Countdown to Africa

Luis and I are in the last panicky days of preparing for our long-awaited trip to Tanzania. Well truth be told, he's panicking, and I'm watching him walk in circles while I write this blog. 

It's been literally a year in the planning, since I met Krista, the anthropologist from Bakersfield, last January. She mentioned that she would be hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro in January 2017, and I became interested. 

I knew that Luis had talked casually about hiking this mountain -- as a pipe dream really -- after having conquered Mt. Fuji in Japan and Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous U.S. There was a group of about 12 people based in Bakersfield coming together to hike the mountain with a seasoned leader and well-established tour company called Climb Kili. He could join this group as a member of the team. 

When I discovered that I would be close enough to visit Gombe Stream National Park, where chimpanzee researcher Jane Goodall has done her 40+ years of work, booking this trip was pretty much a done deal. Luis was ready to pack his bags last February. 

Even though I was excited at the prospect, it took a little more convincing for me. At first I had the same feelings as when I traveled to Mumbai, India in January 2013...can you just go to Africa? People just get on planes and go to Tanzania? What will the girls do while we're gone? Will they be safe? Will they eat their vegetables? Finally, with some planning, sitters and visitors arranged, and the entire community of Eastlake checking in on them, I was ready to say "Let's go."

Our basic itinerary looks like this:

Fly for a bazillion hours on four planes from SD > LA > Amsterdam > Dar es Salaam > and arrive in Arusha, Tanzania.
Explore Arusha and deal with jet lag.
Head to the Serengeti for three days of safari.
Return to Arusha, where Luis joins his climbing group for the first of 8 days to the summit and back.
Simultaneously, I fly to the Western border of TZ to Gombe, where I stay for five days to trek with chimpanzees.
Luis and I meet back in Arusha for a day before we leave for home.

I don't know what I've done to deserve these opportunities in my life, but I don't want to miss out on any of them!

Follow us here on the blog for our adventures.