Cleatus the West Virginian

Africa and Egypt

16 Sep – 4 Nov 2018

41 entries from Tanzania, Egypt, Austria, 16 September – 4 November 2018.

Start here — Hakuna Shida Kilimanjaro Summit 19.5k 10/1/18

Entries
41
Countries
3

Timeline · each node is an entry, spaced by date

Day by day

  1. 16 Sep Why is packing the last thing we do? 9/15/18 Beth It seems like the most important items is always the last task. I think I need to get all the other stuff out of the way so I can focus.
  2. 17 Sep Butter pretzels, schnapps, Lauterbrunnen Beth I woke up in a zombie state from the damn sleeping pills. This is why I don’t take them. Xanax doesn’t make you feel this bad in the am.
  3. 17 Sep Let the holiday commence! 9/16/18 Beth Woke up at 5:30 thinking of all the shit I need to do in several hours. Cutting down the tree yesterday really threw me off my game plan. Coffee, dishes, blah blah.
  4. 19 Sep Here's to the libation that enables glutony Beth All 5 of us slept like crap last night. Maybe it was the dorm we were sleeping in. Beds touching. It actually wasn't a big deal since we were the only ones in there beside Jorge.
  5. 19 Sep Hey GoPro, Take a picture Beth Andy was happy to wake us up at 7am since he was awake for the last 4 hours. It was haaard getting my ass up due to the jet lag.
  6. 21 Sep Africa!! Beth No sleep, up at the ass crack of dawn to get to Zurich. Andy drove like a pro for 2 hours. We arrived at 8, our flight’s at 10. I was freaking a bit of course. No lines no stress.
  7. 21 Sep Some people want to eat a vat of Crème Fraiche Beth A full nights sleep (even w the mauling from the mosquitoes)!! Up at 8 to prep for the grand breakfast. We really outdid ourselves at the grocery store.
  8. 22 Sep Nairobi- check! (and a dead dude) 9/22/18 Beth We slept really well last night. I slept the whole night through and woke up at 9. Time to get this day started.
  9. 23 Sep Baby elephants and our lovely new friend Sam Beth I could not wake up this am. Not sure if it was the awakening in the middle of the night from the air compressor sound that lasted for 5 min, or the mosquitoes that were jabbing…
  10. 24 Sep Carb loading before Kilimanjaro 9/24/18 Beth We didn't sleep last night due to the bloodbath, at least it was a mosquito bloodbath and not ours. We tried to sleep under the heavy ass sheet up that wasn't going to work.
  11. 4 Oct Barafu Camp Day 6 9/30/18 Beth We had a later start this morning because the hike was supposed to take less than three hours.
  12. 4 Oct Baranco Camp Day 4 3900M 9/28/18 Beth We slept pretty well last night, I slept mostly through the night while Andy slept off and on.
  13. 4 Oct First camp in the rain forest, Mti Mkubwa Camp 9/25/18 Beth I was up because of the roosters crowing, however, Andy was up at five. I slept well last night no mosquitoes, but every time the mosquito net touched my body I twitched.
  14. 4 Oct From rain forest to Pygmy forest to plateau 9/26/18 Beth Andy woke up before five to the sound of thousands of songbirds chirping. We both had a solid night sleep.
  15. 4 Oct Hakuna Shida Kilimanjaro Summit 19.5k 10/1/18 Beth I was really nervous when we laying down to go to bed last night. I have been thinking about this day for many months I am wondering if I can do it, and knowing I had to do it.
  16. 4 Oct Karanga Camp Day 5 4K 9/29/18 Beth (Andy) We woke up at about 6 o’clock in the morning to ice all over the tent and it was cold.
  17. 4 Oct The Cathedral, Shira 2 Camp, Day 3; 9/27/18 Beth The Germans were restless last night. At about 1 AM in the morning, they woke up and started having a full-blast conversation about complaints about food and comfort items.
  18. 6 Oct Best animal lover day ever at Tarangire National Park 10/3/18 Beth All kinds of crazy noises throughout the night at the hotel. There were dogs howling, dogfights, drunk men going home from the bars.
  19. 9 Oct Arusha and it’s fine citizens 10/9/18 Beth Today was our first day on our own since the previous days were all tours. We relaxed and finally got some WiFi in the morning.
  20. 9 Oct Black Rhino in Ngorongoro 10/8/18 Beth Up at 5 so we could head to the crater at 6. The road down into the crater was the worst of the bumpy rides since the rain has washed a lot of it away.
  21. 9 Oct Serengeti day 1, Lions and Leopard 10/5/18 Beth We stayed at the Njake Campsite last night by mosquito river. Andy got mauled on his feet (that’s why people don’t wear flip flops here), and those bastards even got me through my…
