Getting ready

This Sunday at 6pm our flight leaves from Atlanta to take us over to Africa, the cradle of human kind. I can not explain how excited I am to finally see this continent with all the wildlife, the people and landscapes. I know already it will be the trip of a lifetime.
We are going to climb mount Kilimanjaro after a few days of acclimatizing in Arusha (at the bottom of Mt. Kilimanjaro). The hike should take about 8 days, if we make it to the top and won't be forced to descend before because of altitude sickness or AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness).
Tosh and I have been reading a lot and are trying to be as prepared as possible, but it just can't be foreseen how the high altitude effects us. We both have been hiking in high altitude before (Machu Picchu in Peru), but it will always be a new way to adjust the body to the low oxygen levels. I know that Tosh won't turn around, even with AMS, before he breaks down. So I will have to watch myself and him, because the porters carrying our tents and food are not prepared to carry a 190 Pound American Beefcake down the mountain.. It will be interesting :)



This is a map with all the different routes up to Kilimanjaro. We still haven't decided which one we are going to take. Probably either the Rongai route, which is supposed to have the most wildlife on the trail and be very remote and lonesome; or the Lemosho route, which is a longer route ascending from the west with stunning views of the entire plateau and hardly any other hikers.