"ari" vs. "kili"

i am pleased to confirm that 29 all made it safely to the summit earlier today and are now on their descent back to Arusha. i am sure you have been waiting with baited breath, but i am also pleased to confirm that all 12 of the "ari" crew safely escaped the charge of the tembo (elephant). we are exhausted, weary and bruised from the hours of animal viewing in the land cruisers, while safe, we are not unscathed. poor mackenzie is down to 3 toenails on the left foot.

we confirmed that our "ari" was annoited and blessed when rebecca received the gift of the bird poo upon her head. in africa, this equates to good luck. it was only minutes after this bird dumping that we witnessed simba and nala creating their young... the blessing continued through the end. we were so grateful for the experience and all we had seen - in total over 55 lions!!!! but, to be honest, we were all a smidge disappointed about not seeing the leopard. we headed out this morning for the DIRT airstrip in the middle of the serengeti where we would get on a puddle jumper and fly back to arusha. it was en route to the dirt airstrip that our lead guide "willie- style", picked it up to mach 900 and delivered us to a leopard spread eagle on a limb with its gazelle kill in hand on the limb to the right. seriously you ask? seriously.

so - all i can say is this: "ANIMALS ARE COOLER THAN KILI, however, we ARE SO PROUD OF THE 29 CHAMPS AT THE TOP, and glad to be the 12 chuey dumas (you didn't "ari" you wouldn't understand...)

peace out trouts - we'll be back to the USA in 48ish... (not counting the 30 of travel)

God Bless to all - the "ari" 12
anne genevieve, rebecca, mackenzie, preston, anna, grace, rachel, elizabeth, erin, fred, jason and amanda

All are safe!

I just spoke to Matt Hawkins here in ATL who called Alexis in tanzania this AM. He confirmed that ALL ARE SAFE and on their way down. Unconfirmed is that all 29 made it to the top but we are not completely sure about that yet. Praise God for His goodness!