The Flying Yanks Go To Africa

We Made It!

2006-02-13T17:53:00.000-05:00

I'm jet-lagged and weary from head to toe, but I'm pleased as punch to report that the Flying Yanks all reached the summit of Kilimanjaro on the morning of January 27!

There's lots more to report, but I figured you deserve a photo of the big moment at the top:

Stay tuned for frequent reports and new Kilicasts!

No Muss, No Fuss

2006-01-12T12:40:00.000-05:00

D-day minus two! Time to get rid of that pesky moptop.

It's haircuts like these (on that right, that is) that make the locals think the Flying Yanks are on a military mission. Hairstyles like the one on the left just frighten small children.

Sobering News From Tanzania

2006-01-05T21:33:00.000-05:00

Three climbers die on Kilimanjaro

[BBC] Three tourists have been killed in a rockslide on Mount Kilimanjaro - Africa's highest mountain - in the north of Tanzania.

It is reported that at least one of the dead climbers is American.

One more climber and four guides were seriously injured as strong winds prompted a rock slide.

"A rapid change of weather forced several rocks to tumble and slide down the gradient," chief game warden James Wakibara told AFP news agency.

"The rocks hit a group of tourists who were en route to the peak and three were killed."

The accident took place at an altitude of nearly 5,000m, close to Arrow Glacier base camp.

Thius year entry prices were doubled for climbers, in an attempt to restrict numbers on the mountain to protect the environment.

Around 25,000 visitors climb Mount Kilimanjaro each year, compared to 15,000 visitors 10 years ago.

This is not exactly the kind of news you want to get about a place you're going to be visiting in a few weeks. The only positive thing the Flying Yanks can take from this sad news is that the Arrow Glacier camp is not on our route; it is widely considered the most challenging and dangerous route on the mountain. Still, this serves as a strong reminder that we're not just going for a casual walk in the park.

Closing In On D-Day

2006-01-05T17:39:00.000-05:00

Haven't checked in with the blog for a couple weeks, mainly because of the holidays and the rising panic in my preparations to travel to Africa. Funny -- after knowing I would be heading to Africa all these months, I'm cramming at the end just like I crammed for exams back in school. Some habits die hard -- if ever.

Anyway, my fellow Yanks and I had our last formal pre-trip conference call last night, so I guess we're getting pretty close to heading out the door. I hope to still squeeze out an introductory podcast before I get on the big iron bird, so look for that in the next week. (If not then, then sometime in February, I guess.)

Oh! And I don't believe I have mentioned that I gave Mrs. Lt. Dan a trip to Paris for Christmas. When I return to Amsterdam from Africa on February 5, Mrs. Lt. D will fly to Paris and I'll catch a train to the City of Light. We'll spend a week there and get reacquainted with each other. As if I didn't have enough to think about -- now I need to learn how to speak French, too.

Mmm...Typhoid.

2005-12-21T19:44:00.000-05:00

I took the last of four typhoid vaccine pills today. Yummy. Guess that makes me as protected from the creepie-crawlies as I can get.

Tanzanian Elections Are Largely Peaceful - Whew!

2005-12-18T17:41:00.000-05:00

Looks like Jakaya Kikwete (above, on the right) and the CCM party have won the Tanzanian elections. You might remember my post from October 31 that described some violence in early elections on Zanzibar, where we'll be heading in the first days of February. This story from the BBC says there was some additional trouble this week on Zanzibar, where the majority favors the opposition CUF party.

Fortunately for our trip (as well as for the people of Tanzania), it seems that this is one African nation that is starting to do a fairly good job of holding elections; the international observers involved in the election said things went pretty smoothly.

It will be interesting on our upcoming visit to see if we notice a difference between the Tanzanian mainland and Zanzibar. Politically, it appears that these two locations couldn't be more different. President Kikwete needs to figure out a way to bring his people together. It looks like he's won himself five years in office to see what he can do.

The Crash Course in Fitness Begins

2005-12-11T22:47:00.000-05:00

After dealing with a back injury and pneumonia over the past 10 weeks, I've got less than five weeks to return to a semblance of fitness. Today was a good start in my crash course -- I spent about two and half hours bouncing around the forested paths of James River Park this afternoon. It was a great day for hiking, but let me tell you: I am seriously wiped out. If I'm this exhausted after a couple hours of hiking at sea level, how am I going to be able to do longer hikes three miles up on Kilimanjaro?

Looks like I've got my work cut out for me. I wonder how the other Yanks are doing...

The Dreaded Blog Entry About Gear

2005-12-08T12:19:00.000-05:00

I want to preface this entry by saying I know nobody cares about what gear I bring on this trip. I have listened to some podcasts and read some blog entries that go on ad nauseam about gear, and it just ends up being a bunch of data I can't use. That said, however, it doesn't seem like a discussion of our trip would be complete if I didn't at least write down a list of the stuff we're planning on bringing along with us for our adventures.

I'm writing about this today because I had a low-level gear-inspired panic attack last night after I went to bed.

Here's the list that Africa Travel Resource provided to us; most of this is for the Kilimanjaro part of the journey only. Feel free to move on to the next blog entry right now if you hate reading this stuff as much as I do!

Soft kit bag for porters to carry my main mountain gear
Small (30-40 liter) backpack
Rain cover for small backpack
Wide brimmed hat
Balaclava or woolly hat
Scarf or bandana
Sunglasses or goggles
Poncho (optional)
Hooded waterproof jacket
Four seasons duvet jacket
Warm upper body layers - 3
Upper body under layers - 3
Waterproof outer gloves
Thin undergloves
Gel-activated hand warmers - 2 (for summit push!)
Waterproof trousers / pants
Fleece trousers / pants
Lightweight trousers / pants - 2
Short trousers / pants - 2
Thermal under trousers / pants - 2
Underwear - 3
Gaiters (optional)
Thick socks - 3 pair
Thin socks - 6 pair
Hiking boots
Spare laces
Trainers
Walking poles
Sleeping bag
Inflatable sleeping mat
Foam sleeping mat : thin
Foam sleeping mat : 75mm / 3"
Water bottles, 1 litre - 3
Water purification pump (optional)
Water purification tablets - iodine
Cordial or water flavouring
Favourite snacks
High-energy bars
Head torch
Spare torch batteries - 4 sets
Spare torch bulb - 2
Pocket knife
Plastic bags & bin liners
Pencil & paper for the trip log
Camera plus film and batteries
Reading material
Games & cards
Towel
Toiletries
Lip balm
Ear plugs
Soft toilet paper - 2 rolls
Wet wipes
Spare contact lenses or glasses
Paperwork
Antacids
Antihistamines
Antiseptic wipes
Blister treatment
Dressings
Imodium or other anti-diarrhoeal tablets
Insect repellent containing DEET (not needed on mountain)
Knee supports etc.
Lemsip or other cold cure sachets
Malaria tablets
Oral rehydration salts / sachets
Painkillers
Sanitary Towels or similar
Sticking plasters : band aids
Sun block for skin & lips : factor 15+
Talcum Powder
Mosquito net (not needed on mountain)

Let It Snow! (I Need to Test My Gear)

2005-12-05T23:58:00.000-05:00

It doesn't snow very often here in the South, so I was nearly giddy when I woke up this morning to see the white stuff coming down. And come down it did -- nearly five inches of it, and all wet and sloppy to boot.

