We did it!

What an amazing adventure we had!  Larry, Bill and Mark summited around 7:15am Friday local time with Margie and Scott following about twenty minutes later.  The above photo was taken as the first group descending met up with the second group still summiting.  From the left, our head guide, Caspar, Larry, Bill, Scott, Margie and Mark.  The odds were that only three of us would summit, but we are made of tougher stuff than that.  But we would all agree that this was one of the hardest things we have ever done, both physically and mentally.

 

Bill, Assistant Guide Joseph, Larry and Mark at the summit.

 

Margie and Scott at the summit.

 

The five of us now have a bond that time won't dull.

 

We have updated the photo album to the right with 100's of photos that the five of us took while in Africa. 

The day after returning from the mountain, it was time to build the playground!  We decided to complete the build in one day to surprise the children of the Stella Maris School as they came to school on Monday morning.  Yet another once in a lifetime experience - to be standing on the playground and being overtaken by a sea of bright blue uniforms as the kids played for the first time. 

Later that day we visiting the O'Brien School for the Maasai to view the location of the second playground we purchased and sent to Africa.  This will be built in January after it arrives in country.  We were given the opportunity to experience Maasai culture up close and personal. 

 

After all official business was done, we took two days to play - a two day safari!  We spend a day at Tarangire, a good sized park located just to the south of Lake Manyara in northern Tanzania before moving onto Ngorongoro Crater.  The Ngorongoro Highlands is a dramatic range of volcanic mountains that straddles the rift valley escarpment immediately to the south of the Serengeti.  Wild life was so common, it was like going to a park here and seeing squirrels and ducks.

 

 

Until next time Tanzania!