A lot of time has passed
since my last post, which is partly due to the fact that I was far from
civilization for some time and partly because I was being lazy to write
afterwards. So, the next 4-5 months should be devoted to the extraordinary
adventure in Africa, which I experienced in the end of 2013. Now I'm gonna stop
writing endless introductions, because somebody has to translate them in English
afterwards (as I write them first in my native language), which is not my
favorite part of my blog writing experience. Also, I will try to make the posts
less texty due to the same reason. However, the travel photo book that I make
after every major trip of mine will be very lengthy word-wise and will include
all of my thoughts.
The last explanation about
what I saw and what you can expect to see on my blog – the first part of my
adventure was a one week ascent of Kilimanjaro together with three friends of
mine, which was followed by a one month safari through Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda
and Tanzania with no acquaintances at all. Let the journey begin.
I land in the dark of night,
very dark, 3:30 dark at the international Kilimanjaro airport. The first real
African experience is awaiting me already – getting a visa. I go to desk №1, where I have to pay. I ask
for a multiple entry visa as I will have another entry in Tanzania later on my
travel, but the desk clerk tells me that I can't, and I should not try to be a
wise guy. The last part is self-explanatory, as well as the fact that I'm going
to pay $50 each time I enter the country and I am going to pay them like a dude
or like white dude, mzungu. For the uniformed this is the name that the
Africans use for white people, which comes from the name for wanderers with
aimless/lost look, which the first European travelers to this part of the world
had. I pay the money and go desk №2, where they take a photo of
me and put the visa in my passport. On desk №3 – they make a photo of me
again, as well as take my finger prints. Just in case, I ask the guy at desk №4, if I have to go to him as
well, to which he looks at me lost in thought and takes my finger prints again.
I refuse to ask anybody anything, take my luggage and head to the welcoming
party. Unfortunately, I don't see a note with my name, but at least I find one
with the name of the company that organizes the hiking trip, Tro-Peaks. Joseph
is glad to see me (cause he doesn't have to wait anymore) when I go to him, as
I am too. After an hour of driving we reach Moshi and the hotel. We wake some
people, among which the security guy, the receptionist lady and lastly Ivan,
who opens the door to our room being very sleepy and I go to bed with the hope
that I will be able to get some sleep before our hiking start in 5 hours.
Surprisingly, I wake up
rested and while I hurry to rearrange my luggage, I panic a little bit not to
forget anything important for the climb. Then I go and have a fast breakfast
and even faster shower trying not to be late for the departure, a notion, which
is almost unknown around. Naturally, things are getting done slowly and we go
an hour later. And I was worried that everybody is going to wait for me. The
four of us get into a rather large van, as well as many locals, which will be
our support crew. There should be an entourage of 14 people – a main guide, an
assistant guide, a cook and porters, many porters, but we don't believe that
all of them are here. We try to remember how many people we saw boarding the
van and count them to a total of 17-18 people, including us, which means that
the whole crew is on board. We take a selfie with the idea to count ourselves,
but Sasho's large head covers at least 10 people.
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| Count yourself |
