ing I used to think I was a great writer and I realized that didn't matter. What's important is to be an effective storyteller. So here goes, the story of Jason and I and 25 days in Africa. We both love to travel and if you're reading this, it's likely not a surprise to any of you. We have so many places on our list that I won't even mention them all here. Our trip to Africa all started at a chilly Saturday night in November, 2021, at a fundraising gala with friends. I was sniffly with whatever bug was going around and a full dinner and a few glasses of wine later, my paddle went up during the live auction for a seven-day, six-night stay at Zulu Nyala Safari Lodge in South Africa. It seemed like a good deal and some of the money was going to a good cause so we did it! Due to the travel uncertainties going on with the global pandemic, the certificate said we had up to three years to use it. That sounded fine. We weren't going anywhere soon, that we knew of. We talked to a few friends about our live auction score and it stirred up conversation of other things we could do while we were halfway across the world: hike Mt. Kilimanjaro, trek mountain gorillas in Uganda and game tours of various national parks. It was settled, we decided to do it all! We started planning the details with our friend, and now travel agent, Michele (http://micheletravels.com/) and ironed out the details. We blocked off 25 days from December 15, 2022 - January 8, 2023 and got to working on our itinerary and budgeting for the trip. Fast-forward to late October, we spent weeks navigating the 10+ vaccines we had to get for all of the places we were going. Tetanus, covid booster, flu, Hep A, Hep B, rabies, yellow fever for Uganda, malaria pills for Tanzania, and the list goes on. Our arms felt like pin cushions. And soon it would all be worth it!
The news had been littered with headlines of 'lost luggage' or 'bags delivered weeks later' so we decided not to risk it and we each traveled for the 3.5 weeks with two carry-ons: 1) one hiking day pack and 2) a duffel bag with backpack straps. That's me above with my two packs. Maybe a total of 40 lbs. without water: our outerwear for the Kili hike and one week's worth of clothes that we would wash each week to allow for minimal packing. No makeup, no hair dryer, no curling iron. It felt very freeing. Our friend, Nick, was joining us for the first two weeks. We had separate flights so we all headed to the airport together for lunch on Thursday, Dec. 15, hugged and said we would see each other on Saturday morning in the travel lounge at the Kilimanjaro Airport in Arusha, Tanzania. Off we went on our three flights, two overnight:
I'm glad to have you along for the ride on this blog. I'll do a post for each day and happy to answer any questions you have about the trip. Just post them in the comments below. Let's go!
1 Comment
Elizabeth Harrelson
2/15/2023 10:24:01 am
I'm looking forward to seeing your story unfold and many more pix I haven't seen yet.
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