Rare Adventures

Author: Janner Boy

Arriving in Africa and Moshi

Arriving in Moshi

One of the reasons for doing this blog, is that I really struggled to get my head around what would happen when we arrived and what Moshi was like. Hopefully this will fill in some gaps to help others.

Landing at Killi airport and going through immigration you very quickly realise you are in the heart of Affica, it might be the main tourist airport but this works at African pace.

Tired Westerners meets African paperwork and bureaucracy in no rush to get anything done. For the numerous Europeans hadn’t organised visas, hope you enjoyed that queue folks.

No rush getting through immigration anyway, the baggage handlers were even less of a rush, so just get used to it.

We organised a taxi in advance from the hotel but it didn’t turn up on time, this was a bit uncomfortable, no taxi, no phone signal, no cash,surrounded by dodgy looking locals and no idea how far away the hotel in Moshi was – alarm bells starting ringing.

Out of the blue, a guy came up and checked our name and said our taxi driver was on his way and would be about 30 mins which was a relief still we got in the cab. It appears road worthiness isn’t a requirement in Tanzania so we spent an hour in a car with a banging suspension, bouncing over potholes and talking about football with the driver – this is Africa after all. He supported Arsenal and learned a lot of things about Plymouth Argyle he hadn’t been expecting.j

Most of the references to Moshi are that it is the centre for trekking in the region. So I was expecting something like Cusco in Peru or Pokara in Nepal, with a mix of shops and plenty of trekky type folks wandering around and enjoying a beer.

But it isn’t like that, it is a really busy transport and commercial hub developed as part of the German empire. It is a great chance to see what real Africa is like away from the tourists.. People speak English and don’t expect much in the way aircon, but there is plenty of Premier League football in every cafe and bar !

We didn’t see any other Western faces around and we were a bit of a curiosity with Wooksies red hair. I guess it it was a bit intimidating initially but we got used to it.

it is worth bearing in mind that Arusha is the alternative town and it a bigger version of Moshi, do expect something similar. We based through it and it was much bigger.

Inevitably there are street hawkers waiting for some jetlagged tourists, they were all harmless, good humoured and keen to relieve you of your cash. I ended up with this souvenir woolly hat, the last thing in the world I needed but it was useful for snowboarding !

We stayed at the Kilimanjaro Crane hotel, which was probably the best in Moshi as it was a conference centre and even had a pool.

Wooksie wasn’t too happy with it but this is Africa, things don’t work like they do in the UK, though maybe some better training for their plumbers and electricians might help.

I offered to move to the Hilton – oh hang on, there isn’t one. Anyway, the electricity worked most of the time, we got the hot water working on the second day and the pool and grounds were fine – definitely the best choice available and the staff were always really friendly and helpful.

We later discovered that people arriving for treks and safaris stay at variety of resorts and specialist western hotels within 20 mins of the airport, we did this on our return from Zanzibar for convenience.

They are very nice, well equipped, and very boring with no sense of adventure or being in Africa, so we don’t regret our trip to Moshi but I doubt we will be going back !

There was a view of Killimanjaro from the hotel roof lounge, sadly it is always covered in clouds we discovered – its up there somewhere

20/04/2025
My weight loss journey – I am fat

OMG – I look like my old man was my reaction to a photo, I need to do something.

Click here to follow the res of My Weight Loss Journey

The key point of all this was that I had found inspiration, role models and a purpose for changing my life not just losing weight. I had a load of knock backs in those early months but I didn’t give in. I also set myself some really tough objectives for someone my age, obviously I was lucky that I had things like the NZ trip in the pipeline to help me focus.

This picture with my eldest lad out mountain biking on Boxing Day 2016, the day the scales tipped 17st, frightened the hell out of me, because I looked so much like my dad who was always fat in my opinion.

I went on a diet blast and had my weight back down to 16st by mid Feb, but it drifted back up to the mid 16st by the summer.

In July 2017 I took over running my youngest lad’s U13 football team. During the first training session I started to get frustrated as I could hardly run and all the joint pains meant I wasn’t fit enough to show them what was needed, I didn’t want to be the angry old man who shouted at them but couldn’t do himself.

The problem was my joints resisted every attempt to join in, I could run and get the ball but that was about it.

In the same month we took on a new member of staff (Penny), she was around 50 and had set herself the objective of running in the Bristol half marathon, I was amazed at her energy and determination, she was going to the gym at 7am every day. Not only that, her hubby was still playing competitive football at 50, how on earth was that possible. I thought, well if you can do it so can I, I had a role models.

A key piece of the jigsaw happened in August we went on holiday to France. I took the mountain bike as I thought this could be my starting point. I set my self a target of 100km during the week, I did 80km in the first 2 days, so I reset the target at 200km and did it in 5 days. As you can see, I never lack energy or determination.

200km done -= 5 hard days and a sore back side, largely inspired by my son doing a 150 miles ride the month before.

