“There’s a circumcision party in a nearby Maasai village. Mela is inviting us to join her. Do you want to go?” Kisioki asked in the sort of unassuming manner one might use to ask a friend to a new restaurant around the corner for lunch.

Circumcision party?

After repeating the phrase and looking at my shoes, I ruminated on this concept, turning my knees inward just slightly, clenching muscles in my pelvic region I never knew I had.

“Sure.” I mean who in their right mind says ‘No’ to a Maasai circumcision party?

Note: If prose isn’t your thing and video is all you're after, click here.

Along the way, as we wended our way through an acacia-dotted clay track creviced by recent storms, Kisioki offered a bit of background. Earlier that day, at dawn, in the village where we were headed, a group of Maasai boys aged between 16 and 18 years old had just been circumcised. More specifically, as the boys were cut, they were expected to stand perfectly upright unflinching and tear-free in front of a group of warriors and elders — all in a hopeful first step on the journey to becoming Maasai warriors themselves.

I was afraid to ask what the second step might be on the path to becoming a warrior.

Arrival, The Veldt

Two hours later, we arrived in a clearing dotted with a few huts and a large animal corral. Maasai villagers of all ages walked about perfectly upright with unassailably good posture. Men were dressed in dark cloth — red, blue, purple, some checked. All carried ceremonial fighting sticks. Women were decked out in bright, colorful jewelry made of tiny stringed beads — just as Mela, our host, had been.

Remember the first party you ever attended as a kid? Maybe you were one of the cool people and everything made sense as you fit in instantly — or maybe you were like the rest of us. Our arrival in the village carried for us the same uncertainty of being perfectly out of place. Audrey and I were the only visitors, and amidst the lithe and remarkable bodies of the Maasai who surrounded us, we felt awkward, travel pants, goofy one-dollar bush hats and all.

“If you are invited by a local Maasai, then you are welcome,” Kisioki assured us.

“But you need to split up. Audrey go with the women, Dan with the men.”

“But wait,” I said in my head, feeling cut loose.

Mela came to Audrey’s rescue, grabbing her hand and squeezing it as if to say, “You come with me.”

Dan: A Man’s World

I was whisked away, or rather drifted away to a section of open field where men gathered and puttered in the sort of managed chaos that no outsider could reverse engineer. Amidst the veldt and scrub, men talked, drank, and danced occasionally. A few tended to large meat hunks smoldering on grills.

“The village chief tells everyone what’s next — when to eat, when to dance.” Kisoki explained.

A few minutes later, it was time to dance — or rather to practice. The real moves were for the benefit of the women of the village. (We humans have a lot more in common with one another than we’re often aware.)

Men gathered closely, their fighting sticks echoing the leanness of their bodies. This is the Maasai warrior dance I’d seen before on previous trip to Tanzania. This time was different, though. This wasn't a performance for my benefit, it was all theirs.

For as out of place as I was, the men paid little attention to me. Until, that is, someone handed me his stick. Unprepared, I moved forward, stick in hand. In response, the men laughed in anticipation of how much a fool I would make of myself.

“It’s time to eat,” the chief announced.

Bullet dodged.

Just like that, dance practice was over. Men scattered; meat was grabbed, pulled, torn and cut from the makeshift lattice-work grill stretched across a segment of creek bed. An entire cow whose skin and bones lay deflated, discarded just a few meters away. Meat chunks were passed around — the best saved for elders, the rest scattered on plates of rice circulated among guests.

Kisioki and I sat down with two other men and ate from a heaping plate shared between us. “Do you have that hand disinfectant with you?”

“No,” I said.

“Hmmm,” Kisioki replied, looking mildly concerned for my well-being.

We ate, passing the plate, taking a handful, scooping it into our mouths, passing again, repeating.

In taste it was nothing remarkable, but in ceremony it was something to savor.

I hoped that my digestive system would find itself on the right side of hygiene.

A few minutes later, mid-scoop, it was time to move on.

“Let’s join the women.”

Audrey: A Woman’s World

After Mela grabbed me she led me to a place behind the corral where the women were gathered. They told stories, laughed, and motioned others to join in.

Though I felt a little out of place with nothing to add, I could read the body language clearly – hushed voices, pointing, explosions of laughter, more gasps. Some things are universal. This was a gossip circle.

Infrequent occasions and celebrations to catch up on the latest news, I know them myself.

Then at once, the women turned and piled into a nearby hut. Aware that I was clueless, Mela grabbed my hand and led me inside. She found a small stool for me to sit on as people poured into the space around me. Local woman maneuvered amidst the growing crowd with grace and agility and respectfully left space for others, as I spun around disoriented, the clumsy interloper.

Several plates were passed into the room — meat soup and a pile of rice mixed with meat. Mela made certain to give me the best chunk of meat she could find. I felt guilty, but also knew that refusal would offend her hospitality. Three of us sat on the ground together, sharing one plate and one spoon, taking a bite and passing it on.

The process exhibited a simple rhythm and fairness. Simultaneously, the women made me feel like a guest yet also one of them.

Bottles of Coke and Fanta were handed into our space. Problem was, no one had a bottle opener. Mela motioned to the carabiner hanging off my camera bag.

I shook my head, “No, this is not a bottle opener.”

But it was. A few failed attempts later I finally got the hang of angling the carabiner and I took on a new, important role in my group: bartender. There I was opening bottles of soda for a group of Maasai women in a hut in the middle of Tanzania.

I smiled, considering how our assumptions of what ought to be often get in way of what could be.

Then another sound, indiscernible to me, that apparently indicated it was time to gather by the corral.

The Dance

In the distance, Maasai women descended from the hills. They sang, their voices carried. They bounced, undulated, their wide beaded necklaces mesmerizing, synchronized. I learned that Maasai women announce themselves on their approach when visiting another village. Should a woman find herself alone, she'll wait to join a group so she doesn't join the party by herself.

Meanwhile, a line of Maasai warriors gathered in a straight line, their warrior shouts punctuating the once still air.

Mela pointed to our camera, tucked away in Audrey's bag: “Pictures OK.”

“Where are the boys from the ceremony?” I asked Kisioki, noting that none of the boys in front of my appeared as if they had just been circumcised that morning.

“Recovering in nearby huts as their friends and family party into the night,” he replied. Raw deal, I'd say.

We followed the group into the open-air corral and moved to the edges, positioning ourselves to absorb a widening scene in front of us. Grunts followed chants, harmony mimicked heartbeat. On the opposite side, a competing village began their own dance circle. The men jumping in the middle shot higher, their shouts growing more pronounced.

A fleeting beat, a universal rhythm.

Video: Maasai Celebration, Singing and Dancing

Goodbye

Kisioki tugged at each of us, indicating we had to leave; it was late and the sun would soon set.

I was aware how fortunate we were — to be there, to be humbled by the generosity of this Maasai community to welcome two foreigners like us into a piece of their private world, their celebration.

Mela was the instigator, in all the right ways. She grabbed Audrey’s hand one final time, as if to squeeze it goodbye — for now.

And somewhere nearby a group of young boys nursed their wounds as their family and friends celebrated them.

The post A Maasai Circumcision After-Party [VIDEO] appeared first on Uncornered Market.

“You can call me Airport,” Esupat said, laughing.

She sat atop a Maasai hut with her legs crossed, straddling a half-built chimney. Small piles of bricks surrounded her; wet cement fell from her hands.

She was dressed colorfully, ornamentally. But this is how she goes to work. When she smiles, it is wide. Wide from unforced practice. Wide with pride, wide with ease.

Her given name was Esupat, meaning “the one who cares for others.” She was considered a master among a team of Maasai women installing clean cookstoves in Maasai huts in the hills outside of the town of Arusha, Tanzania.

More importantly, however, she was known by everyone in her village as Airport, the woman who went through the sky and returned to tell the tale.

But before we tell that story, some background.

Accidental Women’s Empowerment

We recently visited the Arusha area to see in action a new Planeterra Foundation project, a partnership with Maasai Stoves and Solar Project. The project mechanism: G Adventures travelers who are on safari in Tanzania have a portion of their tour fees go towards buying and installing a clean cookstove for a family in a Maasai village.

The travelers then have the opportunity to visit the village, see a stove installation, and learn more about why this simple stove design can be life-changing, especially for children.

During our visit, we spent a day with a young Maasai man named Kisioki, the local project coordinator who had been with the program from its inception.

“One of the things that makes our clean stoves project unique,” Kisioki said, “is that we empower women as a core component.”

“Why did this project choose to include women’s empowerment?” Audrey asked, leaning in.

“Well, it was actually an accident,” Kisioki laughed.

We appreciated his honesty. And we figured there was a good story behind it.

Several years earlier, Robert Lange, a professor from the United States, successfully designed a new type of “clean” cooking stove for a community on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar. He was then invited to bring his concept to the Maasai villages in the Monduli district near Arusha, a jumping off point for either climbing Mount Kilimanjaro or going on safari.

