African Adventure Diary

By James B. Galbraith
Special to The Daily News

Friday, January 11, 2002

Believe it or not, we're finally on the plane. We've been planning this particular trip for approximately 13 months. If the trip is one-tenth as much fun as the planning and training, it will be great.

I had not bargained for all the esprit de corps. We have immersed ourselves in every minute detail. Surely going this far, for this long, to Tanza..damn..nia; something is going to go wrong. So far, so good!

I'm still scared to death of 19,000 feet. I already wish that I had trained harder, but, I'm ready. Let's go!

I love my boots. I hope I can say that in a week.

Why are we here? Why Kilimanjaro? Challenge? Test? Exotic adventure, without death? Money may make the world go round, and it certainly doesn't grow on trees, but we work real hard on a whole lot of fronts so that we can have these "moments to remember."

Kilimanjaro is the highest point in Africa – 19,344 feet. It is the highest mountain not in a mountain range – more vertical gain than Mt. Everest. It is 2 degrees south of the Equator. We chose a very steep route, an underestimated mountain 5 biospheres.

Harry is ecstatic over the prospect of using the bathroom in three continents in one 24-hour period.

I feel so different. We are now South of the Equator. It's 8:37 p.m.

What a trip is this City of 2 million called Nairobi. I'll remember the dusty smell lat the airport, even though it had rained. All bags arrived, in spite of a KLM flyer warning of problems with baggage. Shadrack met us as planned. He is 22, out of college, and has been in tourism for 3 years. He speaks English, German, and is learning Spanish. It took forever to get out of the airport and that is after we got in the van. Shadrack can't go home at night after 9 p.m. – too many muggers and thieves.

We are advised not to leave the lovely Ambassadeur Hotel. We can go next door to buy bottled water, but only so long as the soldier outside keeps us in sight. We buy steak pies also (and one chicken pie for the officer). There is no phone service at the Ambassadeur. A call is "impossible." Phone booths were down the street, but we were advised not to go there. No air conditioning – street noise – horns, horns, horns! Up early tomorrow. Can't wait to get out of here.

Oh yeah. Richard noticed on the van from the airport that his watch was missing.

They said the noise and horns stopped at 1:00 a.m. It and they didn't but there was some relaxation. What they didn't say was that they start back full force at 3:00 a.m.

Here's Nairobi – We passed a neon sign company, but several letters were out of the sign company's name on their building. Someone fairly elaborately strung lights all over another building. Several strands are out, and one odd strand is flashing.

Kenyans drive on the left (plenty of British traffic circles) and gained independence in 1964.

We're on the bus, 251 kilometers to Arusha. The bus is loaded. Acacias everywhere. Some folks are obviously Masai – long limbed, tall, thin, brightly colored clothes and dark, but incredibly clear and smooth skin. There is definitely a beauty to the race. It's 9:00 a.m. By this time tomorrow, we'll be climbing.

Gazelle, Camel, Karibu stork. Few fences. Cattle and burros on the road.

Shadrack (beaming), "I see you have faith in me."

We have to stop because 3 giraffes are blocking the road.

Oxen are pulling plows, and cattle are pulling carts.

Border crossing – no bags checked - perfunctory.

Zack met us in Arusha. The Impala is a definite improvement. Still no air conditioning. Instead of horns blaring, there is an outdoor concert next door.

Eligius, Zack's little brother, is our guide.

He recommends a 6-day climb, instead of 7 days. Harry freaks. We have either option and can decide up top. Zack says, "No problem." We'll decide as a group. It is still a great group. I'm thankful for these guys.
I got to call home. It was good to hear Sally and to hear from home. All seems fine in Galveston. Paul had a big steak last night, and steak and shrimp the night before we left.

We leave at 9:00 a.m. Not a big long first day, but we do go up to 9,000 feet – the Machame Camp. I'm dead tired at 7:55 p.m. I'm out. Oh, we re-packed for the mountain. Couldn't see it today because of the clouds, but its base (visible below the clouds) is just huge. It fills the horizon.

Monday Morning, January 14, 2002

We left a 7:00 a.m. wake-up call and were out of the room by 6:30 a.m. I'm sunscreened, repeled, packed and ready. The group is still deferential and harmonious.

We thought about telling Harry that we were considering another change to the Coca-Cola (Marangu) route because we could be up and back in four days. We would then have to deal with getting his body back!

On the road to the mountain, we stopped at a "butcher shop" in the Machame Village. Meat was hanging in the open windows. The shopkeeper would just cut off chucks from different carcases and put them on the scale. That's our meat. Well done, please. It mostly looked like goat (there are many here), but with the weird carving methods, it was hard to tell.

Beggars, of course, gathered round us. Harry engaged a crazy man, talking gibberish. Carter Henderson, when he found that Dad was going to poverty land, rounded up old tennis shoes. Richard picked out a small, barefoot boy and gave him a pair. Others tried to grab them, but Richard forced them to the child. The child's eyes suddenly got big, and he immediately hightailed it out of there. No one was gonna get his new shoes.

