Kilimanjaro

Climbing Kilimanjaro is quite a costly endeavor.  They require you to have a small army to go up the mountain along with the park fees of US $100 per day.  For 2 of us climbing, we had to have a minimum of 5 porters for 2 bags, 1 cook who doesn't carry bags, a guide along with an assistant guide, and of course we needed a waiter for serving our food.  The route we climbed was the Marangu 

Route and instead of staying in a tent, we had huts along the way.  Our starting elevation for the climb was around 6400' and we climbed to just over 19000'.  The total distance of the climb was somewhere around 50 miles round trip and although I got really sick the day before we climbed the summit, I managed to puke my way up the hill to peek inside the crater of Africa's tallest mountain. My biggest disappointment of the climb was we started climbing at 12am and when we got to the crater, it was still dark, cold, and very windy.  Overall it was an amazing experience but if you decide to go, be sure to add a day or two to acclimate.  

Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Zanzibar

Swimming, scuba diving, eating delicious food, followed up with a massage everyday would sum up my trip to Zanzibar.  It was a little vacation from traveling.  It's a cool little spot that's definitely worth checking out.

The home of Freddie Mercury, lead singer of Queen.

Stone town

Dar es Salaam

Formerly the capital and the largest city in Tanzania, Dar es Salaam is a hustling bustling traffic nightmare.  A trip across town is an all day affair.  

Malawi

I waited...... but no one called.  I was wondering how I could get this gem home. 

 

Rubber tree

It appears that they score the perimeter of the tree and funnel it into a small pail.  The liquid feels and smells ..........like rubber.

The photos above are Kande Beach on Lake Malawi.  It is of of the few lakes in the world that have fresh water tropical fish.  The swim out to the island took about 30 minutes and we guesed it to be 1/2 a mile. After 3 trips out and back, I was quite tired.  The snorkeling and sand were amazing and it was nice to take it easy since we have covered roughly 5000 miles of bumpy roads over the last 5 weeks.

A random sign :)

Don't bring anything with you when you walk around a local village.  Everyone will ask if they can have it.  I had at least 100 people ask if they could have my water bottle.  The kids like to flex their muscles at me and everywhere you turn some one is begging you to buy something.  They will even try to barter for the clothes you're wearing.  

  

World's Scariest Bridge- Malawi

As we drove across this bridge, you could feel our truck lean as the bridge sagged from the weight of our truck.  When the driver stopped on the other side for a few photos, I was a little frustrated that we didn't get the option to walk across in the first place.  The pictures don't do this justice but there is no way this bridge will last another month.  

Luangwa National Park, Zambia

We spent many hours searching to find a leopard.  It's unbelieveable how all the animals pay absolutely no attention to the people watching them.  She walked so close to our truck while stalking some Impalas,  I could've reached down and touched her.    

The giraffes are covered in ticks.  They let the birds crawl all over them as they eat the bugs right off of them.

This is a Baobab tree.    

Luangwa National Park was originally a game reserve that opened up in 1938.  In 1972 it was converted to a national park covering roughly 9000 sq kilometers.  There are so many wild animals around, they won't even allow you to leave the camp.  Nearly every morning we had a heard of Elephants come wandering through.  In two days of game drives, we must've seen several thousand animals.