But there were problems: the Zanzibari stove design didn’t fit the cooking needs of the Maasai community. It would need significant adjustments.

In the beginning, the Maasai village men together with the women were involved in discussions and community events about the stoves. But the men quickly lost interest; things moved too slowly for them.

The women remained steadfast, however. They cooperated with the organization’s engineers, testing and providing feedback on several stove design iterations until nearly 18 months later, the design of the clean cookstove – a stove that women in the village would actually use — was complete.

When talk turned to training, organizing and paying stove installation teams, the men wanted back in. The women held firm said no. Their rationale: We participated from the beginning and we ought to be the ones to manage the project and, more importantly, to earn our own money.

And so the Maasai Clean Stoves project remained one led primarily by women, with women’s empowerment as one of its de facto core components.

Training Women, Esupat Rising

When the project first got underway, each village was asked to recommend ten women to be trained in stove installation. A young woman named Esupat was among the first selected.

When women like Esupat received training, it provided them not only with practical skills, but also a source of income in a society where men traditionally earned the money. Esupat estimates that she has installed over three hundred stoves in the five years she has been involved with the project.

For a bit of perspective, a clean stove costs around 95,000 Tsh ($56) to produce using local materials and labor. A family is then expected to contribute 25,000 Tsh ($15) to cover some costs. This contribution includes the fees paid to the local women-run installation teams. It also ensures that the owner is personally invested in her new stove.

Eventually, the project took off. This system gradually meant greater economic empowerment for the women involved and also a societal shift in perspective regarding the capabilities of women in the village.

But Wait, How Important Can a Clean Stove Be?

Earlier that day, we'd visited a village to see a new stove in action and compare it with a traditional one.

“Stove in action?” you say with a yawn.

This is a stove that reduces 90% of the smoke released into a hut and uses only 40% of the firewood of a traditional stove. Sure, this sounds mundane. Numbers are, after all, a bore. And stoves aren’t very far behind.

Firsthand experience is a different matter, however.

In the village of Enguiki, Kisioki led us into a hut with a clean stove. A few bits of wood poked out from a circular opening as a fire crackled away to heat a pot of water on top. Mela, the owner of the hut, was a mother of nine children, four of whom still lived with her. She earned the money for the down payment on her stove through her work as one of the installation assistants.

“I didn't have to depend on my husband at all,” she noted with a bit of restrained pride. “Now my children have fewer health problems. The food even tastes better without all the smoke.”

Sounds good. But how bad could the smoke from a traditional stove really be?

Kisioki took us to see Mela’s neighbor, Nagoyoneeni, just down the village path. She had a traditional stove. Before entering her home, I could see smoke seeping out from around a blackened door jamb.

Kisioki looked at me, “We only need to spend a few minutes in here. Just let me know when you can’t take it any more.”

C’mon. How bad could it be? I mean, a family of eight lived there.

Awful. I couldn’t take it, almost instantly. From the moment I ducked my head to enter the hut, my eyes, nose and lungs were accosted by acrid smoke, making it difficult for me to see and breathe.

I blinked repeatedly to clear the soot from my eyes, to relieve the stinging feeling. Our host went about her daily business, making porridge for her children. Not wanting to be rude, I attempted to suppress a cough. It was impossible.

We sat on little wooden stools and had a conversation about the so-called three-stone fire, the traditional Maasai open pit stove with a pot placed on top. Nagoyoneeni explained that there were eight people, children mainly, living in her hut. She planned to save money from this year’s corn harvest to help buy a clean stove.

Though we were there only for a few minutes, I was certain I could feel my lungs blacken. Imagine what the smoke must do to the health of the newborn at Nagoyeneeni’s side, or the children shyly gathering around us.

OK, Dan. I'm getting antsy. What does this have to do with a woman nicknamed “Aiport”?

Breaking the Blue Sky

As Esupat slapped concrete into the gaps of the bricks, I tried to get a handle on the pronunciation of her name.

“E – su – pat. Is that right?” I asked.

“Airport,” I heard one of the village women mumble behind me. Others laughed.

“Ooh, a story!” I said.

“You can call me Airport,” she laughed.

“Airport? What’s this?” I asked.

After the project got traction in northern Tanzania, Esupat was invited to share her stove installation techniques with a group running a similar project in western Uganda.

“The problem,” Kisioki said “was that nobody from the village had ever been on an airplane before.”

Esupat jumped in, “The plane keeps going up and up. And I think, ‘Are we going to see God?'”

Maasai belief is that the world ends with the blue sky and clouds, beyond which their god resides.

I imagined what this looked like to a person who perceived the sky as a sort of ceiling. I remembered my own first flight, as I clung to the hand rest wondering how this hulk of a thing was going to stay in the air. I didn't fear the ceiling in the sky, but rather the force of gravity.

Esupat paused laying bricks, her joy at the memory of flying unabated, “I think we are very close to God. Are we going to see him? The plane keeps going up. I thought I was going to hit God and make him angry. And not come back.”

Esupat did not hit God, and she lived to tell the tale. She did something that no other villager had done, men included: she not only saw the airport, but she also flew in an airplane. Her social status was elevated.

When she returned to the village, she told everyone about it — with a smile each time, I’m certain.

The Future

In the last five years Maasai women have installed over 1,000 stoves in villages around Arusha. When you consider that each hut is home to somewhere between seven and ten people, you can begin to appreciate the impact of this project. This is hopefully only the beginning.

The goal of the Planeterra Foundation and Maasai Stoves and Solar partnership is to provide a sustained, reliable source of funding for the local organization drawn from a portion of the tour fees of a steady supply of travelers coming through the area. In this way, together with the family investment contribution, each traveler helps purchase a clean stove. G Adventures travelers will also have the opportunity to visit one of the villages impacted, and have an experience that will hopefully be as eye-opening for them as it was for us.

Maybe they’ll have a chance to meet Esupat or another trail-blazer who will never forget her chance to know that the world doesn’t end with the blue sky.

The post Social Enterprise & Clean Cookstoves in Tanzania appeared first on Uncornered Market.

Our journey to East Africa, just about underway. What follows includes not only our itinerary and a call for your recommendations, but a personal note and a couple of back-stories including $100 given to us with a purpose on a ship in Antarctica.

As you read this, we're on our way to Ethiopia to begin a six week journey through Eastern Africa. We expect the journey to take us from Ethiopia to Uganda, Rwanda and finally Tanzania.

We'll have an opportunity to visit 1000-year old rock-cut churches in Ethiopia (and of course dig deeply into Ethiopian food), seek out mountain gorillas in Uganda, hike the volcanoes of Rwanda and learn more about social entrepreneurship in Tanzania.

Tanzania aside, these countries have known their share of famine, war, and genocide in the last couple of decades. And while we hope to learn more about that history, our ultimate goal is to better understand their people, where they stand now, and get a glimpse into their future through their eyes.

Our East Africa Itinerary

Ethiopia

In the mid-1980s, when I was a little girl, my Aunt Betsy worked as a nurse for a year or two in Ethiopia at a feeding station. For Ethiopia, it was a time of drought and famine. I recall sad images, nothing short of devastating. However, my aunt had a first-hand experience of the famine, and despite the suffering she witnessed day-in and day-out, she also shared stories of the warmth and spirit of the Ethiopian people.

Count this among my first learning of the lesson, “there's more to a place and its people than what you see on the news.”

We will explore Ethiopia with the G Adventures Highlights of Ethiopia Tour. We chose this tour specifically for its itinerary. Take a look below and you'll see why.

• Bahir Dar with a visit to the local market and Blue Nile Falls
• Gondar with exploration of the castles and Debre Berhan Selassie Church whose interior is covered with angel faces and eyes.
• Hiking in the Simien Mountains. Take a look at the lead photo of this article. Enough said.
• Lalibela. This segment of the trip might count as the one we're most looking forward to. I'd heard about the underground medieval churches carved into the mountains, but this recent article took my curiosity to a new level.
• A drive through the Sekota and Alamata Mountains with a stop at 3,000-year old Hawzien.
• Ancient city of Axum, Ethiopia's oldest city of almost 2,000 years.
• Although we won't have much time in Addis Ababa, we do hope we will be able to visit Merkato, the largest open market in Africa.

Ethiopian food, you ask? We've had our share in cities around the world, but now it's time to taste it at the source. To say that we are excited to eat: understatement. We expect to consume plenty of Ethiopian coffee and experience a coffee ceremony or two.

Uganda and Rwanda

We'll begin our travels in Uganda with a G Adventures gorillas overland tour. Our trek will take us to the forests near Lake Bunyon to find mountain gorillas. Friends who've experienced this have described a feeling unimaginable, if not unmatched. We must manage our expectations, however, as we know there are no guarantees that we'll actually be able to spot gorillas.

That's the thing with wild animals. True to their description, they are indeed a wild and unpredictable bunch.

