The first half of our day is about as unexciting as I expected. There is a reasonably good spread for breakfast, but there is always something a bit deflating when traveling outside of the US and stepping up to a buffet tray full of hot dogs. I’m not sure why sausage is such a foreign concept in all the places we travel as my summers slinging meat at the slaughterhouse taught me the process is pretty much the same, yet here we are.

From there it is into the safari car and onto the highway. Like a lot of places, that means two-lane road (paved though, so good news there) shared with all other forms of transportation imaginable and pretty much no room to pass. Scooters piled high with bamboo, flatbeds hauling loads of bricks up the hill at seven miles per hour, and tuk-tuks chugging along powered by golf-cart motors, we get the pleasure of following them all.

Jackson, our driver, has been at this a while and helps pass the time pointing out interesting tis-bits along the way. The scenery here doesn’t have a whole lot going for it, but seeing the people going about the daily routine is interesting. We pass through some tribal areas and learn more about their way of life, including the Maasai, who we see walking along herding their animals like we’re in a Nat Geo special.

Our goal is the Lake Manyara National Park. It is smaller and gets less PR than some other stops, like Serengeti, but is apparently the best spot to see elephants. From the looks of the gate, it seems like we might also have a shot at seeing a dinosaur or two.

This is our rig, a converted Toyota Land Cruiser, complete with refrigerator and extendable roof.

We’re sharing it with a couple of Italians who finished Kili the day before and share a few tips about what to expect.

It seems James Bond may also be here, although I didn’t see him in person.

After a quick lunch, we’re off, with our spotter on the lookout for wildlife.

As we are without our usual events coordinator and animal lover, I was a bit concerned for what she might miss. Fortunately, there wasn’t a whole lot here. We didn’t see these baboons with babies clinging their backs and bellies…

There were no giraffes snacking on spiky acacia trees like this one…

No warthogs…

No water buffalo…

And definitely no 10,000 pound elephants wandering down the narrow road, brushing by the car as it slowly passed.

I heard we might see some 1,000 year old baobab trees like this one but, nope, none of those either.

After a wasted afternoon, we admit defeat and head up to our camp where our cook sets to work on a well-deserved three-course meal (sitting in a jeep all day is grueling work)

We have a long drive in the morning to get to Serengeti National Park so, refueled, we’re off to bed. As the philosopher Froggy Fresh once said,

I said tonight we gonna be sleeping in the tent
So grab a sleeping bag a pillow and a friend
We’re gonna do it, it’s gonna be awesome
With good times a friendship can blossom

In all of the write-ups, the authors say the last 1,000 meters of Kilimanjaro is the hardest. No surprise really. As the tallest mountain on the African continent, some 19,000 feet above sea level, the thin air takes a toll, particularly on us sea-level dwellers. Time will tell if that actually is the worst part, as the first 9,000 miles is definitely no walk in the park.

The flight from Seattle to Doha, Qatar clocks in a just over 14 hours, which feels like the better part of eternity locked into an aluminum tube. Add another 14 hours stuck in an airport with a creepy, exceptionally teddy bear, and then 8 more hours to travel from Doha to Kilimanjaro. Without a doubt, it is the longest it has taken me to get somewhere and, but the time I finally set my bags down and fall into bed, I feel like I have already climbed a mountain.

[bear pic]

After dragging them across Spain earlier this summer, there aren’t many takers for this adventure, with most of the team opting to enjoy a few relaxing weeks before school starts at home. Fortunately, Nick has never met a dumb idea he doesn’t like, and has joined me after his time in Europe. He’s getting awfully close to starting a life working for the man, so I’m glad to have him along for what could be our last big adventure for a while.

Our base of operations is Moshi, at the base of the mountain just outside the national park. The original plan was to rest here for a few days and just experience Tanzania. Egypt notwithstanding, this is my first time in Africa, so I’m anxious to try the food, meet the people, and just generally experience something new. That plan changed a few days ago when the tour company that we booked our climb through let us know they had a short, 3 day safari heading out the day after our arrival that would get us back in time to start our hike.

A safari is probably THE bucket list item for Efe Bomba (or just F-Bomb now that she is back home in the US), so we debated passing it up, before finally deciding to give it a go and treating it as a trial run for when she can be here. The fact that we’ll be camping instead of staying in lodges helped sway public opinion. For as much as she loves animals, there is no way in hell that she is going to sleep on the ground while they wander around her.

So, on what little rest we can get in our jacked-up time zone state, well be heading out first thing to Lake Manyara, a four hour drive from Moshi and the first of the three parks we’ll be hitting on our express tour.

Let the adventure begin.