‘Team Africa’ Explores Serengeti, Tackles Mt. Kilimanjaro
I couldn’t help but smile when I received a note from Werner Berger offering details about his upcoming trek safari through Africa’s Serengeti and to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. The attached document was named: AFRICA AHOY!
I could almost feel Werner’s excitement bursting through the e-mail (if you know Werner, whose zest for life is unrivaled, you know what I’m talking about).
He is making final preparations to lead two dozen or so adventurers — many of whom are associated with USANA in one way or another — on the experience of a lifetime. The trekkers, dubbed “Team Africa,” leave this weekend on a life-changing journey that will continue through January 3.
An Amazing Opportunity
He reports the most common exclamation he’s heard recently is: “I just can’t wait!”
For Werner, the Everest Climber who led the Mount Everest Base Camp Trek last May, he’s absolutely thrilled about leading an energetic group of individuals into Africa and to the top of Kilimanjaro.
“Africa is such an amazing country,” he says, “and unless you have been there, no one can really tell you about it in a deeply meaningful manner. Mostly, it’s outside of our experiences. The history, the simplicity and the harshness of life, the politics, the family constructs and belief systems, the amazing landscapes, and the animals, are all incomparable. It’s almost like stepping onto a different planet.”
The ‘Experience of a Lifetime’
Over the next two weeks Werner and Team Africa will attempt to capture all of these experiences as well as climb to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro — 19,341 feet in elevation.
“This will be the experience of a lifetime,” Werner says. “We will touch and learn about the semi-nomadic Masai, their fierce, warring nature; their love for their cattle and their ability to protect them from the lions and other meat eaters, armed only with a sharply pointed stick. We’ll learn about their coming of age rituals where the young boy must spear and kill a lion; their habit of eating yogurt consisting of a mixture of milk and blood.”
The big question, Werner says, is will the team get to see the humanoid footprints in the Olduvai Gorge left by one of our ancestors 3.2 million year ago?
“The team members are all anxious to enter the Serengeti with its hordes of animals, including thousands of zebras, interspersed with wildebeest grazing contently on the African veldt,” he says. “And then, as the lions approach, everyone springs into a stage of high alert, ready to run at a moment’s provocation.”
On the trip will be a trekker as young as 6 years old, as well as a 12- and 13-year old. “Each one can’t wait to see their favorite animal,” Werner says. “Hearts will pound when we ‘casually’ peer at a lion only five feet away, or a bull elephant at a slightly greater distance.”
Plus, USANA’s own Dr. John Cuomo, Executive Director of Research and Development, will be part of the experience!
Climbing Kilimanjaro
But what about the climb to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro? How tough will it be? Kilimanjaro has been described as a “high altitude walk in the park.”
“Don’t believe this,” Werner warns. “Although the climb is non-technical and anyone with a reasonable degree of fitness can make it, summit day is tough, predominantly due to the altitude and the steep scree slope just below the crater rim. The summit is a large, ever so gently sloping ‘football field’ and to its west are the remains of the ice cap, a solid, beautiful, 400-foot-high wall of snow and ice.”
Even more, as part of the trip, Heshie Segal is working to provide orphaned children in Africa with clothing, school supplies, and other basic necessities. Already she’s purchased more than 600 outfits and countless school supplies to deliver to the children of Tanzania. Read more about this mission.
A Final Flourish
And then, to top it all off, a wedding ceremony like no other will take place. Werner and Heshie will recite their vows as the sun rises on the new year and a new decade. “Imagine that as a backdrop as the team offers a toast with USANA’s very own Rev3,” Werner says.
We wish all the participants the best and can’t wait to hear stories and see photos from what’s sure to be a spectacular, life-changing event.
Get Ready for the Next Trip(s)
But wait, as they say. There’s more! Werner is already planning his next treks for April and May 2011.
“After the success of the Everest Base Camp trip in May 2010 and the number of people who said they wanted to be on the next one, how can I not do a repeat?” Werner says. “Also, the Annapurna Circuit (west of Kathmandu, Nepal) has long intrigued me. So April and May are set aside for more glorious adventure. Who’s coming?”
Learn more about the Annapurna Circuit Trek in April, as well as the Everest Trek in May.
Werner, a USANA independent distributor, has been a devoted USANA product user for 15 years. Get in touch with him via e-mail at werner.sri@neptune.on.ca or telephone at (215) 642-0083 for additional information about upcoming adventures.
If you’d like a little more insight on Werner, here’s a movie trailer from “Back from the Edge.” It is a first-of-its-kind adventure and health/wellness film featuring his Mt. Everest climb plus many other health expert interviews.