More exercise helps joints

Obviously I was knackered but what I didn’t expect was that after 3 days ALL my joint pains were gone, ankles, toes, knees – the lot were painless. 2 days after completing the rides they were all back. By accident I discovered that the best remedy for joint pain is to use them, its what they are there for.

I went to the gym a few times when I came back and after a week the joint pains were gone again exercise was clearly the medicine for my joint pains not just a way of losing weight – bingo. We had a family trip to New Zealand planned for Xmas, so I set myself a target of downhill mountain biking in Queenstown, which meant getting a lot fitter.

Inspired by my new objective I started looking for more exercises and I’d thought about walking football. My pal was doing a thing called Man v Fat (www.manvfat.com) so I joined him as it would help me with the boys football as well.

I hadn’t kicked a ball in anger for 15 years but I was back in the zone on the pitch immediately and loved every second – even if my body hurt like hell for days afterwards.

By the end of Sep 2017 I was running with the boys during training and warm ups, but at the beginning of October disaster struck, riding too hard on the mountain bike I lost control, hit a tree and broke 3 ribs. Out for 5 weeks but I kept going to the gym and pedalling and jogging.

I made a come back at the beginning of November which lasted a weekend, I had another disaster, I didn’t warm up properly with the boys on Saturday morning and tore my thigh muscle. Another 5 week layoff, but I still went to the gym, the weight wasn’t moving but I was definitely getting fitter.

I made it to Queenstown bike park, probably the most scenic place in the world, and the steepest.

Beginning of December, I was back running when another injury struck, it turned out to be an inflamed tendon in my shoulder (rotator cuff its called) from too many weights and it severely restricted my shoulder movements so I decided to take it easy in the lead up to Xmas otherwise I wouldn’t be doing the bike ride in Queenstown.

The NZ trip had a big effect, we did lots and lots of activities and I was feeling really fit and healthy, my weight was still not going anywhere but I was much fitter.

This is one of the lessons I’ve learned from this, you can be fit and healthy and still be overweight.

20/04/2025
The Ultimate Guide to Planning Your Tanzanian Safari
Last year we decided that we should try a safari. It hadn’t really been high on my agenda as a family thing in the past but now it is just Wooksie and I, we decided it was next on the list.

My eldest lad had done a safari for his honeymoon, and explained that they sat in a lodge, silently, for hours waiting for the animals to turn up.

Quite frankly this sounded like my idea of hell, being hyper active and a very noisy person that rejoices in lots of noise and action, then this didn’t sound like my bag.

Types of safaris

So a bit of research highlighted 3 types of safaris,
1. Game lodges, these seemed to be mainly private and based around South Africa and the countries in that area.
2. Game drives. Where you belt around the countryside looking for animals in a 4×4, these seemed to be on the Serengeti so tended to be popular in Kenya and Tanzania.
3. Specialist gigs. Seemed to be for people who had done the above and wanted something more specific or rarer animals.
It is more complicated than this as there are variants and combinations of each type but hopefully you get the idea.

Type – So a quick search reveals thousands of tours and options so where the hell do we start. Deciding we wanted to go chasing animals was important and it slimmed the options down to Kenya and Tanzania.

Where – the options were Kenya or Tanzania – the safaris are either north or south of Kilimanjaro and the vast Serengeti which stretches into both countries. (nobody seems to have explained to the wildebeest the charge between them for their annual holidays). We settled on Tanzania because it sounded more exotic and we were able to fly directly into Kilimanjaro airport rather than via a smoggy capital like Nairobi.

Length – there are also loads of different options for length, from 2 days to 21 days. A chat with eldest son helped further, as they said they saw most of the animals in one particular area and their other activities were more of the same, so we focused our search on 3 to 5 days, as after discussions with Wooksie we both agreed we would probably get bored any longer.

Tour company – with one or two minor exceptions we have always planned our holidays independently, which is why we have so many adventures but a safari seemed different and risky and there are hundreds to chose from, so where do we start.

Having worked out roughly what we wanted I contacted the main specialist operators in the UK for a rough price and got wildly different pricing. So I decided I needed to better understand the pricing model and break it down so did more research.

I found this website that was a portal for the local safari companies, that basically put us in direct contact with the safari companies and took out the middle man. It was then quite easy to work out the actual prices we would pay and realised we could save a lot by doing it ourselves.

We contacted half a dozen of the companies offering the 3 day tour, specified that the accommodation needed to be decent, Wooksie insisted she wouldn’t sleep in a tent surrounded by beasts and creepy crawlies.

The companies were based in Tanzania, mostly in Moshi and eventually we settled on Joining Safaris Ltd, Erick was a really helpful guy who gave straight answers to our questions promptly, you can find them at http://www.joiningsafaris.com and I’d definately recommend them.

