Corporate trip to climb Kilimanjaro!

Frankly…
One of the highlights was the simple pleasure of being ‘off the grid’ for 7 days. In a time of being contactable 24 hours a day, it was great to wake up in a world where the only real challenge of the day is to hydrate, eat and keep the legs moving!

Guest Name:

Blue Sky Alternative Investments team

Time of travel:

January 2018

Destinations:

Tanzania

Safari Type:

Corporate Trip: Safari & Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro

A group of seven Blue Sky employees took on a challenge of a lifetime- climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. For many it was their first time to Africa so of course they had to go on an epic safari as well. Below they share some of their experiences with us:

“Spotting a parade of elephants on day 2 of safari in the Serengeti and having the whole herd cross the road and come right up to our vehicle. There would have been at least twenty, old and young. Then we looked to the other side of the road where we spotted a pride of 17 lions hiding in the grass from the elephants! We all went quiet and had a little ‘is this even real’ moment.  On day 3 we descended into the beautiful serenity of the  Ngorongoro Crater where we managed to just about complete the big five after spotting a rhino and it’s calf on the horizon. “

I had been on a ‘self-guided’ safari before in South Africa, so I thought I knew what to expect for our Safari Frank trip in Tanzania.  However, after just an hour or so of cruising through the Serengeti in our pop-top land cruiser, I quickly realised how awesome our tour was going to be.  The Tanzanian countryside was stunning, the animals were incredible (and so many of them!) and our guides were friendly, informative and genuinely great guys!  Our accommodation throughout the safari was absolutely 5-star, including ‘glamping’ on the first night with stories around the campfire (with a resident hyena watching on!) and a luxurious hotel on the rim of the Ngorongoro crater on the second night. I’ll never forget cruising alongside a cheetah for about an hour as we watched him stalk a small gazelle in the long grass.  It was absolutely fascinating and just one of the highlights of this once-in-a-lifetime trip.

On the Kili trip itself, the best bit for me was getting to know the Blue Sky team and the guides – there was a great sense of humour in the trip – as far as the hike itself, the summit night was really hard to beat – climbing up with all those stars and then watching the sun slowly rise and having a bit of a party at the top  was pretty hard to beat. Guides and food were really amazing.

After the relaxation of safari in the Serengeti, it was time to lace up and tackle the mountain! There are probably too many highlights to list here, but a few for me were:

• the simple pleasure of being ‘off the grid’ for 7 days.  In a time of being contactable 24 hours a day, it was great to wake up in a world where the only real challenge of the day is to hydrate, eat and keep the legs moving!
• the amazing night skies with more stars shining than I had ever seen before.
• the super fizzy beer on the summit!
• the competitive card games with the team (and the hilarious nicknames that were created as a result!)
• 7/7 of us made it to the summit with the help and support of the guides and porters.  A truly once in a lifetime adventure.

Thanks also to SafariFrank for their great support and organisation both before and during the trip!

Overall the team had an incredible experience and conquered a major challenge together, an experience that was great for personal growth as well as team bonding.