instructions on tonight’s climb. Eric says there will be three groups. We are surprised that he doesn’t assign people to groups rather letting them select for themselves. This leaves us with only Sarah in our group as everyone else selects group B or C. At first we are a little sad at our small group -there are people...

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Karanga to High Camp Via Barafu

Jul 17

We took off in the first group this morning with Paula, Sierra, Monique, Nan, Doug, Stephanie and Gina. Its nice to be walking with Stephanie as it has been a few days since we’ve walked together. After the first break Nan and Doug drop back to go at a more gradual pace. At the second break they catch up with us and Nan is really having some bad pain in her...

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Saturday, July 16 – Barranco to Karanga

Jul 16

Last night we had a big dinner and I ate way too much for someone who is starting to have stomach trouble. I will need to watch it today. It was beautiful this morning with the sun coming up as we headed over to Barranco Wall. Yesterday August told us that it is nicknamed the Breakfast Wall because a lot of people “lose their breakfast” climbing the wall....

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July 15th – Shira to Barranco Camp

Jul 15

We were up early – 5am – ready to get going so we went ahead and dressed and packed up. John climbed out the the temp to use the bathroom and saw Jeff outside getting photos. It was almost a full moon and the sky was full of stars. Jeff was taking advantage of the beautiful night to get some good photos of the mountain and the camp. He took one looking up...

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Machame to Shira Camp

Jul 13

I woke up after 6 hours of sleep thinking it was 6 in the morning but it was really 4 am. Note to self – do not put on Dr Watson’s salve and got to bed in a -20 degree sleeping bag unless you want to be the next nights stew! My legs and back were on fire from the heat of the bag and the muscle salve. It was kind of like being in a crock pot. I got up and...

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Wednesday July 13 – Arusha to Machame Camp

Jul 13

I was a little sluggish when the alarm went off at 6:15 from getting to bed so late. We finished packing, had breakfast with Monique and Sierra and brought the bags down for loading. More hurry up and wait – patience again – while we stood around waiting for the group interviews. This is a good lesson for me but I don’t like it despite the fact that...

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