Morning in Tanzania

This morning it is raining. The air is thick and humid and the land green and lush. We woke to a strange distant voice which I believe is a Muslim call to prayer as there are many Muslims in this country. The mountain is shrouded in clouds and we are enjoying our last shower for the next week. Breakfast was familiar yet different with a small rolled pancake being my favorite. Before we start up the mountain today, we will need to get all new gear for Mart as his luggage did not make it with us. Up we go!

Moshi

Today we arrived in Moshi, Tanzania. We traveled by plane from Lusaka via Nairobi, Kenya. One of our duffle bags with gear didn,t make it with us. It had most of Marty,s gear in it. We may have to buy him things in the morning if we can so that he can make the trek with us. Moshi is lush and humid. We saw Kilimanjaro sticking high above the clouds as we flew by it in the turboprop plane we were in. Cool! We will spend the next week on the mountain. Should be fun but for me not much of a challenge. This will be the first high mountain that Marty and Eric will climb. Hopefully they will avoid "mountain sickness".

Back to Lusaka

We traveled back to Lusaka yesterday by bus. Our bus clipped a man on a bike witch lead to a half hour delay and since the man seemed OK was somewhat entertaining. George and Keith showed us the modern side of Lusaka and we ate at a restaurant in a mall. The contrast between the grass hut villages and the crowded neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city and the small modern section of town is striking. We are flying to Tanzania today.

Victoria Falls

Greetings from Livingstone Zambia! We have done a lot of traveling up to this point. Tomorrow we will be rafting the Zambezi River. We are all excited! Zambia has been very interesting. It has been good to have Marty,s friends, George and Keith with us. This country is full of adventure just to walk the streets and mingle with the people. We are definetly foreigners.

Sitting in the Amsterdam airport

I am sitting in the airport with Eric and Marty. We are half way on our journey to southern Africa. We are already feeling effects of jet lag and no sleep. Maybe during the ten hour flight to Lusaka we can catch a few winks. We have heard a lot of different languages being spoken around us. Good thing English still seems to be used universally.

Englestead Canyon

Yesterday I talked Deb into doing a canyon over in Zion with Marty and I.  We also had our friend John Tully come along.  We chose to try Englestead Canyon.  I have gone through that canyon at least 3 times previously.  It is still early season conditions in most of the canyons in Zion and Englestead was no exception.  We encountered a considerable amount of snow and ice in the dark recesses of the slot.  The initial drop into the canyon is a doozie and requires stopping at a free hanging belay on the way down.  We all got cozy for a few minutes as we made the transition from the first rappel onto the next one.  We brought our wet suits along and we ended up wearing them all of the way out of the Narrows.  I don't think I truly warmed up until I crawled into bed at home that night.  It was a long canyon and more difficult than I had remembered.  Still a lot of "fun" nonetheless.  We stopped in at Oscars of course and Deb and I strolled through the several shops in Springdale while Marty and Tully retrieved my truck up on the East side.  Yet another great day in Zion!