Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania - Noah Makes it to the Top of Africa

Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania Slide Show

The picture to the left is a photo of Noah at the highest point in Africa, Uhuru Peak on Mount Kilimanjaro. Noah is sitting at 5,895 meters (19,335 feet) above sea level. The reason why Jennifer and I are not in the picture is that we didn’t make it all the way to the top. We both battled upper respiratory infections while climbing and our bodies eventually gave out. 7 hours prior to the final summit sitting in the Kibo hut at 4,700 meters (15,416 feet), I was sent back down to a lower elevation due to a headache and a fever. Jennifer made a valiant effort to make the final summit with Noah, but was sent down at 5,000 meters (16,400 feet). Noah rallied on with our lead guide, Richard. Jennifer, Noah, and their guides were the last to leave the Kibo Hut for the final ascent, but Noah and Richard were the first to reach the summit and the first to return to the Kibo Hut.
Noah is a hiking, climbing warrior! He is one of the younger people ever to reach the Mount Kilimanjaro summit. After starting the final ascent at midnight and reaching the summit, Noah and Richard came back down to the Kibo hut to retrieve Jennifer. Normally, the next step is to hike down to the next hut and stay overnight. Our guide decided it was best for us to go all the way down the mountain, so Noah spent the rest of the day hiking all the way down, arriving at 6:00 pm. Midnight to 6:00 pm is 18 hours, the total number of hours that Noah hiked that day.
Hiking up Kilimanjaro was a 4 days up and a 1 day down adventure. Looking back, Jennifer and I underestimated the toll this hike would take on us while we were sick. It would have been nice to try to reach the summit while healthy. The following is a summary of each day that we spent hiking up Mount Kilimanjaro.
Day 1: After going through the park gates at 1,700 meters (5,576 feet), the first day was spent hiking through rain forest. We all felt strong at first and enjoyed the lush vegetation. We were able to get to know our guides Richard and Aaron who were brothers. Having a guide named Aaron felt right since we were often thinking of our son, Aaron who was not with us on this trip. Hiking up Kilimanjaro is a group effort. Helping the three of us on this trip were 2 guides, 1 cook, and 7 porters. The porters carry all the gear up the mountain on their heads at a very quick pace.
Richard and Aaron are from the Chagga tribe. They shared many stories of Tanzania, including the dowry for a wife. The groom's family gives the brides family a goat, a cow, a blanket and an amount of money to be determined. The only mishap of the day came when Jennifer used the hole-in-the-ground "bathroom" that had a slippery floor. She slipped and fell - not good. After hiking for 4-1/2 hours, we reached the Mandara Hut at 2,700 meters (8,856 feet), where we spent the night.
Day 2: We started the day with a short hike to Maundi Crater, where we were able to see the snow capped Kilimanjaro peak. I am not sure that this view was a good thing since it looked like it was a thousand miles away.  Noah was healthy, Jennifer was starting to feel better, and I was coming down with the infection that Noah and Jennifer had been dealing with. We worked our way out of the rain forest and spent most of the day walking through smaller trees and plants as we continued to reach higher elevations. As the day went on, we all were focused on climbing and less and less words were spoken.
A killer, steep hike right before sitting down for lunch took a lot out of Jennifer and I, while Noah and his lanky 13 year old body was relatively unfazed. We hiked for 6-1/2 hours and arrived at the Horombo Hut exhausted. The Horombo Hut is at 3,700 meters (12,136 feet). Noah was good enough to get some math homework done in the hut. My fever shot up and I wasn't able to eat anything at dinner. Richard told me that if I still have a fever in the morning, I will have to go back down to the Mandara Hut. I spend a sleepless night worrying about abandoning my family and the climb after only 2 days.
Day 3: The good news in the morning is that my fever had gone down and Richard agreed to let me stay. Fortunately, day 3 was an acclimation day. We only climbed up 1,000 feet and then went back down to the Horombo Hut to stay another night. We were tired and cold and had a lot of time on our hands, so we spent much of the day laying fully clothed in our sleeping bags trying to get as much rest as possible for the final 2 days. Many of the pictures from this day are of the Zebra Rock, the spot where we climbed to help acclimate. Noah spent all three meals trying to come up with the optimal combination of hot water, chocolate powder, cocoa powder, sugar, and powdered milk. We considered this a chemistry experiment and gave him some science credit.
Day 4: We left the Horombo Hut realizing that we have made it half way and every step that we take gets us closer to the summit than we are away from it. The landscape has now gone from rain forest, to smaller trees and brush, to desert. The climb is steep, dusty, and exhausting. As we got more and more tired, there were very few words spoken while hiking. Our guides did a nice job of moving us along, trying to get us as much time to rest at the next hut as possible. The food became too familiar and it was difficult to eat even though we needed to in order to keep up our strength. Steep inclines were more difficult due to the higher altitude. It was also getting colder and colder as we climbed. On the way, Richard pointed out the wing of an airplane that crashed in the area a couple weeks prior.
The final, steep hike to reach the Kibo Hut at 4,700 meters (15,416 feet) was grueling for Jennifer and I. Noah once again cruised up with little difficulty. This was the end of the line for me. Richard looked at me at dinner and said, "Jim, you can make money, but you can't buy life." In layman's terms, that meant that I was done and I had to hike back to the Horombo Hut, the same hut that I spent the day hiking from. After a tearful good-bye with Jennifer and Noah, I hiked back in the dark with Aaron. Leaving Jennifer and Noah was very difficult. A guide mentioned something about a lion in the area, which made the downhill hike in the dark a little more unnerving.
Day 5: Jennifer and Noah were woken up at midnight in order to begin their climb to Uhuru Peak, the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. Jennifer and Noah were both strong as they began the steep incline. Richard kept them moving at a decent pace in order to minimize their time at such high altitudes and the cold. At 5,000  meters (16,400 feet), Jennifer stumbled and blacked out momentarily. She wanted to keep going, but Richard sent her back to the Kibo Hut. As mentioned above, Richard and Noah continued on at a quick pace and made it to Uhuru Peak. I am so proud of Jennifer for making a strong attempt all the way to over 16,000 feet and for Noah to make it to the top of Africa!
There will be time in the future to analyze what we learned from our 5 days on Kilimanjaro. For now, we are off to a nice hotel in Arusha to recover for a few days. At a minimum, Noah now knows how to push himself physically and mentally to achieve a goal. That alone is a great life lesson that can be used in every facet of his life. That's all for now, a hot shower is calling!
To see our slide show of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, click on the following link ==> Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania Slide Show.