The second part of the adventure was some down time, if you are in Tanzania Zanzibar is a short flight away so that was simple enough, hotels booked through hotels.com and booking.com plus safari booked with Erick.

Price Breakdown

So when planning, here is the rough price breakdown in 2024 so you can discuss with an agent or book it yourself

Flight from UK to Kilimanjaro return – about £1000 with premium economy one way (KLM)

Safari – £1200 with mid range accommodation each

Flights to Zanzibar, about £200 return

6 nights Hotel on Zanzibar at TUI Zanzibar Bay Resort and Spa about £650 via Booking.com
19/04/2025
The weight loss journey – Lifestyle vs Age

I never thought of myself as being fat, I lived life fast, happy and mostly to excess, but it was catching up with me.

Click here to follow the res of My Weight Loss Journey

The reality is that getting fatter is not a natural consequence of getting older, it is a consequence of your lifestyle and choices you make.

I’ve always been active and pretty competitive and the weight crept on over my lifetime. In my mid 20s I was about 13st 4lb, playing lots of football at a good standard and training twice a week. I kept playing until I was 40 and my weight had gradually crept up to about mid 14st, mostly attributable to post match beer.

When I finished I still did other sports but the big change was starting my own business at 42, I lost control of my own time. Two babies arrived in my mid 40s and by the time I got to 50 I was heading towards 16st.

In my 50’s, the business took off, parenting two little kids and keeping an eye on two older kids mean’t I had plenty to think about other than myself, so as my late 50’s approached so did 17st.

I also believed that the weight gain was the natural cycle of life kicking in, as all my pals seemed to be spreading in the same way so I didn’t think there was much wrong. As I did less my performance declined and it was easier to focus on work than running, it hurt less for starters.

Basically, I didn’t really have much of a problem with my appearance but in my 40s I started to suffer from a lot of joint injuries, which I put down to the legacy of football. Whenever I did any sport I would suffer afterwards.

I had various blasts at getting my weight down through exercises but they would often end in pain and frustration so generally my levels of activity were dropping.

I had a hip replacement at 50 and that gave me a new lease of life and I was able to get more active again, but ultimately the other joints were hurting and the pressure of work made it easier to do work that exercise. I put all the pain down to football injuries when I was younger.

The government uses a thing called the Body Mass Index (BMI) as a way of assessing your weight, they say a BMI of 25 is healthy. Even though my BMI of 35 or something looked bad, I generally didn’t see myself as being excessively overweight, and my family thought I was fine. I always felt there was a stone to lose, but I was always quite well built so could carry it off and being hyper active, I never lacked energy so all looked well.

Even now, I don’t think I’ve been under BMI 25 since my teens, so it doesn’t hold much cred in my view. That BMI number is rubbish, it takes no account of build or gender.

If you want to check yours, this is the link – Calculate your body mass index (BMI) – NHS – NHS

I’ll pick the story up about the change in the next blog, I don’t want you guys getting bored.

19/04/2025
From Overwork to Adventure: My Retirement Story starts here.

I’d never really thought of retirement other than to make sure I was putting away pension contributions but one day I was in the doctors surgery about something minor and the nurse said “When do you retire?”

I was only in my mid fifties, working flat out on my business with 2 young kids and adventures to enjoy – “WTF retirement, are you joking”.

I was totally appalled, gave her a dirty look and went on my way, but strangely the thought stuck. A few months later I ended up in hospital with an blood infection, only a couple of days but it gave me a bit of time to think, and one of those thoughts was “What would happen to the company and my family if this was serious”.

So the first thing I did when I got out was to get BUPA, so at least if something happened, it would get fixed quickly. I also made a promise to myself that I would be finishing at 65 and wouldn’t become one of those people that worked till they dropped.

As the company reached a stable state I cut out working at weekends as a habit, and made time for the gym during the week and Friday afternoons became mountain biking or a run so slowly took control of my life.

The moment arrived

A couple of years ago we had a mega year, work, we were overloaded with work and had a very profitable year, and I remember thinking that I might not ever see this money in my pocket unless I paid best part of 70% tax, I was working hard for my family and staff, but what was in it for me.

My eldest daughter was getting married in May and I was worrying a lot about the speech. I wasn’t really enjoying the client assignments, I always have such high hopes for the organisations we work with but in the end they rarely grasp the opportunity and just carry on being what they have always have been, but at least we are normally richer.

That was the big moment. I was 63 and a couple months off 64 and realised that I wasn’t handling the pressure quite so well, the adrenalin was diminishing and I realised I was ready to change, it happened almost overnight.

The announcement

I sat down with my wife (who runs the company with me) and said “I’m done”, and after the wedding, I’ll be getting in my camper and heading off to Scotland with the dog. I’m pretty sure she didn’t believe me, but that’s what happened.

The journey from there wasn’t quite so simple, but the lesson here is, when you are ready you will know, its then about making it happen which brings challenges of it’s own.

17/04/2025