  22. 9 Oct Serengeti day 2, Lions and all the animals 10/6/18 Beth Another amazing day! A full day safari. We saw: A buffalo’s tail was eaten off, birds were eating from the hole (gross).
  23. 9 Oct Serengeti day 3 cheetahs!!! 10/7/18 Beth I can’t get over how amazing this park is! We started early at 6 for a morning game drive. The first thing we came across were 2 male lions chillin in the middle of the road.
  24. 9 Oct Sleeping by mosquito river and Lake Manyara 10/4/18 Beth Last night wasn’t as a rowdy as I expected. We both fell asleep with our clothes on because it was way too warm to get out sleeping bags.
  25. 10 Oct Glad we took the plane to Uganda 10/10/18 Beth This am I emailed the gorilla tour group to confirm pickup for tomorrow. She responded with, you didn’t pay so how will the safari continue? What???
  26. 14 Oct Gorillas in the mist 10/12/18 Beth Let me just talk about how terrible I feel. I've had food poisoning for 2+ days and it's not getting better.
  27. 15 Oct The land of banana trees, tea leaves, and one less hippo 10/14/15 Beth I'm finally feeling better. Godwin got me some pills from the pharmacy for $2; one to fight the amoeba in my stomach, two to battle the stomach issues.
  28. 16 Oct Alas, our private tour has come to an end... and chimp cuteness! 10/15/18 Beth Up early again to start the day for the chimp tracking. It's easy to get up at 5:30 when you go to bed at 8 every night. On our way to start the treck we ran into a traffic mess.
  29. 17 Oct WHO cleared us of Ebola- you may now enter Rwanda 10/17/18 Beth Yesterday we chilled at the lake. We took a tour of the lake. Actually, I should say we made a donation to elders with dementia and it included a motor boat lake tour (this lake…
  30. 20 Oct Crazy beautiful Golden Monkeys at Volcanoes NP 10/18/18 Beth Up early to catch the golden monkey tour, plus we just don't sleep late. We had no tickets or reservations but Alex at the hotel said it wouldn't be a problem (from what we…
  31. 20 Oct Genocide and a day in Kigali Rwanda 10/19/18 Beth I was up early, 4:30. It looked like there was sun outside our window but we were tricked. Wifi in the room so not a big deal.
  32. 21 Oct A bitch of a travel day to paradise with kitten 10/21/18 Beth I don't feel bad for myself but I'm going to complain anyways because it was a MFer of a travel day.
  33. 22 Oct Driving on the wrong side of the road outside Stone Town 10/22/18 Beth After breakfast today we headed into town to get the rental and explore. We were lucky enough to hitch a ride with the guy at the hotel (his uncle owns the place).
  34. 24 Oct Super hero scuba and playing in the rain 10/24/18 Beth We took our time yesterday am, we are definitely embracing the island life. Almost midday we made the effort to go exploring before our scuba at 1.
  35. 25 Oct Running on empty 10/26/18 Beth I woke up in the middle of the night because the rain was so hard on the roof, it was a crazy downpour. All I could think was, damn I hope this doesn't impact our flight.
  36. 26 Oct Dubai- the most ridiculous city in the world 10/26/18 Beth We got to the hotel by the airport at 12:30am. We thought we were making good time since we landed early, but the bus that took us from the plane to the gate drove for about 20…
  37. 28 Oct Pyramids of Giza- a fantastic impromptu diversion 10/27/18 Beth Up at 7 although we went to be at 2am. Sleeping in isn't going to happen. We arrived at Cairo airport later than expected. I was a bit worried about going through immigration.
  38. 29 Oct Old stuff, mummies, lovely Alexandria 10/28/18 Beth We had a yummy breakfast again, my favorite meal of the day. We first walked through Tahrir Square (Liberation Square).
  39. 30 Oct What a day to wrap up Africa- in Alexandria 10/29/18 Beth We had the most fantastic breakfast this am. Cheeses and meats and fresh warm breads as far as the eye could see.
  40. 1 Nov Bye Egypt; bring on the butter pretzels, käsespätzle, meat, beer, schnapps! 10/31 Beth Yesterday was our last day in Egypt. We first hit up the local grocery store beside our hotel in search for spices.
  41. 4 Nov A fabulous intro to the lovely Innsbruck Austria 11/1/18 Beth Simon's roommate, Jonas, was nice enough to let us sleep in his room while he stayed at his girlfriend's house last night so we had a nice bed to sleep in.