And speaking of boots, wintry weather like this is perfect for checking out gear -- like my footwear and waterproof jacket. One of my biggest concerns for this trip is my new(ish) pair of boots. My old pair, while still decent, have had quite a few miles put on them (Nepal, Russia, New Zealand!), and they weigh a bleedin' ton.

So I took the plunge and bought a new pair of Tecnica boots earlier this year before Mrs. Lt. Dan and I went to Peru. They held up pretty well tromping around Machu Picchu, but I can't help but wonder how they will fare in the extremes of Tanzania. Nothing sucks more than a bad pair of footwear and no REI store within 15,000 miles.

Anyway. Today's snow gave me an opportunity to try out the Tecnicas in snow for the first time. Their Gore-Tex shell shed the moisture pretty well, and I think they'll hold up OK in Africa. On the other hand, I can't say the same for my jacket (which also is supposed to be Gore-Tex'd): it soaked clear through in a number of places. This isn't a surprise; the jacket succumbed to the rainforest of the Milford Track in New Zealand three years ago, but it was a good reminder that I've still got some work to do to get my gear up to snuff.

I'm not looking forward to accumulating all the necessary gear for this trip. We'll be spending time in the buggy heat of the Serengeti, the cold of Kilimanjaro and the tropics of Zanzibar. Seems to me like we need to pack for every conceivable climate -- and that sounds like a lot of crap to hump halfway around the planet.

And Earthquakes Too

2005-12-05T18:40:00.000-05:00

Having a regular feed for Tanzania and Zanzibar news stories brings up all kinds of stuff. Today, we learned of an earthquake of magnitude 6.8 in western Tanzania:

Although the Kilimanjaro area is quite a distance away from the western border of Tanzania, the quake was strong enough to be felt in Arusha, a town near the mountain.

East Africa's Great Rift Valley runs along a geological fault line, but has largely escaped major quakes in recent years. Glad we don't need to be spending any time in high-rise buildings while we're there.

Podcasting is Gonna Happen

2005-12-02T12:35:00.000-05:00

Finally following up on the podcasting idea. I'm hooked.

Along with Christmas cards, Russian orphan calendar sales, holiday shopping and getting fit for the trip, I've now added "learn how to podcast" and (more importantly) "learn how to create a non-sucky podcast" to my list of things to do this month.

I've been able to find only one set of podcast-like audio files for Kilimanjaro, from a group called "Cops on Top" that climbs mountains in honor of police officers killed in the line of duty. Technically, what they recorded last January isn't really a podcast -- they called in every day to an answering machine from their satellite phone -- but the dozen or so short vignettes were intriguing to hear. (Especially the day they were on the summit -- they sounded more than a little short of breath!) It was good to hear that the weather they experienced was good; we will be hiking up the mountain at about the same time of year as they did.

I also just discovered the Everest Podcast, which details the journey of "city slicker" Erick Tseng from San Francisco to Mt. Everest's Base Camp 3. I suspect the Flying Yanks' podcast in Africa will share a lot of similarities to Erick's. It seems to me that Erick should be considered a pioneer of adventure travel podcasting -- I highly recommend giving the Everest Podcast a listen.

In other news, I'm getting healthier... the daily gobs of phlegm are getting smaller. I'm pretty sure that I ended up with a touch of pneumonia; I finally dug into my supply of Ciproflaxin so I can get myself cleaned up. It's a good thing that I'm finally feeling better: There's only six weeks and a day left before the big iron bird takes me to Africa!

I Can't Fight This Feeling

2005-11-27T12:46:00.000-05:00

This makes seven straight mornings when I've woken up to feel like someone other than Lt. Dan. Today, I woke up sounding like Johnny Cash.

Less than seven weeks to go. I'm gonna need a crash course in fitness.

The Official Itinerary

2005-11-22T17:01:00.000-05:00

Well, our payments have been made and we're as locked in as we'll ever be, so I guess it's time to share our official itinerary with you.

Sat 14-Jan-06:
Fly from USA to Amsterdam.

Sun 15-Jan-06:
I'll meet up with the Yanks in Amsterdam, and then we'll fly to Kilimanjaro, arriving around 8 p.m. Tanzanian time. We'll stay at the Moivaro Lodge in Arusha this night (and on a couple other nights during this adventure, as well).

Mon 16-Jan-06:
Our safari begins: we will drive from Arusha to Makayuni, across the Maasai Steppe; then to Manyara, to the Rift Escarpment and across beautiful high altitude farmland; finally, we will reach the Ngorongoro Crater, where we will have game-drives and a picnic lunch inside the crater itself.

At the end of the day, we will drive out of the crater to Ilmisigiyo village, where we will camp for the night.

Tue 17-Jan-06:
The previous day's safari was pretty much all on wheels; today will be all hiking. We will be met by a Maasai guide at Ilmisigiyo village and then hike from the campsite to the summit of Mt. Makarot (3130m, 10,269ft). Lonely Planet's Trekking in East Africa says that on a clear day from the summit of Makarot, you can see the Ngorongoro Crater to the east and the Serengeti Plains to the west. (Awesome!)

After a picnic lunch on Makarot's summit, we will descend through small Maasai villages and out onto the Serengeti Plains to Olduvai. It sounds like there is a good chance we will encounter buffalo, giraffe and monkeys in this area -- we have been warned to pay close attention to our guide.

At the end of the day, we will stay at Olduvai Tented Camp.

Wed 18-Jan-06:
After a healthy bit of hiking the previous day, we'll be back in the vehicle again today for a full day in the Serengeti Plains. The options for today's safari drive are numerous, but we'll more than likely hit the following areas and sights: Naabi Hill, Simba Kopjes, Seronera, Lake Magadi, Rongai and the Maasai Kopjes. This ought to be quite a day for game viewing.

Our accommodation on this day is the Ronjo Flycamp.

Thu 19-Jan-06 :
Today is another day of safari, much of which will probably be in the vehicle. This day has no specific agenda; our guides will determine the best places for us to go based on where the wildlife is residing, such as the kopjes (small stony hills) where there's a good chance to see beasts such as lions.

At the end of the day, we will once again stay at Ronjo Flycamp.

Fri 20-Jan-06:
We begin slowly heading back east on this day, taking side trips on the way through areas such as the remote Gol Kopjes and the shifting sand dunes of the area. Again, the day's activities will be dictated by game movements.

We will return to Olduvai Tented Camp at the end of this day.

Sat 21-Jan-06:
By the end of the day today, we will be back in Arusha. How we get there and how long we take to get there is pretty much up to us. With the Ngorongoro Crater between Olduvai and Arusha, we have the opportunity to either drive around the crater rim or go back down into the crater for more time in that amazing caldera of wildlife.

We will need to be back in Arusha before 16.00 hours, though, because we are due for a briefing and equipment check for Kilimanjaro at that time.

