To the Top! The Mt. Kilimanjaro Story
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The trip started out like most of my worldly adventures. I left my passport at home and had to call a friend to run by my house and rush it to the Atlanta airport. Twenty minutes later I realized that I had the keys to my car in my pocket which was parked behind my wife’s car. I had to call that same friend and have him run all the way back down to the airport and get them. Now that I am back I figure I’ll buy him lunch and find out if he is still a friend at all anymore.

I’m not sure what I expected Tanzania to be like. I’ve done business throughout Latin America and Asia and I’ve seen poverty many times. On the flight there from Amsterdam I struck up conversation with quite a few people. Everyone was going there for either a safari, to hike the big mountain or for humanitarian reasons. Not one person was going there for business. I started to lower my expectations.

What you quickly witness upon arriving at the Kilimanjaro airport and driving to your hotel takes it all to a new even lower level. The sad part is that I’ve only seen such a small part of one country yet I feel certain the entire continent is in dire straits. There were no hordes of bicycles or rickshaws scattering the streets. Instead there were simply throngs of people walking in every direction. It was all broken down to the most basic level of human existence.

Granted, it’s a vast continent and I was there only a small amount of time. I really have no right to speak on such matters. That said, I’ll be first in line to rally behind anyone who has a solution to help those people.

The hotel was a two star at best. I can live without TV with no problem but it would have been nice to have hot water or food that was edible. I think I ate half of the protein bars I had brought for the mountain before we even started the climb. The more interesting story was why were in that hotel.

When we initially signed up for the Kilimanjaro trek we paid a company called Safari Dreamers. A criminal by the name of Tom Kisura talked my father-in-law and his friends into signing up and I went along. It was a complete scam. He did the ole’ bait and switch on us by showing us a really nice hotel, the Aishi Hotel, and then putting us in a crappy hotel that surely didn’t cost him much if anything. He then waited until the night before the climb was to start and told us his bank accounts were frozen and we had to give him another 4000 dollars or we couldn’t even start the climb! It got worse from there. To make a long-story short, it was high drama and we were completely scammed. I hope Google picks this page up so anyone Googling Tom Kisura or Safari Dreamers can find out that he is a total crook.

We ended up calling the Aishi hotel that sent a car to save us and arranged a completely new itinerary. So after doubling down and paying twice, we were ready to start. With the contribution promises of Domain Capital and a few other business associates I had nearly 50,000 dollars on the line for a Children’s cancer fund. It was a nervous morning to say the least.

I knew that I was in for a challenge. Read any book on Kilimanjaro and they say be ready to walk uphill for 6-8 hours a day. They weren’t kidding. In fact, the first day we walked only about 4 hours but the rest of the time was at least 8 hours or more.

  • Peter

    Congrats!!

    Sounds like you had a ball, but in the end you did it for a great cause!!

  • http://GeoOwners.com tim davids

    big congrats Rick...you make me think maybe we should start domainers for Africa fund...may help the industry image

    Good job...glad to hear your perspective

  • http://GetRichSlowly.com Steve M.

    Great story and adventure, Rick.

    Thanks for sharing it w/us all.

    ps Which mountain's next? ;-)

  • http://www.conceptualist.com/2008/02/29/rick-latona-to-the-top-the-mt-kilimanjaro-story/ Rick Latona: To the Top! The Mt. Kilimanjaro Story at Conceptualist.com, By Sahar Sarid

    [...] Source: RickLatona.com [...]

  • Viju K

    Rick, seems like it was pretty damn hard but totally worth it.

  • http://recallmediagroup.com Sahar Sarid

    Congratulations Rick, great going, inspiring!
    Thanks for sharing,
    Cheers
    Sahar

  • Ryan L

    So this is all I got to do to get a tan on my face and lose 20 lb's? Sounds easy!!

  • http://elliotsblog.com Elliot Silver

    Rick,

    Congratulations on making it to the top. It's a great feat and accomplishment.

  • Francois

    CONGRATS Rick !!!

    and Thanks for sharing your experience.

  • Ryan

    Congratulations, that's very impressive on making it all the way!

  • Nimesh

    Congrats! I bet it's great feeling.
    Was oxygen tank provided ? :-)

  • http://garbagenames.com Steven Newman

    Awesome and Inspiring!

  • http://MrBidster.com Daryl

    The part of your story that hit me most was the rallying someone looking to help... God has put that upon my heart, and it's that passion that has driven me into the business world... I'm new to the domain sales I have been building websites for a while... Just drummed up a portfolio of decent names, and am now trying to sell them, any advice would be magnificent... Great job on the climb...

  • http://www.Bands.TV Sanchay Kumar

    Your at the top of your game and on top of the world! Thank you for sharing your story!

  • Paul Smith

    Thanks for sharing your story Rick! You did great! Sorry about the scam though. Let's invite that guy to America for a day or so....

  • http://www.domaincapital.com Domain Capital

    Rick,

    Great job on completing your quest!

    Domain Capital is proud to make a donation of $30,000.00 to the Hopes and Heroes Children’s Cancer Fund.

    Here is some information with regards to this great charity:

    The Hope & Heroes Children’s Cancer Fund provides philanthropic assistance to the Herbert Irving Child & Adolescent Oncology Center, Columbia University Medical Center. The Fund’s mission is to support and expand existing programs and therapies at the Center, develop new initiatives, and enhance the research that is vital to continuing the fight against pediatric cancer.

    We are also having a Photo Shop expert check the validity of those photos (only joking).

    Again, GREAT job and we are very happy that you made us pay this bet, because the money could not be going to a better place!

    Regards,
    Domain Capital

  • http://www.dailybull.com Gordon

    Great story Rick.

    And Google has already picked up on your site for both Safari Dreamers and Tom Kisura....

  • Ben Starling

    Hey Rick -- Neat story. Thanks for documenting your journey because it is the closest I will ever come to making the journey! What an accomplishment.

  • http://www.inkednation.com Jean-Francois Laverdiere

    Hahahaha you look Asian mon ami ;-)

    That's a great read Rick, thanks for sharing.

  • Nicole Brashears

    Hey Rick,

    Are you done stealing all of my ideas yet? I heard you sold CJ. What are your latest blue sky thoughts? Only you would start off selling peep holes for people's doors. I love it! Keep up the entrepreneurial spirit!

  • http://www.ricklatona.com/ Rick Latona

    Nicole, thanks for the post. I hope all is well.

  • http://www.tanzaroosafaris.com Kweka

    Thats good to bring ideas together.

    I think he still in USA then you can put him somewhere, because when he proceed to be free then many things may happen as he can operate business with different name.

  • http://www.tpssl.com TANZANIA PRIVATE SELECT SAFARIS

    I think he still in USA or somewhere else still doing this kind of staff then you can put him in jail, because when he proceed to be free then many things may happen because he my change the name of the company but not his face! Sorry Man next time you must book straigth to the safari company office.

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