Friday, December 21, 2012

Algarve, Portugal – October 2012


We went to Algarve for a week of relaxing during the school holidays together with the Tegenroth family. Lovely nature, pleasant temperatures, nice dining and a warm swimming pool. What more could we have wished for?



On one of our excursions we even managed to get stuck in the sand with one of the cars. The kids were happy to help with the rescue efforts.



We cooled off in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean. It was full moon and the tide was dramatic.



Temba and Nina tried wave surfing. Temba showed no fear and soon he was surfing, much to his dad’s envy. Kids learn fast!
  




Nina bravely challenged the waves, and they challenged her…


Sunday, September 30, 2012

Climbing Kilimanjaro - August 2012


Nina and Ola flew to Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro together with our wonderful South African friends. It was a spectacular trip, and quite exhausting towards the end. 



We chose the Rongai route and started our hike 12 August (altitude 1800 m). We slept in a tent and had porters who did the hard work for us.




From the tropical cloud forests, the vegetation shrank to bushes and then to tundra. The views were stunning!





Our route took us via the Mawenzi peak first. We acclimatized for an extra day there, at an altitude of 4300 m.


On our summit day, we started climbing at midnight, from an altitude of 4700 m. It was dark, cold and steep. Our guides said “pole pole”, meaning “slowly, slowly” in Swahili. They were right about that!




We reached the Kibo summit (5895 m) in the early morning hours 17 August. The view was marvelous. We could see that the horizon was curving - the world is not flat after all! 




We did not linger for very long at the summit. It was freezing, around -15 degrees temperature and a strong wind. On weak legs and with aking lungs, we started our descent. 




We descended to 3700 m that same day. We were completely exhausted. Our friendly guides and porters sang a song to us, to celebrate our achievement. They were kind enough not to mention that they had climbed Kilimanjaro dozens of times, without much effort…  



We reached our hotel in the town of Moshi in the late afternoon on 18 August. After our first shower in a week, the beer (appropriately named Kilimanjaro) tasted very good in the company of our South African brothers and sisters. 




And to those of you who are wondering - no, our kids did not climb Kilimanjaro with us. It is too dangerous for children. Temba, Disa, Tinna and Atlas enjoyed a warm summer week in Sweden with Nina's parents. 

Volcanic greetings from Ola and Nina

New York - April 2012

Nina and Ola went for a long weekend to New York with friends Minea & Daniel to celebrate a couple of birthdays. Great fun!











Thursday, April 5, 2012

Article, books and blog material

On 8 April there was an article about our Morocco adventure in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.

Signed copies of our book “Kapstaden till Nordkap på 333 dagar” can be bought directly through our web site www.kaptillkap.se

We aim to publish a book about our journey from Sweden to Cambodia, but it will take a few more months.

We continue to update our family blog 

If you are interested specifically in our journey from Sweden via India to Cambodia, please use the blog archive and browse through the posts from April 2008 to July 2009.

If you are interested specifically in our journey from Sweden to Morocco and back, please use the blog archive and browse through the posts from August to September 2011.

Temba is also writing a blog (in Swedish). Read about his impressions on www.tembaringdahl.blogspot.com. www.tembaringdah

Sunday, April 1, 2012

February 2012

We went by train to Canazei in the Italian Alps for some skiing with Nina’s parents and sisters with families. 10 kids and 8 adults. Wonderful guest house and great skiing.

Grandmother and grandfather acted as ski school teachers (classic style). Disa and Temba are experienced skiers by now. Tinna learnt to ski downhill very well during the week. Atlas was more cautious and preferred skiing together with dad.


Back in Sweden it was already spring time in our garden. We are looking forward to warmer weather!


January 2012

Family and friends enjoy the pingpong table brought by Santa Claus.


During a few days Malmö had sub-zero temperatures and the kids went ice-skating.


Birthdays were celebrated (Ola and friend Daniel Maurin) with sparkling and dancing until early morning hours.


Disa has started playing handball and plays against other teams every other week.