Just kidding. They were due for a loss, and contained Michael Vick reasonably well. And as much as Fred Davis tries to take the blame, I still blame not-so-sexy-Rexy (Grossman).
Back to Tanzania, that morning we said goodbye to Kibo for the last time, as we headed down from Horombo Hut.
We came up on this valley that gently slopes down several thousand feet to the Tanzanian plain. It had some seriously large Giant Lobelia trees.
Looking up that valley to Horombo Hut.
You can see the ridge I climbed down to take the panoramic pictures from last week's post in the distance.The clouds are beginning to break in the sunlight.
The skyline was beautiful at this point, but the feature I would like to point out is Kifinika Crater. It's the one in the middle of the photo with a "dimple." Looks small from here doesn't it? Well, it's over 10,000 feet in altitude. Ronald said it was a sacred hill esteemed by the tribes. A place of peace, many meetings of various tribes were held there, and as were ceremonial sacrifices. It was considered both a gateway to the gods, as well as a god itself.
You can see Mawenzi receding for the final time in the distance. The darkness of the rock is most prominent here.
Considering this a "making of" shot. It was part of the sequence where I got the jumping shot at the top of this post. Ronald and Modi look on us with curiosity... as well as a hint of "look at these freaking idiots.'
Slowly but surely, we make our way down the mountain.
These flowers are kind of burned/dried up due both to fires and the dry season.
Some cool plants.
What happens as the Giant Lobelia tree gets taller. It sheds some its lower leaves and just becomes a tree trunk. Far out.
Kifnika Crater gets closer, and of course, I do the very American thing by defiling it with humor. But it just beckoned for this, so I had to try.
A burned out, but still eerily beautiful, flower.
A very much still live flower. Brilliant colors!
Ronald told us what this plant was, but I forget. All I remember are the blue tongue like leaves, and that it is poisonous.
Barack making his way down.
The shiny official bird of Tanzania makes an appearance, now that its not a ridiculous high altitude. Probably first animal we have seen in a week.
We found this rusted gurney on the side of the road. We couldn't tell if it was strategically pre-positioned there (unlikely) or just broken (likely).
The trail flattened out into the plain at this point, and you could see it for kilometers around. Beautiful.
As we got to bigger trees, my Tarzan instincts kind of started kicking in. It's almost as if I could sense the jungle approaching.
And I leave you with this panorama of the lower moorland. Next week... jungle fever!
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