Quartet embarks on African safari, climbs Mt. Kilimanjaro | Living

Consider those hopes and dreams realized with a recent trip that included a trek to the summit of the highest mountain in Africa – which stands at 19,341 feet – as well as a safari.

“As long as I can remember I’ve dreamed of going to Africa,” said Wilding, who remembers as a youngster sitting with her father and watching Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom” with Marlin Perkins. “I was mesmerized by the beauty of the country, and I’ve always wanted to go.”

Green said the idea to climb Kilimanjaro was triggered on a flight on which was traveling from Nairobi to Mombasa.

“I was able to look into Tanzania and see Kilimanjaro,” Green said. “I remember tapping the window and saying, ‘I would like to climb that one day.’ That’s been in the back of my head for a long time.”

Wilding, of Wilkins Township, and Green, of Deer Lakes, were joined on the trip to Africa by Jenny MacBeth, also of Deer Lakes, and Dan Storch, a former Armstrong County resident who lives in Denver, Colo.

They named themselves Team Marafiki, which means “friends” in Swahili.

To get prepared, the members of Team Marafiki did their backpack training in the Laurel Highlands in Fayette County. Something they said was extremely beneficial in preparing for Kilimanjaro.

“Since the Laurel Highlands trails are so rocky that was a really good test for us, because you’re constantly stepping over rocks,” Wilding said. “That’s the way it was on Kilimanjaro. The time we spent in the Laurel Highlands over the rocky terrain was really useful. It was good for our footwork.”

“The Laurel Highlands Trail was essential training,” Green added. “The trail was good and rocky and had a lot of steep inclines. We spent a lot of weekends in rain and winter hiking it.”

Another important part of the journey was the extensive research put into hiring a safari company that treated its porters and guides ethically. They used the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project (KPAP). Their traveling party included 14 porters and three guides.

“They do a lot of hard work for very little money,” MacBeth said of the porters. “I’m carrying 15 pounds on my back. They’re carrying 44 pounds and they’re passing us on the trail. We would finish our hot breakfast that they prepared, get our backpacks and start hiking. They would rip down camp and then pass us on the trail. It’s so impressive. I was very humbled by watching them.”

Team Marafiki began its trek up Kilimanjaro Dec. 29, choosing the longest route up the mountain to allow for more time to acclimate to the altitude. The trek covered 60 miles and took nine days and eight nights.

“It’s a newer route and it takes you around the mountain and you can see Kenya from some of the trails,” Wilding said. “It was amazing. I loved every minute on that mountain.”

A lot of the hiking is done at night.

“You start in the middle of the night with headlamps, and you just walk for hours,” Wilding said. “They do a lot of that at night, because it discourages you from seeing how far you have to go.”

Summit day involved more than 15 hours of climbing. Once the summit was reached, many emotions were experienced.

For Wilding, it was “shock and awe.”

For MacBeth, her first words were, “I’m hungry.”

Once the Kilimanjaro trek was completed, Team Marafiki embarked on an African safari.

This was a part of the journey that really stood out for Storch, who admitted he “was all about the animals.”

“The safari for me was life-affirming, life-changing and absolutely amazing,” he said, recalling trying to sleep through the night while hearing the sounds of elephants and lions. “Being in the presence of such awe-inspiring and majestic creatures in the wild with a very respectful guide who kept his distance to make sure we were safe was for me the highlight. The safari experience was absolutely overwhelming.”

Storch said a question was posed to a guide at one point as to how many animals they had seen over a two-hour span. The answer was eye-popping, “about 100,000,” Storch said.

“I’m the guy who grew up on a farm,” Storch added. “I’m used to like 50 or 100 cows. How do you describe 100,000 animals?”

There were many animals to experience, and at close range in some cases. This included lions, elephants, cheetahs, buffaloes, leopards, hyena hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses and baboons.

They saw a pride of lions take down a buffalo. They witnessed wildebeest and zebra migration and saw a baby wildebeest take its first steps. They were in a truck watching giraffe, when an elephant spotted them and started heading toward them. This forced the driver to make a quick getaway.

“We had no idea we would see so many,” Wilding said. “We had no idea we would be right next to all of these animals. It was so beautiful.”

A lot of credit was given to tour operator Simbo Natai of African Scenic Safaris.

“In all my years of travel, I have never had that level of personalized service,” Wilding said. “He even showed up at camp on the mountain, carried an extra tent and had five bottles of soda to greet us at lunch. He could have paid a porter to do it.”

There were many other adventures such as milking cows at an organic farm started by missionaries in the 1940s. There also was biking into the village and meeting a man who makes moonshine.

Happy Birthday was sung to Wilding’s son Dylan and Storch’s daughter Maria while in the Tarangire National Park. Staff members at the lodge where the group was staying joined in the singing on the video that appeared on Facebook.

The group also seemed to enjoy the food, with a lot of what they consumed being fresh products such as vegetables and fruits.

“Things would be in the pasture or the garden (one day) and they’re on your plate (the next) morning,” Storch said.

A chicken that stood out was called, Kuku.

“Chicken is fantastic in Tanzania,” Wilding said. “They cooked it a million different ways and each way was insanely good.”{/div}

Wilding also admitted she was very touched by the people she met and has even become friends on Facebook with some.

“The people were so kind, so warm and so welcoming,” she said.

There are more adventurous for this group as they are looking to hike to the base camp of Mt. Everest.

But the trip to Africa still remains almost magical in their memories.

Storch admitted there were times where the feeling hit him that he couldn’t believe it was happening.

“The concept of some kid like me ending up halfway around the world experiencing this was completely nuts,” he said.

“I didn’t think it would really happen,” added MacBeth, who said she wants to visit every continent. “I felt like I was dreaming and every morning when I woke up, I was thinking I’m going to wake up in my own bed and I was having a total dream. It was very dream-like, very surreal. It still feels very dreamy, as though it didn’t happen.”

“It felt like I had some ghosts I had to put to bed, some things I had to prove to myself,” Green said. “I wasn’t really trying to do anything, except prove some things to myself. It was a really strong sense of accomplishment. I feel like Kilimanjaro is my spirit mountain.”

“The entire trip was very humbling,” Wilding said. “I did something I didn’t think I could do. The time I spent preparing was worth it. I felt stronger coming out of it.”