The countries of East Africa are home to some of the most diverse geography and plant and animal life in the entire continent.  The geography is stunning and somewhat extreme, including the tallest mountains on the continent, Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya; Lake Victoria, the second largest freshwater lake in the world; and the second deepest lake on earth, Lake Tanganyika. Cheap air flights are availabl ...

As an experienced sailor, you are probably looking to have some adventure sailing on your boat. You have all the necessary certifications and have been sailing for years but you don't know about the most interesting places on Earth where you can sail? Not to worry, professional sailors around the world recommend a few places over and over again and promise that there are lot of adventures to be had at these ...

It’s 12am on Dec 26th, 2010. We’re 3 hikers and 2 guides at base camp getting ready to start our final hike to Uhuru peak, Kilimanjaro’s highest summit at 5,895m. The backstory seems irrelevant. I seem to have somehow ended up here with other hikers. Eurostar deals and last minute bargains aside, this was something that had crossed my mind a few months ago and I was finally going through with it. The hike s ...

Now that I've been back at work for 5 months, I'm reminiscing on my 3-week trip to Tanzania last December/January. My second solo backpacking trip, first one in Africa, was a complete success! The greatest achievement of all was reaching the Kilimanjaro summit, fourth of the top seven summits in the world. It was tough but I accomplished it. It was a once in a lifetime experience I will never forget, but ha ...

Following my previous post on my 5-day safari experience in Tanzania, here I continue to ramble about the Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangire Park. [caption id="attachment_4088" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="View of the Ngorongoro Crater"][/caption] The Ngorongoro Crater The Ngorongoro Crater is a Maasai word that means "Big Hole". In the last 5 million years, 9 ngorongoro volcanoes erupted. The crat ...

Following the 6-day Kilimanjaro hike, I must admit that I had no intentions of moving a finger on the 5-day safari. I wanted to be catered to. Simply sit or stand on the jeep, watch and take pictures of the animals, and that's it! And this is exactly what Marcel and I did. No hiking and no sleeping in the cold were part of our safari experience. During our 5-day safari, we visited Lake Manyara National Park ...

Unlike the other days, Day 6 or Dec 26th 2010 began at midnight. At midnight, our guides came to see us and we had to get moving quickly. With nothing but headlamps and the moon shining, we began a 6-7 hours ascent to Uhuru peak. It was steep, dark and cold. All we saw were the rocks in front of us and the reflection of other headlamps on the trail. It was nice, I have to admit. The toughest part was to rea ...

Day 5, or Dec 25th 2010 was the big day! While most of you were eating abundantly, I was about to lose every ounce of body fat. By day 5, I had suffered from altitude sickness, loss of appetite and the regular unwanted bathroom calls, which all led to some weight loss. I tried to eat as much as I could, a mix of cooked food and energy bars. I had to make sure to have enough energy for summit night. The nigh ...

When I woke up on Day 4, at Barranco camp (3,900m), I was feeling much better than the previous day but not 100%. I had to however suck it in because this morning's hike was going to be challenging, as we were practically rock climbing a wall. This was also the day where the group was splitting. Those who were completing the hike in 6 days had a 7 hour hike to base camp today, whereas we were hiking 4 hours ...

Day 3 was no fun! This was the acclimatization day, where we were hiking to the Lava Tower at 4, 590m to then sleep at Barranco camp at 3,900m. The purpose of this day was to acclimatize to the altitude, considering that you can begin to feel altitude sickness at 4,000m. What began as a good hike quickly shifted to a very demanding one. That morning, we woke up as any other morning. It was a beautiful morni ...