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When looking for baby shower invitation ideas, the hardest part may be figuring out what to say other than the obvious things such as place and time. You don’t need to be professional writer to include a good baby shower poem on the invitations. All you need to know is how to access sites to find wording guides for baby shower invitations that will help you put in the necessary information as well as a baby shower poem to fit the parents personality, be it humorous or touching.

Baby shower poems run the gamut from one that touches on what those tiny baby feet may someday accomplish to simple rhymes referring to “showering the new parents with our love”. If the shower is going to have a specific theme, such as “Moon and Stars” or maybe a teddy bear theme, when doing an online search for wording for your baby shower invitations, include those specifics to narrow your search.

Baby shower invitation ideas can be found at many sites that have event planning ideas. Some have specific ideas you can use for your baby shower poems or at least give you enough generalities to get the creative wheels in your own mind going. Remember to keep the parents to be in mind when writing something; though you may be the one hosting the baby shower, it is their day. If they are a more business-like couple, a baby shower poem with too much silliness won’t fit, just as something too formal may be not be ideal for a baby shower poem for those who have a more laid back lifestyle.

When the day comes, you don’t need to be Shakespeare to have come up with wording for baby shower invitations that touch the heart and are memorable.

Kelly Jezek is a successful Webmaster and publisher of mybabyshowerhelper.com She provides more helpful tips on using babyshower poems at her site. Visit my baby shower helper today!

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Some babies go for solids in a big way right from the start, but others are more reluctant. A baby’s first taste of solid food should be exactly that, just a taste, so don’t be concerned that your little one isn’t chomping through three bowls of baby food a day at the beginning. First foods should be in addition to the milk the baby normally has, not a replacement.

The World Health Organisation recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months to avoid potential allergies, excema and asthma. All babies are different though and there are a few signs that a baby is ready for solids.

• The tongue stops thrusting everything out of the mouth
• The baby grabs food off your plate
• The baby copies you when you eat
• The baby can sit up unaided
• The baby opens its mouth for the food

If your baby isn’t interested in solids at 6 months there is some argument for trying them with a spoonful of something each day as this is supposed to be the best time for them to learn about new tastes. Some people say that if you miss this ‘tasting window’ the baby will be a fussy eater in the future.

First foods

If you are worried about allergies there is a sequence of introducing solids for the allergic child developed by Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre. It lists foods and the age at which they should be introduced. The main things to avoid at first are nuts, wheat, unpasteurised cheeses and eggs.. Baby Organix have removed gluten from their stage 1 and 2 baby foods and clearly label those that are gluten and lactose free.

So, how do you make baby food? Choose a nice looking vegetable, a carrot or a potato and steam it to within an inch of its life. Squish this through a sieve and add the milk the baby normally has until it looks like thin mush. You can steam, squish and sludge food to freeze for the future, ice cube trays are a good way to do this, just freeze and decant into plastic bags when they are solid. Banana is a great first food, just mush some up with a fork, place that bowl in another with some hot water and stir ’til it gets brown and mushy, no need to sieve.

Expressing milk

The most popular expressing pump is the Avent Isis. The easiest way to express is to do it first thing when you have the most milk. Start the baby off on one boob and when the baby activates the let down reflex unlatch it and put it on the other side. The milk should then pump quite easily but be careful not to overdo it at first or you risk sore nipples. The baby is used to and probably likes the taste of your milk so mixing it with steamed veg will make the solid food more palatable for them.

Second Stage Solids

When the baby is used to the slushy stuff you can start to introduce a bit more texture to the food, either by whizzing it to a less slushy consistency, mashing it roughly with a fork or adding flaked rice (from health food shops). Finger foods such as rice cakes or chips of steamed veg may go down well though you have to watch the baby in case it chokes. If it does choke, turn the baby upside down over your lap and give a sharpish tap to the centre of the back. This should dislodge the food. Never try to fish anything out of a babies mouth unless you are sure you can grab it as you may shove it further down the throat.

Bibs. Bowls and spoons

My 8 month old gets too distracted with bibs so I either feed him naked (him not me!), in already dirty clothes or I tie a dishcloth round his neck. Tommee Tippee sell a range of useful bowls. They have small containers with snap on lids that fit into a larger storage container with a small gap. I heat food by putting a defrosted ice cube of it into the smaller container and hot water in to the second. Stand the smaller in the larger and mix until the food is piping hot to kill off any lurking nasties then let it cool down again. You can get soft tipped heat sensitive spoons that show when the food is too hot for the baby, or you can test it on the inside of your wrist. It is handy to have 3 spoons when the baby starts to grab them. The baby grabs the first spoon, you use the second, the baby grabs the second, you use the third, the baby grabs the third, drops the first, you use the first…… this saves loads of arguments and tug of war games and I have been told it works with toast, rice cakes and slices of fruit.