Our trip will also include trekking in search of chimpanzees at Kalinzu Forest Reserve and a rafting experience along the Blue Nile near the town of Jinja, all before returning to Kampala.

After our tour, we're free for the next two weeks between Uganda and Rwanda and we'll piece together an itinerary (with the help of your suggestions) as we go. At the moment our Rwanda plans include spending some time in the Parc National des Volcans and Lake Kivu for some volcano trekking and perhaps a visit to Nyungwe Forest National Park before winding up in Kigali.

As the 20th Anniversary of the Rwandan genocide has just passed, it strikes us as an appropriate time to visit to reflect on what happened and through the eyes of others, understand how the country copes and looks towards the future as it continues to come to terms with its past.

We could use your help. If you have suggestions of places to visit, what to do, organizations and people to connect with, or anything else that comes to mind regarding Uganda and Rwanda please email us or leave a comment below.

Tanzania

Some of you might remember our visit to Tanzania a few years ago when we climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, got up close with wild animals on safari and relaxed on the beaches of Zanzibar.

This time, our visit to Tanzania will feature something a bit different. We are working with Planeterra, G Adventures' foundation, to learn more about two new projects it runs in and around Moshi: a clean cookstoves project in a Maasai village and a women's cooperative in Moshi that provides business skills and training to local women.

What makes these projects unique to traditional NGO projects is that G Adventures' passenger traffic — and the market access that provides — are tied in to help make these projects financially sustainable. For example, G Adventures tours to the Serengeti use a portion of tour fees to serve as contribution to the purchase of a clean cookstove. Additionally, travelers have the opportunity to visit the village to learn more about how the stoves work and what it means for quality of life. Those G Adventures passengers in Moshi will be able to stop by the women's cooperative center to engage with the women involved and to purchase their goods.

Our goal: to understand the local organizations and people involved. And to see firsthand how this sort of partnership model actually works on the ground.

$100 in East Africa: A Backstory

A little more than four years ago, aboard our ship to Antarctica, we were asked to give a talk about our around-the-world travels. As we shared stories from Central Asia to Central America, we shared all sorts of travel stories, including some of what we had seen in the way of micro-finance projects along the way. We mentioned to the audience that we hoped to travel in Africa next. After the presentation, a well-traveled British woman came up to us and placed $100 in my hand in twenty dollar bills.

“When you get to East Africa, give this money to five good organizations you find, to people who are really making a difference in their communities. I spent many years working with projects in this region, and specifically Uganda and Rwanda. But now I'm too old to travel there. I want you to bring part of me with you when you go.”

I asked for her name and email address so that I could follow up with her and inform her as to where and to whom we gave her money, but she didn't want any of that. She told us that trusted us; she believed we would do the right thing.

Although it has taken longer to getting around to make it to the full of East Africa in order to fulfill her wish, we are now on our way.

One Final Personal Note on this Trip

A week ago I received news that my stepfather, Larry, passed away. Amidst the sadness we felt, we also found ourselves deciding whether to cancel the trip and when to return to the U.S. to honor him.

As I spoke to both family and friends that knew Larry, it became clear — with an imagined motion of his hand — that he would have wanted us to go. Everyone agreed he would have said something like this:

“Go. Explore. Meet people. Tell good stories. And be sure to share stories from people and places that don’t usually have a voice. And have lots of fun, too.”

Good advice for us. Good advice in general, I'd like to think.

You see, East Africa was one of Larry’s favorite regions in the whole world. He spent years living, working and traveling in Tanzania and Kenya as U.S. diplomat. And although he also served in other parts of Africa — including an ambassadorship to Gabon and a nice, posh placement in London along the way, East Africa was and always would be the place that stole his heart.

Stepping back, spiritual or otherwise, one might find the coming together of this trip — to be able to spend the next six weeks in an area Larry loved and knew well — as beyond mere coincidence.

Photo credits: Rod_Waddington, Henrik Berger Jørgensen, amateur_photo_bore.

The post Up Next: A Journey to East Africa appeared first on Uncornered Market.

Banana beer and biryani. Night markets and nutmeg. Kilimanjaro and Kendwa beach. Safaris and Stone Town. Zanzibar and zebras. Maasai and Manyara.

This is Tanzania in three weeks. See it all in the slideshow below.

Tanzania, Best Of Photos: Kilimanjaro, Safari, Masai Village, Zanzibar

If you don’t have a high-speed connection or you’d like to read the captions, you can view the Tanzania, a Best Of photo set.

The post Tanzania Highlights: A Slideshow appeared first on Uncornered Market.

An Egyptian cobra pays an unexpected visit to a Maasai village and makes us realize that we share a fear of poisonous snakes — and that we're all more alike than we first thought.

“There’s an Egyptian cobra in one of the huts.”

Maasai: From Iconic to Real

Every souvenir shop in northern Tanzania bursts with wood carvings and paintings of the Maasai, a pastoral tribe who've made this area their home. Cut faces, long bodies, colorful cloth attire, ears with giant ring holes, beads and long necks.

The Maasai aren't just iconic, though. They're human. A visit to one of their villages near Lake Manyara provided a human connection, a grounding in this reality.

Our Maasai village visit began as many tourist village visits often do – local people dressed in festive attire show off their traditional dance moves and songs. The women adorned in heavy necklaces of tiny beads dance and shout; the men perform an impressive jumping dance without ever letting their heels touch the ground.

We're encouraged to don the same attire. We make fools of ourselves as we try to imitate moves that are second nature to the Maasai, so foreign to us. Through the laughter and silliness of this routine, a personal connection is formed; we realize again that we are all human.

I wonder what they would think about our clubs and music. Some of the women point to my camera, indicating they want to see the photos I've just taken. We laugh as we go through the images of themselves, family, friends in the viewfinder; this is a universally loved activity.

After the show, one of the women takes me by the hand and leads me into her home. She's almost giddy to show me her bedroom. It's a sleeping nook, a semi-secluded area off to the side of the hut.

Our tour leader acts as interpreter. In this more intimate setting we ask questions about Maasai living arrangements and culture: relations between men and women, gender roles, coming of age rituals, beliefs, the role of cattle, food traditions, the chief of the village who lives on the hill — just about everything.

We sit together in darkness. Our engagement feels more like a conversation and less like an anthropology study. This is good.

A Big Snake in A Small Hut

Just as we're about to leave the village, we receive the news — there's a huge snake in one of the huts at the village edge. Our driver spotted it and alerted the family. Now it's time to figure out how to deal with it.

It's an Egyptian cobra, highly poisonous. There are no medical facilities in the area, kids are everywhere. There is virtually no choice for the villagers but to kill it.

Minutes later, in an attempt to root out the snake inside, the men of the village begin tearing the house apart. The idea, aside from pissing off the snake, is to draw it out from the layered walls that form the hut's shell.

Had it been left to the men, the house would have been demolished.

Fortunately for the woman whose home it was, the village women take over the hunt with firm practicality. They scold the men for their carelessness; they begin to go after the snake themselves. After all, it will be their responsibility to rebuild.

The cobra is coiled in anger inside. The men get involved again, poking sticks inside the hut. They dart in, they dart back out. As exciting as all this is, the men are clearly scared.

Finally, after 30 minutes and great drama, the snake is cut in half, beaten, dragged from the hut, and pounded some more.

Vanquished or not, a snake in a Maasai hut is a bad omen. The family, we're told, would sacrifice a goat later that day to protect the village and drive away any lingering evil spirits.

As we leave, we think ahead to our own sleeping arrangements and whether our tents are snake-proof. Maybe we should have a goat in tow, just in case.

The post Maasai in Tanzania: Sharing Fears, Killing a Cobra appeared first on Uncornered Market.

A few life lessons we picked up from the animals of Tanzania’s big safari parks: Serengeti, Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro Crater.

When we humans observe animals and their behavior, we’re often tempted to anthropomorphize them, ascribing to them our human qualities. The zebra “wears” stripes, the cheetah “eats breakfast” and the warthog “hangs out with his buddies.”

While we were on safari in Tanzania, all those lions, elephants, cheetahs, and hippos prompted us to take this one step further and ask: What could the wild animals of Tanzania teach us about life, and possibly even business?

If all the safari animals were contracted for an motivational speaking conference, here’s who might show up and what they might say.

Warning: Cheetahs feature prominently. We were fortunate to run into them several times in the Serengeti.

10 Lessons Learned on Safari

1. Cheetah brothers: Practice Makes Perfect, Learn from Failure

We were lucky enough to see a pair of cheetah brothers two separate times on our safari — once in the late afternoon as they played and again in the early morning as they searched for food and tracked a herd of gazelles in the distance.

Unfortunately, the cheetahs’ morning approach was too slow and far too obvious for the alert gazelles who'd fled long before the brothers ever had a chance.

Their hunt was a failure. But this is how the less experienced learn: by trying, through practice.

In this case, their hopes are pinned on the next outing. Eventually, they’ll succeed. Their survival depends on it.