Accommodations will once again be at the Moivaro Lodge in Arusha on this night. (Better make it a good night of sleep -- it's the last chance before we hit the mountain!)

Sun 22-Jan-06:
Today we begin our attempt to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro (5896m, 19,344ft). There are several routes up the mountain, and we're taking the Lemosho Route, one of the least-traveled trails. Located on the west side of the mountain, Lemosho provides an excellent chance for acclimatization and allows for some travel away from hordes of other foreign tourists. (One of the routes is so popular with tourists that it's called the "Coca-Cola" route. Yecch.)

On our first day, we will be driven from Moivaro Lodge to the Lemosho trailhead, which ought to take two or three hours. After we're dropped off, we'll hike for about four or five hours on a gentle ascent through shrub forest to the Glades Flycamp (2750m, 9000ft), where we'll spend the first night. We may encounter elephants, buffalo and other wildlife on this first day; an armed ranger will accompany us to the camp.

Mon 23-Jan-06
Day Two on Kilimanjaro will take us from the Glades Flycamp to Shira Camp One (3840m, 12,600ft). This climb of 4-5 hours will eventually take us out of the forest and onto a much less sparsely vegetated landscape.

Tue 24-Jan-06:
Day Three on Kilimanjaro takes us 10 kilometers on a gradual ascent from Shira Camp One to Barranco Camp (3950m, 13,000ft). This hike of 5-7 hours will take us through forests of giant lobelia plants/trees. Should be a good day for acclimatization since we don't really go up much higher than the previous day.

Wed 25-Jan-06:
On Kilimanjaro Day Four, we'll cross directly south of the summit. This is another day that we've specially requested for acclimatization; we'll essentially stay at the same elevation while getting ever nearer the summit-embarkation point. After four or five hours of hiking, we'll set up camp at Karanga Valley (4000m, 13,100ft).

Thu 26-Jan-06:
The next two days will undoubtedly be two of the most physically challenging days of our lives. Starting today, we begin to make the push toward the summit. From Karanga Valley, we'll hike 3-4 hours up a steep ascent to Barafu Hut, the highest campsite of our trip (4600m, 15,100ft).

Fri 27-Jan-06:
It's Summit Day! And it's a long day at that: we'll be walking 11-15 hours today.

We'll begin our attempt to reach Kilimanjaro's summit very early in the morning today (around midnight, I believe). After 5-7 hours of ascent in the darkness, we will reach Stella Point (5700m, 18,700ft), which is the rim of Kili's crater. Another 1-2 hours of walking around the crater rim will take us to Uhuru Peak -- the summit of Kilimanjaro and the highest point in Africa. With any luck, we'll get there in time for the sunrise.

The celebration will probably be short-lived, though, because we'll still need to toss ourselves back down the mountain to the tune of another 5-7 hours on this day. By the time we crash at Mweka Camp (3100m, 10,100ft), we'll be tired little puppies.

Sat 28-Jan-06:
Last day on Kilimanjaro. It's all downhill, so it should be easy, right? Hah! I doubt it; if our travel documents are right, this will be a "painful descent" of 5-6 hours down to the Mweka trailhead. Today will be the day we'll see how well my boots (and my toes) are holding up. Lambswool, anyone?

A car will be at the trailhead to pick us up and take us back to the undoubtedly welcome showers and beds of Moivaro Lodge.

Sun 29-Jan-06 - Tue 31-Jan-06:
Will we have energy to move at all on this day? Perhaps we will be enticed by the prospects of spending the next few days on the beach in Zanzibar... you'd like to think so!

Today, we hop on a plane in Arusha and fly to the island of Zanzibar off the Tanzanian coast. We'll stay at the Matemwe Beach Lodge on the east coast of the island for the next three days, doing pretty much whatever seems like a good idea at the time. Snorkeling and SCUBA diving are possibilities, but I'm thinking a nice nap will be first on this particular Yank's to do list.

Wed 01-Feb-06
After a few luxurious days on the beach, we'll take a car in to Stonetown, the main city of Zanzibar. We'll explore the town and probably grab a bunch of souvenirs. This night, we'll stay at the intriguing Emerson & Green bed & breakfast.

Thu 02-Feb-06:
And just like that, our journey toward home begins today. From Stonetown, we will catch a flight back to Dar es Salaam on the mainland; later that evening, we'll get on yet another plane that will take us to Amsterdam.

Fri 03-Feb-06 - Sat 04-Feb-06:
We arrive in Amsterdam in the morning of February 3. We've decided to tack on a full day in Amsterdam so we can get accustomed to Western life again, so we'll spend two nights at the quaint-looking 't Hotel, a canal house near the center of town.

Sun 05-Feb-06:
The four midwestern Flying Yanks head home together this day, and I take off separately not long after.

That's it!

All Set!

2005-11-22T15:58:00.000-05:00

We received confirmation today from ATR that all our payments have been made. We're on our way to Africa, goshdarnit anyways!

Our confirmation paperwork provides a bunch of good reading for preparation for the trip, including who to call when things go awry. (Good thing we're bringing a sat phone with us.) Anyway, the guys at ATR aren't afraid to have a little fun in their writing. For example, when describing overzealous guides who are working for a good tip, ATR says:

"Please ask your driver/guide not to approach animals too closely, especially when they are relaxing or mating (the animals, not the driver/guides)."

And this little ditty sounds like good advice for how to deal with Kong when he's eating:

"You should never make it necessary for an animal to change its course and certainly never cause it enough distress to make it growl, roar, trumpet or shit itself."

We Don't Need Another Stinking Setback

2005-11-21T12:50:00.000-05:00

So maybe I've found the way to stop worrying about my back: now I've managed to catch a cold, probably because I hung out with my brother-in-law's kids over the weekend. I should have anticipated this; getting sick around Thanksgiving time is an annual ritual for me. This time, though, it couldn't wait until after Turkey Day. Looks like we're going to cancel our trip to see the relatives in Texas.

"Arrggh," he says, not intentionally trying to sound like a pirate.

Time to Pay the Piper

2005-11-16T13:14:00.000-05:00

At long last, the day I've been dreading/anticipating has come: Africa Travel Resource wants the rest of our payment today. For those of you keeping track of these things, our final payment is $14,289.50, or $2,857.90 each. I gritted my teeth a few minutes ago and sent ATR my credit card info. For me at least, the piper has been paid.

So what have I paid out so far?

$3,722.20 - total paid to Africa Travel Resource
1,169.61 - airfare from Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro
666.00 - airfare from Richmond to Amsterdam
(666.00) - free ticket for my Richmond-Amsterdam leg
230.00 - immunizations
201.00 - travel insurance from Access America
--------
$5,322.81

Yikes. Good thing I'm already mostly geared up for this adventure.

Dr. Personius to the Rescue

2005-11-04T20:26:00.000-05:00

So, OK, six weeks on and my back is still a problem. That's enough. I finally took a friend's advice and went to visit a physical therapist, Dr. Personius. He spent two hours with me today and gave me a couple important things:

Some physical therapy
Some exercises to help strengthen my back
Advice to quit my job, since the stress is apparently causing my back pain

The first two were much appreciated; the third just stresses me out even more!

