In just about 12 hours I leave my home of Minneapolis/St. Paul for the heights of Mt. Kilimanjaro. 19,300 feet, cold, cold temps at the top so people only stay for about ten minutes of enjoying the view and looking down in to the crater. So why do people take 6 to 7 hours to summit 4,000 feet and take not much more time to go down 10,000 all in one day? I guess I'll find out. That safari in the Sarengeti is sounding better all the time. And after that, I head to the Kruger National Park just outside of Johannesburg, then to Cape Town to start a 20-day tour up the west coast, ending in Victoria Falls. Back to Jo'burg, then off to the Seychelle Islands for five weeks of scuba diving, doing marine research to monitor the effects of El Nino from five years ago.

How am I feeling about this? Sad to leave my kitty, Karly, who is 18 years old. Sad to leave my friends, especially Tom and Rose who will take off cruising almost as soon as I return. Yet excited to see a continent that I've only set foot on for seven hours back in October on a weekend trip from Seville. Morocco has a character all its own with no hint as to the wild life that I'm to see on this trip.

Ready or not, here I come.