Africa - hooooooooooooo

Sitting in my bedroom staring out through the window into the blue evening sky i am feeling very happy this evening. Having worked and planned options, routes, treks, flights and all manner of various possibilities i am now booked for Africa! Come on!

I leave the shores of the Great British Isles on September 19th bound for Tunisia. North Africa is my first destination and i look forward to experiencing the pleasures that this country has to offer. It is a short stop, 3 weeks, before i make my way to Egypt. Colossal pyramids, the River Nile, The Sahara, The Red Sea. The list is large and exciting.

I have been to Morocco before and i think that Tunisia and Egypt will be quite similar in many respects, this means good food, a completely different type of culture from Europe and, fingers crossed, a decent end of the summer weather.

Leaving Egypt i will head South to Nairobi in Kenya. Home of the Masai Mari and Mombasa, to name but a couple of attractions, i can't wait to go to the game parks and beaches of this fantastic country. I will travel over land into my final destination, Tanzania.

Tanzania is the pinnacle of my trip. I shall be spending most time here, about 8 weeks, where i will first of all climb Kilimanjaro. My trip is now booked as well. The deposit is in a Tanzanian bank somewhere and on December 1st the trek beings. Leaving from Moshi it is a 5 day return hike to the summit through tropical rain forest, moor lands, mountain and finally screed at the top to the snow capped peak. Known as the roof top of Africa at 5896 metres i hope for views across the land unrivalled by anything i have ever experienced.

My good friend Christian will be getting married in Arusha on Dec 10th/11th so this will be the perfect way to celebrate and to follow i leave for the Serengeti on Dec 14th. From there Zanzibar, Dar Es Salaam and anywhere else i can bum around in some sun will be the agenda until i return in January.

It's another journey of a life time...stay tuned as i continue my preparation for this magnificent adventure.

the life of a bum

Being unemployed over summer is a liberating freedom but not without it's disadvantages. Not having money to spend on going out means you often have a very basic existence. This is all very good though as it means i have plenty of time to train. One thing i learnt whilst on the road, travelling, living out of a backpack is just how little you need in order to have fun and enjoy life.

This week has been a barrage of training. Completing 2, 10km runs and a 9km run along side my regular weights sessions has been excellent, even if it has left me eating like a horse :-) My fitness levels are at an all time high and i feel great. Strength training is good. My dynamic power and strength are increasing and this will be really helpful, especially in the legs, with all the running.

My only disappointment is that my new hiking boots have left me with some pain in my right foot and i have not been able to wear them since. This is very frustrating as they are both new and unbroken and i can't break them in further until my foot heals properly. I know what you're all thinking though...terribly hard life when the only concern in your life is a pair of hiking boots.

The weekend is here now and this always brings new possibilities as the urbanites leave the confines of the office environment and venture for fun and entertainment. Hopefully I'll be able to get another walk in on Sunday as well as some running and weight training in the next couple of days.

I miss being on the road at the moment though. Travelling is an experience unlike any other. When you are alone, venturing through places that you have no idea about except what you have picked up from fellow adventurers or a guide book with limited information, you feel so free. You are the master of your own destiny and have no one to answer to other than your own consciousness. It's brilliant. To spend a lot of time in the UK at the moment feels like a bit of waste. Although seeing friends and family is great the UK holds very little in terms of the charm of being out in the wild on your own. Everything seems dulled down. What once was a thrill is now merely an occurrence that you have seen all to many times before. I'm aching for the excitement of the unknown again. It will be here again before long though...

It begins

This is my first attempt at a blog. Having returned from travelling around South America, New Zealand and Australia i am smitten with the travelling bug and i'm ready for another trip.

My plan is to leave good old Blighty sometime in September and make my way through North Africa down to Kenya and Tanzania.Tanzania promises to be a spectacular event. One of my good friends is getting married there in December and along with the Serengeti i will also be undertaking the mammoth task of scaling Kilimanjaro.

Kilimanjaro is the highest free standing peak in the world. At 5895m (Over 19000 feet!) the trek is a 5 day expedition leaving from Moshi. My start date for the adventure will be December 1st. Trekking through tropical rainforest at the bottom to the snow capped peak will be one of the most gruelling challenges i can possible undertake. Having spent a few months at altitude in Bolivia and Peru, trekking through the Amazon and Patagonia in the south of Argentina i believe it will be both possible and highly rewarding.

I have begun preparing already for this trip with the purchase of new, sturdy, hiking boots and all types of clothing equipment. It is going to be strenuous and require me to be prepared. Because of this i also have to get into shape.

Training is going to be rigorous and has begun already. I'm weight training 4 times a week and running 3-5 times a week. Yesterday i went for a run around Woodford and Chingford with Graham, one of my oldest friends, and we completed a circuit, just under 9km long, in around 44 minutes. A solid time and good base level for me to build on. My aim is to be running 10km 3 times a week, alongside weight lifting and sprint training.

This is going to be a good base for my fitness levels but i also need to do some form of conditioning work like hiking. Today i hiked from Woodford to Epping through Epping Forest. 15kms is not a big distance and would probably be only half a days hiking at the bottom of Kilimanjaro, but it is a good start here and the perfect opportunity for me to break in my new boots. Before leaving the UK i am going to be doing more of this sort of work and hopefully do it in areas with greater levels of elevation.

Another aspect of fitness is, of course, diet. My food intake has to be absloutely correct. I'm on a high protein, high quality carb diet packed with fruit, veg and sources of omega 3's and 6's. Being in Woodford, living back at my folks for the time being, makes this regime very easy to maintain. The real test will come when i am no longer on these shores, travelling through Africa, trying to maintain the workouts and the diet. But that is all part of the fun, right?!?

That's all for this first post but keep reading for my progress on my way to climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.