Trip Report - Kilimanjaro, Serengeti, Namibia (with photos and videos)
 

Here's a trip report from our 3+ week trip to Africa. We visited Mt Kilimanjaro (Lemosho route, with western breach ascent), Serengeti (Singita Mara River Camp), and three places in Namibia (Kulala Desert Lodge, Serra Cafema, and Ongava Tented Camp), plus short stops in Kenya, South Africa, and Angola. Highlights of the trip included:

*successfully climbing Mt Kilimanjaro
*15 separate cheetah sightings (12 separate animals)
*14 separate rhino sightings (11 separate animals, 8 white and 3 black)
*5 separate Mara River crossings by the wildebeest
*ATVing through the sand dunes in northern Namibia
*climbing a good deal of the way up "Big Daddy" in Sossusvlei
*meeting some of the nicest and friendliest people we will ever meet

Hopefully this can be of use to those of you planning a trip to Africa, or those of you who just need something to kill some time on a Wednesday at work.

http://justinandcrystal.com/Africa2013/

Sounds like you had a fantastic trip. Did you spot any leopards?

Great pictures and writing.

"At the other end of the spectrum, a younger guy was livid when his wife wouldn't turn back when he had to. She was near the top and wanted to complete the mountain; her husband wanted her to come with him."

That is such a great story. I can just imagine.

Great trip report. We have an almost identical photo from Dead Vlei (although I guess that isn't hard!)

Travelex, no leopards this time. We saw quite a few when we were in Botswana a few years back, so it wasn't a big bummer to not see any this trip.

Crystal & Justine,

What a great trip report. I felt I was climbing Killi with you. Congratulations on making it to the top and back. Your report will undoubtedly help others who are planning the climb with its exacting detail, warts and all. I am just reaching the part about your safari. The overall production of your report with embedded high resolution pictures and video make for a great reading experience. Thanks for posting this.

Thank you for reading. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Thank you so much for the details about your Kili climb. My DH and I are planning to do it in 2015 for my 50th birthday. I've got so many questions after reading your blog.

How much did you prepare, and what did you do, and for how long? Do you live at altitude? we are just outside of NYC which is basically elevation zero. We just came back from 9 days in Yellowstone which is at about 7,000 feet and we did OK, after a day or two...

How hard was it to find your guide group? How much in advance did you start doing research and how much in advance did you book it?

thanks very much for as many details as you feel like providing!

We went on 1-2 hikes nearly every weekend from April-August. We were fortunate that there are several 6,000-11,000 foot peaks within an hour or two of where we live in San Diego, and two 13,000 foot peaks within 90 minutes of our place in Hawaii. We made sure to hike a bunch of different mountains, not only to eliminate redundancy but also to give experience walking on different surfaces, different slopes, etc. Of all the places we hiked, I think Mauna Kea actually gave us the best representation of what Kilimanjaro was liked. That being said, even 13,000 feet is not going to get you ready for Kilimanjaro, because you're at 13,000 feet by day 2 or 3. We figured out which route we wanted to climb (Lemosho and Western Breach) and which month we wanted to climb (September, when its usually quite dry), and then had our travel agent present us with a couple companies that fit the bill for what we wanted to do. We booked the whole deal last May, so 16 months before we left. I hope this helps.

Mistadobalina can I ask if you considered any parts of the trail up Kili dangerous? I think I spotted one such reference in your report.

I am not crazy about narrow ridges.

Nothing seemed particularly dangerous to me. There were no narrow ridges that I remember seeing. The most dangerous part is the altitude. The trail, for the most part, is just dirt or scree. The exception, going up, would be the Western Breach, where there is some scrambling, but that was difficult, not dangerous. I can only speak to when the trail was dry; if it were wet, I suppose it could be a bit slippery coming down the last day, as the ground was very compacted there. Elsewhere, it would undoubtedly be muddy in the rain, but probably not slippery.

Thanks for that. There are some interesting articles written about the Western Breach and safety.

We were just exhausted on a hike in Iceland. What you did on summit day was much harder than what we did. Thanks again.

wow, you did a lot of preparation. Thanks so much for your explanation. I'm sure that added to your successful summit. Unfortunately there's no way I'm going to be able to do that kind of prep. I wonder if I should start seriously rethinking the entire thing.

Hikrchick, on the day we reached the summit we ran into a group of 3 from Ohio, who were in their 50s. We saw them on Day 2 of our hike (I think I mentioned that in the trip log), and they were winded then. There aren't any tall mountains around Ohio, so I don't know what sort of prep these folks did. Point being, I think our preparation was far from the norm. What you could easily do is just walk at around 1.5-2.0 mph (2-3 km/h) on a treadmill that has an incline, set to the highest incline. Then, over time, start walking on the treadmill with your backpack on. This wouldn't simulate the altitude, but your body would at least be used to walking uphill with a heavy pack on.

Your pictures are beautiful. I was in East AFrica July/August I love it.

Wonderful report and great pics and video. We haven't been to the Serengeti, and likely will never try Kilimanjaro (65 & 71), but will encourage our "kids" to put it on their lists. Africa is such a magnificent place to travel, and hopefully we'll be able to go back at least once more.