For most of us, we can’t expect to succeed without practice and a few moments of failure along the way. Failure happens. What makes the difference to your future: if and how you learn from it.

2. Cheetah mother: It All Begins with Vision

Shortly after watching the cheetah brothers and their failed hunt, we came across a mother – likely theirs — lazing about on the cool ground of early morning.

We watched for a bit and almost lost interest.

Just as we were about to abandon her for something more dramatic, she began to move deliberately. She glided past a herd of gazelles that looked to us like the obvious choice for a kill. Then she bypassed another.

What was she thinking?

Little did we know, her vision was to the horizon, something a little less obvious.

This was her strategy for the morning hunt. Only moments later, she amped up her gait. We followed her as she turned her focus to another, much larger herd of gazelles. They began to move quickly, but it was too late.

The mother cheetah moved with stunning speed — the sort you expect from a cheetah — and zeroed in on the slowest moving gazelle of the bunch. In seconds, it was over.

When we left her, she was sitting, panting heavily over her kill. Although she was exhausted, she knew she didn’t have the luxury of time. She had to eat quickly; hyenas and vultures were on their way to take a share.

Three lessons in one. Know what you want. Scan the long horizon. And sometimes you skip the obvious in front of you for a better opportunity.

3. Hippopotamus: Don’t Sh*t Where You Eat

It might sound odd to take life advice from an animal that spends its days in a poop-laden pool of water, but stick with me on this one.

Hippos spend nearly all day in the water in an attempt to stay cool as they digest last night’s dinner. The result: hippopotamus pools fill to the brim with 6000-pound pollution devices farting, pooping and splashing themselves in their own glee. Water churns. (Stomachs do, too.) It’s foul, it’s mesmerizing. It’s stench-laden, almost stifling.

The hippo pool is a battering, an all-out assault of the senses. It’s not a place where you light a match.

OK, enough of the scatology. The point? The survival of the hippopotamus seems odd given their size and circumstances. Three tons, vegetarian, and a sensitive skin that forces them to spend their daylight hours immersed in foul water and nighttime hours searching for and eating plants.

How have they not become extinct?

When it’s time to eat, the hippopotamus knows to go far, far away from their fetid bathing pools.

Good advice, both literally and figuratively.

4. Elephant: Sometimes Size Matters

No one messes with elephants. They aren’t predators, they aren’t ferocious. They’re just bigger than everyone else.

This size advantage confers certain benefits.

When you’re bigger than everyone else (either literally or figuratively), aggression isn't required to earn respect.

5. Guinea Fowl: No One is Too Small to Help

When the two cheetah brothers began their hunt, they passed by a rasp of guinea fowl feeding on the ground.

These birds knew they were safe, for they weren’t the cheetahs’ target. Their behavior went beyond themselves and they raised a ruckus to alert the other animals in area of the approaching danger – a calamitous noise that belied their size.

Never underestimate your ability to play a role, to help, or to make a difference.

6. Leopard: Get the View from Above

Leopards spend much of their day perched in trees, which is why they’re among the most difficult animals to spot on safari.

The leopard’s camouflaged aerial position allows him to take in the whole of the landscape, observing all animals and their movements. Best of all, nobody knows he’s up there.

When the leopard has finished his reconnaissance, he comes down from the tree and makes his move based on the intelligence he’s gathered.

Get an overview, gather your intelligence, then act.

7. Hyena: Persistence Pays

Say what you want about the hyena. They don’t look pretty and they always wear hangdog looks as though they’re up to no good, plotting something unsavory. It’s easy to dislike them.

However, as our guides tell it, hyenas are successful hunters because of their persistence. They rarely give up and they keep trying until they get what they want.

Sometimes persistence isn’t pretty. But it sure can be effective.

8. Wildebeest: There’s Strength in Numbers

On its own, the wildebeest can be an easy target for big cats like a lion or leopard. Yet one wildebeest in the midst of hundreds or thousands is enough to keep the cats away.

The wildebeest know there’s strength in numbers and value in working together.

9. Cheetah: A Solitary Life Can Be Difficult

Of all the big cats, cheetahs are the most vulnerable – in great part because as adults they are among the most solitary of all animals. Each cheetah relies only on itself for food. This means that if becomes seriously ill or injured (and therefore cannot effectively hunt), it will likely die of starvation. No other cheetahs will be there to share food or to help it recover.

Going it alone has its advantages, but a life without community or support may leave you vulnerable.

10. Lions: Live and Share in Community

Lions, on the other hand, live in communities – called prides – whose numbers can grow to ten or more. In a pride, female lions are responsible for hunting, for male lions are too slow and cumbersome.

In order to take down a big animal (like a buffalo) to feed the pride, lionesses must work together. After a kill, food is shared between members of the pride, each member takes his turn depending upon hierarchy, and injured members of the pride are ultimately taken care of.

Who do you want to be? A cheetah or a lion?

11. Vervet Monkey: In Grand Creations, Inject a Sense of Humor

A monkey with blue balls? And they are permanent! Mother Nature absolutely has a sense of humor.

What does this tell us? Perhaps, “Don’t sport blue balls if you are camera shy.”

Beyond that, take a cue from Mother Nature. Every so often, a nod to the not-so-serious — even in your magnum opus.

12. Rhinoceros: Generate Demand

After four days on safari, we were missing one animal in Africa’s legendary “Big 5” – the rhinoceros. On our final day, in our final hour, we saw one – elusive, far off in the distance, a dark silhouette almost more mystical than real.

Oohs and aaahs. Cameras clicked away even though our camera lenses captured the animal as a mere smudge.

Being elusive adds mystery and builds demand.

13. Zebra: From Ordinary to Icon

Add a few stripes and you become an icon. How else can you explain why zebras – in Swahili literally “striped donkeys” — are so prized while their donkey cousins are so under-appreciated?

Next time you’re looking for a new designs, consider adding stripes.

——-

The post On Safari: If Africa’s Animals Were Motivational Speakers appeared first on Uncornered Market.

Reflections on our safari in Tanzania's Serengeti National Park with all the big cats – lions, cheetahs, and a leopard – who have made this place their own.

Expectations: dangerous stuff. It’s virtually impossible not to have them when it comes to an iconic experience like a safari in the Serengeti.

You'll understand if you've ever watched Animal Planet or a National Geographic documentary and imagined yourself — dressed in “safari” clothes, of course — peeking out of the roof of a four-wheel drive vehicle as a lion takes down a zebra and begins to devour it, all only a meter away. You’re snapping away with your DSLR camera, and its huge lens allows you to zero in on the drops of blood on the lion’s whiskers. Vultures hover overhead, hyenas grow in number and close in. The drumbeat of the soundtrack in your head (all daydreams have soundtracks, don't they?) comes to a crescendo. Will the hyenas and vultures take their cut of the kill?

Not ringing a bell? OK. So maybe this is all just me, including the soundtrack.

But I digress. Back to reality and expectations. So now that I’ve been on safari in the Serengeti, what was it like?

It’s much like being invited to Mother Nature’s cabaret, a show with its own rhythm and drama, complete with life and death. We are there for a short time to watch, learn, enjoy. Then we exit the show and return to the real world, our heads spinning with everything we’ve seen.

Serengeti Timing – Ours and Theirs

Like any good show, timing is everything.

The Serengeti has a rhythm and a pace: everything happens in its own time, the right time. We humans must be patient, we must learn to enjoy the wait.

During our first late afternoon in the Serengeti, we set off on a game drive (such a dramatic term, isn’t it?) onto dusty roads and into vast open space. I’d seen it on TV: the veldt, an expanse into which are tucked tiny pockets of ferocious animals doing their bit to live.

We sought every animal we could imagine, but we truly hoped for cats, for their hunting and eating habits seem to anchor our safari excitement. They are clearly the big stars.

But there’s nothing that you can do to help animals appear. You just go where you might find them and you hope that you do.

“Oh my god, lions!!” And there they were. A group of female lions lounging on a mound of dirt. In one breath, amazing to us and so ordinary to them. It was fabulously climactic and anti-climactic at the same time.

The lionesses just lazed around, sprawling, doing nothing dramatic outside of an occasional yawn or lick of the paw, but that didn't matter. We could have watched those lazy, lounging lions for hours. Each of their simple movements sent us all into squeals of delight.

You could see our guide and driver – veterans of the Serengeti – laughing quietly to themselves about our excitement and elevated reactions to absolutely everything, from a family of warthogs zipping across the road to giraffes noshing on the high leaves of an acacia tree.

That’s the beauty of this show: just about everything is exotic, exciting.

Rhythm of the Day

Animals follow their own cadence, one that seems to track the daily cycles of hot and cool. They can't escape the heat to an SUV, they can't retreat to their tents. No return to a campsite with a fully cooked meal waiting for them. Theirs is a cycle of hunts and feeds, rests and never-ending watches for scavengers.