Tanzania, as opposed to Kenya, is a land of smiling people.

The Masai are herdsmen who cover great distances. A guy on the bus said they wear red and bright colors so they can be seen at great distances. Even on the highway when you are miles from nowhere, you're never very far from Masai herdsmen, walking who knows where.

Knowing it is your last hot shower, your last presence in a real bathroom really weighs on you.

Tanzania is so much cleaner than Kenya/Nairobi. People there live in and accept such incredible trash/filth. I'll remember one man, crouched on top of a trash heap. It had been burned and re-stacked with trash. He had soot all over himself and his clothes. He had obviously been there awhile and was going nowhere. He paid us no attention, and it seemed he was rubbing two small sticks together.

We're sitting in our hotel room, paging through a "Birds of Tanzania" book. Tom, Harry, Brent and I. The calm before the storm.

Intrepid Texan Trekkers trail to the top of the Tower of Tanzania.

A guy this morning at the Impala came down from the top a week ago. When we asked him how it was, he didn't say great, wonderful or beautiful. He said, "It was hard. It was tough." He took 8 days on the Machame Route and warned us to take every day you can get.

Monday, January 14, 2002, 7:00 p.m.

Machame Hut – 3,000 meters from 5600 feet to 9870 feet. The book says Day 1 is a leisurely stroll. Absolutely wrong. Ceaselessly up, up, up. Every step higher than the last. And it rained all day long! It is raining now. I've got two pair of pants, and one is solid mud. The whole trail was a slip-n-slide. Countless missteps, splashes, reaches over logs, solid mud, and endless puddles. Now, what a great day. It was cloudy; so we couldn't see too far. We have seen the base of Kilimanjaro coming in the van (which was a whole nother trip – 10 people and endless gear in a small, underpowered van). It's a great trip, but there are few luxuries.

Richard's hope is that we will get to the top, the sky will clear, we will meet the Dali Lama, and we will suddenly understand our wives. The Machame Route has definitely been found. There are at least 20 tents here together. We're still isolated, and it's cool. Porters are unbelievable. They carry huge loads on their heads, often in tennis shoes.

One porter came up to us and I said he only had 45 minutes to go. He said it was 20 minutes for him because we had to go pole, pole. We passed him, of course.

We got there before many in our team. One guide (not ours) showed us to the hut. We signed in. On the way, I guess because we were up so early, he said to me, "You are very strong." First, we basically got up very close to one another, so he had to mean "we" were strong. Second, we haven't yet been tested, and we'll have to see. The first day was much harder than billed. Harry says I'm why we're here, referring to this place as "Jimbabwe." Today's thought for the day...When good friends walk beside us, on trails that we must keep, our burdens are not so heavy, and the hills are not so steep.

We're all cramping like crazy – dehydration. I feel like I drank water like crazy. I drank more than a liter. But, I must have sweated it all out. Its 55 degrees now. I write by candlelight, lying on the dining tarp on the ground. The soup tasted great, and the spaghetti with meat sauce is not bad. It must be the ambiance. None of us have appetites, but we're eating pretty well.

Tuesday, January 15, 2002, 3:38 a.m.

Slept well til 1:00 a.m. Know it was 1:00 a.m. because Harry and Richard were talking in the next tent. Seems it will never get light. I've figured out how to get cramps and put arms to sleep in at least 10 different positions. Today, I take Mefloguin (anti-malarial), Diamox, Ibuprofen, and Pepto Bismol. To paraphrase Yeats, "This day is not wasted."

Thank you, Sally, for taking care of my mom, your dad, the boys, the dogs, the house. This is not something you would chose to do but you could do it.

Well, it started raining hard at 12,000 feet. Real hard! Up here, the wind is blowing, and it is cold. Dolph laughed and asked "How tough are we?" In some ways, it was an easy day – only approximately 800 meters, from 9740 feet up to 12510 feet and then down to Shira Caves Camp at 12,340 feet. I hate going down. You feel like you've paid a price and have a little equity, and then you go down. That means you get to pay for that equity all over again. Some going down is fairly smooth and easy on your lungs. Some is rocky and rough and really slams your whole body. We ate lunch standing, shivering in the cold, pouring rain. Dry sandwich, hard-boiled egg, dry muffin. Who can eat? So much for ambiance.

Today Eligius outlined the plan, and it sounds do-able. Tomorrow we go up to Lava Tower – another 800 meters (approximately 5 hours). The next day we just go to Arrow Glacier, which is just another 250 meters. We rest and acclimatize there, and, at midnight, we start the march from hell. Everyone says it is the longest day.

Melikiori (Mercury), the assistant guide, didn't leave camp with us at first today. Eligius did something ingenious. He put Harry in front, right behind him. He wanted us to hang together as a group and to go "pole, pole" (especially without Mercury bringing up the rear). It was real rocky today, with a lot of switches and big steps. Big steps up, and big steps out. Both take an exacting toll. We were really climbing some today with hand holds.