Karatu, Tanzania - Meeting up With the Hosanna! Mission Team

Karatu, Tanzania Slide Show

After over 2 months of not seeing a familiar face other than each of our all too familiar faces, we were blessed to be able to join the Hosanna! Mission Team for 5 days in Karatu, Tanzania. Hosanna! is our home church in Lakeville, Minnesota. We joined the mission team for the last 4 days of their 16 day trip where they built classrooms, conducted a women's conference, provided medical supplies to local organizations, helped orphan families, and worked with the local Lutheran church.

Hosanna! has been conducting mission trips in Karatu for 7 years. Driving around, we saw kindergarten, primary school, and secondary school classrooms that Hosanna! team members helped build over the years. The building of secondary school classrooms is essential because the Tanzania government will only provide secondary school teachers if the classrooms are built. As a result, many Tanzania students do not attend secondary school. We also saw a dispensary and church that Hosanna! mission teams helped build on past trips. These villages do not have running water or electricity, but they now have schools and churches thanks to Hosanna! and many other mission groups that have come to this area.
Much of Jennifer's time was spent planning for and attending the women's conference at the Lutheran church in Karatu, located across the street from the Lutheran Hostel that we stayed at. The conference was led by Pastor Kristi Graner from Hosanna! and attended by 100 local women. These are women that have dealt with the effects of poverty, abuse, HIV and other illnesses that have affected them and their families. The conference included fellowship, prayer, worship, personal testimonies, and talks from Pastor Kristi, Jennifer, Mama Jan, Papa Terry, local community leaders and Pastor Pray, the Pastor of the church.  It was deeply moving to sing and dance with these Karatu women, and pray with them for healing and encouragement! 
While Jennifer was at the women's conference, Noah and I helped out in the village. Most of the hard labor was done by the time we got there, so we helped gather a cow and food from the market to make a celebration dinner for 1,000 people. The celebration was for the students that had recently passed their tests and graduated to the next level. Buying a cow that was recently killed and butchered and then cut up in the great outdoors was quite an experience. All the cooking was on open wood fires in large pots. Noah and I played games with the schoolchildren. It is amazing how many games you can come up with rocks and oranges.
The children are precious. They are so eager to learn. When carrying stacks of wood to bring to the fire, the children were gripping their pens in their hands. They were afraid to put them down and loose them. All they need is a chance. One street merchant who I met who did not go to school spoke 4 languages. He picked them up from talking to tourists. That kind of intelligence should not be wasted selling nick-knacks in the street. The children thrive on attention. We brought out an orange to play catch with and the kids came out of the woodwork. If you sit down, many of them came over and sit on you or with you. One of the highlights was to see the families and schoolchildren all come to the graduation celebration. There were many speeches from local politicians that went too long, but the smiles on the faces of the family made up for that.
After 4 days in Karatu, we joined the Hosanna! team for a 1 day safari in Tarangire National Park. We saw many animals and stayed in a beautiful tent lodge in the park. It was deep into the bush near a lake with incredible views. It was a nice break from hostel living. Right outside the park, we were able to visit a Maasai village where the people live essentially the same way that they did hundreds of years ago. The only exception is that some of them have cell phones. The Maasai chief of this village has 3 wives and many children. This is far less than the wealthy Maasai chief that has 25 wives and 300 children. I feel no need to elaborate on the last sentence.
After our safari, it was time to say good-bye to the Hosanna! family. They are a wonderful group of individuals that have bonded over the last 16 days and have made a huge impact on the lives of many people in the Karatu area. Thanks Kristi, Steve, Jan, Terry, Rob, Kerrie, Sam, Dr. Wade, Angie, Desi, Zgia, Shirley, Stacey, Kathy, Todd and Sara.  We missed them already as we made our way to Marangu to begin our hike up Mount Kilimanjaro.
To see our Karatu, Tanzania slide show, click on the following link ==> Karatu, Tanzania Slide Show.