Early morning is a good time for tracking the big cats. The day is still cool, the air is fresh. Animals of all sizes graze along the plains. This is the time for all animals, especially the weak and the slow, to be on alert.

We see nothing for an hour or two. Then in a span of minutes, we witness two cheetah brothers' in an unsuccessful hunt followed by their mother's snaring of a gazelle.

We see another failed hunt, this time from a lioness. She's too slow, almost lazy. We’re beginning to notice the personality of the big cats emerging.

Afternoon comes, the sun hangs high overhead. The animals seek relief in the shade of the tall grass and under the umbrella-like acacia trees.

It’s a time for sleeping, eating, conserving energy. We pass another lioness eating a gazelle she'd caught that morning.

While I had seen this scene on TV, the soundtrack in real life was more profound: crunch, crunch. The lioness chewed through tendons, crushing the remaining bones. This lady is hardly delicate, and the atmosphere about her is far more dramatic in real life than it ever seemed on television.

When evening falls, the air cools again and it’s time for another hunt. Our driver hears reports of a leopard over the CB radio. We drive off to find a leopard in a tree, scanning the horizon.

He comes down off his perch. We all wait expectantly, wondering which gazelle is his target.

Instead he sits on the ground, taking his own time. He doesn’t move.

We leave him, still sitting on the ground in the fade of the late afternoon. It’s as if he knows our campsite curfew is 7:00 P.M.

We’d have liked to witness a hunt, but we don’t control the show.

Serengeti, Life and Death

On television, the process of hunt and kill seems more gruesome, brutal, and unfair than when you actually watch it the wild.

Why? The context. When you're in the Serengeti, you realize that this is just the way nature works. Some animals eat plants, others eat meat. There's a system — -an ecosystem — that's delicate and well-fit. Without the gazelles and other small animals whose presence we all begin to take for granted, you'd have no big cats. Random yet purposeful — that’s the way it is.

And so perhaps this is why everyone in our truck was rooting for the cheetah to get some food.

Her hunt began slowly, deliberately. But when she broke into to sprint – going up to 100 kpm/70 mph, it was amazing. And quick.

She got her gazelle.

The story doesn’t end there, however. There's no rest for the weary. She must eat quickly, particularly once she punctures the gazelle's stomach, for the hyenas in the distance will sense the fresh meat almost immediately. Their interest: taking away her kill. Her interest: eat enough to stave off hunger that much longer and maintain her energy for those short yet full sprints that are critical to her staying alive.

Brutal, yet balanced. That's life in The Serengeti.

Note: During our safari with G Adventures we visited Lake Manyara, Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater National Parks. In this piece, we chose to focus on the Serengeti. Of all of our experiences, it was our favorite and it best represented the spirit of safari to us.

The post Safari Serengeti : A Theatre of Timing, Rhythm, Life and Death appeared first on Uncornered Market.

How do I prepare for climbing Mount Kilimanjaro? What gear and hiking essentials will I need? Which Kilimanjaro route should I choose? What do I need to do to train or prepare for the hike? How best to avoid (or manage) altitude sickness? Read on for answers to all these questions about climbing Mount Kilimanjaro to help you successfully get to the summit.

There's certainly no shortage of digital ink spilled on the topic of how to successfully climb Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak of Africa. Even so, every article we’ve read seemed to be missing just a little something. That's where this comprehensive guide to climbing Mount Kilimanjaro comes in with a full gear list of what to pack, different Kilimanjaro route options and how best to prepare for this epic hike.

Based on our own experience climbing and reaching the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, we share all the nuts and bolts of what an average, ordinary hiker will need to climb Kilimanjaro. We'll address choosing a Kilimanjaro route and tour, costs, equipment and hiking gear, ways to avoid and manage altitude sickness and other illnesses, and whether or not you need to train to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

Don't worry, it's not as daunting as it sounds. And it is so worth all the effort you put into it.

The following experiences and advice are taken from our Marangu Route Kilimanjaro Trek with G Adventures. If you are considering climbing Kilimanjaro with G Adventures and want to know what to expect on their tour here's a taste of how the Kilimanjaro tours are organized, guides and porter support provided, and what you need to know in advance to best prepare yourself for this challenging, but oh so amazing, climb up to the top of Africa. Disclosure: This tour was sponsored and provided to us in conjunction with our partnership with G Adventures as Wanderers.

Kilimanjaro Gear List: Hiking Essentials Checklist

We can attest that there’s no need to go out and spend a fortune on special gear for climbing Kilimanjaro as it is not a technical hike. However, it is important to pack all the right essentials and have the appropriate hiking gear and layers so that you are comfortable in different types of weather, temperatures and altitudes.

In other words, you don't to be thinking about your gear — or lack there of – when climbing Kilimanjaro so that you can focus all your attention on the actual experience.

Consider what gear to bring with you from home (e.g., clothing, shoes, day pack, and maybe outerwear) what is best rented on the ground (e.g., sleeping bags and duffels) so as to avoid taking up extra space in your luggage. This is especially relevant if you will be going on safari or doing other activities on the same trip as lugging around a big sleeping bag in your suitcase is not very practical as it takes up a lot of room and weight.

In our experience, we arrived in Moshi with just the basic stuff we carried with us all the time on our round-the-world journey. We rented the remainder of the clothes, gear and equipment needed when we arrived the day before the trek began. This included: two sleeping bags, two pairs of waterproof pants, one waterproof jacket, walking sticks, two pairs of gaiters, two big duffel bags (for porters to carry), two waterproof bags, and one day pack. Most Kilimanjaro hotels and tour companies offer the option to rent gear.

Note: For a full list of what we recommend to pack for a hike, check out our Ultimate Hiking Packing List.

Hiking Clothing Essentials for Kilimanjaro:

Before we enumerate clothing and gear you might need, you should prepare yourself to go without a shower during your Kilimanjaro hike. Here are the basic clothing essentials and gear we recommend you bringing with you.

• Basic walking/trail pants (zip-offs if you like, or carry shorts, which we never used). We love and use on all our hikes now ClothingArts Travel Pants as they are super comfortable, have big pockets to hold phones and such, and you can wear them for days on end without needing to wash them.
• Hiking socks. I'm a big fan of SmartWool hiking socks.
• Hats. One trail hat for sun protection, another wool hat for warmth.
• Long-sleeved trail shirt (women's hiking shirt and men's hiking shirt)
• T-shirts, preferably quick-dry
• Silk long underwear or Capilene top/bottom
• Gloves (ideally, with liners that you can strip down to when it becomes too warm for gloves)
• Fleece jacket
• Underwear (of course). Recommended men's underwear and women's underwear.
• Pajamas, or something clean to sleep in at night

Your porter will carry 15 kilos for you. This includes the weight of your sleeping bag. This should be more than enough weight allowance for what you’ll need to carry.

Outerwear Essentials for Climbing Kilimanjaro

At night and on summit day, it can get very cold, as in down to -25C/-13F. Be prepared for this with many layers.

Waterproof pants: At the beginning of the climb you may need this to protect against rain. On summit day, you'll need it for wind protection and warmth.

Waterproof jacket: We found that a simple winter/shell jacket is usually sufficient if supported by good multiple layers underneath.

Down or Puffy Jackets: We've started carrying a light down jacket that can be stuffed into a tiny cinch bag. It hardly takes up any room or weight in the backpack, but can provide warmth and comfort at night when temperatures drop. If we were to climb Kilimanjaro again, we'd bring this with us. Dan loves his seamless ultra-light down jacket from Uniqlo. I carry a down jacket similar to this that packs up small and light.

Other Essential Hiking Gear for Climbing Kilimanjaro

Hiking shoes: Make sure your shoes/boots have some ankle support (for summit day ascent and descent). Dan wore his low hikers for the first two days and switched to a rented ($15) pair of leather hiking boots on summit day.

Walking sticks / walking poles: We would recommend bringing walking sticks with you (we like this light, foldable travel-friendly pair of walking sticks) or renting at least one pole. You'll find it useful if not essential for balance, stability and pacing, particularly on the descent. Dan and I split a set and used them only on the descent.

However, after talking with other climbers, it's worth carrying a pair and using them for pacing and planting on the ascent up the frozen sand and scree switchbacks on the way up to Gilman Point.

Gaiters: These clip on to your shoes and pants to protect your shoes from getting inundated with dirt, sand and snow, particularly on the descent. We wouldn’t consider these crucial, particularly when we trekked during the season of limited/no snow. Rent them if your guide says you expect to walk through snow, otherwise you can probably skip them.

Sleeping bag: The warmer, the better. Try to rent a sleeping bag that is comfort rated to -20 C. Do not skimp on your sleeping bag — better to be too warm than too cold. We also recommend using a silk sleeping bag liner as it will add another layer of warmth and also a layer of additional hygiene in case you are renting a sleeping bag.

Quick-Drying Towel: It's always good to start and end your day by washing your hands and face. As you won't be taking full showers on this hike, a small to medium-sized quick drying towel is sufficient.