But it's a good start. I'm starting to get out and walk again -- time is my enemy now, so I need to gain a relatively decent amount of fitness even if it's a little uncomfortable right now.

Ten weeks to go, and mere walking is a heroic achievement these days. Aye carumba. Dr. Personius, work your dark magic on me!

Violence in Zanzibar

2005-11-01T01:17:00.000-05:00

Our visit to Zanzibar at the tail end of our trip is supposed to be a time for idyllic recovery from the tough climb up Kilimanjaro. That still might happen, but Zanzibar will need to pick up the pieces from a rough election period going on right now.

(BBC)The security forces on Tanzania's Zanzibar islands have broken up a crowd of opposition supporters claiming victory in Sunday's poll.

At least five people were arrested as teargas and water cannon were fired at people singing and dancing after Muslim prayers in the capital, Zanzibar town.

Official results could be released on Monday after overnight counting.

There were sporadic clashes on election day but the extreme violence of previous polls has so far been absent.

More than 30,000 members of the security forces have been deployed in the semi-autonomous islands. Some 500,000 people were expected to cast their ballots.

Election season is not over yet, either; there will be further polls on the Tanzanian mainland on December 14. Need to keep tabs on that.

Maybe this will be my opportunity to meet my teenager dream of being a war correspondent, a la Edward R. Murrow. But really, I'd rather spend my time on the island in idyll.

A Visit to the Local Drug Dealer

2005-10-20T22:51:00.000-04:00

We all know about the large mammals in Tanzania that have no qualms about inflicting bodily harm on humans, but it's probably the microscopic creatures that we should fear the most. Today, I did my best to combat the creepy-crawlies by getting immunized.

Nurse Sonja at Passport Health here in Richmond stuck me with a couple needles, wrote me up a couple prescriptions, and sat me down to discuss all the disease opportunities I'll have during my African trip.

Most travelers to Tanzania need to be protected against:

Hepatitis A
Hepatitis B
Typhoid
Malaria
Yellow Fever
Rabies
Tetanus
Measles
Polio
Influenza

I was lucky enough to have been immunized for several of these things already, so Sonja just gave me shots for yellow fever and influenza. (But dang, my arms hurt enough anyway.) For typhoid, I received four capsules that I'll need to take over an eight-day period before the trip begins. (My typhoid immunization from my 2000 trip to Nepal had expired -- it lasts only two years if it's injected, or five if you take the capsules.)

I also received prescriptions for Doxycycline (for malaria), Diamox (altitude sickness) and Ciproflaxine (for my constant companion, traveler's diarhhea).

All these meds are familiar to me from my other travels, but it's always hard to put your mind around just how bad it would be to catch one of the diseases that I'm supposedly protected against. The only one that concerns me is altitude sickness; it's really the only condition on which I need to be mindful. There's no amount of Diamox in the world to help a person who is really suffering from the effects of high altitude. If I start feeling crappy on Kilimanjaro, the responsibility falls on me to determine whether I'm just feeling the typical, every-day-on-Kilimanjaro-kinda-sucks-like-this feeling, or if it's something more serious. Having that responsibility bothers me a little bit; it'd be a lot more reassuring to know that my daily shot of Diamox is taking care of any high-elevation ills.

All told, the office visit and immunizations cost me a pretty $230. The three prescriptions will nudge that amount quite a bit higher -- I know Cipro isn't cheap -- but hey, this is one of those things that you really can't skimp on.

How Would You Pronounce Our Hotel Name?

2005-10-08T13:41:00.000-04:00

't Hotel

That's not a typo above, it's the name of the hotel the Flying Yanks are staying in while in Amsterdam, after we leave Tanzania. How am I gonna pronounce this name to the taxi driver?

Anyway, we've got two nights in Amsterdam to get reacclimatized to the West, and 't Hotel actually has a room that will hold all five of us Yanks. The hotel is a canal house not far from (the) Dam Square and the Anne Frank House, which I've always wanted to see. Best of all, it boasts an "extensive breakfast buffet," which ought to keep Kong from getting too antsy.

It's a little weird planning for accommodations in Amsterdam while the focus is on Africa. Europe will be odd after three weeks in the bush.

Still Recovering... But Thinking Ahead

2005-10-08T12:19:00.000-04:00

Two weeks since my back injury, and I'm still in pretty bad shape. I've spent most of the past fortnight in bed. (Fortunately, my job pretty much requires only a laptop and a phone.) Lots of rest and frequent massages from Mrs. Lt. Dan are slowly helping, I think. (No, this is not a ploy for more frequent massages, Mrs. Lt. D.)

With all this sedentary time on my hands, I recently had the idea to do a podcast on the Flying Yanks' upcoming trip to Tanzania. A daily audio log of the trip could be somewhat interesting. I'm going to look around the Web to see if anyone else has ever done something like that.

Unexpected Set-"back"

2005-09-26T11:37:00.000-04:00

This hasn't been the best summer of fitness for me. After moving to Virginia from Oregon in early July, I pretty much stopped exercising because it was so damn hot in my new locale. Only recently have I started jogging again, mostly in the early mornings when the weather is still decent. The spectre of Kilimanjaro is driving me to get in shape; if our trip to the Himalayas five years ago is any indication, the hike to the top of Kili is probably going to be one of the most challenging things we've ever done.

With all that in mind, I'm not too happy right now. Two days ago, while bending over to pick up my backpack, I felt a sudden stabbing pain in my lower left back and crashed to the floor. It took me several minutes to move out of a prone position and try to walk. (Mind you, I hadn't even touched the backpack yet, so you can't accuse me of improper lifting techniques.) What's worse, Mrs. Lt. Dan and I spent the rest of the weekend up in Washington, D.C., wandering around a conference and taking part in the anti-war march. All that additional movement exacerbated the problem, and today, I'm dyin' here.

I've had back problems for about 15 years now as a result of a minor car accident, so this isn't something I'm unaccustomed to. If things aren't any better after a week, then I'll start to wonder what I need to do. At this point, though, I'm shutting down the Kilimanjaro Fitness Program and hoping for the best.

This is What We Have to Look Forward To

2005-09-02T16:10:00.000-04:00

Every time I do one of these trips, I end up wishing I had watched every stupid movie released in the previous three years. The Flying Yanks inevitably dredge up movie references during the course of our trekking. To get a taste of what might be on the docket, Kong suggested we all watch something called The Brown Bunny, which got this review from a website I just read:

There are not enough synonyms for 'bad' to describe the pretension and utter banality of the masturbatory The Brown Bunny, a film so exhaustively awful even its creator once disavowed it.

Ahh. So while our minds will expand during this trip due to all the new cultural stimuli, there will still be that valuable base of stupidity to keep us all very well-rounded.

I've Got a Ticket To Ride

2005-08-22T19:43:00.000-04:00

Frequent-flyer miles rock. I just procured the last outstanding chunk of my travel plans -- my roundtrip flights between home and Amsterdam -- for free, thanks to my miles. That's $666.00 for this trip that doesn't need to be spent. Sweet.

