Text by New York Times reporter and Iraq war correspondent Paul von Zielbauer, who started Roadmonkey as a way to combine adventure travel and giving back and engaging with local communities. He is currently taking guests up Kilimanjaro, followed by volunteering at a school in Dar es Salaam, Tanzanina. Paul will be checking with us along the way.
Day 1: We’ve arrived in Tanzania and are ready to go...unlike the weather.
As I write this note, from the desk of my not-so-well-lighted hotel room in Moshi, Tanzania, our very eager ten-member Roadmonkey expedition team is just 90 minutes from launching its six-day trek up 19,345-foot Mt. Kilimanjaro, the tallest peak in Africa.
It’s 6:30 in the morning; it’s dark out, and Moshi is thrumming rain.
The kind of African rain that would be great to wake up, listen, and drink coffee to. But not the kind of rain in which one wants to begin a multi-hour uphill hike. I just moved all my clothes into a giant Zip-Loc dry bag (who knew they made 10-gallon Zip-Locs?) and have flipped the mental switch from expecting a pleasant day hike to enduring a bone-soaking slog.
It’s okay. This is Africa. We’re Roadmonkeys. What doesn’t kill us make us…walk faster.
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The kind of African rain that would be great to wake up, listen, and drink coffee to. But not the kind of rain in which one wants to begin a multi-hour uphill hike.
Posted by: murrieta chiro practor | July 18, 2011 at 09:37 PM
Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is such a great adventure.The glaciers on top just make you love the area.As you carry out this task,enjoy your safari and let it be something worth remembering.All the best.
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Posted by: ferragamo shoes | March 02, 2011 at 09:30 PM
Climbing the world’s largest free standing mountain – How was it? Would you recommend doing it? Did it require allot of training to do?
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Posted by: Qi34Krista | January 05, 2010 at 03:51 PM
Good luck in your adventures. Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro is one of the great challenging task and fun.
Posted by: Kilimanjaro | June 25, 2009 at 08:39 PM