Extra batteries/portable charger: There is no electricity for charging batteries on the way up the mountain. Bring your own solar charger, self-contained portable charger, or stock up on extra batteries. Consider buying a phone case that doubles as an extra battery. Here’s an example for our iPhone batter case. It provides another 1-1.5 charges.

Head lamp: A head lamp is so much better than a torch on summit day. The last thing you want to do going up the mountain is hold something in your hand. Even better, carry a headlamp with an infrared light option. When you're sharing a hut with a group of people and need to take pee breaks in the middle of the night, the red light is less disturbing to your hut-mates than a regular light.

Ear plugs: As you know, we love ear plugs. Sleep is critical during the climb. Do yourself a favor and get some good ear plugs so you don't hear the bathroom breaks or snorers in your hut/tent. Also useful when the people bunking next to you squeal like 13-year old girls all night.

Duct tape: Miracle tape for preventing blisters, taping up hot spots and preventing awful blisters from getting any worse. Especially useful when wearing new shoes (which we do not recommend, but I had to do). We also recommend carrying Compeed to treat any blisters you might get on the way up or down the mountain. This stuff is magic.

Handywipes: Helps you to stay “fresh” when you haven’t had a shower in days. Not going to go into more details here.

Electrolyte powder packets: When you're drinking so much water, it gets boring. Also, sugars and salts are useful to help the body absorb and retain water.

Peanut butter (or your favorite snack): When you are tired and your appetite is waning with elevation, something smooth, easy, familiar, and loaded with energy may just be what you need to eat.

Medical Kit and Hygiene Gear

A few medical items to bring with you to make your Kilimanjaro experience a little easier.

• Tylenol or Paracetamol for head and body aches: Light headaches and body aches are rather normal as you gain serious elevation. Our guide suggested that Tylenol/paracetemol is better than taking aspirin. It’s also easier on your kidneys than ibuprofen. If you choose to take Ibuprofen, be sure to drink even more water.
• Anti-nausea or diarrhea medicine: Stomachs also tend to suffer from elevation gain. For diarrhea, you can take immodium or lomotil, but they simply mask the symptoms. For nausea, controlling your breathing is the best if you’d like to avoid vomiting.
• Water purification drops or sterilization pen: We were provided boiled Kilimanjaro stream water at each stop. The higher the elevation, the less water actually boils at high heat. We drank the water without any purification tablets or drops and were fine. If you are nervous about water, bring water purification pills, drops, or a sterilization pen (Note: Our SteriPEN stopped working – don't know if it had something to do with elevation or cold weather killing batteries.)

(Note: No matter how tough you think your stomach is, don’t drink the tap water in Moshi or Arusha before you begin your trek. We’ve heard horror stories, as in someone being carried down the mountain on a stretcher due to amoebic dysentery. There’s no sense tempting fate.)

Choosing a Kilimanjaro Route

Since all routes lead to the same place – Uhuru Peak (5,885 meters / 19.340 feet) — we recommend not to belabor this decision. Choose a route that you think best fits your schedule (number of days), sleeping preferences (hut or tent), fitness level, sensitivity to altitude sickness (longer hikes have more time to acclimatize) and budget.

Here is an overview and map of the main Kilimanjaro routes mentioned below.

We highly recommend booking a group tour instead of climbing alone with a private guide and porter. Going Kilimanjaro solo may be for some, but we found it more fun to hike, summit and share the experience with a group. Solo climbers we spoke with expressed the same thing and often joined our group when they could for the company and conversation.

Note: Our Kilimanjaro hike was done with G Adventures so we provide links to their Kilimanjaro trekking tours below. These are affiliate links so the price stays the same to you, but we earn a small commission on any sales.

Marangu Route

The Marangu route is affectionately known as the “Coca Cola Route” because you sleep in huts (instead of in tents) along the way. Read all about our experience on the Marangu Route, Day by Day.

Note: Since our firsthand experience speaks only to the Marangu route, the remaining route information comes from our Kilimanjaro guide with over ten years of experience and knew every possible hiking route and conversations with other hikers we met.

Machame Route

Known as the “Whiskey Route,” the Machame Route takes six days and is popular because you ascend and descend on different paths and experience a wider variety of scenery than on the Marangu Route. Sleeping is in tents.

Rongai Route

This 6-day Rongai Route begins close to the border with Kenya on the northern side of the mountain and then joins up with the Marangu Route at Kibo Huts. It features the same summit day and descent as the Marangu Route. Sleeping is in tents.

Lemosho Route

The Lemosho Route begins in the west and meets up with the Machame route after a few days. It takes eight days total and is said to have some of the best scenery of the Kilimanjaro routes. Sleeping is in tents.

Our friend Becki has put together a comprehensive article on her experience on the Lemosho Route.

Umbwe Route

Another 6-7 day route in tents. Our chief guide described this as the most difficult of all Kilimanjaro routes.

Shira Route

Similar to the Lemosho Route, but features a higher trailhead starting point (3,800 meters).

Note: For any given route, differences in duration are due to optional acclimatization days where you spend an additional night in a location to better adjust to the altitude. If you are especially concerned about altitude sickness, you should consider taking an extra day on the ascent.

When to Climb Kilimanjaro

High season for Kilimanjaro treks runs from late June to September and December to February. Consider climbing during the shoulder seasons to get good weather while avoiding the crowds.

For us, late May to early June was just about perfect: weather was great, skies were clear, and it was not too hot. Huts, trails and bathrooms were not overrun with climbers.

Cost to Climb Mount Kilimanjaro

Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is not cheap. Kilimanjaro entrance fees and permits to Kilimanjaro National Park are steep. The climb also requires A LOT of people to help you get up the mountain — porters, guides, assistant guides, and cooks.

Our five-day Marangu route trek was included in our G Adventures tour in Tanzania that covered Kilimanjaro, Serengeti safari and Zanzibar. If you book the Kilimanjaro Marangu route trek (7 days) separately, it costs between $2,300-$2,800 (including two nights at a hotel in Moshi) while a tour including the Marangu route and Serengeti safari (13 days) costs $4,300-$5,300.

The Machame route and other camping treks are more expensive because the trek is longer and requires additional porters to carry additional camping equipment.

Tipping for Mt. Kilimanjaro? Estimate about $100-$200 (depending upon which route you take and how satisfied you are with your experience) in tips for your entire entourage of guides, porters and cooks. Many of the local staff earn more in tips than in salary.

We were thankful for the extra support our G Adventures Kilimanjaro team provided. This included additional manpower and support on summit day, plentiful and well-planned meals, and the peace of mind that comes with an experienced team whose aim is to help you summit safely.

If you book a tour on the ground in Moshi or Arusha, you can probably negotiate a cheaper price. However, we do not recommend risking a tour that cuts corners and leaves you without proper food and support (something we heard from other travelers).

In addition, your guides and porters may not be properly insured or supported. Make sure you know exactly what you are getting for your money. If you have even the slightest doubt, trust your instinct and find an alternative provider.

Some questions to ask about a Kilimanjaro tour: What kind of food will you have? What specifically is served for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Are the porters members of the porter's association so that they have some protection, insurance and benefits? Will you have summit porters or additional help on summit day? Will your chief guide carry oxygen in case you need it? If you are taking a route where you sleep in tents, in what condition is the equipment?

Advice on Kilimanjaro Summit Day

• Take many breaks on summit day: Don't be afraid to ask your guide to take a break as often as you need. If our stomachs began to feel queasy, all we’d need is a short rest with concentrated breathing to re-center. Very deep breathing — vocal exhales and yoga-style breathing, as bizarre as it sounds –can also help with oxygen intake and nausea management.
• Play games or sing songs to take your mind off the climb: When you're plodding up volcanic scree for hour upon hour in the black of night, boredom can weigh on you. Try to come up with mind games or sing songs in your head to distract you from obsessing about the time. This is where “99 bottles of beer on the wall” comes in handy.
• Go easy at the top: When you get to Uhuru Peak, you’ll feel exhilarated. You may want to jump for joy. Go for it once, but not twice. Control your excitement and movement. Otherwise, you may find yourself wanting to vomit on the way back down.

Avoiding and Managing Altitude Sickness on Kilimanjaro

Our assistant guide told me on the first day: “You will make it up to the top if you follow the rules.”

Here are those rules:

1. Water

Drink it until you almost feel sick. This is perhaps the most important factor when dealing with high elevation. Drink at least three liters per day. If you can drink more, do so.

Yes, you'll be get up to pee during the night but this is a better alternative than succumbing to altitude sickness. Particularly as you climb, skip the diuretics (stuff that makes you pee like tea and coffee) in favor of hot water.

2. Pole Pole (Slowly, Slowly)

Walking slowly allows you to conserve your energy and acclimatize as you go. Does your pace seems ridiculously slow? Then it must be the right one for Kilimanjaro.