Where we are now, there is lichen and moss and very little else. I guess this is our third biosphere. We saw an unusual pie crow with a big white swath over the back of his neck. We were out of the Rain Forest all day today and therefore sometimes got to see beautiful flowers, boulders, ledges, overhangs and water falls. Very rocky with big boulders. Climbing with handholds up. Mostly it was cloudy and misty, and everything gets wet.

Surprisingly, so far no one is feeling the effects of the altitude. We're drinking lots of water, but apparently sweating it out. By now, we are looking and feeling pretty darn scruffy. We started up today at 8:45 a.m. and got here a little after 1:00 p.m.

After getting fairly dry and warming up a bit, it is time for hot tea, hot peanuts, popcorn, and some cookies. Dinner tonight is vegetable soup (the soup is the most appreciated part of the meal), chicken and vegetables.

Because we were all together today, on Harry's heels, he had an audience and regaled us with episodes of Jerry Springer. His favorite is about the wife of the KKK big dog who was filmed having an affair with a black guy. When it is pouring rain, blowing and cold, you don't ponder the great mysteries of life; you look down thinking solely about where it is safe to put your next step.

We are at Shira Caves, just above and 20 minutes from Shira Plateau.

It is nap time.

Weather up here changes every five minutes. Just a while ago, there was somehow the presence of the sun felt faintly through the clouds. That was quite welcome. We actually saw some blue sky in the distance. We still can't say that we have seen "The Mountain."

If we can just keep going like this, we'll have a 6-day (not 7-day) climb. Several have commented that we're not cramping and are a lot less tired than yesterday. This rest feels great!

Oh, we've developed a procedure for getting in the tent. One sits backward with his muddy boots out of the tent. We shuck his gators and boots and then pull of his pants. He can then get in the tent to dry and change and come out and do it for the others. Of course, when we arrive, even your underwear is sopping wet.

7:09 p.m. - bedtime. It is cold. The temperature has steadily dropped. It has cleared up a bit. The good in that is that we may finally have a partially dry day. The bad is that it is cold and promises to get colder.

Harry went to Eligius and asked him what his chances were to make it. Eligius said, "Just walk. Don't think." Harry said, "He hit me where I lived." He is a thoughtful guide.

The porters eat Ugali nyama choma. It is corn meal with a cabbage and meat sauce. They brought us some to taste. You eat it with your fingers. You pinch off a couple of fingers full of the meal and roll it into a small egg. Then you dip it into the sauce and pinch some of that with the meal. Put it all in your mouth at once, and it tastes damn good. It is hot and spicy.

Lies We've Heard:

"Jambo" Everyone uses it. A guidebook said otherwise.
Umbrella One guy recommended one. Wrong!
Gators Nice but unnecessary. Wrong! Get them.
Dry Season Hardly!
First Day, a Leisurely Stroll Even dry, it would have been our hardest
day so far.
Poles An extra. Wrong! Get them!

Wednesday, January 16, 2002

We left at 8:25 a.m. We're only going up 800 meters today. We see some little sun today for just a few moments. It feels sooooo good. We could see the mountain this morning. We walked for a good ways dry. A totally new experience. Then, it happened. At 14,300 feet, sleet, blowing, socked in, pelting sleet. The hike today was the easiest yet. Nothing like the big boulders with big steps up yesterday. We arrived a little after noon. Would love to take a picture of the Lava Tower, but it's cold (approximately 35 degrees), blowing and snowing. The Lava Tower is huge. We're now napping after hot tea at 14,900 feet.

Okay, let me take a crack at Harry's explanation of how Diamox works. It affects a membrane in the kidneys. The kidneys then extract more bicarb from the blood. This makes the waste more basic and the blood more acidic. The body recognizes the acidity of the blood and responds. It increases your breathing so as to extract CO_ (which is acidic). This has the complementary action of increasing your intake of O_ which compensates a little bit for there being a whole lot less O_ per breath. There! When lips and fingers tingle, it is comforting. It means Diamox is working, and it's on our side. Dolph has a headache. Our resting pulse rates are 72 (Brent), 82 (Dolph), 84 (Jimbabwe). Yes, Harry is now the Guv'nor, and as organizer of the African Adventure, my name is Jimbabwe.

2:40 p.m. - Nap Time

We ate in our tent. Richard, Brent and I joined Dolph with headaches. Boomers! Harry has pink eye and a rash. Tom just can't get over how turning over in our sleeping bag is something that winds you, and it takes a long time to recover. Eligius climbed up to the top of the Lava Tower for fun, in the snow!

It is pretty calm every morning until about 10:00 o'clock. That's why you start the Bataan Death March at around midnight. None of us have much of an appetite, but we're forcing ourselves to eat, and it doesn't yet taste like ground glass. It's not gourmet, but they try real hard and are very proud of our meals. African Adventures deserves our praise.

Sally, this is hard – real hard.

Brent just told Dolph that something he said sounded just like Buddy.

