Berg

Hear Wally's Call from Africa

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Sally took off this morning for Nairobi en route home to Colorado. She'll meet the Kili IV; the fourth expedition Alpine Ascents is running to Kilimanjaro this year. She'll meet them at the Serena Hotel in Nairobi this afternoon and I'll see those folks down here tomorrow. A lot of people ask me, 'how can you do these things back-to-back?' It seems obvious to me: they're such great trips—I'm already looking forward to getting started again. Especially after the quality of the safari with this Kilimanjaro III group, outstanding group of folks, and they were rewarded by what I'll have to say is the best safari of the season.

I left you on the last dispatch at Ngorongoro Crater. We proceeded on to Manyara, Lake Manyara, that day, and Tarangire, and just continued to see an amazing amount of activity and wildlife. You always want to see "the big five" and in various lists that's certainly lion, elephant, leopard; it's going to be buffalo on some lists; certainly, the rhino, which, as you know, at Ngorongoro we saw.

This was an outstanding trip: a lot of activity, as well, as just seeing these animals. We did see a leopard at Tarangire. Our cars rolled out with drivers and Land Rovers, at various times in the day. We had a 6am departure with Fred, Sue, and Dave, and the rest of us took a more mellow schedule. Most folks saw a pair of lions mating at Tarangire, which is always a big thrill and kind of an amazing scene to watch. As I said, we saw a leopard; in this case, a leopard had drug a zebra up into a tree, so that other predators weren't going to get at it while the leopard could enjoy the rewards of it's kill, amazing scenes out there in Tarangire.

Holt Hunter and Fred Peterson flew out of here yesterday having climbed two of the seven summits with Alpine Ascents this month. They both did Elbrus with Vern Tejas and less than 30 days later, after a successful climb here at Kilimanjaro, they left Africa—amazing month for those guys, great back-to-back, combination trip, I would have to say.

So, we'll keep you posted. I'm thrilled about meeting these folks tomorrow. There's going to be 13 of us all together on Kilimanjaro IV, and the stories will keep coming. I'll keep you posted as time goes on here.

—Alpine Ascents Guide Wally Berg, MountainZone.com Correspondent