Copyright Lisa Cole, http://www.lactivist.co.uk

The Mothers Milk Marketing Board at http://www.lactivist.co.uk sells pro-breastfeeding and gentle parenting advocacy slogan t-shirts and accessories for funky mums and kids.

Babies are such a joy to be around and the feeling of excitement usually elevates during the period where its time to buy and select baby furniture for the baby.

One of the essential pieces of baby furniture that a baby needs is a crib. Though a crib is a common thing needed by babies, the selection process of picking this kind of baby furniture is crucial. Why you may ask? Well, according to recent reports, at least 50 babies experience suffocation or were strangled each year because of accidents that involve cribs that are old and have broken parts. This eventually led to the declaration of U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in 1995. The said declaration was all about the destruction and elimination of old and used cribs. Due to this incident, the safest way to ensure that baby furniture is in good and safe condition is to buy a brand new one. Unfortunately, not all people have the money to buy a new one so the best thing that you could do is to wait for the next best thing

In buying baby furniture, always remember that the safety of the baby is at stake. Do not buy baby furniture just for the sake of saving money because you would risk the safety of the child in return. Be sure to use precaution and examine everything. Here are some tips that would help you in finding the perfect baby furniture for the perfect baby (without compromising your baby’s safety as well as your budget).

The first step in choosing used baby furniture is to check the furniture thoroughly. Be sure to check every detail and look for possible missing, loose, broken or improperly installed screws, brackets and other hardware on the baby furniture. Another thing that you should consider is the material that the baby furniture is made of. A few minutes or so of inspection is a wise investment both financially and for the protection of your child.

After checking for obvious visual defects visit the CPSC’s website and enter the make and model of the item in their search box, this should bring back any warnings or recall notices.

Mark Dietzel operates Baby-Furniture-4-u.com a website that specializes in Nursery Furniture

Mountain climbing is a great way to escape the rat race and be one with nature. Alas, your mountain climbing experiences can fade with time. The best way to prevent this is to keep a mountain climbing journal for your adventures.

Mountain Climbing Journals

Take a minute to give some consideration to your most recent mountain climbing experience. What sticks out in your mind? Now think about the first time you ever went mountain climbing. Undoubtedly, you remember few things about the geography, people you went with, particular mountain climbing routes and spectacular views. The experiences you’ve forgotten are lost to time. If you keep a mountain climbing journal, this won’t be the case.

There are famous instances of people keeping journals throughout time. Of course, Anne Frank’s Diary is the best example. In her diary, Anne kept a running commentary of the two years her family spent hiding from the Nazis. While your mountain climbing experiences better be more lighthearted, keeping a journal will let you remember them as the years pass.

A good mountain climbing journal combines a number of characteristics. First, it should be compact so you don’t have to take up unnecessary space for other things. Second, it should have a case to protect it from rain, spills and so on. Third, the journal should contain blank areas to write your notes. Fourth, the journal should contain cue spaces to remind you to keep notes on specific things. Cues should include:

1. Who you went mountain climbing with,

2. Where you camped and if you enjoyed it,

3. Who you met and contact information for them,

4. The geographic and weather conditions, and

5. Any unique things that occurred while mountain climbing.

6. The routes you took up the mountain and alternatives.

7. Any inside information provided by experienced locals.

At the end of the mountain climbing trip, you should be able to get the following from your journal:

1. Contact information for other climbers you met,

2. Enough detail to provide you or a friend with a guide if you climb the location a second time.

3. Memories to reflect upon years later, and

4. Something to pass on to your friends, children and grandchildren.

To get the most out of your mountain climbing journal, you should write in it just before you climb, as you summit and when you return. Doing so will give you an accurate picture of your thoughts throughout the climb.

Mountain climbing is a great way to commune with nature. Make sure to preserve the experience.

Rick Chapo is with http://www.nomadjournals.com - makers of mountain climbing journals. Writing journals make great Christmas gifts for him or her. Visit http://www.nomadjournaltrips.com to read outdoor adventure stories.

