We are off to Vancouver at the end of the week, Francis and I are thinking that we will probably live there. Victoria is amazingly beautiful, but it might be a little small for the starting of a business. So Vancouver will be the kick off of the plans. We will be in Vancouver for a week while I attend a creativity conference and we look for places to stay there. Victoria has a population of just over 400 000 while Vancouver has a population of almost 3 million.

So, we are excited, but to show you where we have been so far and some of the stuff we have seen, take a look at the pic below…

Mt Kilimanjaro is Africa’s tallest peak and the tallest free standing mountain in the world. It is often the first “high altitude” climb that most people attempt because it is assumed to be reasonably safe and accessible. Francis and I were fortunate to climb this incredible mountain in January of 2011.

Flying into Tanzania from Kenya is an unforgettable experience. The first glimpse I got of the 5895m mountain was out of our aircraft window as we banked sharply to land at Mt Kilimanjaro International Airport just outside Moshi. We landed just as the sun was setting and as we stepped off the plane, we were welcomed by the orange glow of a typical African sunset.

We arrived at Keys Hotel in Moshi Town an hour later and met up with our two fellow climbers who had flown in from the USA. We had brief chats and introductions and then headed off to be ad we were leaving the next day to start to climb.

Lemosho Route

We had chosen to climb the Lemosho Route to the summit of Kilimanjaro. The main reason was for acclimatisation. The Lemosho route is the longest route and we would be on the mountain for almost 10 days and we hoped that we would acclimatise well in that time. Mountain sickness is something that climbers want to avoid at all costs, and by acclimatising properly, the climber runs less risk of getting ill. We arrived at the gate in the mid morning and our Chief Guide Raj went off to organise our climbing permits for us. Once that was all done and our porters were selected we set off on our adventure.

The Terrain

While climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, we traversed pretty much all the climatic zones on earth.  There are 5 different climatic zones that are covered during the climb. The first is on the lower plains where indigenous vegetation has been removed and coffee and banana plantations are abundant. The next zone is the forest belt and resembles a typical rain forest. There was heavy undergrowth, lots of ferns and trees and wildlife is abundant. At this altitude it was warm and moist. We then went up to the Alpine Heath and moorland which occurs from about 2800m up. In this zone, where there are small scrubby bushes and almost no shade. There are lots of flowers, but mostly small shrubs and bushes. The next zone is the Moorland and when you reach this zone, the vegetation starts thinning out and giving way to volcanic rocks and soil. There are no large mammals at this altitude and only occasionally a small bird. The Highland Desert (4000m – 5000m) is what is found next and here you begin to feel the reality that you are now on a mountain. The days in this zone are warm and the nights cold. Once the sun drops below the horizon the cold sets in rapidly. There is no vegetation to speak of, it looks almost as if we had landed on the moon. Massive boulders punctuate the scenery and dry grey volcanic soil is everywhere and gets into everything. The final zone the ice cap zone which occurs above 5000m. At this stage there is nothing but rock scree and volcanic soil and the occasional glacier (which are now melting). The conditions are arctic and mostly below freezing at any time of the day. The oxygen level is about 50% less than at sea level.

Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro

The route that we chose took 10 days of climbing. On average we hiked between 8 and 14kms per day and varied in altitude every day. It was an incredible experience to be on the mountain for so long and to see Tanzania from such an amazing vantage point. Once we got higher on the mountain, the effects of altitude could be felt very clearly. On day 4 I suffered from a bout of altitude sickness. I felt nauseous, light headed, I had a headache in the base of my skull and throughout the day felt as if I was walking “beside” my body. It was not a good day and at the end of the days climbing, I truly felt that I might have to get off the mountain. Altitude sickness is not a joke. Martina Navratilova was evacuated off Mt Kilimanjaro in November because of it. At one of the higher camps on the mountain, we witnessed a few porters suffering from altitude sickness and they had to be evacuated. If it is left unchecked it can ultimately lead to serious injury and ultimately death. I wasn’t taking any chances and when I arrived at the high camp I informed our Chief Guide about how I felt. He looked at me and said in his warm Swahili accent “this is common…but I will fix you, I am a witchdoctor” Ok….enough said, but at that stage I felt so bad that I would have done just about anything to feel better. He mixed up a cocktail of chopped garlic and chopped ginger in a teacup and poured a quarter cup of boiling water over it. He said I must sip this while still hot and swallow the garlic and ginger. Hmmmm it did not taste good, especially because I felt so nauseous, but I did as I was told and went straight to bed. The next morning I woke up feeling better than ever and in fact, never felt even slightly ill again during the rest of the climb.