Zanzibar, Tanzania - The Spice Island

Zanzibar, Tanzania Slide Show

Lost luggage that was eventually found, spending more time than we anticipated in South Africa, taking our Kruger Park Safari later than planned and three weary travelers all contributed to our rearranged travel plans. Instead of Botswana, we boarded a plane and flew to Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. South Africa Airways accommodated our change of plans without any change fees since they finally realized how they mishandled the recovery of Jennifer's luggage.

We spent a night in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania and then hopped in a taxi the next morning to purchase our ferry tickets to Zanzibar. Even though we read about the "street touts" who swarm around you while trying to sell you worthless ferry tickets or hotel rooms that don't exist, it did not prepare us for the onslaught as we pulled into the ferry ticket area. The heat and humidity contributed to me sweating profusely as I left Jennifer and Noah in the taxi and waded my way through the "salesmen". To try to and win me over, the touts kept calling me "Obama!" After thinking I had everything arranged, I realized that Jennifer had the money so I had to make my way back and forth to the taxi again. It was quite an experience. The 10:30 am ferry left at 12:30 pm for the 90 minute ferry that took 150 minutes. TIA (This is Africa).

When we finally landed on Zanzibar, we were once again greeted warmly by more touts. Being much better prepared this time, I chose an older, less aggressive gentleman who took us to our hotel. The Tembo Hotel was quite a bit more than what we were used to spending, but it was right on the water. The hotel has a Persian/Indian/Arabia feel to it. The Indian Ocean is beautiful. We could have spent the three days just hanging out on the beach, watching the Dhow sailboats float by.

Other than hanging out by the ocean, we set out to see why Zanzibar is referred to as the Spice Island. We hired a taxi driver who took us to the government building to pay a tax to leave the city, and then took us to the "Spiceman" who gave us a tour of the spice farm. The use of the term farm created an expectation that it was a farm in the sense of rows of crops like we would see in the Midwestern part of the United States. In reality, it is a forest where these plants grow naturally. The rich red soil and the climate allows the plants to grow freely without the use of irrigation or fertilizers. Everything is harvested by hand. No John Deere tractors here. We saw where cinnamon, nutmeg, curry, cardamom, turmeric, ginger, pepper, tarragon, cloves, and a bunch of other spices that we don't remember come from. I apologize for the lack of details on the spices, but a half day of continuous spice and fruit identification left us a bit overwhelmed. The only thing we identified correctly were the oranges and bananas.

One of the main lures of Zanzibar is the surrounding Indian Ocean. The water is warm, the views are incredible and there are plenty of shallow waters to view fish and coral reefs while diving or snorkeling. We chose the snorkeling route, visiting 2 different locations. The coral is almost as interesting as all the fish that you see. Lunch was served on a soft white sand bar that is accessible at low tide. After dealing with the city for awhile, a relaxing snorkel and sand island was just what we needed.

We also spent time wandering around Old Stone Town, an area of Zanzibar that was built up during the reign of the Omani Arabs. The narrow streets are filled with vendors hawking their wares and mopeds, taxis, and people fighting for room on the road. On the surface the city looks run down, but if you look closely and dream a little, you can see the Sultan of Oman coming out of his palace with his entourage. We did visit the Sultan's palace, which is now a museum. We stopped at Obama Park in the middle of town where they were still rallying for Obama almost a week after the election. We didn't make it to the 5 pm rally at the old fort.

To view our Zanzibar slide show, click on the following link ==> Zanzibar, Tanzania Slide Show.