Robertson- There are many off-beat destinations in South Africa the majority of people have never heard of. Soekershof Walkabout is one of those ‘primary unusual destinations’. Together with Grootbos Nature Reserve in Standfort and The Backpack in Cape Town Soekershof Walkabout in Robertson is accredited for the Fair Trade in Tourism in South Africa trademark. This was officially announced during the travel fair Reise Pavillion in Hannover (Germany).

“This accreditation is the recognition that Soekershof Walkabout is really committed to: fair wages, working conditions and operations, ethical business practice, positive contribution to local economic development, respect for human rights, culture and environment”, says co-owner Herman van Bon of Soekershof. “But still we intend to improve; a garden has to grow and this garden we are not going to survive. This garden will grow into the future with, a.o., trees which will mature in a few thousand years; ever changing stories and for the moment also the most beautiful legs in the world representing the New South Africa”.

“This might sound cryptic”, adds his wife and the other co-owner Yvonne de Wit, ” but once experiencing this tourist destination with a camera visitors keep on taking photographs of these legs”.

Going ‘Off-beat’

But what of where is Soekershof Walkabout all about?

It’s a typical and unique ‘primary unusual destination’ for the broad-minded personalities always in search for an unusual experience. Soekershof Walkabout is located in Klaas Voogds West between Robertson and Ashton; 2 hours touristic driving East of Cape Town, South Africa.
Many Capetonians enjoy their Sunday picnic at Soekershof Walkabout.

‘Weird but Passionate’ hosts; great stories; a wealth of plantlife; time-travel with Albert Einstein; a stone-age cinema; the New South African Handshake; philosophers garden and, of course, the highly acclaimed succulent gardens with more than 2400 registered different species from all over the world in the unprotected open air are just a few of the impressions visitors undergo.

Visitors can also earn a memorable reward by fulfilling a quest in the Klaas Voogds Maze which is regarded as the largest hedge-maze in the world..

“This Maze is not a Maze in the traditional perception that you have to get lost but is a reflection of life; walking from one story into another which are visualised by objects, as orientating points, towering above the hedges. However there are, as in life, also a few ’stories’ you will have to look for. And, visitors are invited to make their own stories”, explains Van Bon.

A visit to Soekershof is hard to describe for it is a very personal experience as can be found out in the ‘love-letter’ section of the Soekershof website (http://soekershof.com).

Information

The own Soekershof nursery distinguishes itself from other (specialist) nurseries by providing visitors with sufficient customized cultivation information. Sometimes even by refusing selling a plant if, distilled from the information provided by the client, it turns out that the environmental conditions (climate, location, etc.) are not suitable.
“From statistics, f.e., it’s known that 60 to 70 percent of the succulents including cacti sold in the Cape Town area die within months or will never prosper. Recently there was even a publication about this in one of the local newspapers. It turns out that even specialist nurseries provide their customers with insufficient information”, tells Yvonne de Wit. “A landscaper from Cape Town recently formulated: ‘These nurseries have either no sufficient knowledge; want to make fast money or are desperate for money’. And such a behaviour is at the end not good for the whole nursery trade”

Can both of you describe Soekershof Walkabout in your own words?

Van Bon: “It is the place where Klaas Voogds, James Bond and Albert Einstein meet”.

De Wit:”Everything you always wanted to know about sex ….. between plants but never dared to ask”.

A visit takes at least 1.5 to 2 hrs. Visitors are invited to bring their own picnic.

Herman van Bon

In previous life a free lance journalist (technical publications)

Nowadays co-owner of Soekershof Walkabout; the onliest off-beat destination in South Africa without a roadsign due to personal preferences of the provincial road engineer of the Western Cape.

See website http://soekershof.com for precise road directions and ‘What visitors can expect’.

Our Story

A few years ago, we were struggling to drive traffic to one of our websites. We were immediately overwhelmed with the amount of knowledge and skill it took to successfully drive traffic to our site. We had assumed that if we created a site that was worth seeing, it would be seen. We could not have been more wrong.

We ran into a number of companies who offered to take over this daunting task for us. We decided to try out a number of them to see how our competition stacks up.

They offered many packages of visitors. I remember my first purchase. I bought 5,000 targeted hits from them for $10. My product cost $15 at the time, so I figured at least 1 person out of 10,000 would purchase. The days went by, and my counter went crazy.

The Results

After our contract expired, all my hits had been delivered as expected. I did not have one sale!!

I Should Have Learned My Lesson!

Thinking this had to be a fluke.. I switched to another company, and bought the same package.

Again, I GOT NO SALES!!

