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 I had never before been to Africa. So, you may ask WHY I would choose to go there to climb a mountain instead joining a safari and experiencing what Africa is most about. But to me, Kilimanjaro is Africa, too - a mysterious mountain, an incredible sight, and even more important the source of life for the people and wildlife living in its shadow. Little did I know that even though the climb was just awesome, some of my most precious memories from the trip were from our safaris!
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 Our first safari was in Amboseli National Park - renowned for its large population of elephants. I was hoping to run into Cynthia Moss so we could get a firsthand report on her elephant research studies. We didn't see Cynthia - but we did see lots of elephants. One group of about 20 of them walked right by our jeep and it was amazing to hear, see, and smell animals that I had previously only seen on TV or behind bars in a zoo. No doubt, it's here on Africa's open savannas elephants belong!
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 Amboseli is also home to one of east Africa's most colorful tribes - the Masai - whose company we fully enjoyed in camp and on our walks. They would keep guard outside our tents at night, were more than willing to bring in their handicrafts to sell (and we were more than willing to buy!), and the night before we left for the climb, they were singing and dancing around our campfire - sending us off to a successful climb. Part of their dance was jumping waaaay up in the air - maybe an indication of where we would be heading off to the next morning...?
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 We drove from Kenya into Tanzania to start our climb via the Rongai route – Kilimanjaro's most remote and little-traveled route. We trekked through farmland into forest and made our first camp at the edge of the forest at 8,600 feet. From here we had the most incredible views of Kibo (Kilimanjaro's highest peak) - with "a hat on."
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 Kilimanjaro is the highest freestanding mountain in the world, and on clear days, you'll have endless views of Kenya's plains. At least that's what I'm told because the next couple of days we had clouds and misty weather. But it didn't matter - instead we focused on what was close by such as Kilimanjaro's incredible vegetation (lots of endemic plants) and learned to speak some Swahili from our guide Restus.
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 Coming out of the forest and entering the moonscape-looking moorland the clouds finally cleared and Kibo peak was again visible - looking very beautiful and intimidating! This was probably my favorite day on the mountain - crossing the saddle between rock-crowned Mawenzi peak (2nd highest point on Kilimanjaro) and Kibo toward our last camp before summit. I must have walked backward half of the day - alternating my views of the two spectacular peaks.
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 Summit day. We gathered around midnight and slowly started the ascent. It was an absolutely beautiful night. We all had our headlamps ready, but the moon was shining so bright that we didn't need them at all. It had also snowed the day before and the snow lit up the mountain from the ground. Totally clear, no wind, and very cold! After a few hours, the scarf covering my mouth had frozen, and my backpack was covered with white frost. But I felt great - strange how you could feel warm and comfortable when the air was so cold.
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For more information and reservations, please contact:
Mountain Travel Sobek
1266 66th Street, Suite 4
Emeryville, CA 94608 USA
Toll Free (USA and Canada): 1-888-831-7526
Phone: +1-510-594-6000
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