Each day was tough on the mountain, don’t be fooled, Mt Kilimanjaro is not an easy climb. It is physically taxing and mentally demanding. As we climbed higher and higher, we realised that to get to the summit was going to be tough. This was the real thing. We climbed with an expedition company, its probably the best way to make an attempt of Mt Kilimanjaro. We used a company called Adventure Dynamics, run by  Sean Disney, I would HIGHLY recommend them, they are a professional company with a great track record of high altitude expeditions.

Porters

The real unsung heroes of the mountain are the porters. These tough men carry anything between 15 and 25kgs of equipment up the mountain. For each person climbing, 5 porters are needed. We were a group of 5 climbers and we had 23 support staff assisting us. Their duties ranged from simply carrying stuff up the mountain like tents, food, the climbers extra clothing, cooking equipment, our dining room tent (yes we ate on chairs and had a dining tent) and even a portable bucket toilet. To say that these guys are heroes is an understatement, they are super human. Many of them climb the mountain each week and are only back home for 2 days before they embark on the next expedition. They are truly the toughest, strongest and most resilient men I have ever seen. Without them, no one would make the summit, of that I have no doubt. These porters work in very tough conditions and there is a non profit organisation that monitors the use of the porters. Read more about the Kilimanjaro Porters assistance project….

Going for the summit

On the eve of our summit, we arrived at Barafu high camp in the afternoon. The camp was at 4600m above sea level and the summit of Mt Kili is 5895m above sea level. That means, on our summit night we would have to climb 1295 vertical meters and would hike 10 km overall to get to the summit and back. No mean feat considering we were breathing much less oxygen and we had hiked about 55 kms already over pretty rugged terrain.

We arrived at Barafu camp at about 4pm and were told that we would get dinner by 5:30pm and then we needed to get to sleep by 6:30pm. We would then be woken at 11pm and we would begin our summit attempt at midnight. This all went well and we were woken at 11pm…to a howling wind that was threatening to uproot our tent with us in it. The sky was clear, so there was no chance of snow, but with the wind chill we were in temperatures that were way below freezing. We put on all our different layers, I had 6 layers on top, 3 layers on the bottom and 2 pairs of gloves. As we started our ascent up the scree slope behind the Barafu camp, I looked up and saw a snaking trail of small lights above me. It was other climbers ahead of us on the mountain, making their bid for the summit. The scene looked amazing, the stars were bright above us, but the wind was horrendous. It was a strong wind coming from the right side and as we zigzagged up the mountain in absolute darkness apart from the small focused light of our headlamps, I realised that I had lost feeling in my fingers and my toes. The wind was howling so loud, that I could not hear anyone talking unless they shouted into my ear. I never wore a balaclava, but decided to use a buff to cover my nose and mouth to protect me from the elements. This was fine until I realised that when I was walking into the wind, the moisture from my breath was freezing on the buff and stopping me from getting air, I would then pull the buff down and suck in air as deeply as I could. After 4 hours of doing this, my lips were split and purple and I still don’t have full feeling back in my bottom lip, possibly a touch of frostbite.