We're now higher than Mt. Elbert, the highest peak in Colorado and higher than Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the lower 48.

Thursday, January 17, 2002
15,640 Feet - Arrow Glacier

It was our first sunny day (at least until 11:51 a.m.). The fog and therefore snow is rolling in now. But today we got some good vistas and photo ops. We hoped for more elevation gain today to make tonight's march not quite so much of an ordeal. Above Arrow Glacier, however, there's no place to camp. We saw the summit and partially traced our path to it. That will hopefully help tonight. It is steep, very steep, and, of course, there's a lot of vertical to go. The plan is to have tea and lunch and then nap until 5:00 p.m. Supper is stew. We then sleep until 11:00 p.m. and must be off by midnight. We climb in the dark to get there before the weather does. Wish us luck! Just keep going up. Baby steps, and don't think.

There's still real camaraderie, and I don't think anyone is getting on anyone else's nerves. None of us want to do this again anytime soon. The problem is everything got wet the first day, and we've been wet ever since. We sometimes "wear things dry." No one has given me a hard time about the quotes for the day. We've had Jack London, Ernest Shackleton, and General Patton. Who can argue with them?

We're right on schedule for a 6-day climb. Harry even admitted today that the desire to avoid the altitude, discomfort, wetness, and filth definitely outweighs any acclimatization desires. We all are more than ready to be off this mountain. For us, all roads off lead through the summit. Let's get it over with so we can go down.

Tea Time - 12:07 p.m.

Steady baby steps. 1,000 meters to go. Very steep. Steepest part of our climb. Packing makes me winded. Walking to the dining fly tires me out. No negative waves. Just keep stepping. We've decided that if someone has to turn back, we understand. Otherwise, we go the last little way together. No one first. I'm supposed to be napping. None of us can sleep.

Supper was chicken stew. Great!

We have heard several avalanches. Loud like thunder up there. Directly above the Western Breach has no avalanches – no big snow pack overhead. The sun came out, and there's nothing like a little sun to lift your spirits. Eligius and assistant guide, Mercury, will go with us.

I never thought a moist towelette could be the source of such pleasure, such satisfaction. Just the thought that something might be relatively clean. Nonetheless, with water, my knife, and a towelette, the fingernails are still hopeless.

Another 3,700 feet to go.

Eligius says to wear two or three layers of socks, not counting liners. He's wearing five layers under his parka. He wants three or four lawyers on our legs. He says if you climb fast, you don't need that many layers. What does that tell you? Hopefully, my next entry will be at Rau Camp – 10,000 feet. After a long way up and a long way down.

I haven't written in this journal for I don't know how long. Over 24 hours, I know. I write now from the Impala Hotel in Arusha. I am clean. You can't imagine how that could be such an important thing, but I am clean.

We made it. All six of us.

We couldn't sleep, although we knew we would need every ounce of whatever we have. We still couldn't sleep. The porters were excited. By the way, there were many tents at Machame Hut and many groups camped at Shira Caves, but we were alone at Lava Tower, and we were alone at Arrow Glacier. I now sure as hell know why!

From 11:00 p.m. until 12:00 p.m. was a blur. We had to pack up what wasn't going with us and pack what we'd need for....

At midnight, we lined up with our headlamps weak into the black all around us. Pegasus, The Twins, Orion, The Milky Way. It wasn't the clearest of nights, but up there the stars were incredible. I remember no moon, just black. We took off at 12:05 a.m.

We started up, and soon the trail ended. I had studied this route on maps and in daylight on site with Eligius pointing it out. There is no discernable trail up the rock wall known as the Western Breach. We were immediately in snow, ice, boulders and loose scree.

Always climbing. I very much do not mean trekking! I very much mean climbing!

Our hearts are constantly racing, and we are always at the edge of our wind. We are so in tune with our wind and our balance. Don't think, just walk. Just worry about your footing or hand hold on this next step. Don't think, just walk. Next step. Next step. We take very few breaks because we don't want to be here long. After a few breaths, Eligius is heard edging us on, "Trendi, Trendi?"

The Western Breach is treacherous. It is a climb. I found a two finger, one knuckle deep hold, and Tom and Brent both used it behind me. I have glove liners, but no gloves. Richard has mine. He brought only liners, and his are caked with ice. I keep knocking the ice off mine so that won't happen. Dolph borrows one of my poles, and so we both have one for the downhill side. That works great.

At 16,900 feet, Richard half falls and half lays back on the ice. He is dizzy. We all are feeling some dizziness and loss of balance. If you keep going, it is better than if you stop a second. That is when you tend to fall back or to the side.

Thank God it is dark, very dark, and our lamps hardly illuminate our feet. When we do get glimpses, it is of precipices and sheer drops. Many's the time you place your foot on ice one foot from the edge of a ledge that drops to nowhere. That foot just has to hold! By the way, you put it down on ice over loose scree.

