Our Crew

The crew that leads and supports this climb is really wonderful. They are all Tanzanian, and we have been great. They have really encouraged us to meet and learn the names of the people who are here for us.

Our lead guide Ben and Assistant guide Cobra both have university degrees in wildlife management and have both gone through NOLS (national outdoor leadership school) training.
Ben has done some NOLS training both here and in the US. He is of the Chagga tribe and has been telling us their customs and such. On our hikes Ben is always the last so no one is left behind.

Cobra is a Maasai. He had his NOLS training in Kenya, and knows a lot about wildlife. On our hikes he leads and sets the pace(very very slow).

Our porter Kshui does not speak english. He carries our 2 porter bags plus some other stuff in a big bag on his head, sets up our tent and carries our packs to our tent when we get to a new camp.

Amani and Boca run to get water at each camp site and pump it through a filter for all 74 people on this trek.

Barry, Dixon, and Boca wake us up at our tents each morning with hot beverages, and 20 minutes later with hot bowls of water to wash up with.

We met our cooks and lead chef tonight but I don't remember all their names. The food here has been so amazingly good that we may never be able to go backpacking on freeze-dried food again. There are a lot of meat dishes and peanut dishes so CA will probably not want to sign up for this trip.

Our camp organizer and his assistant are Sigfried and Gotfried (brothers) and they are a lot of fun, and are teaching us songs.

PART TWO

I added some photos of our crew:

1. Ben our lead guide with the two of us.

2. Cobra, the modern warrior.

3. Ben, with Gotfried and Sigi.

4. Boca, Amani, and Dixon bringing the hot beverages.

5. Our porter Kshui by our tents.

6. Buoni, another guide and helper.