Category Archives: email

Day 3: Orientation and Rest in Arusha, Tanzania

email from Rob 07/29/13
Spent the day recovering from the 24 hour marathon flights. Breakfast at 9am after a great sleep. Big mosquito net surrounds our beds. After breakfast our guide, J.J. Goes throughout equipment list and comes to our rooms to make sure we have everything. We pack our bags and load them on the vehicle that will take them to the trail head tomorrow. I take off with one of our porter's, Oswald, to climb a tower and look above the forest that surrounds our lodge. Then we go on a 1 hour walk to explore the next village and see some of the farms where they raise fresh fruit and vegetables.  Come back to the lodge and crash for a one hour power nap. Clay gets word that their bags have arrived at the airport so he goes to pick them up.

Tomorrow up at 5 am. Breakfast at 6. Leave at 7 for the trailhead. Our starting place is the Machame Gate at 5,900 ft and we have a 6 mile hike in the forest to Machame Camp at 9,890 ft.

Tutaonana (See you later in Swahili)
Rob

Samantha in pink and Clay on the right at the Dik Dik Lodge in Moshi, Tanzania

Our team at lunch: Samantha in pink and Clay on the right at the Dik Dik Lodge in Moshi, Tanzania

Check out this weird video Rob shot of monkeys in the pool.

Day 2: Arrival in Arusha, Tanzania

email from Rob 07/28/13
We arrived about 7:30 pm on Sunday evening Tanzanian time. 24 hours in planes and airports . Clay and Samantha's bags didn't make it because of their late arrival in Dallas from Austin. Flights from DFW to Amsterdam and Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro Airport went smooth. KLM is a wonderful airline. We are staying at the Dik Dik Lodge outside of Arusha. A Dik Dik is a small deer looking animal. We are going to sleep late and take it easy tomorrow and get everything ready to start up the mountain on Tuesday. 5 days to the summit 19,346 ft and 2 days down. Temps at the summit have been 18 to 19 F. We have a great team of climbers and a great guide in JJ Justman who was my guide on Elbrus and Acongagua last year. More tomorrow.

Love From Tanzania,
Rob Junell