Richard rests a moment and drinks some quad strength Gatorade. He feels shaky, but better. He diagnosed himself "just a bit hypo-glycemic." There's really no turning back. Eligius tells us later that in that stretch up to Askari Point, you just have to move on. Forward. No way to turn around.

Dolph asked him later if he ever has to deal with fear. He said yes that it was a big problem. Sometimes people just freeze, and you have to talk to them for a very long time before they will take another step. He never considered that Dolph might be asking about his own fear. He has been to the top 152 times before – the first time at age 16. Zack, his older brother, has been up to the top 252 times. Eligius has now been up 153 times because of us, and Monday morning he is scheduled to go back up the same route with four Japanese guys. When Dolph asked if Eligius himself had ever had to deal with fear, he shrugged and replied simply, "Sometimes."

I remember one spot where we had to crawl on a 1' ledge. Above was an overhanging boulder so you couldn't walk and below was a deep abyss – big time! The ledge was solid, but solid ice. My footing held.

Once atop, the sheer face of the Western Breach, we walked the ridge up to Askari Point. This was an ultra high and lonely place. After that, we're climbing on snow. Trudging up, up, up. The snow was slippery, and you would slide. We were still at the absolute edge of our wind. You could turn back from this stuff, and it was just never ending. Don't think. Just walk.

I started counting steps. I'd call out to the group our major altitude milestones. Many's the time we would take 40 breath-wracking steps and the altimeter would show a 10' elevation gain. We did that again, and again, and again, and.............

Almost mercifully, my altimeter was off and so was Harry's. They showed that we still had approximately 600' to go when we broke out onto a ridge leading to a point. There was a sign and a weather station, and Eligius walked us right by. I was delirious. I couldn't understand until up ahead, through the dark and the blowing snow, I could see a higher point.

By the way, our backpack tubes stopped being a source of water because the water in our packs, next to our overheated bodies, froze...solid...hard...fast...very fast.

We were the first group to get to Uhuru Peak that morning. We stopped short and locked arms and marched the last 10 steps or so together, as one, as a group.

I don't know that anyone would have failed, if not for the decision to go as a group. Many times I questioned my judgment, my decision, my sanity during that last climb. Always, "Don't think; just walk." Through it all, I can't say I had doubts. By now, I wanted off that mountain, but all roads off for me lead through the top.

We arrived at 6:40 a.m. Shortly after, one lone climber and guide joined us. I got nary a picture. Dolph's camera froze. Harry's camera kept working, and we kept rearranging to use his camera. That's our only hope of pictures coming out. All other camera were frozen and useless.

I don't know how long we were up there, maybe 15 minutes. Fingers were numb, and it was blowing hard. We have convinced ourselves that our estimate is safely quite conservative. We estimate wind chill at at least 20 degrees below zero. Temperature was just below 0 degrees Fahrenheit.

We started down, and a guy we hadn't seen since Shira Caves was on his way up. He said, "I see you guys came up the hard way." Many people say they came up the Machame Route. I think that's to distinguish it from the Marangu (Coca-Cola) Route. But from Shira Caves, they go to Barafu Hut, with no climbing, no precipices, just endless slogging (a slog-a-rama, according to Harry).

The Machame Route is called the Whiskey Route...strong spirits...only for strong people. But the Western Breach is definitely revered even among Machame Route veterans.

Little did we realize the kind of day Eligius had in store for us. We were fine. It was wonderful. The guy at the Impala was wrong and a wimp. The Michael Crichton story was wrong. It was harder and tougher than we ever dreamed. But even at that point, it was great. Now we just wanted to be off the mountain, away from the mountain, never to return.

Tom said no more backpacking for him. Harry said not only was he never going outside, he wasn't sure he could ever talk himself into leaving his bedroom suite.

Then we started down.

Now, by 7:00 a.m., we had finished one hell of a day. It was already anything but a wasted day. We meet folks coming up the Barafu or Maranga Routes. We're feeling the moment and offering encouragement. Many coming up an easy path are excited, and many are zombies. It is not many people, but a ragged, broken line. It is still cold as hell, and we want off the mountain NOW. We're done. Finished.

Then we start down.

We hook a right dropping off the main route. Now, we're in slog-a-rama. We're in a Barafu snow bowl, and the trail down is chewed. We've been going up forever, and now, our knees, hips, bodies, and feet are slammed down hard with each step. The snow and loose scree gives way with each step. We slide, having to fight to keep balance with each step. We do this for a few million times and find that the altimeter hasn't moved us down hardly at all. At approximately 9:00 a.m., I am exhausted. My feet have "hot spots" everywhere. I stop at a boulder to shed layers of clothes because I'm working hard and sweating like crazy...going down. I lie in the snow, and everyone comes by (Brent, Dolph, Carlos from Spain and two English guys, one of whom has altitude sickness and is being helped down).

At first, no one can believe that we summitted via the Western Breach or by 6:40 a.m. We have approximately two more hours down, just to get to the Barafu Hut, and it is an approximately 4-hour hike down from there to Rau Camp. There is no justice, no reward, just more slog-a-rama.

