Andi Travels: Dezember 2005

Weihnachten im Süden - Malediven

2 Wochen Sonne, Sand und Meer! Ausnahmsweise fuhren wir nicht nach österreich über Weihnachten - stattdessen ins Schnorchelparadies Malediven. über Zürich und Doha ging die etwas abenteuerliche Reise nach Male. Von dort spätabends mit dem Schnellboot nach Embudu, wo wir gleich zum Weihnachtsdinner zu recht kamen.
Nach einer Woche wechselten wir zur Insel Velidu im Ari Atoll - mit dem Wasserflugzeug.

Ein klassischer Strand auf den Malediven. Warmes, kristallklares Wasser, weisser Strand, Herz was willst Du mehr!

Natürlich waren wir ständig Schnorcheln. Selbst die Kinder haben langsam die Scheu vor dem Meer und den vielen Fischen verloren. Tauchen war ich auch ein wenig, war ganz ok.

Endlich habe ich einen Manta gesehen, und zwar in unmittelbarer Nähe und dann auch gleich noch ein ganzes Rudel. Das sind wunderbare Tiere. Ihre Bewegungen berühren mich, sie erscheinen fast von einem anderen Planeten.
Details hier

Tanzania autumn 2004

In october 2005 the whole family has visited Tanzania; this was the first time for the kids to be in Africa proper, experience the African bush, soil, sun, people and poverty - and wild life...

These were among the first impressions - Massai boys waiting next to the road on the way to Tanzania (from Nairobi).

The highlight - a family of Cheetahs in NgoroNgoro - one mother and 2 big cubs. I have never seen real ones, we came 4m close!

Lots of hippos wherever there was water.

Looking into the NgoroNgoro crater from the ridge. My first impression was - looks pretty dry, we won't see any animals there, how wrong

In the national park of Lake Manyara we saw many elephants, giraffes, Gnus, monkeys, Antilopes

In NgoroNgoro we saw massive herds of thousands of animals, like Zebras and buffalos

Mont Blanc summer 2004

As preparation for the Kilimanjaro trip Bernard, Fritz and I tackled the Mont-Blanc in July 04. We had a perfect weather and ascent yet made it only up to Mont Repas at about 4400m.

Kilimanjaro summer 2004

In spring 04 my friend Fritz suggested to climb the Kilimanjaro. In Auguest/September the group consisted of Fritz, Bernard, Peter, Claudia and myself. What a wonderful adventure. It started with the organisation - from an ad in a newspaper I found a guy in Vienna wo organizes such trips privately; he was meant to come with us - only he couldn't. So we ended up liasing directly with a guide in Arusha(Tanzania) and arranged all transports, visas, etc ourselves. All of us came with different planes from different cities and would meet only in Nairobi. Amazingly all happened as planned, as did the bus trip to Tanzania.
Our guide turned out to be very resourceful, experienced and leader of a good team. He also happened to be a salesman of safari trips but that's a detail for later.
The ascendance of the Kili is simply beautiful. After the first day you are above the clouds; the nature changes every other hour. The porters provide an excellent service - our cook managed to create a tasteful meal at every occasion; the servant served it; we had a table, seats, even flowers. We got hot water to wash ourselves; tea to wake up; all your stuff gets carried.
Our route had no huts which meant tents for us - quite fun again; for most of us the first time in years.
We had to learn to walk very slowly to allow the body to acclimatize better - therefore the walking was not tiring (it is true what they say, anybody can make it physically).

Me and Fritz at the top. We could barely keep standing.

The view of the remaining glacier from the summit. Bizzare.

Uhuru Peak. To the left me and Bernard. To the right the guide with Fritz. Peter and Claudia are sitting.

Lunch in the middle of no-where. The porters and the cook would overtake us after breakfast and having closed the camp. Ahead of us they would prepare the table, seats, hot drinks, warm food. Ready to eat as we arrived. A king could not expect more.

Scenes on the way up. Notice the enormous size of the cornipheres (Fritz is in front).

Me on the way up. Fritz at our daily washing routine when arriving at the camp.

Day 5 was the day, we would get to the summit of Uhuri peak if the altitude sickness would allow it. None of us had any serious symptoms so far except occasional head-ache. On day4 we arrived at our top camp at about 4400m in the afternoon. By 5pm it was dark and bitter cold. By 11pm we had to get up again, try to eat breakfast and leave by midnight. The night was clear and colder than expected. My water bottle was frozen half an hour later. We walked up a steep slope with very soft vulcanic material. At about 5000m all of us were sick. First head-ache, then sleepiness, then migrane, followed by nausea, vomiting quite uncontrollably; Peter lost his sense of balance and kept falling over; Fritz lost control over his fingers; Bernard was so tired that he insisted on sleeping; our guide argued but Bernard wouldn't have any of it. He lay down and was sound asleep 3 seconds later. The guide waited 10 seconds then opened his jacket which cooled him down so much that he woke up. The guide said "you have slept enough" which Bernard believed, got up and continued. Later he woul dtell us that when sick you must not fall asleep. You might not wake up...

Myself I was so finished that I couldn't speak anymore; I could barely pull myself together to make this one last step; I kept thinking how to explain my friends that I had to turn around. A stone 5 meters away was an unthinkable destination. So I planned my words while I put all my energy into this last little step .... and another one. For 5 agonizing hours. At some point we arrived at the peak which I had completely written off. I was so surprised, relieved and almost shocked that I had to cry. I cried. We all made it.

Thanx my friends.

Zermatt summer 2005

To celebrate my departure from Reuters my team joined me to a last trip to Zermatt - the symbol of our group. We had a wonderful weekend. On Saturday it rained but we nonetheless mountainbiked in the midst of a massive thunderstorm to be followed by an exciting canyon climb that brought quite a few to their limits. Not so little Sandra...
Sunday was the most beautiful sunny day; many of hiked a nic e trail in the morning and then enjoyed the afternoon at the pool - always with the Matterhorn in sight.