I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I was confident my ad’s were written well. The site was well designed and planned, and my product was in demand…

I Started To Investigate

Frustrated, I started to investigate exactly where these visitors were coming from. I discovered, that I had fallen victim to one of the most common scams on the internet. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I first discovered the secrets these company’s use to drive traffic to the clients sites.

I checked the script I had installed that was used to check detailed stats on all of our traffic. All 10,000 of our hits came in 2 days, and all 10,000 of them were logged in for less than 3 seconds. Not a single one of them navigated past our main page. My stats script will also tell me where my traffic was referred from, and what keywords they used. All of these hits had the same referral, and didn’t use keywords. This last fact isn’t important, because any company, good or bad, will redirect their traffic sources through their domain. This is just to keep competitors from stealing their sources (good or bad).

I believe that these company’s are going to pay for their greed and dishonesty sometime in the near future.

In the next few pages, we are going to reveal exactly how these greedy companies scam you. This will help you avoid such scams, and put your money to good use, instead of wasting it.

You Will Be Shocked at what these company’s do to send you traffic!

This is the most immoral, unethical, and dishonest business practice I have ever come across online. These companies know exactly what they’re doing. After all, if their traffic methods work, wouldn’t they use it themselves? Why is a company offering millions of hits to their visitors, when they are only getting 10-15 hits a day? They don’t use their own methods, because they know their hits are useless.

I fell victim to this scam, as have thousands of others. These companies give you a sales pitch something like this…

Suppose that you sell a product for $25 and that in a worst case scenario only 1% of your visitors purchase your product.

An average site gets less than 100 hits per day (3,000/month). Thus, approximately 30 people will purchase the product every month (1% of 3,000). That means you are taking in only $750 per month (30 x $25)

With our service: Suppose the site owner (you) purchases 100,000 visitors with our service. Using our assumption that only 1% of visitors will purchase the product, a total of 1,000 purchases will be made. That’s a value of$25,000! And that is if only 1% of visitors purchase the product! Think about the return on your investment!

If you’re like me, you got pretty excited when you read that. After all, there’s no conceivable way you can’t at least earn your investment back, right? WRONG!!

You give in, order their service, and at first, you get excited, because traffic is pouring in! Soon you realize that your money is earning you nothing. In fact it’s costing you your bandwidth, and not delivering any results!

Of course no company, no matter how credible they are, can guarantee you sales. That depends highly on your ad copy, price, and the demand of the item. I can guarantee though, that some of these company’s have thousands of clients, and not one of their clients has ever made a sale.

I bought my traffic… Now where are all my orders?

Now remember, worst case scenario is that 1% of your visitors will buy your product. Right? WRONG! If that’s the case, then where are your orders? These company’s place these ads right in your face when you visit their website. This way, your sold before you even see the price, and you’ll buy into their high prices.

Naturally you are going to believe that you’ll pay off your “investment” right away, and make a ton of extra money. After all, you spent hours writing that “perfect ad,” so you’re going to draw in a lot more than 1%.

I’ll let you in on a secret. No matter how good your ad is, it doesn’t do any good if it’s never read.

You sit there and watch traffic come flying in at hyperspeed. Then they fly out. You don’t make any sales. What do you do now? If you’re like me, you’re going to email them, complaining how you didn’t make any sales from their services. They’re going to tell you some variation of the following…

“I’m sorry you didn’t make any sales. If you read our terms, you would see that we can only guarantee that we send the traffic to you. The sales are your responsibility. We cannot guarantee sales, because we are not involved in the writing of the advertisement.”

This leaves them clean from delivering any refunds. Trust me, they won’t refund your money!

Starting to get suspicious? The truth is your traffic was delivered in a misleading way.

You were sent FAKE VISITORS, or GHOST VISITORS, as they are widely called online.

Have you been tracking your traffic?

Many people don’t realize that there are free scripts that you can install on your site to track detailed statistics about your traffic. I’m not talking about counters. Counters are inaccurate, plus they don’t tell you anything about your visitors.

If you actually monitor your traffic, you can learn lots of things about your visitors. Including the countries they’re from, their IP addresses, the time they came to your site, the time they left your site, the site’s they were referred from (google, yahoo, etc..), and the keywords they used to search for your site.

My statistics were shocking!

The traffic I ordered had no IP address, no search engine, none of my visitors navigated past the front page! I paid for these “Guarantee’d Real Visitors,” and I have the right to know where they come from. Guess what, I figured it out!