We stop for lunch at Barafu Hut. It is barren, other worldly and foul. Tom's knee is killing him (no ACL for years), and Brent's feet are already in very bad shape. We undo him, and Harry provides second skin.

Dolph, Richard, and I head down fast, determined to get off this mountain. We finally see the ever receding Rau Camp. It is just beyond every ridge you come to for about 10 ridges in a row. Going down kills your joints and your feet.

I set a pace and am soon alone. I'm on a mission for water. I arrive at 2:30 p.m. The porters are all waiting and congratulate me. I ask for 6 big bottles of water. I'm taken to the center building where they sell water, beer and cokes.

We're at 11,100 feet. I buy their last three bottles of water ($4.00 each) and four cokes ($2.00 each). Harry arrives shortly after Richard and Dolph (at approximately 3:05 p.m.). We're all elated but absolutely drained, dead. One bottle for Harry and Richard in one tent. One bottle for Dolph and I, and one for Brent and Tom, if they ever arrive.

They come in with Melikiori at approximately 4:30 p.m. I've got Brent's pad and bag set up, and he collapses. I take off his shoes and socks and Tom's boots.

We're excited, but dead. We're all asleep by 7:30 p.m., but only after a great meal and calls home. That was a meaningful call, even if it was only to an answering machine. Phone connections are ultra tricky at 11,100 feet. Harry never gets through then. Only Dolph actually spoke with Teri.

Guess what. Tomorrow we face a 4-hour to 5-hour walk off the mountain.

That night all of the porters line up to shake our hands and congratulate us. It is heartfelt and very touching. We now know the secret shake of the Ancient and Mystic Crew of the Cockroaches.

At the Park gate, masses of vendors are waiting. We are inundated. We fight them off constantly until Harry arrives. He asks our permission to shop and have a little fun.

There he goes, and the masses instantly know that he's open for business. No telling what all he bought, but he spent a total of approximately $40.00. He, they, and we had a blast just watching the interplay.

I go to the Kdia Gate guard shack and sign us all out and get certificates. Eligius signs them in the Impala, and Brent promises to get Frannie Rochkind to calligraphy our names.

Zack is there in a van to take us to Arusha. We're crowded, but glowing. It was more than just hard and tough. Zack can't believe that we summitted at 6:40 a.m. and congratulated us for preparing well. We sing our song:

Kilimanjaro, Kilimanjaro, Kilimanjaro,
Kilimanjaro Mlima Mrefu Sana,

Na Mawenzi, Na Mawenzi, Na Mawenzi,
Na Mawenzi, Mlima Mrefu Sana.

Ewe Nyoka, Ewe Nyoka, Ewe Nyoka,
Ewe Nyoka, Mlima, Mrefu Sana.

Wani Zunguka , Wani Zunguka, Wani Zunguka,
Wani Zunguka, Mlima Mrefu Sana.

Kuni Lanyama, Kuni Lanyama, Kuni Lanyama,
Kuni Lanyama, Mlime Mrefu Sana.

Loosely – Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain and Mawenzi.

Zack gets Eligius to sing it, and it is electrifying, a highlight of the trip. Dolph says the 6 of us have to sing it the next time Midlife Crisis plays at Club 21.

Don't think. Just walk.

Sunday, January 20, 2002

The next day, we head out with Jacob (guide) and Julius (cook) for safari. We went first to Lake Manyara (pencil cactus). We're mellow, sore and chilled out. Everything from here on is gravy. We've accomplished.

Manyara is not a big park in acres or in acclaim, but we get unbelievable sensory overload driving through. (See last page for an incredible list.)

That night, at 7:30 p.m., Julius brings a great soup. We're at a table, sitting in chairs. He says it is cucumber soup. I ask what else is in it. He says Margarine. I say it is too good. There has to be something else in it. His reply, "I'm a professional."

At the Panorama Campsite headquarters there is a 3-man Masai percussion group, playing and dancing. Unbelievable! We also traced Orion, Jupiter, Dog Major, Pleadies, The Twins. Stars are incredibly bright. We have open-sided, screened tents, overlooking the Great Rift Valley. Cool breeze. Of course, it rained. Great sound on tent. Cots with lumpy slats seem a luxury. Fingernails are dirty again.

Monday, January 21, 2002

Tom's birthday. We drive by and look down into Ngorongoro Crater. We see elephant, flamingo, wildebeest, zebra, cape buffalo, eland (scared and scarce), Grant's gazelle (thousands), more wildebeest (thousands and thousands - designed to make you feel good about how you look), kori bustard (the heaviest bird that can fly), Thompson's Gazelle (thousands and thousands) ibex, more zebra (thousands – Bruschell's), fish eagle, ostrich, water buck, cape buffalo, giraffe (2 patterns – Masai and Reticulated).

We see Oldouvai Gorge where the oldest human remains were found.

We see Masai on a 4-month, outside "rite of manhood" mission.....black clothing with white faces.

