Kilimanjaro: Machame, Shira, Karanga, Barranco, Barafu

Machame Route: 27 December 2008 to 2 January 2009

Here is a brief description of our climb. The experience was so awesome that it would be impossible to explain all the feelings of exilhiration and achievement. The photos below are just a glimpse of what it was like "up there".

Collection point at Karama Lodge. We were all nervously "upbeat" and ready to tackle all that came our way.

Our first view of "her" - what a daunting mountain.

Entrance to the National Park - Machame Gate. This was the last chance to hire any forgotten equipment.

Enter 'The Rain Forest' - this would test the driest of raincoats.

This was a long day - 8 hours of walking. Well worth it!

Our campsite at Machame Hut (3 000m). The porters did all the hard work as we arrived to find the camp setup. (this would be the case everyday).

Day 2 -Hether Region: you definately feel like you have a starring role in "The Lord of the Rings" - an elf or fairy could appear at any time - this is the feeling you get from the vegetation.

Day 2 still produces some happy campers on the way.

Shira Camp (3 878m) - the first time we get a good view of 'the peak'.

Day 3 - Moorland on the way to Karanga Camp.

Some ups and downs on day 3.

Karanga Hut (4 021m) - the snow starting to look like glaciers.

Day 4 - making our way to Barranco Hut. We needed to make a stop at the Lava Tower (4 700m) - this was part of our acclimitisation - walk high, sleep low.

Here is a pic of some ash flow - to think this was an active volcano - not so long ago!

Barranco Hut (4 483m) - and still smiling. From our tent we could view what we were to climb the next day "Barranco Wall" - let's just say we were all nervous.

Day 5 - The Desert - no that is not a sand storm - believe it, that's mist! This is going through the Alpine Desert - nothing much grows here and the temperature is staring to drop.

The Desert - yes this is the same desert, but we have sun this time.

We have finally arrived at our last camp before summit - Barafu Hut (4 600m). We were to go to sleep around 6pm. They woke us up at 11pm to start our summit. We were an hour into our summit when the first "Happy New Year" wishes were heard. It was great to see the lights and fireworks in Moshi and Arusha. It was dark, cold (-15deg C) and exhausting, but once we reached the top it was WORTH ALL THE EFFORT!!!!

Break of a new dawn - 1 January 2009.

This was the pinnacle of the trip - Uhuru Peak (5 895m). ETA was 6:50am Tanzanian time (1 hr ahead of SA) See the glacier in the background - they stand close to 30m high. Well done to all who climbed!

Tanzania: Mzuzu, Mbeya, Iringa, Tanga and Arusha

Kisolanza Farm House

Leaving Nkhata Bay we moved off to Mzuzu for fuel and air. Afterwards we headed to the border. All borders have problems - this one doesn't have a visible bureau - so money changing creates stress with all the zeros on the notes. We were warned about the bad driving and experienced it within the first hour of riding. The tour buses are driven by mad men who are out to kill you. We overnight at Kisolanza Farm in Iringa - highly recommended! We were told that the road to Tanga was long and we planned to leave early the next day.

Dodging tour buses, we made our way to Tanga. This road took us through baobab valley with its weird and wonderful baobab creations. Another unique experience is riding on a highway, through a national park.

Baobab Valley

Being xmas eve we would have liked to get to our destination earlish so we could relax, well ... From Tanga town to Peponi Beach Resort was 30kms on dirt. We arrived shaken and stirred only to be turned away. After desperate pleas, the owner kindly agreed to accommodate and feed us. Day 8 was certainly our hardest and most frustrating day. After eating an awesome meal, we headed for a sweaty night's sleep in our tents.

Peponi Beach Resort

OUR FINAL DESTINATION

We packed our bikes and got off to an early start, trying to beat the dreaded 'buses'. We failed!!! This section from Tanga to Arusha is a bit like riding from the Californian coast to the desert. This is hot, dry, sandy country.

Petrol Station, Segera

Its amazing how Kilimajaro creates its own oasis within this arid region. Moshi and Arusha are tropical with bananas growing everywhere. After 4 761kms we finally reached Karama Lodge in Arusha.

Karama Lodge

Malawi: holiday ride

21st December

Malawi has the best roads, people and accommodation and not to mention the mystical lake (like the sea just no salt). Had a relaxing time swimming, canoeing and sleeping at Safari Beach Lodge in Senga Bay, with a brief walk through the fishmonger village finishing the day off with some bartering for curios.

The next day was a spectacular ride on the lake shore to a "sardine-packed" Nkhata Bay. Met interesting people at Mayoko Village, imagine this - backpacking around India and Africa for 8 months (by yourself) - that was the New Zealander.

