During the May 23 meeting of the Rotary Club of Los Alamos, Rotarian James Wernicke walked members through his January 2022 adventures in Tanzania during which he and his father climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. Located in northeastern Tanzania, near the Kenya border, Mt. Kilimanjaro is a dormant volcano, the highest mountain on the African continent. Together father and son summited Mt. Kilimanjaro’s highest peak, Uhuru, at 19,371ft. Sporting a Tanzania shirt, Wernicke described the week-long climb and the challenges and exhilaration of trekking through five habitat zones along the Machame route, one of several trails available.  Witnessing ‘sunrise at the summit is unforgettable’, Wernicke also described visits to several national parks, including Lake Manyara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, and Tarangire, giving his audience a glimpse of the ecosystems, geography, animals, and culture of this ‘wildly diverse country’. Of note, Wernicke commented that while he and others were surrounded by snow-capped mountains at the time of their climb, ‘the mountain’s glaciers are expected to melt completely by 2030’. Photo by Linda Hull