A few of the hits that they had sent, slipped up, and didn’t disguise their origin as well as they should have…

I kept seeing the same IP address over and over and over again about 900 times in one day. I thought somebody out there really must love my web site or it’s the scam hit company I hired. Well I clicked the link that night which was labeled with an IP address, not the actual web site .com name itself just the numbers of the IP address….I clicked that and wouldn’t you know it? I received just a site telling me it doesn’t exist.

With my campaign still running the next day along with all the “unknown” places I seen a peculiar url and had to click that to see where over 500 of the same people were coming from and I ended up in Pop Up hell! You know that hell don’t you? Where you are swarmed with so many pop ups that you literally have to pull the plug on your computer to get out of it? The sad part about that link is that all the Pop Ups were from PORNO sites!

It’s no wonder these companies don’t tell where they deliver their traffic from! After all, what ethical business wants to advertise on those disgusting adult sites?

So you want to know exactly how this all works?

After following the slipped up referral link, I was directed to a website where anyone can post their own free adult site. (If your going to try and follow these links yourself, I would suggest switching your browser to text only mode, as I did. Otherwise you’ll get flooded with pop-ups, and disgusting porno pictures.)

Now we have determined that my traffic was coming from this site, but I didn’t see my site at all…

I switched back to my traffic log, and hit refresh. I WAS STUNNED! At the top of my log, I had 12 hits to my site, all with my IP address!!! By viewing this site just once, I recieved 12 hits!!

I switched over to www.Alexa.com. Alexa is a site ranking service, that can tell you how popular a site is. This adult site that I was listed on was recieving 786,376 hits per day, on average during that week. Multiply that by 12, and that’s where all my traffic came from!

So now we know what site is generating the traffic, but how are they disguising the IP address. Why wasn’t my site ever shown on screen to me? The answer lies in the HTML source code…

Here are the secret codes!!

One of the tricks that these companies use is a the way they hide where your traffic is coming from. The way they do this is through a redirect code. A redirect code is simply a cade that webmasters use on their websites to take one website and send it another way.

The biggest trick is how they can mysteriously load your site multiple times, without you seeing it. They do this by embedding your site into theirs, and making it tiny. So tiny in fact, that it looks like a period. So instead of using periods at the end of their sentances, they just embed their clients sites sites to look like a period.

Try it for yourself

Open up your HTML editor, or notepad, and create a sample page using this code.

Now open it in your web browser. What you get is a small box in the left hand corner of your website. For this example, I made the code 5x larger than these companies do. So you can see how easily they disguise these sites. Inside that little square, is actually an entire website!!

So your thinking, they just embed my site into that little square, 10-15 times on the page, and that’s where my hits come from. Yes, and No. Essentially that’s how it works, but if they put your website into that square, you could easily trace the traffic back to the adult site. So what they do is put their redirect page into that square, and redirect it to your site, so now it looks like all the traffic is coming from them.

So let’s put it all together.

You order traffic from a traffic company.

The traffic company creates a free adult site and lists it into a directory of free adult sites. According to our alexa review these sites get 786,376 hits per day. If their redirect page gets 12 hits every time someone loads the adult site, that means they have an average of 9,436,512 hits per day, which they divide among their clients.

For some of the Monster Traffic Companies, 9.5 million visitors a day just isn’t enough. They can easily turn that 9.5 million visitors, into as many as they need. Instead of embedding the redirect page. They embed a page full of these periods. That way, when their “period farm” page loads, they can have as many sites load as they want.

They simply change the redirect page to whatever client they want the traffic sent to.

Your counter goes crazy, and all your hits are delivered.

You never make a sale. Now you can understand how you could have thousands of visitors sent your way, and never make a sale. Your site is never really displayed.

The traffic company has delivered exactly what they said they would, and are clear from any refunds.

Our Company, www.CadenzaWeb.com Provides You with REAL traffic, that you can track, and get detailed statistics on. Our Sales have quadrupled since we started using this ourselves. Check Out www.CadenzaWeb.com for more information.
Interested in becoming an ethical traffic reseller? We have a dedicated website just for resellers at wholesale rates as low as $1 CPM (per 1000). www.Sell-Traffic.com

Want to use this article on your site? Please do, just leave our name and link attached.