It took ten hours of gut wrenching climbing to reach the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro. The last 300m were the toughest by far. Your body is spent, your mind is finished and all you want to do is get back down to camp. It is sheer willpower that drives people on at this point. I managed to get to the summit at 10am and to be honest, it was a bit of an anti climax. I was absolutely hammered…I could barely put one foot in front of the other. As I stood there and looked out over the plains of Tanzania, it didn’t quite sink in that I was standing on top of Africa. I managed to take a few photos and then headed back down to the camp, which took another 4 hours. By the time I got there I was physically, mentally and spiritually spent. I had nothing left. I remember lying in the tent at 4600m and saying to Francis that I don’t want to see another hiking bag again.

We hiked down to a lower camp that evening and spent the night at 3900m. The next day we hiked out to the main gate at Mt Kilimanjaro National Park.

It was only as we flew out of Tanzania in the early hours of the next morning that I realised what I had done. As we took off from Tanzania to fly to Kenya, the sun was rising and just illuminating the silhouette of Mt Kilimanjaro. I looked at this massive mountainous volcano and realised then, that I had stood on the summit of the tallest mountain on Africa and had achieved a long time personal goal. The reality set in only at that point, it was a quiet realisation that this had been achieved. It was a good feeling to be viewing that mountain from the relative comfort of a plane and think that 2 days before in sheer pain and utter exhaustion, I had clambered to her summit. Finally I could understand those word of that famous song…I’m sitting on top of Kilimanjaro…indeed I had sat there, it was something I will never forget.

Extreme sports and activities are either something you love or something that you vow you will never do. I fall into the category of being an adrenalin junkie, so whenever I see an opportunity to give myself a good adrenalin rush, I take it.

South Africa and more precisely, the Garden Route is home to one of the biggest adrenalin rushes in the world, the Bloukrans Bungy Jump. This is the highest bungy jump in the world…how high is it you ask, 216m high, that’s approximately 70 storeys up on a building….its HIGH. The actual scale of the jump cannot be understood until you stand at the view point from the cliff that looks onto the bridge. When I stood across the valley and looked at the bridge, it was one of the few times in my life that I had some real doubts about whether I would do it or not. I have done some extreme stuff before like rock climbing, scuba diving and even travelling to Antarctica, but nothing prepares you for the sheer craziness of this jump.

The bridge is MASSIVE and the gorge is DEEP. I watched as jumpers plunged head first into the abyss below, they looked tiny in comparison to everything around them and I thought that maybe this was just too crazy.

My wife and I were there with another couple, Christa and Kobus. The four of us watched a few people jump and after a bit of egging on, we decided we were going to do it. The ladies gracefully declined, but us two guys were now at the point of no return and so we went to the booking office to sign up. We were excited and psyched to be have built up the courage to take the plunge, but were told at the booking office that we would have to wait until 16:00 to be able to jump, the rest of the time slots were booked up. We were told that we should take the slots if we wanted to jump as they fill up really quickly and booking is normally essential.  We put our names down and then left nervously to go and get some lunch.

We returned at 15:00 and we then had to fill in the indemnity, get ourselves weighed and then get fitted for our harness. Once we had our harness on, we tentatively sat in the Cliffhanger Pub, where there is a big screen showing a live stream of the jumpers jumping off the bridge. It was incredible to see people stepping up to the edge of the bridge and flying off with such ease, my stomach was in a knot and I wasn’t too sure how I would do. At 15:45 we congregated at the harness area and were introduced to our jump coordinator who ran through some final tips and then we walked along the cage walk under the bridge that took us to the jump zone. Once we were there, the nerves really set in. There were 17 jumpers in our group and the nervous laughter and scared faces were testimony to what we were about to do. The staff on the bridge were amazing, they joked, laughed and played great music that made things feel so relaxed that for a while you weren’t aware that you were going to jump until they called the first jumper. He stood up and walked across to the jump coordinator who started tying more ropes and harnesses onto him and giving him a final briefing, the tension was real. With ankles tied tight together, so tight that he could only hop, the jumper moved into the jump zone. The team then attached the bungy cord, double checked it and then led the jumper to the edge of the bridge. The countdown began and within seconds he disappeared and the jumpers erupted with whooping and clapping as we watched him fall gracefully into the gorge below.