Lion Attacks Up 300% in Tanzania!

2005-08-18T17:19:00.000-04:00

Now THIS is worth getting excited about:

ARUSHA, Tanzania (AP) -- Hungry lions pursuing wild pigs into human settlements are killing people three times as often as they did 15 years ago in Tanzania, according to a survey.

The development has taken a toll on lions as villagers and wildlife officials hunt down man-eating lions, according to the report released Wednesday by the science journal Nature.

The human-lion conflict is a product of poverty, growth in human and lion populations and decline in traditional prey for the big cats, according to research by the University of Minnesota's Lion Research Center and Tanzania's Wildlife Research Institute.

Some Tanzanians have set up homes near wildlife conservation areas and others farm in corridors used by wild animals to move between protected areas and water sources, Zakia Meghji, Tanzania's minister for tourism and natural resources, said Thursday.

"Lions that often attack humans are old animals that are unable to stay in the pride. They end up targeting humans who are a far more easier prey than wildlife," Meghji added.

Villagers, who cannot afford to buy fences, often sleep in their fields to guard their crops against nocturnal pests such as wild pigs. These farmers fall prey to lions who follow the pigs, according to the report.

Since 1990, lions have killed more than 563 people and injured at least 308, according to report, with fatal attacks increasing markedly over time.

In the past, lions have typically hunted wildebeest rather than wild pigs. But as Tanzania's population has grown, traditional prey numbers have declined.

Farmers should dig trenches around their fields to keep away the pigs, the researchers advised.

This would also help conserve the number of lions in Tanzania, an East African nation that is home to the largest population of the big cats in the world.

Meghji, said, though, that lions were increasing.

"There has been a definite increase in the population of lions because we have effectively controlled poaching by giving 25 percent of wildlife revenues to local communities that now see the benefit of protecting the animals," Meghji said.

Insurance Makes the Unlikely More Likely

2005-06-25T19:37:00.000-04:00

I'm not a fan of insurance; it seems like a huge waste of money. Ever since I had my $200 Schwinn Le Tour bike stolen when I was 13 and got only 60 bucks from State Farm for it, I've held insurance companies in a special dark place in my heart.

However, I still drink the Kool-Aid. For a trip like this, which will probably end up costing around $6-7K, insurance sounds like the right thing to do. Anything can happen between now and January 14, not the least of which are the Tanzanian elections later this year.

So this is the insurance plan I just purchased for $201 today: the Access America Classic Comprehensive (TB05)!
Baggage Coverage $1,000.00
Baggage Delay Coverage $200.00
24-Hour Hotline Assistance
Missed Connection Coverage $500.00
Emergency Medical Transportation $500,000.00
Emergency Medical and Dental Benefit $25,000.00
Trip Cancellation Protection $5,000.00
Travel/Trip Delay Coverage $500.00
Trip Interruption Protection $7,500.00

That all sounds good to me, I guess. I won't spare you the details of the policy, but I've just discovered that I wouldn't be covered if there is domestic civil unrest in Tanzania and our trip is cancelled as a result -- unless that unrest was somehow initiated by, say, al-Qaida. If that happens, well, I might just take the financial hit and be OK with it.

Big Ol' Jet Airliner

2005-06-09T21:56:00.001-04:00

Another big milestone has been reached on our Africa trip today -- we've purchased our plane tickets. Even though the trip is still over six months away, it turns out that seats were starting to fill up fast for the crucial leg of the journey from Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro airport.

KLM is pretty much the only major carrier that flies from Europe to this part of Tanzania. There are undoubtedly other, cheaper ways to get there, but I'm guessing that the time required to uncover these special deals would not be worth the savings.

I bought tickets only for the Amsterdam-Tanzania roundtrip at this time. I'm hoping to use some frequent-flyer miles in the near future to get a free trip from the US to Amsterdam. Just getting between the Netherlands and Africa isn't cheap, though; my coach-class ticket cost me $1,169.61. (The other Yanks, on the other hand, paid over $2,000 for all their flights.)

Trip Report From Peru

2005-05-26T03:48:00.000-04:00

Hi blog! (Hi, Lt. Dan! Where you been?)

Actually, I've been to Peru, thank you very much. As promised in my last entry way back in March, I now have a little trip report for you from my lil' adventure with Mrs. Lt. Dan in the land of the Inca. Head on over to my Peru pages on my website to see how things shook out.

We should be having some more reports on the Africa trip soon. Need to get some plane tickets!

Lt. D

The Eye of the Storm

2005-03-25T18:40:00.000-05:00

Not much going on related to our Africa trip these days, but I felt like I should check in so anyone listening in didn't think I had bailed on the blog. Our trip is locked in -- I guess I should post the details of the itinerary here, shouldn't I? -- and we're planning on acquiring some plane tickets one of these days/weeks/months. More than anything now, it's just a waiting game for us.

...But to keep things interesting in the interim, I'm going to travel with Mrs. Lt. Dan to Peru in April for a belated honeymoon vacation. I guess you could say we're going to do the Machu Picchu trip that the Flying Yanks were once considering. I'll update the blog on the results of that trip, too.

For those of you reading this blog from the beginning, I should also report that my surgery went as well as can be, and I'm on the road to recovery. The tissue growth was a mucoepidermoid carcinoma, which was fortunately a benign chunk o' cancer. The resulting tests have shown that Dr. Dierks cut out the whole mess, and there's a good chance I'll never have to worry about that again.

Signing out for now,
Lt. Dan

We're Locked In for January 14, 2006!

2005-01-13T11:03:00.000-05:00

Well, we can finally say we've accomplished something tangible... our deposit for the trip has been sent to Africa Travel Resource. In the next couple days, we should get confirmation that we are in fact heading to Africa in less than a year! Good golly, this is cool.

Sure seems like a long ways away, though.

A Big Decision Was Made Today

2005-01-06T00:57:00.000-05:00

After much hemming and hawing, the Flying Yanks got down to business tonight in a conference call. I'm pleased to report that we've decided to go with Africa Travel Resource as our outfitter.

africatravelresource

These guys appear to have it all. They'll cater to our needs when necessary, but they're giving us freedom to get into trouble if we want. I'm generally skeptical of arranged group travel, but ATR doesn't seem to want us to have anything that feels packaged in any way. Nick at ATR has given me a ton of time to understand what we want, to describe their services and make suggestions that fit our skills and interests. This is going to be the trip that *we* want, I'm sure of it.

It also helps to see the multitude of recommendations for ATR on the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree discussion forum. Contributors to the Thorn Tree, for the most part, are knowledgeable, individualistic and ridiculously honest. I haven't seen anything on the TT that besmirches Africa Travel Resource; that gives me a lot of confidence.

We have a tentative itinerary from ATR already. We just need to iron out a few more details, and then we'll be all set. (Oh yeah, and we also need to hand over a bunch of cash, too. Details, details.) More on the exact itinerary later... but damn, we've got a whole year to wait for this thing to happen!