3. Food

Your appetite declines as you gain elevation. This means you need to power eat on the first days of the trek and try to force yourself to eat at elevation. Not having enough energy reserves, particularly on summit day, isn’t good.

4. Sleep

Sleeping well becomes more difficult the higher you go in elevation – your heart races and your mind is wandering in and out of hallucination-like dreams. Go to bed early and sleep as best you can (see tip above for ear plugs). You'll need all the rest you can get.

Having said all this, everyone reacts to altitude differently. Prepare yourself mentally for some discomfort. Even the fittest person can succumb to altitude sickness.

Other tools and tip to manage altitude sickness:

Acclimatization walks: At the end of each day, ask your guide to take you on an acclimatization walk. The idea is to walk/hike up to a point higher than where you’ll be sleeping for the night and then descend back down. This helps your body better adjust to the lack of oxygen.

Altitude Medicine (Diamox) – Yes or No? Although we carry Diamox as an emergency backup, we have always avoided taking it. Our guides in Nepal and Peru instilled in us that Diamox should be taken only as a last resort.

The Kilimanjaro guides were a little more forgiving regarding their opinion of Diamox. It is heavy chemistry; it does very strange things to the acidity level of your blood and it requires that you drink even more water on the day you begin using it (4-5 liters if you can imagine that).

However, we do know experienced trekkers who take small doses of Diamox and they say that it does help them when they reach higher altitudes.

Garlic pills: In Nepal, the traditional wisdom says that garlic thins the blood. So on the Annapurna Circuit and Everest Base Camp hikes, all the tea houses offer garlic soup. We ate a bowl almost daily on our way around the Annapurna Circuit.

Knowing that garlic soup wouldn’t be available on Kilimanjaro, we carried garlic pills and took a double dose twice daily.

Did it help? Who knows?

Did we stink. Hells yes. But we stank anyway. (No showers, you know.)

Do I Need to Train to Climb Kilimanjaro?

If your lifestyle is 100% sedentary, you will definitely have some work to do. If, on the other hand, you’re accustomed to regular exercise and being active, including hikes and activities that get your heart rate up several times a week, you're probably in the league of people who can summit Kilimanjaro without a lot of additional training.

Although we did nothing specific in preparation for climbing Kilimanjaro, we were pretty active and were climbing volcanoes in Bali prior to the trip. There were others on our hike who prepared with regular training sessions for several months. I suspect this preparation helped them as much mentally as it did physically.

After all, Kilimanjaro is a mental exercise, one about fortitude and confidence as much as anything else.

Peeing on the Kilimanjaro Climb (a Woman's Perspective)

When you're drinking at least three liters of water per day, you're doing a lot of peeing — both during the day and at night. Basically, you're going to need to get used to peeing in the great outdoors.

When hiking during the day, the easiest thing is to pop behind a bush, rock, tree along the way. We usually had group water and pee breaks at the same time. When the landscape becomes more barren at higher elevation, it's a bit more difficult to find cover but you can usually find a small mound of dirt or rock.

At night, the goal is to find a spot near your hut or tent that is somewhat protected, but easy to get to in your half-asleep slumber. Your inhibitions about peeing outside go away pretty quickly.

I didn't use the She Wee or other urine funnels that allow women to pee standing up without making a mess, but might consider it for next time. Sounds like it would make things easier, faster and more efficient during the day and at night. If you use one of these on your Kilimanjaro Climb, let me know in comments how it worked out.
(Note: this section added on July 21, 2011 after receiving questions about this topic in the comments section and by email.)

Concluding Thoughts on Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro

One of the great things about climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is that it does not require a lot of technical skills or climbing gear. However, being prepared for the hike allows you to focus on the task at hand – getting to Uhuru Peak – instead of worrying about what you’re missing in your pack or how to handle altitude sickness.

What are we missing here?

If you are contemplating a Kilimanjaro climb and have other questions, please post them below in the comments. If you've climbed Kilimanjaro and have your own tips or secrets, please share them below.

The post Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro: Essential Gear, Routes and Preparation appeared first on Uncornered Market.

What was it like climbing Mount Kilimanjaro on the Marangu Route? How did it feel to climb to the highest peak in Africa feel? How challenging was summit night? Would you recommend the Marangu Route? Read on for answers to all this and more in this Mount Kilimanjaro Marangu Route Day by Day guide.

We've already shared some of the life lessons we learned along the way to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, so now it's time to go into all the details on the Marangu Route: our day by day itinerary, daily hiking distance, elevation gain, and also observations on how the landscapes and trail change along the way.

We also share lots of details on what to expect on summit night to reach the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro at 5,895 meters / 19,340 feet. We won't lie: this still remains the most challenging climb of our hiking careers. But, also the most fulfilling.

The following experiences are taken from our Marangu Route Kilimanjaro Trek with G Adventures. If you are considering this tour and want to know what to expect, here’s a taste of the Marangu Route itinerary, support by local guides and porters, campsites, and climbing Kilimanjaro difficulty. Disclosure: This tour was sponsored and provided to us in conjunction with our partnership with G Adventures as Wanderers.

Poa kichizi kama ndizi.

Swahili for “Crazy cool like a banana,” the most appropriate response to “How are you?” while climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.

The Marangu Route: Day by Day Itinerary

The five-day Marangu Route catches hell for not being very interesting in terms of landscape and for forcing a rapid ascent. This was what we had read beforehand.

Our experience? We thought it was great.

Aside from an especially challenging final ascent (aka, summit night), the progression is fine. Regarding views, we were pleasantly surprised by the variety and beauty of the landscape. Hopefully our photos underscore this.

To give you a sense of the pace of our climb, we’ve included the distance we covered and the elevation we gained each day. Quite frankly, every time we look at these numbers and consider how rapidly we moved, we whip the calculator out just to verify.

Take a deep breath. Let’s get moving.

Day 1: Marangu Gate to Mandara Hut – “Easy Peas-y”

Begin: Marangu gate 1,840m/6,036 ft; End: Mandara Hut 2,720m/8,923ft
Elevation gain: 880m/2,887ft; Distance: 8km/5mi

The climb begins much like a walk in the park. Gauzy moss hangs from trees, waterfalls whisper in the distance. Red clay and forest: this is one of nature’s finest complimentary color combinations. Our pace is absurdly slow, like shuffled footsteps. We feel like dancing to get our hearts beating once again.

As we make our way up, porters and trekkers fresh from their summit experience bound down at a quick pace, eager to wind things up and experience a shower. (We can smell this.)

“I want to be them.” (Aside from collective body odor, that is).

We pass members of the Drake University football team on their way down the mountain. Many of them – huge, fit guys – look exhausted, wracked.

“Oh man. What are we in for?”

We settle down for the night at Mandara Huts. We’re told that the ascent will whittle away our appetites, so we force down as much food as possible for dinner while finishing well beyond our three liters of water for the day (note: water is important to combat altitude sickness).

(Speaking of drinking water, I wake up at 9:30PM and exited the hut to pee. I have seen many a star-stitched sky in my life, but the one overhead at that moment may have been the best I’ve ever seen. Getting up to pee in the middle of the night does have its benefits.)

Day 2: Mandara Hut to Horombo Hut – “This Really Isn’t So Bad”

Begin: Mandara Hut 2,720m/8,923ft; End: Horombo Hut 3,720m/12,204ft
Elevation gain: 1,000m/3,280ft; Distance: 12 km/7.5mi

The landscape changes from willowed rainforest to shrub-strewn heath and moorland. The land becomes textured, perfect for mid-mountain light.

Peaks begin to appear. First Mawenzi Peak and then the snow-capped Uhuru Peak in the distance. Our final goal is in sight. Doesn’t look too far, right?

When we flew past Kilimanjaro on our way from Nairobi just days before, we saw a cloud line wrapping around one side of the mountain.

At Horombo Huts, our stop for the night, we realize that we are now above those clouds. We feel a lift, thinking how far we’ve come, but we also take deeper breaths to capture more of the oxygen our bodies need.

The rapid ascent to high altitude begins to register. Broken sleep, too. Besides getting up to pee four times a night, bouts of anxiety and hallucination-like dreams take hold.

I wake up in the middle of the night, my heart racing. I know this feeling from other ascents. My head tells my heart this is normal. A few deep breaths and I fall back asleep.

Repeat until the guide knocks on the door at 6:30 AM.

Day 3: Horombo Hut to Kibo Hut – “OK, I’m Getting the Hang of This”

Begin: Horombo Hut 3,720m/12,204ft; End: Kibo Hut 4,703m/15,430ft
Elevation gain: 983m/3,225ft; Distance: 12 km/7.5mi

Just outside Horombo Huts, we come across a stretch of grassland covered with dendorsenecio kilimanjari, the unmistakably-shaped signature trees of Kilimanjaro. The clouds stay away, and our views of the peak and its glaciers remind us not only of how fortunate we are to be here, but also how we must continue to earn our way.