Before long, I was called up to jump. I went through all the tying up and last minute checks, the jump coordinator looked at me and said “have a nice flight” and then took me to the edge of the bridge. To say that fear overcomes you is an understatement, your whole mind and body is screaming at you to get out of there. I looked down and saw the thin ribbon of the river below, I felt the wind on my face and realised that there was NOTHING in front of me, just the magnificent gorge. I heard the countdown in the background and then forced myself forward. There was silence and then a primal scream forced its way out of my body….and the pure exhilaration of freefall bungy jumping. After 2 seconds I was plummeting at 100km per hour towards the river below, the wind in my ears was amazing and the sense of peace was surreal. I felt the cord stretch at the bottom and fling me upwards again, then I went flying back towards to the river for the second time, the recoil is 140m, and down I went….PURE ADRENALIN.

All too soon, it was over, I looked up and saw the guide coming down on a rope to come and fetch me and winch me back up to the top of the bridge. The sense of peace and calm was phenomenal and for a few moments, you feel as is you are so alive and everything is so VIVID, colours seem brighter, silence seems deeper and life seems calmer…I arrived back on the bridge and was welcomed by the other jumpers with handshakes and hugs and I realised that we were all united in a common experience, we had faced our fears, jumped into the abyss and lived to tell the tale. Kobus, who jumped just before me made this comment:

“Some will see it as falling – I see it as cutting into life!” which sums it up beautifully.

It is truly a once in a lifetime experience and here are some stats to whet your appetite:

1. It is the worlds highest commercial bungy jump as confirmed by Guiness World Records
2. The jump is 216m high, approximately the height of a 70 storey building, the recoil is 140m high, so you get “two jumps” of over 100m
3. On the way down, the jumper accelerates from 0 to 100km per hour in 2 seconds, faster than most sports cars
4. The jump has a 100% safety record and has been operating since 1997
5. The oldest jumper was Mr Mohr Keets who jumped in April 2010 and was 96 years old at the time

So, next time you are in the Garden Route and needing your fix of adrenalin, there is nowhere else to go, it truly was an incredible experience, something that I will never forget….oh and I would jump it again, in a heartbeat….

Further Information

Booking in peak season is essential, but it might be a good idea to phone ahead at any time of the year to be sure there is space. Below are all the necessary details:

Face Adrenalin

Website: www.faceadrenalin.com

Email: info@faceadrenalin.com

Tel: +27 42 281 1458

Operating Hours: 09:00 – 17:00 daily, open 7 days a week.

Cost per jump: R 690.00

Photos of your jump: R 70.00

DVD video of your jump: R130.00

Merchandise such as T – Shirts, Caps and other clothing is available

GPS co-ordinates:         S 33º 57 93’

E 23º 38 88’

We went and visited the Birds of Eden bird sanctuary earlier in the week. Now, to be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Much to my surprise, it was a really well set up place. The first thing that I noticed is that the birds are not in cages, but fly freely in a MASSIVE aviary of over 200 hectares. So you literally walk into the aviary and walk around it. It is a very well made, high elevation mesh that is higher than the trees and so the bird can fly and roam the place easily. This was a totally different experience. There are also feeder stations throughout the sanctuary that the birds swoop down onto (including the Knysna Loeries) and eat from. As a result of the close contact with people, the birds are very tame and don’t fly off when you approach. It was well worth a visit and I for one was really happy that we did…I would recommend it to anyone who visits the Garden Route.

There are so many things in Knysna that are picture worthy and I hope that in the weeks to come, I will be able to capture some of it. We haven’t yet ventured into the forests and I am REALLY looking forward to doing that. I am very keen to get into the magnificent forests around Knysna, so keep watching this space, I am sure I will get up there sometime soon.

There are a range of images here, they are just a smattering of some of the things we are seeing, so when the light is right, I go out there and shoot. These are some random images.