The Yanks Are Chewing On This One

2004-12-21T15:33:00.000-05:00

Looks like I've given my fellow Flying Yanks plenty to think about. Because of the holiday season, we're going to convene in early January to make a decision on my recommendations from last week.

Oh, by the way -- I'm getting married in a few days! (That ought to be enough to distract me from Africa for awhile.)

Results of Outfitter Research

2004-12-15T15:06:00.000-05:00

I am out of my mind.

I have done so much research on African travel outfitters in the past couple weeks, I feel like I should be speaking Swahili by now.

Following is a mega-huge report on my research. It's paraphrased from the email message that I sent to my fellow Flying Yanks (which explains why it reads like an email). I'm simply too tired to try to put this into some sort of acceptable blog-entry format. Hopefully, you'll find some nuggets of info in here that could help you in your own Tanzania trip planning.

---------

A little background on my research:

Over the couple weeks, I've spent about 20 hours making contact with about 26 trekking companies. I went overboard because our group's ideas seemed a bit hazy beyond Kilimanjaro, and I wanted to find someone who could take our varied interests and make a good trip out of as many of those interests as possible. I've also done a lot of background reading (books/web) to check out whether the things these operators claim are true. Bottom line is that I feel pretty confident in what I'm presenting to you here.

Companies that seemed somewhat legitimate included Adventure Center, African Encounters, Africa Travel Resource, Eco Africa, Exodus, EWP, FootVenture, Footloose Adventure, Good Earth Tours, Hoopoe Safaris, KE Adventure Travel, Marangu Hotel, Mountain Madness, Mountain Travel-Sobek, Roy Safaris, Shah Tours, Tropical Trails, Wilderness Travel and Zara Tanzania Adventures. A few other companies either turned out to be ridiculous for one reason or another (idiotic responses to my emails, Donald Trump prices, etc.).

I originally began to look only for trekking companies that could arrange a Kili ascent. However, as my research grew, it became clear to me that it made the most sense to look for an operator who also could arrange our other activities, at least a little bit. To me, it's important that we avoid the hassle of trying to figure out how to get from place to place (by car, airplane, etc.) and where to stay in between events. From what I can tell, it's also often less expensive to do it this way.

Our interests and priorities get a dose of reality:

We had a lot of things on our lists of interests for this trip. When you include days for travel and simple relaxation, it's pretty tough to keep things to three weeks or less. With that in mind, I started big anyway and waited to see what trekking companies had to say. Here are the things I listed as our priorities for the trekking companies to digest:

Kilimanjaro
Serengeti safari - preferably something with a bit of a twist
Some quality R&R someplace
Victoria Falls / Gorilla watching
Amsterdam

Almost every trekking company that paid attention to my request for some direction said that we probably were asking to do too much in our timeframe and within our budget.

The main sticking point is Victoria Falls. Because our Kilimanjaro trek and Serengeti safari are both in northern Tanzania, it will be very difficult logistically -- and expensive -- to add Vic Falls to our itinerary. Here's one comment I got about this: "To visit the Victoria Falls from Tanzania is not a simple plan logistically and also will be very expensive. You would need to travel to Nairobi [Kenya] for flights to Lusaka in Zambia before flying on down to Livingston which is the main town nearest the falls. Also cost wise this is likely to add at least $2000 per person to the total cost of your trip." Moreover, while the falls are incredible to see, the other adventures around the falls are expensive and/or time-consuming -- meaning we'd need to shave off other adventures in Tanzania to do this. I'd love to see the falls, but I don't think we would get enough return to justify the investment.

The next issue is the safari. If you've done any reading about Serengeti safaris, you know that there are a bazillion different choices. I left this open to the trekking companies to see what they could come up with. My only requirement was that I wanted us to have some active choices on our safari; that is, I didn't want to sit around all day like we did in Chitwan park in Nepal. Later in this message, I think you'll see that I found a good safari option.

One of the Yanks wanted to see if we could do an overnight in a tent on top of a 4x4. While this interest is possible, it's a little complicated because there are five of us (i.e., more than two vehicles are needed). Beyond the self-drive safaris, there are very few options for trekking-company-led 4x4 tented safaris. However, I think we might all be satisfied with the tented safari option I'm leaning toward (again, more below on that).

From all accounts, visiting gorillas is also a high-expense, low-reward activity. We'd need to travel to either Uganda or Burundi for the best gorilla visiting, and some places only allow you to see the gorillas for one hour total. We'd probably spend at least three days in travel and several hundred dollars for an hour of gorilla visitation. It'd be cool to see them, but I just don't think we have the time and money for it.

It appears that Northwest/KLM is the best flight choice to East Africa. KLM flies directly into Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA!). The nice thing about all this is that the flights to KIA originate in Amsterdam! If we want, we can stay an extra day in Amsterdam on our way home, like a couple of the Yanks suggested.

With all that said, then, if we want to have a good time that captures the best of East Africa with appropriate rest time and reasonable cost, my belief is that we should focus on 1) Kilimanjaro; 2) an active safari; 3) some good R&R in which we can choose our activities; and 4) a short stopover in Amsterdam on the way home. If we try to do more than that, we're going to stay longer than we want and/or be exhausted.

Choosing a trekking company:

There were a lot of ways to sort these trekking companies. I could probably find something less than perfect about all of them, but many of them looked pretty good. It was tough to figure out which ones have the best activity/cost ratio, but here are some of the details that shook out:

All the companies I contacted do Kilimanjaro in one way or another; however, not all of them do the routes we prefer [we aren't interested in doing the well-worn routes, and we want to be sure we take plenty of time for acclimitazation0

Not all companies provide for a safari option in addition to Kilimanjaro

Some companies provide kick-ass safaris but then follow up with a crappy route up Kili

Almost all the Africa-based companies are way cheaper than the UK or US companies, but they almost seem TOO cheap (i.e., unsafe?)

In contrast, the US-based companies tended to be ridiculously expensive (e.g., $2500+ just for the Kili hike!)

Comments from users of the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree (thorntree.lonelyplanet.com) and other such sites were very helpful

Trying to find a healthy balance between luxury and bare-bones accommodations on safaris is challenging

Most trekking companies responded to me with cut-and-paste sample itineraries; I wanted some personalized replies so I knew somebody actually gave a rat's ass about us!

Truth be told, there are a lot of quality options out there. I'm sure we could do quite well with several of them.

One company, though, has really stood head and shoulders above the rest in terms of service: Africa Travel Resource. Their website, and their communication with me, is simply the best, hands down. They are not the cheapest, nor are they even close to being the most expensive. Spend lots of time reading about the locations, accommodations and opinions these guys have. They appear to have thought of everything.

I've been communicating with Nick at ATR for the past week. It's simply incredible how much information he has provided to me. In my first inquiry message, I just sent ATR the same message I sent to all the other companies, which basically said, "Hi, I'm doing research on an East Africa trip for five friends…we've traveled to Nepal and New Zealand, so we know how to trek…here are some things we'd like to do." Well, Nick responded with a message that must have taken him two hours to write. And none of that cut-and-paste shit; he wrote everything based upon my short introduction, and he nailed us dead on. He could tell that we liked adventure but weren't really very hardcore, and that we like to keep things a little rugged but we're not backpacker-poor. He even checked out my website (without prompting from me) and got an idea of what we've done in the past. I wrote an equally long message in return, and he responded with a detailed reply, itinerary and budget. In short, Nick is my new best friend. In fact, I think I love him.

