Off Yonder – Adventure Travel Stories - Seeing the world for what it is

The Roof of Africa
Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Six days – five days of climbing and acclimating and one day to get down.

Kilimanjaro has no technical aspect to it and thus enters the debate of being labeled either a climb or a hike. If I had my way, it would just be called a hike, but “climbing Kilimanjaro” has a better ring to it than “hiking Kilimanjaro.”

Regardless, in the end you still end up at 5,985m (19,341ft) atop Uhuru Peak amongst the receding glaciers and upon the highest point in Africa, not to mention, the highest free standing volcano in the world.

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One Day Safari
Arusha National Park, Arusha, Tanzania

I arrived in Tanzania a day before our Kilimanjaro ascent and joined with Eric, a member of our party to explore Arusha National Park. In Swahili ‘safari’ just means ‘travel’ but the word has evolved to mean a trip through the jungle to see animals. In this case, we departed on our one-day safari from Moshi at the base of Kilimanjaro and drove in an extended Toyota Land Cruiser to Arusha NP where our guide, Louis, opened the roof and drove us through the park where we saw all sorts of wildlife roaming free and doing what they do.

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