Africa Outfitters Aplenty

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?

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

(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

(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

(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!

(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

(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

(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.