Raul
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Reaching Kilimanjaro’s Summit | Kilimanjaro Day 6
More Details: Reaching Kilimanjaro’s Summit | Kilimanjaro Day 6Here we go, the BIG day. Day 6 of the Mount Kilimanjaro climb! The day we hope to reach and pass Stella Point on the rim of Mount Kilimanjaro to get to Uhuru Peak, the highest point of the mountain – the highest point in Africa!!! Or, I should say, the day we attempt to reach and…
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Hike to Kilimanjaro Summit Base Camp | Kilimanjaro Day 5
More Details: Hike to Kilimanjaro Summit Base Camp | Kilimanjaro Day 5Ah, the final day before summit, day 5. Very important, the day that would take us to the promised land: Kilimanjaro summit base camp on the Machame Route. And, not a day too soon. Sure, one more day of acclimatization would have only helped. But, after four spectacular days, now I was beginning to crave reaching…
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A Brief Visit to a Masai Village
More Details: A Brief Visit to a Masai VillageThe day we were to enter the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, we first made a stop outside of the park at a Masai village. My image of the Masai before this visit was of tall, lean men wearing blue or red clothes holding a cane-like piece of wood. I knew they were a nomadic…
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Reaching the Lava Tower | Kilimanjaro Day 3
More Details: Reaching the Lava Tower | Kilimanjaro Day 3Day 3 would take us pretty high, to the Lava Tower of Kilimanjaro, and leave us at the base of the infamous Barranco Wall. We were greeted by the day at Shira Camp where we had arrived on day 2 of our climb of Mount Kilimanjaro. The day’s hike began around 8:45 AM to the famous. …
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The Moorlands and Shira Camp | Kilimanjaro Day 2
More Details: The Moorlands and Shira Camp | Kilimanjaro Day 2While the excitement of getting going on the climb of Mount Kilimanjaro made day 1 a great day, day 2 was no less exciting thanks to the moorlands and Shira Camp. For many of us in the Trekking for Kids group, that was mainly due to the change in the landscape we were to experience…
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On the Machame Route | Kilimanjaro Day 1
More Details: On the Machame Route | Kilimanjaro Day 1Writing about my hike to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro along the Machame Route is no easy task. What to share? Clearly the “facts” of the route, camps, durations, altitude, acclimatization, weather, gear, the day-to-day routine, etc. are all important elements of the story. But the more I thought about how to write about this experience,…
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Tanzania’s Lake Manyara: A Cool and Easy Safari
More Details: Tanzania’s Lake Manyara: A Cool and Easy SafariAfter our climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro, some of the group had signed up for a safari in Tanzania taking advantage of having spent the time and money to travel so far from home already. I had been to the Serengeti six years before on a day trip in from the west side since I had…
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The Machame Route: Our Route to the Top of Mt. Kilimanjaro
More Details: The Machame Route: Our Route to the Top of Mt. Kilimanjaro(At the end of this post, see the series of posts written post-climb about this route!) I am a few days away from leaving for Tanzania to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, the rooftop of Africa. Eager anticipation and a modest level of anxiety are my constant companions these last few days before the trek… How fun…
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Preparing to Hike Kilimanjaro: More than Training & Gear
More Details: Preparing to Hike Kilimanjaro: More than Training & GearI sit here, two weeks before my departure for Tanzania, asking myself “Oh my, what did I get into??”. As you may have read, I am headed to Tanzania to hike Mt. Kilimanjaro, something that 5 months I would have told you was the furthest thing from my bucket list. Seriously. As I contemplate the…
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Photo of the Week: The Basilica de Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia
More Details: Photo of the Week: The Basilica de Nuestra Señora de la AltagraciaThe title of this post seems like a mouthful: Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia (Basilica of our Lady of Altagracia). This massive structure in Higüey, Dominican Republic is to honor the Virgin of Altagracia, national patron saint of the country. It was inaugurated in the 1970s and is within reach of many tourist…
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Photo Essay: Bucharest, Romania
More Details: Photo Essay: Bucharest, RomaniaBucharest was my gateway into Romania and I was eager to see this city that has always -for some strange reason- been an object of my curiosity. The capital of Romania has been called the “Paris of the east” due to French architecture influence – but perhaps also because the pre-communist elite had the airs? …