Being naturally wary, though, I get suspicious whenever a stranger becomes my best friend. I figure that they must be trying to rip me off. So far, though, Nick is coming through with flying colors. I've found that ATR is highly regarded, and the research I've done on Nick's recommendations has backed up what he's said. He's clearly an expert, and I feel very comfortable with his advice. I think ATR is going to be our best choice.

Notes on Kilimanjaro:

I hope you all do a lot of reading about Kilimanjaro so you understand the different routes, the dangers, and so on. There's a lot to learn; each route even has variations that can make a big difference in our ability to reach the summit. (One tour company, for example, chooses to set up camp on the final day in the Kibo crater [18,000+ feet] so the customers don't need to wake up at midnight to reach the summit. It turns out that this company has a customer death rate of 1 in 400! That's a little too risky for my tastes.)

Many, but not all, of the trekking companies do the Shira route, which is the route we seem to be favoring because of its good acclimatization pace. An equal number do the Lemosho route, which is nearly identical to the Shira route except that it takes less time to drive to the trailhead (we agreed we don't want too much driving on this trip) and that the first day's hike is different. Both the Shira and Lemosho routes are slightly more expensive than the crowded routes like Marangu (the "Coca-Cola" route) and Machame, but it sounds like it's worth it. (By more expensive, I'm talking only around $100 more.) From what I've read in my responses from trekking companies, we've made a good choice in either Shira or Lemosho.

I personally want to do the Lemosho route now that I know about how long it takes to drive to its trailhead from "civilization" (2-3 hours) as opposed to the Shira route, where the drive can be as much as 5 hours. Plus, ATR prefers the Lemosho route as the most sensible option. ATR's suggested itinerary for us on Lemosho would include seven days/six nights on the mountain. With ATR, we can be guaranteed a private climb; no additional hikers would be in our group. More on the itinerary below.

Order of events:

All along, I had figured that we should do Kilimanjaro first, then follow up with a safari and whatever other activities we wanted. My buddy Nick has convinced me otherwise, and now I can't see doing it that way at all. Nick says that most people initially think that doing Kili first is the best thing to do, but it turns out that a lot of people simply aren't ready, even after a day or so to get over jet lag, to climb the highest mountain in Africa (go figure!). What they recommend is to go on safari first, then climb the mountain, and then relax again. This allows people to shake the jet lag, but, most importantly, it helps trekkers get accustomed to being in Africa. Now that I think about it, this makes perfect sense; imagine getting off the mountain after a week still without having any idea of how to deal with Africa yet. We'd be all exhausted after the hike, and then we'd still need to figure out how to deal with the culture and stuff.

So here's the sketch plan of Nick's itinerary for us:

01: Arrival KLM to Kilimanjaro International
02: Arusha
03: Safari
04: Safari
05: Safari
06: Safari
07: Arusha
08: Lemosho (private climb)
09: Lemosho (private climb)
10: Lemosho (private climb)
11: Lemosho (private climb)
12: Lemosho (private climb)
13: Lemosho (private climb)
14: Arusha
15: Zanzibar
16: Zanzibar
17: Zanzibar
18: Zanzibar
19: Depart KLM from Dar es Salaam

Notes on Zanzibar:

The more I read about Zanzibar, the more I want to go there. You don't need me to sell you on it; you can read about it yourself from others' reports.

I told Nick that we'd like to have some time during the trip to simply kick back and perhaps dictate our R&R activities in individual ways. He confirmed that Zanzibar would be a good place for this. If one or two of us want to go diving or snorkeling, the others could stay back on the beach, go to the bar, or check out a local town. Basically, we could do whatever; it would be a great way to come down from the Kili hike. Nick even suggested that we stay on the relatively deserted east coast a couple nights, but end our trip in Stone Town (Zanz's main city, on the west coast) on our last night so we could sample the nightlife (not that there is much).

Notes on safari:

I'm running out of gas here a little bit, so forgive me if things get a little short and I talk mostly about Nick's ideas for us.

Nick agreed that safaris can be a little too sedentary sometimes. He's plucked out some nice options, in my opinion, for hiking-and-camping safaris with a Maasai guide and armed ranger in the Serengeti ("guests must be aware that there is a serious risk of dangerous animals in the camp" -- whee!), as well as cultural encounters in local villages and a nicely appointed permanent tented camp. (On the ATR site, look for "Olduvai Tented Camp.") He's aware that we don't want to spend our days sitting around the camp and/or in vehicles the whole time; plus, we'll want to get warmed up for the Kili adventure, if we choose to follow his advice and do the mountain second. At the same time, however, he knows that if we do the safari first, we might be dealing with a little jetlag, so the tented camps will be a graceful introduction to the bush.

When we should go:

Either October 2005 or Jan-Feb-March 2006 appear to be the best options for us. The latter timeframe would be best for the safari because the wildebeest will be in town -- uh, in our area of the Serengeti, I mean. I originally thought that November might be OK, but now it appears that we should probably rule it out because of the potential for rain.

Price:

I've received a lot of quotes from the trekking companies. Like I said before, some of them seemed extremely cheap, while some were so high, I had to laugh. (I simply cannot imagine spending four times as much for the same damn trek up Kilimanjaro.) I never told Nick at ATR what our budget was (we agreed earlier that somewhere between $5k and $6k was good), but he nailed our budget on the first try. Considering that most airfares from the US are about $1500 or so, the ATR quote of $3483 each will put us nicely in our range. There are other costs, like tips and drinks, that are obviously not included here, so our results might vary a bit. All in all, though, I think we're going to come in at just around the price we expected to pay for this journey.

Questions for the group:

So after all that research, I'm hoping the Flying Yanks appreciate my recommendation. I have a few questions for them... we'll have to see what their responses are to the following:

1. What do you think about abandoning ideas to visit Victoria Falls?

2. After reading up on Africa Travel Resource, how do you feel about using these guys? Anybody else you want me to report on?

3. With November not a good option, does October 2005 work for you, or should we wait until Jan-Mar 2006?

Africa Outfitters Aplenty

2004-11-30T14:54:00.000-05:00

Geez, being project manager for a trip to Africa is no small piece of work. Here are the groups on my list to research; in addition to dredging up independent reviews on all these companies, I've sent inquiries to nearly all of them to hear their pitches. I expect to get an overwhelming flood of responses in the days to come...but I hope one company stands out over the rest, because the amount of data to examine is pretty daunting right now.