Ok, I am a bit of an addict for doing photography at the sea. There is something magical about the water going all soft and misty and the last rays of warm sunshine reflecting off the water. I love the shapes of the rocks, I love the movement of the water and above all, I love the unpredictability of a long exposure image. So the other night, myself and a photographer friend spent about 2 hours at Coney Glen in Knysna, capturing some of the light there. It was a great shoot and I was really happy with some of the images I got, but hey, you be the judge of that…

We have had some really interesting times in Knysna so far, but one of the highlights to date has been a dinner that we had earlier this week. We saw an advert in the local newspaper called Action Ads. The advert was for a dinner event with world renowned winemaker Beyers Truter, owner of Beyerskloof Wine Farm in Stellensbosch. The interesting part of this particular dinner was that Beyers was going to be doing the cooking and the talking and it was going to be a Snoek braai, no less. Well, we didn’t hesitate to jump at this opportunity and on top of it all, the braai was to be held at the beautiful Featherbed Nature Reserve forest restaurant and we would be transported to the Featherbed Reserve on the beautiful paddle cruiser. We signed up in no time!

The evening was fantastic, we boarded the paddle cruiser and on our cruise across the lagoon to the reserve, we had a beautiful sunset. We arrived at the Featherbed Nature Reserve with 50 other excited guests and soon, we  were ushered into the forest restaurant which is nestled under a canopy of indigenous trees and in the middle of the tables were the braais, with glowing coals, all ready for the snoek.

We were then introduced to the man himself, Beyers Truter. He is a very down to earth individual when you consider his local and international accolades, he is known and the Pinotage King around the world. The amazing thing is that he chatted to us as if we were having a braai in his back garden. He is very approachable and very funny. He covered topics from how a bottle of sparkling wine is carbonated to the hot debate of cork vs screw tops. He gave us some great tips on how to properly braai snoek (which we tasted and it was delicious) The venue was fantastic, we sat under the low trees with glimmering lights in them and sipped on our Beyerskloof wines and were thoroughly entertained by Beyers and the team from Featherbed Nature Reserve.

As with all good things, the evening came to an end, but not before a tranquil cruise back to the Cruise Café jetty where we all said our farewells.

For a few hours it was as if we had been transported to another world, and the evening was extremely enjoyable. Thank you to the team at the Featherbed Nature Reserve and to Beyers Truter and his team for putting on a great evening.

Today is the 11th November, a day that most people will know as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day. It was the day on which the Armistice was signed between the Allies of World War 1 and Germany. Since then, it is a day on which the world stops to commemorate the men and women who have fallen in wars around the world. It is a sobering day and a solemn reminder of mans propensity to commit heinous crimes against one another and to go to war to justify some cause.

I was fortunate to go to a traditional all boys school in Johannesburg called King Edward VII school. In the schools history, many of the young men, during wartime, went to fight either during their time at the school or soon after leaving. King Edwards has a long list of names of those men who laid down their lives in these wars. It is such a strong part of the fabric of the school that a whole wing of the school is dedicated to those men who fell in these wars. There is a Garden of Remembrance and each year in November the school remembers their dead, by having a memorial parade. On the wall in the Garden of Remembrance is a plaque that says this haunting reminder to all who walk through those halls at King Edward VII School:

“Sons of this place, let this of you be said: that you who live are worthy of the dead”

We saw the Memorial Parade in Knysna on Sunday morning and a middle aged soldier gave a dedication to those who fought in these battles and gave their lives. He had a similar quote that he had seen on a memorial in France and it was as follows:

” We gave up our today, so you will have your tomorrow”

May we never forget the great sacrifices that these men made in these wars.

We visited the Knysna heads the other day. There are some great viewing points up there. So we went and had a look at what there was to see. The views from up there are spectacular, you can look out to sea and looking the other direction you look over the lagoon. You get a great view of the Featherbed Nature Reserve (more on that later)

Both views are amazing and if you are ever in Knysna, its worth the drive, these are some of images I captured while we were there.We then went down to the bottom of the heads and had a great lunch at East Head Cafe (see previous post) and that was great. Really good food and really well presented…a great outing all in all!