After lunch the walk becomes mind-numbingly monotonous. A road is carved to the horizon. Each time we reach what seems like an end, a new beginning awaits us.

Barren and brown, this path seems infinite.

I sample mantras to deal with my fatigue and boredom. I like the four-step mantra, “one…foot…in front of the…other.” Timing my footfalls to match my breath feels like yoga. If there’s a prevailing cycle in the universe, I experience fleeting moments of becoming one with it. Then I fall out, reflecting on the monotony and appreciating the beauty in turns.

Then Kibo Hut appears, a spartan gift to bring this day to an end.

There’s no mistaking that this is base camp territory. We’ve seen it in the Himalaya. It’s basic, it’s barren. Short-drop toilets are not for lingering. There’s no running water.

For so many reasons, time here must be limited. No need to force it, for our climbing schedule is about to take an inhumane leap.

A short acclimatization walk, then rest, then early dinner. In an attempt to reassure us, Suliman, our guide, shows us two giant aerosol cans of compressed oxygen, which in the worst of all cases will save us. (The moment you take oxygen is the moment your climb is over. It’s a sign that you’ve succumbed to altitude sickness and you descend.)

We are cold. We are tired. We all wonder what summit day will feel like. We wonder whether we’ll make it.

For the next couple of hours, we “sleep.” But this is no sleep, it is just short of full-blown insomnia.

Day 3 Night/Day 4: Summit and Back Down – “Let’s Do This”

Ascent: Kibo Hut 4,703m/15,430ft to Uhuru Peak 5,895m/19,341ft (via Gilman Point and Stella Point)
Elevation gain to Summit (Uhuru Peak): 1,192m/3,911ft; Distance: 10km/6.2mi
Descent: Uhuru Peak to Horombo Hut: 2,175m/7,135ft; Distance: 22km/13.7mi
(Yup, you did the math correctly – that's 32 km/20mi of walking in one day.)

Wake up is 11 PM. While the rest of Africa is just going to bed, we are getting up.

Our “day” begins with porridge. I’m not the least bit interested in eating, but I force it down all the same. Maija, our fellow hiker, captures the worst of what we are feeling, “My bones ache. Even my teeth ache. It’s like I have growing pains.”

Though my bones do not ache, it’s clear that my body is not especially pleased with what I've done to it.

We pile on every layer of clothing we have — Audrey counts 10 on top — and we're out the door to climb. It’s midnight.

“Let’s do this thing,” I say. Audrey and I clasp hands. I choke up.

We are here. It's time.

We begin to walk, plodding. “Pole, pole,” our guides remind us. (Slowly, slowly.)

12:30 AM
Up scree switchbacks. God, I hate volcanic ash. Though it’s not as bad as one step forward, two steps back, it’s something close.

“If I climb like this another 12 times, maybe I’ll make it to the top,” I say to myself, playing mathematical rationalization games.

1:15 AM
I see Audrey looking up, checking out the lights of the climbers ahead of us. “Don’t do it,” I say.

“It’s demoralizing. Keep your head down.”

I’m irritable, almost forgetting all the great wisdom that comes too easily while tapping on a laptop in the comfort of an oxygen-rich warm apartment.

2:00 AM
I look up, ignoring my own advice. The lights from head lamps that punctuate the darkness snake up the mountain to the edge of the sky. I wonder if I'll be able to sustain this.

2:30 AM
The first of our potential casualties, one of our fellow climbers has a break down. The guides act quickly, ushering the rest of us onwards so she can be attended to properly. (Spoiler: She continues and makes it all the way to the top.)

3:00 AM
I feel like I want to throw up. I quickly debate the merits of doing so and decide against exchanging relief for an uncomfortable burning in my mouth and nose. I begin to exhale heavily and inhale in musical patterns to stave off the nausea. It works, fleetingly.

My exhaustion is so thorough that I catch myself falling asleep as I walk. This is the downside of sleep-starved yoga breathing. Sleepwalking while mountain climbing — I cannot believe this. (Maija later confirmed that she was both sleepwalking and dreaming on the way up the mountain.)

Every time we stop on a rock or turn to catch our breaths, I catch a wink of sleep, inadvertently. I could fall asleep here forever. I know this is dangerous. Our guides do too. They nudge us to keep moving.

4:00 AM
Why do I keep looking at my watch?? I feel like tearing it off and throwing it down the mountain.

Head down, one foot in front of the other. There are those bottles of beer on the wall again. I keep losing count. Not that it matters.

4:30 AM
We stop occasionally, but not often enough for my needs.

I look down and see a chain of headlamp lights snaking below. I’m torn: pleased to have made it so far, but wondering how much more I have to go.

In darkness, there’s comfort in not knowing how infinite this mountain might be.

5:00 AM
I look up. I think I can see the crest of the hill. “A night mirage,” I think.

5:20 AM – Gilman Point (5,681 m/18,638ft)
The first big milestone of the day. I don’t feel like I’m dying anymore. We rest, but not for long.

“Uhuru Peak is not that far away,” Hatibo, our summit porter, offers a morsel of motivation.

(Note: Pace yourself. Ideally, you'd like to arrive at Gilman Point when it’s still dark, and finish at Uhuru Peak around sunrise so that you can enjoy the view and the early morning sun. However, if you climb too quickly, you'll get to the top when it's dark and far too cold to linger.)

6:10 AM Stella Point (5,730m/18,800ft)
On your way up, NEVER EVER listen to anyone coming down who says, “It’s not long now.”

It’s long. Trust me.

Another climber on his way up adds, “I heard it's mostly downhill from here.” Either he is joking or he is full of crap. Either way, I resent him almost completely.

The reality: we have plenty of uphill remaining.

The sun appears on the horizon above the clouds. Kilimanjaro's glaciers begin to glow in the early morning light. Under other circumstances, I’d be taking photos by the hundreds, but I focus my energy uphill. (Kudos to Audrey for assuming the reins of the big camera.)

From here, I can see the peak, but not the place where climbers are celebrating. I can beat this, but it's slow. Very slow.

7:20 AM – Summit, Uhuru Peak (5,895m/19,340ft)
Our final steps are all emotion. Fatigue is forgotten and adrenaline takes over. I've imagined this moment countless times.

A posed shot by a little wooden sign has never felt so satisfying.

The summit is known for cold and rapidly changing conditions, but we luck out. The sun blazes and skies are clear. The temperature is almost comfortable and the wind is nothing like what we prepared for. We linger, snapping photos and getting drunk on thin air. The views are even more impressive than we imagined.

We can't recognize the potential danger. At twenty minutes, we're pushing our luck; our guides “encourage” us to head back down.

In an aim to return to Kibo Hut as soon as possible, we move very quickly. Too quickly, it seems. I'm overexerting myself. Before I know it, I feel miserable and exhibit the tell-tale signs of altitude sickness: my stomach is in knots, my head is pounding.

As we bounce down the scree below Gilman Point, I'm amazed by what we'd scaled. And I want to throw up again.

When we arrive at Kibo Hut, I collapse into my bed. No time for sleeping bags. I wake up to breakfast 45 minutes later, my rain pants only half off.

After a full breakfast and a short rest, it’s time to hit the road to Horombo Hut to retire for the night. And to breathe.

Day 5: Horombo Hut to Marangu Gate – “Savor the Victory”

Begin: Horombo Hut 3720m/12,204ft; End: Marangu Gate 1840m
Elevation loss: 1,880m/6170ft; Distance: 20 km/12.5mi

It’s a long way down, so we get an early start. But as early starts go, this is a good one. We all feel relatively well. We didn’t wake up to pee as much. We slept. Our appetites return.

We even do morning exercises. We laugh.

We enjoy the early morning light and clouds as we walk. This is the second time we’ve seen this stretch of terrain, but this time it looks different. It’s in the shadow of the summit, a place we’ve been.

Now we’re the ones coming down –- a bit more stinky, a little more confident — and we're encouraging those heading up.

How much can change in just a few days.

Read next: All the practical details you need to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, from choosing a route to packing the right gear to dealing with altitude sickness.

The post Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro: The Marangu Route, Day by Day appeared first on Uncornered Market.

If Zanzibar were to have its own non-alcoholic version of Cheers – the place where everyone knows your name – it would be Jaws Corner in Stone Town.

Everyone hangs out here: Zanzibaris of African and Arab descent, old and young, locals and tourists. This is what makes it such a great place to rest, people watch, and talk with ordinary people. Jaws Corner is also the one place in town where there seems to be a tacit ban on touts and souvenir pitching.

Easily one of our favorite places in Stone Town.

————-

The experiences above were from the G Adventures' Tanzania Encompassed Tour. If you plan to book this or another tour with G Adventures, please consider starting the process by clicking on the ad below. The price stays the same to you and we earn a small commission. Thank you!

The post Jaws Corner for Local Coffee in Stone Town, Zanzibar appeared first on Uncornered Market.