Adventure Center
Africa Travel Resource
African Encounters
African Horizons
EWP
Exodus
Explore Worldwide
Foot Venture
FootLoose Adventure Travel
Good Earth Tours
High Places
Himalayan Travel, Inc.
Hoopoe Safaris
IntoAfrica
KE Adventure Travel
Marangu Hotel
Mt. Travel-Sobek
Roy Safaris
Shah Tours
Sherpa Expeditions
Sunny Safaris
Trek Holidays
Tropical Trails
Wilderness Travel
Zara

And this is by no means an exhaustive list -- but you gotta draw the line somewhere!

Hamjambo, wazungu?

2004-11-29T14:18:00.000-05:00

I'm finally taking the plunge to online journaling -- or I guess I should use the proper term, blogging, although it still sounds a little too much like a fad to me. (Five years from now, I'll read this and laugh at my naivete.) I've been writing in my paper journal off and on (more off than on, unfortunately) about this next Flying Yanks trip that we're supposedly taking, so I suppose I should go back to that and put those entries in this blog so this journal has some context.

But for now, a quick update on where things stand:

Although we're not 100% behind a trip to Africa, I think we're as close to 100% as we're going to get with any trip at this point. Nepal in 2000 and New Zealand in 2003 were our no-brainers; after those two destinations, we've all got a bunch of good ideas (like Peru, Europe, Iceland, Alaska and the Grand Canyon) but are missing a clear #1 choice. Africa gets the highest overall marks among the five of us, and we all seem content with the verdict.

I have to have rather major surgery in January for a tissue growth in my mouth -- how thrilling! It will knock me out of commission for several weeks, which means my goal is to arrange our trip to Africa between now and January 19. This trip planning needs to happen at this time anyway, since outfitters and airlines get booked up well in advance for journeys like this.

I've been polling the guys about their specific interests for a trip to Africa. It looks like we're boiling it down to a few main activities, namely climbing Kilimanjaro, doing a safari in the Serengeti and maybe visiting Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe or going to the island of Zanzibar. There are a lot of other possibilities, but it's amazing how quickly a few weeks can pass.

I think we're pretty sure we want to go sometime around October 2005. Our schedules work for that period of time, and it also happens to be an excellent time to climb Kili and view wildlife in the Serengeti.

I set up a private discussion group on MSN so the Flying Yanks could converse about trip-related stuff. It's worked to mixed results. Email is still quicker, but the forum format helps keep the issues organized. I attribute our rather slow adoption of the message board to our rather slow adoption of the idea that we need to decide on a trip destination.

As project manager for this journey, I have tasked myself to look up a bunch of travel outfitters. It seems unreasonable for us five to go on the trip without some knowledgeable outside assistance -- that strategy worked fine for us in English-speaking New Zealand, but it would have been a disaster in Nepal. My goal is to find a reputable outfitter who will give us freedom to define our own trip but do all the necessary local coordination. I'll be scouring the travel message boards this month and sending out a lot of inquiries.

OK, so I'd better get to work on this stuff. More reports coming soon, I hope!

Lt. Dan

Destination Still Unknown

2004-09-24T00:59:00.000-04:00

(This post paraphrased from my paper journal.)

It sounds like the Yanks' camping trip in the Cascades had a few bumpy moments. There are still a number of concerns about Kilimanjaro that need to be addressed -- so many, in fact, that I'm starting to think that we might end up going somewhere else instead. The Grand Canyon has been suggested as an alternative. I'm not sure how I feel about that; call me petty, but I like the cachet of international travel.

But no need to get all whipped up into a frenzy yet. My job as project manager is a little more complicated now, because I think I need to poll the guys and see where we can come up with some consensus. This is one of those times when it would be good if we all lived in the same city; email and instant messaging just doesn't cut the mustard sometimes.

No Flapjacks For Me

2004-09-09T10:47:00.000-04:00

(Another post from my paper journal.)

See yesterday's entry about my health issue. I've decided to go ahead with the MRI tomorrow, so I'll miss out on the Flying Yanks reunion weekend in the Cascades. I'm going to mope around the house all weekend. Hopefully, the other four guys will make some Africa decisions in my absence.

Flapjack Lakes! ... Or Not

2004-09-08T13:33:00.000-04:00

(Also transcribed from my paper journal.)

Looks like we'll be hiking in the Flapjack Lakes area near Seattle this weekend. (At least I think I'll be there -- health issues might be getting in the way -- see below.) Jax has done due diligence in prepping for the journey.

So now I have a health issue, thanks to the growth of tissue that's been residing in the back of my mouth for the past dozen or so years. I finally went to see a doctor about it, and he wants me to get an MRI done on it as soon as possible. They scheduled me in for this Friday -- which means I would have to bail on the Flying Yanks' guy weekend. The growth has been sitting back there forever; you'd like to think it wouldn't be a problem for another few days. But damn, Dr. Dierks has put a little fear of the Almighty in me. I need to make a decision rather quickly on what I'm going to do; the plan is to convene at Jax's place in Seattle tomorrow night.

Poop.

Getting the Band Back Together!

2004-08-11T22:08:00.000-04:00

(Another entry transcribed from my paper journal. This series of events occurred when Jax lived in Seattle and I lived in Portland...Jax now lives in Fargo, ND and I live in Richmond, VA. This was all more than you needed to know, wasn't it?)

No real progress on Kilimanjaro yet, but that might change soon: the Flying Yanks are getting together next month (Sept. 9-13) for some hiking and camping up in the Seattle area. Jax is hosting the event, the three midwesterners are flying over, and I'll drive up from Portland. A decent "guys weekend" ought to get us over the hump on our Kili concerns, I think.

Doubts About Kili

2004-06-15T01:07:00.000-04:00

(Also transcribed from my paper journal.)

Not much going on with the Flying Yanks these days. We're all still talking about Kilimanjaro, albeit very slowly and only in sporadic emails. I have the feeling there will need to be an all-out dialogue on the phone one of these days so we can figure out whether we're really going to do this thing.

Monty expressed his concerns about altitude in an email to me today. He's got a good point; none of us have experienced life at 19,000 feet -- how will we hold up? I suppose that's a question all Kili trekkers face, though. Some people make it to the summit, some don't. My take on it is that I'd rather give it a shot and fail than not take a shot at all.

But let's wait and see what the group decides... we can have an equally great time doing Machu Picchu or something else if Africa isn't favored by the majority. As long as we go somewhere!

We Dream Of Africa

2004-05-01T00:50:00.000-04:00

(This entry was transcribed from my paper journal. I had no idea how to do a blog back in early '04!)

This is the first entry of what I hope will be many entries about the Flying Yanks' next adventure, which I think will be in Africa. We've been talking off and on since we were in New Zealand last year about our next destination, and Africa (Kilimanjaro in particular) has consistently arisen as a place of interest. We still have some discussion ahead of us about this, though; I'm not sure we're all 100% sold on it yet. For my part, I'm certainly sold -- I've neglected Africa and South America in my travels, and Kilimanjaro would be a great way to experience the continent.

We're also still talking about other places to go, including Machu Picchu in Peru, as well as Alaska. (Visiting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge before it gets drilled would be cool.)

Right now, though, the main discussion point among the Yanks is Kilimanjaro, so we'll see where that goes. On the table is the timing question; we're talking about whether October 2005 would be a possibility.