We see helmeted ginnea, secretary bird, spotted hyena, and grey heron.

I shake hands with roadside Masai.

At 2:00 p.m., we are welcomed to Serengetti National Park where we see golden jackal (like a coyote with big ears) crowned pluver, many hyena in a den (designed to make wildebeast feel good about how they look), crowned lapwing, black shoulder kite, African wildcat ("Good Job Man."), Baboons on Kopses with little hairless babe, stork (abdim's and white), fig tree (big on Kopses), ostrich, dove, namatua, male lion (good pictures), agama lizard (purple and pink), elephant, white bellied bustard, white headed vulture (designed to make hyenas feel good about how they look), superb starling, crested bustard, black backed jackal, lion (two male, one female, one litter not a year old), banded mongoose, ring-necked dove, lion on hill top (mound) (real close, unbelievably close), black headed weaver, yellow bark acacia, Hildebrant's starling.

At the Seronera River, we say 28 hippos – a school including babies. They mate, give birth, suckle and eat in shallow water. There were ox peckers on hippos – two species. We saw topi (bunch of singles – some close), warthogs (3 head butting and bunches elsewhere), impala (fighting – close – herd of hornless females – only one male – bachelors not far away, waiting), Dik Dik (3 – marriage is respected).

6:05 p.m. - in Dik Dik Campsite

We see vite line masked weaver, brown parrot and Fischer's lovebird

Now we start to set up camp. Julius is anxious to start cooking. Jacob doesn't know how to set up tents. Tents are different – small, no room. Julius can't figure tents out. I set up one, and finish two others. The fourth, for Tom and Harry, is impossible. We try ten different ways until 8:30 p.m. Brent and Dolph take showers and sit bemused, watching the Keystone Cops. Harry and Tom are quite frustrated. Jacob is helpless, but beside himself. These tents are unacceptable. Jacob goes off to call Zack. He's got plans for our viewing tomorrow; so we can't go back to Panorama. Harry apologizes to me for getting frustrated. I feel bad because this arrangement is unacceptable.

Dinner is great – lentil soup and spaghetti.

We hear a lion roaring off to one side of camp, and they tell us not to walk off far. Jacob's not back, and we definitely hear a lion roaring close to camp but from another direction. Brent says Jewish boys don't sleep with lions. Jacob is back. I'm gonna go see the answer. By the way, Brent is so worried that he's asleep.

Okay, here it is. First, he just came across a group of lions , "just right over there." I told him we've been hearing them. Second, Zack said we can make it a Lodge Safari from here. We get up at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow and go to see Serengetti animals ("crocs"). We come back here for Julius and bags. We then go to the Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge for our last safari night. The next morning, we descend into crater to animal watch and then head back to Arusha. Nite. Nite.

There they go – deep roaring again. It is a big, huge sound. We wake to cavernous roaring at 5:00 a.m. or 5:15 a.m.

We drive out at 6:30 a.m. and immediately see four female lions. As Brent kindly pointed out, had we stayed at a lodge, we would never have heard the lions roaring so close to camp.

We see impala (two huge harems and bachelors, fighting – head butting – many more). We see more Dik Dik.

Tuesday, January 22, 2002

Happy Birthday, Richard.

Now, we're looking for leopard in leopard trees. We see velvet monkeys, guineas, impala herd, topi (3), sausage tree, lion, martial eagle, maribu stork, hooded vulture, impala, Impala bachelors, more impala, many topi, zebra, many more impala, giraffe, many, many more impala, warthog, eland, lions, and impala.

After a great brunch, we are all mellow and ready for a nap, as we head for Ngorongoro Crater Wildlife Lodge. Everyone hits their maps, safari books and journals. There are impala grazing right here at camp. We see rock hydrax – 3 in a tree and a big one on the ground. Parasitic weaver.

On the trip after lunch, we saw guinea, impala, vultures, lions, and Dik Dik. We see all the usual suspects on the way to Ngorongoro. We see 7 Masai Outsiders. Jacob is scared to stop. Ngorongoro is the sound of the cow bells going down the crater walls, according to Masai.

We drop Julius at Simba Campsite. We're going to the lodge ( Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge). We're coming back for dinner – ugali nyama choma means dinner tonight.

We have definitely died and gone to heaven. Jacob dropped us off at the Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge. We took showers and sat at a bar in front of a burning fireplace with clean fingernails.

We have definitely died and gone to heaven.

There is no dial tone in the rooms. The bathroom are not luxurious, but we are in heaven. Dolph desperately tried to get a phone line to find out about son Jay's marathon. No dice.

Tomorrow we descend the 8th Natural Wonder of the World, Ngorongoro Crater. This place does- have a beautiful view. Maybe rhino tomorrow.

The safari exceeded my expectations. Game (exotics) were in abundance. They aren't shy. To kill a zebra is stupid. There's absolutely no sport. They are right on the road. There are thousands of them. It is the same for so many species. No sport at all.

