I just wrote a check to pay our 2010 dues for The Conservation Alliance. The alliance is a group of outdoor industry companies whose motto is “Outdoor Business Giving Back to the Outdoors”.
We have been a member of this group for at least five years and each year we simply write a check that goes to the alliance’s coffers. That’s all we do. The cool thing about the group, though, is that 100% of the donated funds goes to support local conservation efforts in the form of grants to non-profit groups. Recent grants have gone to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Colorado Mountain Club, and the National Parks Conservation Association. 34 grants in total were given out last year.
Even cooler, our little annual contribution is multiplied tremendously because the Conservation Alliance has a total of 170 members ranging from magazines (Men’s Journal) to retailers (Eastern Mountain Sports) to manufacturers (Mountain Hardware). In total, the group has donated over $7 million to conservation causes.
Little old Zephyr Adventures is not last on the list – we are second to last, alphabetically. Regardless, we feel proud to be part of this group so we can do our own small part.
we visited the southern Serengeti region during the Great Migration and so saw tens of thousands of wildebeests and zebras plus half a dozen separate prides of lions who were feasting on them. We also visited Ngorongoro Crater, a picturesque setting with almost theme park-like perfection – and yet entirely natural. In Tanzania, the vistas were vast and it was easy to feel you were on the set of the Lion King.
The flooding in Peru was in the news mostly because almost 1000 travelers were stranded at Machu Picchu due to washing out of the train line. The travelers were rescued, the train is under repair, and the Inca Trail was untouched. The real tragedy, however, was the devastation to villages and fields in the Sacred Valley, which is low-lying land along the Urubamba River.
Ten hardy Zephyr alumni joined our first-ever trip to Tanzania to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. We all met in Moshi, Tanzania after a very long flight via Amsterdam on KLM. Tanzania was hot but the Kilimanjaro-brand beers were cold and the view of the mountain from our hotel windows was outstanding.
In fact, I was shocked at how nice the trekking actually was. My most recent mountain climbing experience was on Aconcagua, where I spent 13 days on the mountain with two friends and found most of it a chore. This was different. For one thing, the scenery was very pretty and we all enjoyed our climb through a tropical forest, rugged open moorlands, and finally an alpine desert environment.
This might seem excessive but pretty much everyone on the mountain is traveling in a similar style. Our group had a cooking tent and eating tent, tables and chairs, and food for 50 people for a week. Our guides were excellent and the porters, who are heroic, carried 20-kilo (44 pound) packs, often times on their heads!
Group B, which I joined, woke at midnight and started at 1:00 AM. To get an idea of how fast we hiked up the mountain, walk across the room at home or at work. Now, do it again at half pace. One more time, cutting your speed in half again. Because of the high altitude and lack of oxygen reaching our systems, that is the pace we moved. Even then, the summit hike was difficult. The strong wind made things miserable, some in the group felt nauseous, and all of us just wanted to get to the top. Still, there were no technical parts at all and so willpower was really the name of the game.
Finally: success at 19,340 feet above sea level! Of course, like most mountains it was freezing on top and most of the group suffered through a quick group photo before heading down. I did stay on top for 15-20 minutes, taking photos of others and making sure our group was okay. In all, 10 of 11 of our group made it to the top, with only one person having to turn around early on the summit climb. (I am convinced this was due to a bout of traveler’s disease earlier in the week, which can sap one’s energy.)