Zanzibar 2017 : Why, yes, it IS a real place!

Zanzibar was meant to be "the vacation from our vacation", and it didn't disappoint. We didn't *do* very much ... which is exactly what we wanted. 

September 11: We flew from Nairobi and had our first Zanzibar sundowner. 

September 12: Where we spent hours wandering around Stone Town, luxuriated in our hotel room at Emerson Spice, had another amazing dinner, and fell in love with Zanzibar.

September 13: Where we went on a Safari Blue: sailing, snorkeling, sunbathing, stuffing our faces, and spotting DOLPHINS!

September 14: Where we spent a sobering morning at the site of the former slave market, admired the cathedral, and sipped our sundowner at Mercury's. 

September 15: Where we left Stone Town for the east coast village of Bwejuu, stopping for a spice tour and admiring this perfect beach for the first time. 

September 16: Where we woke up with monkeys, wandered along the beach, and lounged around the pool. 

September 17: Where I read 2 novels and we went for a long walk on the beach. #thisisvacation

September 18: Where we got very ambitious and went on an excursion to The Rock. 

September 19: We said farewell to our Jungle Bungalow in Bwejuu, returned to Stone Town, and saw our last Zanzibar sunset. 

 September 20-21: We slowly made our way home, flying past Kili on the way.

African Safari 2017

Where can you see LIONS? Only in KENYA!!! After our amazing Kilimanjaro climb; our group headed to Kenya to spend a week on safari... and it was spectacular.

September 4: We crossed the border into Kenya, created the Best Van Ever, and went on our first game drive in Amboseli National Park.

September 5: We spent another day in Amboseli National Park, saw dozens of elephants, and Wil worked on his jumping skills in a Maasai village.

September 6: This was mainly a travel day, as we drove via Nairobi to Lake Naivasha ... where we relaxed on the lake and saw baby giraffes.

September 7: We made the short drive from Naivasha to Nakuru... and saw flamingos and RHINOS!

September 8: We left Lake Naivasha and drove to the Maasai Mara and saw our first LIONS.

September 9: We spent all day on a game drive in the Maasai Mara. We rescued a stuck van, poured cold water on a frisky zebra and his lady friends (oops), saw a leopard, and, of course, MORE LIONS. 

September 10: We had an early drive and saw CHEETAHS ... then drove to Nairobi and said farewell to the gang. 

We put in a lot of hours with our driver, Njaguna, and the fellow members of the Best Van Ever ... so thankful for all of them! Thanks for singing all the parts of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". Thanks for joining in the Best Van Ever chants. Thanks for dancing at gas stations. Thanks for insisting that we sang "I Will Survive" with feeling. Thanks for all of it.

Gretchen, Julie, Liz, Njaguna, Wil, Sunny, Tony... and Liberty #6, the Best Van Ever!

Kilimanjaro Climb 2017

It's hard to believe that we've been home for over a week ... even harder to believe that it was a MONTH ago that we were here:

I've been typing up my journal and sifting through our 2000+ photos for the blog, but it's pretty slow going.

I have, however finished writing up each day of the climb. So sit back, grab "kikombe cha chai" (a cup of tea) and climb with us:

August 23: First we had to get to Africa. And to do that, we had to spend a night in Canada. (Eh?)

August 24-25: Then we spent the better part of TWO DAYS getting to Tanzania. Along the way we flew across the Atlantic, felt trapped in a featureless departures lounge, and ate a lot of airplane food.

August 26: Then we explored the town of Moshi and met the local wildlife. 

August 27: On Sunday we had our pre-climb meeting, packed for the climb, and went into Moshi to poke around the abandoned railway station. 

Then it was finally time for us to start the climb itself.

August 28: On the first day we drove to the north side of the mountain and hiked up to Simba Camp, near First Cave. 

August 29: We hiked the steep route via Second Cave to Kikelelwa Camp.

August 30: We had an easy day hiking up to Mawenzi Tarn.

August 31: We took a rest day at Mawenzi Tarn to prepare for our summit attempt. 

September 1: Summit day!

September 2: We descended to Horombo Huts.

September 3: We celebrated with our support crew, descended to Marangu Gate, and returned to Moshi.

If this had been all we did in Africa, I still think it would have been worth it. We challenged ourselves -- summit day was the hardest single-day thing I've ever done. We met a great group of people and cheered each other on. We saw beautiful places. and we reached the roof of Africa. Sometimes I still can't believe it. 

Next up: safari in Kenya!