... is Swahili for Thank You. Thanks for coming on this trip guys, it was a great trip and a wonderful experience. See you next time!

waving goodbye to Kilimanjaro

Peter and Jeannine, riding the twisty road into the Usamabara Mountains

... followed by Rosi...

... her son-in-law Daniel...

... and her daughter Steffi.

This is Kurt from Luxemburg, standing on the pegs as usual...

... and giving us a friendly wave.

Brant from Canada...

... and Dave and Calla, also from Canada.

Bob from California, 68 years but young at heart...

Günther and Inge, the Austro-Germans

Kurt is shopping with the locals in Soni, a small market town.

Dave with his new friend, the local guide for the sunset walk to the Irente Cliff.

And this is the famous sunset, seen from the Irente Cliff, a thousand meters above the valley floor...

Dave and Calla, enjoying the sunset

Goodbye sun, goodbye Tanzania, goodbye Kenya. Goodbye Africa...

Amboseli National Park is famous not only for its many elephants but also for its amazing views of Mount Kilimanjaro. We were lucky, because he showed us his peak, which is still crowned by ice and snow, and some elephants were kind enough to walk in a picturesque formation through the foreground. A true highlight of this tour!

Daniel, John and Bob like to take pictures, Günther and Inge like to have their picture taken:

The next day we headed to our last National Park: Ngorongoro Crater, in neighboring Tanzania, is like a giant bowl filled with wildlife. Here is something you rarely get to see: a lion defending his fresh kill against two daring jackals:

Alfred from Vienna keeps cool while he captures everything on video

Lake Victoria, the world's third largest lake, was our destination on day 3. It is famous for its spectacular sunsets. Check out this one, viewed from the terrace of our lodge:

This is Brant from Canada. As you can see the Kiboko Bay Resort is famous for hippos.

Nest destination and one of the major highlights of this tour was the Maasai Mara Game Reserve. We had a rest day there and the group went on game drives. Five of them even booked a ride in a hot air balloon, which was an unforgettable experience:

The balloon rises up into the cool air of a new day at Maasai Mara.

Balloon rides are popular in the Mara. Why? Because they are spectacular!

But the part of the group that did "only" the regular game drive also returned happy. They saw an amazing number of wildebeest, zebras, buffalo, elephants, giraffes, warthogs, antilopes and gazelles and several groups of lions. They even got within 10 ft of a leopard, lounging in a tree, oblivious to his excited admirors. Here are some great shots, taken by Peter from the US:

The following pics were taken by Brant from Canada:

... is Swahili for "no worries". People here in Kenya don't worry much about anything, and neither do we. The second day of our Adventure Kilimanjaro tour comes to an end as the sun sets over Lake Nakuru. What a beautiful day it was, we crossed the Equator twice, gazed down into the Rift Valley and topped it all off with a game drive around the lake. Big Five, here we come!

This is Bob from California, checking the latitude.

And we can prove it: 0° North. Or South. Or Both.

Seventeen adventurers, posing right at the equator.