Hey Rocco,

Are you sure that you will go to Zambia and/or Botswana in 2006?

On Saturday 24th June 2006 a new challenge is waiting for you in Kenya (and a great opportunity to see black rhino):

http://www.tusk.org/index.asp?pageid=44&page=44

Yours truly
Bwana Mitch

Mitch,

You trying to get me killed?

I have absolutely no interest in running through a game park, even if there are helicopters and armed guards around. Plus, this marathon does seem a bit commercialized to me.

So far, the only marathons that really interest me in Africa are the following:

1. Two Oceans Marathon, Cape Town, SA (held the day before Easter Sunday each year)

2. Comrades Marathon, Durban, SA (held every Youth Day on June 16th)

3. Kiliminjaro Marathon, on the foothills of Kiliminjaro, Tanzania, held next year on February 26th

So, I will hopefully be able to check off Kiliminjaro from the list in 2006 and then I will see if I am in good enough shape to do one of the other two marathons in 2007.

Rocco - I'm disappointed - I thought you would enjoy the challenge.

I think you would be safe as long as you can run with the pack. The predators are going to wait for the laggards.

tasha,

As a laggard, I would be a prime target for the predators!

I promise you that if I run the Kiliminjaro Marathon next February I will be amongst the very last finishers, if not dead last!

Even with the half marathon, I may only be able to beat a woman in her 60's. There is a price to pay for doing marathons while practicing the couch potato lifestyle.

Anyway, there is no way that I would be able to return to Africa so quickly (June 24th, 2006) as I will not even return from Tanzania until about March 17th. Instead, I will visit Botswana in November, just as low season pricing begins. Low season pricing will give me the opportunity for a private vehicle, if I so choose and will also mean a high season visit to either Buenos Aires or Sydney.

I would prefer Sydney, but it will be much more expensive since I will not go to Sydney without also staying at a great place along the Great Barrier Reef for about four nights. Here are a couple places, each around $1,000 (Australian dollars) per night per person. That works out to about $760 pppns, which is nearly double the price of a beautiful place like the Palms Zanzibar (www.palms-zanzibar.com)

http://www.bedarraisland.com/
http://www.lizardisland.com.au/

The ideal thing would be to spend three nights at each of the above places, along with four nights in Sydney, nine nights in Botswana and one night in Joburg.

However, if I go to Buenos Aires, I am not dying to visit Patagonia (again) or Bariloche, so I would likely stay for three nights on the way over to Botswana and three nights on the way back from Botswana, shaving four nights off the trip. Argentina would be MUCH less expensive than Australia and it seems to be what my wife prefers, anyhow.

Roccco - http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...STASTELIKE.gif

Oh, give it a try, Rocco! Last week I bet on a horse at the races in Maryland for one reason only . . . it was named Rocco's Rocket. I took a chance and won enough to walk away happy. Maybe it's a sign for your next marathon???

Sundowner,

Yeah, that's me being eaten by the lions!


Travelwmn,

I will be running/walking/crawling the Kiliminjaro Marathon on February 26th to kick off my 11 night Lake Manyara / Ngorongoro Crater / Serengeti safari. From there I will finish up with five nights in Zanzibar.

I figure I will be ready for another marathon by early June, making the Rock N' Roll Marathon in San Diego a perfect match.

Then I will need to find a late October / early November marathon right before Botswana.

So, 2007 may be better suited for any other marathon, including the Safaricom. There is another one out there that I saw not too long ago that is actually a 50 mile ultramarathon. Hopefully I will one day work my way up to this mileage. Trust me, I am very conscious of the fact that overweight people do not live very long, and I want to live to be 100 if I am of sound mind, so it is time to drop the weight.

Now here is one wildlife related marathon in South Africa that I hope will be repeated in 2007:

http://www.extrememarathons.com/addo/