10-22-17

Flying over the Sahara Desert. Really interesting to see from our plane; miles & miles & miles of sand.

Arrived!!!!

Kilimanjaro Airport, Tanzania.

It was late, we were tired, but we were so excited to step foot onto the ground of AFRICA!

We were met by a Climb Kili representative, Gideon. He drove Bob, myself & David (fellow hiker who flew in from Washington, DC) back to our hotel (about an hour away in Arusha). 

The next day we had some free time so we hired a company driver, Emanuel to take Bob & I to visit a friend of a friend. First we drove past many banana fields! That's Mount Meru in the background. Mt. Meru is the 2nd tallest mountain in Tanzania (14,497 ft). The 5th tallest in Africa.

We went past Arusha's city market. Numerous fruit and clothing stands for the locals.

After 30 minutes we arrived in a rural village called Usa River.

And we finally got to meet in person, Kapanya. We had been exchanging messages through Facebook for the past couple months. Kapanya had been introduced to us through friends who hiked Kilimanjaro 4 years ago. Kapanya was their guide for a successful trip to the top of Kili.

Kapanya graciously had invited us to his home for tea. It was such a lovely time.

Kapanya is the owner & lead guide of the tour company, East African Outdoor Adventures. He has climbed to the top of Kilimanjaro 174 times! We really enjoyed learning more about his past adventures, his family, & charities.

Kapanya & his son.

Kapanya's nephew.

Kapanya's company intern from Switzerland & Kapanya's children.

Kapanya & family gave us the warmest welcome!!! Even though he & his company was not leading us up the mountain...our time together was really special. Kapanya does many great things for his extended family, children's education, the community & for guests coming to Africa. His adventure company is about hiking Kilimanjaro, Mt. Meru & going on Safaris in the Serengeti. Kapanya's heart is about bettering the lives for the people of Tanzania.

PS: We got a good laugh at Kapanya's cat who knew how to greet us Americans. LOL. Pretty cute & not posed for the photo! :-)

His cats were quite sweet.

But his little boy was sweeter!! :-)

Thanks again, our friend.

:-)