Wednesday, January 23, 2002

Tropical BouBou, Cape Buffalo, Grant's Gazelle, Eland, Black Smith Lapwing, Egyptian Geese, Crowned crane, Wildebeest, Thompson's, Golden Jackal.

At lodge last night, we saw hyena and Cape Buffalo at a sign saying "unsafe to walk", Gazelle, Hyena, Spurwinged Goose, Hippos out and in the water with little baby. Kori Bustard, Ostrich, Elephant, Grey Heron....6,340 feet at floor...600 m. deep...35 sq. kilometers. No Giraffe in Crater. The walls are too steep. Lions with a kill, wildebeest, zebra. One lion can eat 22 kilos at one meal. Gajillions of wildebeest "TNTC" (too numerous to count), Hartebeest. Now, we're looking for rhino. Wildebeast across the road with baby with umbilical still attached, about 0 to 20 minutes old and running with mom, bunches with 4 or more very newborns. They can delay birth for up to one month, waiting for rain. Baby's still wet. We see their first steps. "very fast growing". Not ten feet away hyena, 3 red fox, warthogs (2), beautiful golden crowned cranes, zebra and wildebeest, Thompsons, Grants (TNTC).

The golden crowned cranes are the national symbol of Uganda. Tanzania's national symbol is the giraffe.

Abdims stork, warthog, black-backed jackal (2), white stork, ostrich, greater flamingo all over the lake, way TNTC. warthogs, black backed jackal, Z&W ,white stork, dung beetle.

9:00 a.m. – yellow billed stork, hamerkop, African spoon bill.

Trail Mix is BTB (Better than Biscotti).

RHINO!!!!! Three of them – far off. Twelve rhino exist in the crater. Cape buffalo and a bunch of hippos, guineas, waterbuk, big bull elephant with big whites. Zebra so close you could touch them. Zebra fighting and yipping. Richard had to take picture. Defassa waterbuk.

Okay, now the debate starts. Tom, Jacob and I are sure we saw 3 rhino. The others saw 3 big animals, but can't be sure they were rhino. One was bigger and darker in front. The two in back were lighter in color.

Cattle, egrets, spurwing goose. Rhino is on the list.

Bathroom was another abysmal "no breather." You run in, do your business and if you don't touch anything other than your unclean body, you feel pretty safe.

Velvet monkey, elephants (3) plus more, more, velvet monkeys, 4 more elephants, waterbuck.

Yellow-Vented Bu/Bu (common)

Black Kite - very aggressive, take lunch out of your hands. Black necked(?) weaver.

Common Chameleon
Red necked spur fowl
Rufus Chaterer – bird
Variable Sunbird

We stopped for diesel in Karatu (Wambulu Tribe), and I did it! We had stopped there before on the way out. Curio prices were high, and he wouldn't budge. Harry wanted a bracelet of giraffe or elephant hair. Today, on the way back to Arusha, Harry asked about one. Price 30,000 tsh. (35+ dollars). No budge. They left, and I got it for Harry for $10.00. Made my day!

Jacob's Favorites:

"Texas Guys" Us.
"Mambo Poa" Everything is cool.
"Hakuna Matata" No problem.
"Kona Nini" Whazz Up?
"Zebra" Zebra.
"Chokoraaa" Street Boy
"Hooded Vulture"
"Lilac Breasted Roller"

Tomorrow we go home. You don't know how good that sounds.

Thursday Morning, January 24, 2002

All seems arranged. After four tries, I got to speak to Sally. That felt so good. And I got to speak to the boys. Wonderful. Pops is home. Mom is fine. Paul is apparently working hard on his school work. That makes me proud. He has three pages of Spanish left. Go Paul. Daniel is back from skiing ("tiring but fun"). He blocked a penalty kick last night and "we" beat Brazosport 3-2. Sally is coming to get me.

"Ugali nyama chomo" – Memorable Meal

"No cross jambolatin, only conjambolating" – Harry

"Sun Spot Baby" – Our Seger Song

"Convergence of Purpose" - Harry

"All assets were group assets: pole, water, gloves, lip balm." – Dolph

Kenya border worried us, but was a snap. Peter from Karatu says it is always like that. People coming from Nairobi to Tanzania could be coming from anywhere, but people coming out of Tanzania are coming from Tanzania.

Harry says that whether he stays in his bedroom or not depends on whether Annette will let him hook up some premium channels.

My original thought was to find a group of strangers I could go up the mountain with. How far from that and what a blessing this trip is. Thank you, Lord, and thank you, Sally.

James B. Galbraith
a/k/a Jimbabwe

Jambo Hello (used constantly)
Sa Sa Hello (informal)
Kona nini or Eco Nin Whaz up
Karibu Welcome
Karibu Sana You're Very Welcome
Asante Thank You
Bei Gani How Much
Ghalisana Too Expensive
"Bidai" See you later.
Habari ya jion How are you this evening?
Ugali nyama choma A corn meal porridge with a cabbage
and meat sauce.
Wa Nini And you?
Tafadali Please.
Sama Han Excuse me.