Mayoko Village

Zambia: ferries, waterfalls and potholes...

It's the 19th of December ... we were up early to make our way across the Zambezi via the Kazangula Ferry. BE AWARE of the "runners" - rather do all the paperwork yourself and prevent utter disbelief when having to "cough-up" the runner fee. We left the border to view the magnificent VIC FALLS. It was running low and you could see a lot more through the spray. We had a quick bite at the Steers (yes, you heard right, STEERS) and then off to ride the worst road in Africa, from Vic Falls to Zimba. The day was extremely long mainly due to the additional 2 hours it took to ride 70kms. We ended up riding through "polluted" Lusaka at 8pm and the traffic was horrific. Eureka Campsite - PLEEZZZZZ get a sign, 'cause we had to pay $200 for a room at the Holiday Inn OUCH!!!!!! that was way above our budget.

The road to Zimba.

Being the 20th - this was day four and the 'rear ends' were being punished by those soft BMW seats. Yeh right!!!!

The route from Lusaka to Chipata via the Luanga Bridge is certainly the most beautiful and rewarding ride in Zambia. The unfortunate part was buying petrol from the local mafia at R27 a litre. The rewarding part was that the local kids were asking for pens, pity we only had one. That kid was a 'wanted man" after that! Throughout the whole journey the bridge is the only place that we were asked, "What do you have for me today?" and our reply to the man holding the AK-47 was, "Unfortunately, nothing today!".

Luanga Bridge

Whilst putting in petrol in Nyimba, we were challenged to a race by a friendly guy on a DT125, but he then admitted that he would have needed a head start, so he left having a jolly good laugh. Each town has its village idiot. This town idiot focussed on Penni and after having touched Ken's bike repeatedly and being warned off, he fined moved over to his object of concerntration - Penni's rear! hee hee, we had a good laugh. This was all harmless. We finally reach Chipata (look at the photie - it looks alot like Mombasa, Kenya). We stayed at Mama Rulas. It was an awesome sanctuary with excellent food, beer and company. Specials thanks to Linda for all the valuable info she gave us.

Botswana: Big Sky Country...

We left Boksburg on the 17th of December quite refreshed and ready for our journey. We had an estimated 707kms to get to our destination - Francistown, Botswana. The road from Potgietersrus was very busy with trucks.

We easily crossed the border via Martins Drift. At Kwa Nokeng where we were to change money, we met a fellow South African. He gave us a few tips and also showed us a route that shortened our trip by about 50kms. What a blessing! He warned us about the road between Nata and Kasane - potholes and elephants. The weather started getting hot here. Rain threatened, but never came.

The one impressive thing of Botswana is the "Big Sky". The roads are flat and the skies never end, filled with blankets of clouds.

We arrived in Francistown in the late afternoon. We had our overnight at Tati River Lodge. By the way the lodge did not have a river.

On the 18th we left Tati River Lodge at around 8:30am, making our way to Nata and finally Kasane. We saw alot of wild life - elephants, baboons and giraffe. The potholes were awesome. Little did we know that in Zambia we would find potholes to top all potholes.

Rain threatened so we put the rain gear on. This gear was uncomfortably hot and eventually we stopped to take it off - and of course as we took our last pieces off the skies opened - and we were well soaked. That's Murphy's Law isn't it?

We finally made it to Toro Safari Lodge in Kasane. Where we were well rested and fed. Tomorrow we would head off to Kazangula ferry and Border crossing.

Petrol, food and accomodation is quite cheap in Bostwana, but beers are R21 bucks each.

Updates

We tried to update this blog during our trip - but the internet connections were few and far between - those we found were extremely slow and the charges were ridiculous - so we made the decision to update when we are back.

Firstly, best wishes to all our friends and family - hope 2009 is all you want it to be and more! We should be able to update the blog in the next week or so.

Just a small snippet - the bike trip up to Tanzania was AWESOME - travelling on a motorbike gives a whole new outlook on travelling - you get to interact much more with the local people. The hike up to Uhuru Peak - all 6 team members made it. What an achievement!!!!!

Lastly, I (Donna) would like to thank my husband for all the planning he put into this trip - which made it so awesome and to my friends Ken, Penni, Lesley and Craig - thanks for being such great holiday mates - this has been a holiday that has changed my life and I will always keep close to my heart.

Also ... ANDY - HAPPY BIRTHDAY for Wednesday - wish we were together!

I hope that you enjoy our stories as we send them through.

Andy and Ken - good luck for your trip back - have a JOL!!!!