Mount Kenya is Africa’s second highest mountain, after Kilimanjaro. It is estimated to be 2.5 million years old, and Kilimanjaro at 750,00 years of age is really an upstart. Time has really taken its toll, and the peak is thought to have dropped from 6,500 m those millions of years ago to 5,199 m today. The mountain is an extinct volcano, whose plug forms what is today the peak area. The crater was long ago, done to death, by nature’s untiring erosion agents.

Mount Kenya is an awe-inspiring spectacle that dominates the central Kenyan highlands. It is perhaps understandable that the Kikuyu people who reside on its lower slopes thought it fit for Gods’ abode. And it inspires people in strange ways. In 1943, Felice Benuzzi, an Italian prisoner of war held at Nanyuki at the base of the mountain, and two companions, escaped and attempted to scale the summit. With just a few handmade climbing tools, he managed reach Point Lenana, the mountain’s third highest peak.

But Benuzzi was at least an accomplished mountaineer. In 1988, the Mount Kenya Rescue Team discovered and retrieved an elder of the Meru people way up at the chilly heights of Peak Nelion (5,188 m). Only experts, with proper equipment and guides reach Nelion. He appeared unaware of the feat he had accomplished and was perturbed by the fuss his rescuers raised. He explained his mission was “going to God”. He was kitted in a manner you will not see recommended in any guide book- in a single blanket and open sandals. The animals do weird things too: a few years ago, the frozen bodies of a leopard and colobus monkey were discovered at Nelion.

Mount Kenya is located 180 km to the north of Nairobi. The mountain falls within Mount Kenya National Park. The park is made up of a protected area above 3,200m altitude, together with two small salients reaching to 2,450 m along the Naro Moru and Sirimon trails. It was set up in 1949 and covers an area of 715 sq km. It is further surrounded by the Mount Kenya National Reserve, which extends over 2,075 sq km. The park has the distinction of being simultaneously a World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve.

The mountain is made up of three main zones: the rocky peak region, the afro-alpine moorland with its scattering of giant vegetation, and the extensive lower slopes covered in mountain forest and bamboo. The astonishing ecological diversity is one of the attractions of this giant. The ecological processes that have brought about the afro-alpine flora in particular intrigue scientists. There are 81 species of plants here that are found nowhere else in the world.

In the lower forest zone, there is plenty of wildlife including buffalo, elephant, sykes monkey and bushbuck. The animals are however generally difficult to see. Further up, the animals are even scarcer though hyena, leopard, buffalo and civet cats have been sighted. The only animal you are likely to see in the upper
alpine zones is the rock hyrax. Though it is the size of a domestic cat, it resembles a rat more. The seemingly humble rock hyrax has some powerful relatives in the animal kingdom and it counts the elephant as its biological kin.

The mountain attracts over 30,000 enthusiasts every year. Point Lenana (4,985 m), the so-called trekkers peak, can be reached by any reasonably fit and suitably prepared person. The summit has the twin peaks of Batian (5,199 m) and Nelion (5,188 m), and is accessible to only those with technical mountaineering and rock climbing experience. This mountain is not an easy one to conquer and each year not more than 100 climbers make it to the twin summit peaks. Mount Kenya is in fact considered to be more technically challenging than the higher Kilimanjaro (5,894 m). But those who make it to the top experience some of Africa’s finest rock and ice climbing.

The mountain has very many fans and especially fascinates technical climbers. The author and mountaineer, Rick Ridgeway - author of the Seven Summits, declares that of all the worlds’ mountains this is his favourite. Halford Mackinder planned and led the first expedition on record to reach the summit in 1899. But if the Meru elder mentioned above is anything to go by, the locals must have long ago been to the mountaintop. The Mackinder trip was a great success and his party discovered many species of animal and plant life then unknown in Europe. A new species of eagle owl, for example, was first recorded by this expedition and subsequently named after Mackinder.

Though Mount Kenya is practically on the equator, you will find snow and ice and even glaciers. However, in the one hundred years since Mackinder conquered the mountain, the number of glaciers has dropped from 18 to only 7 that remain today. The culprit for this is the global climate change that has accelerated in recent years. Scientists tell us that during the ice ages large glaciers reached below 3,000 m. Today the largest glacier is the Lewis Glacier at 4,600 m. The continuing retreat of glaciers is expected to have a negative impact on downstream eco-systems, not to mention the scenic appeal of the mountain.

Mount Kenya is the source of Tana River- Kenya’s biggest river- and was for many years seen as an inexhaustible water fountain. Not any more- the loss of glaciers and forest cover has brought this assumption into disrepute. The loss of forest cover is particularly worrying, because it is avoidable. How to save the forests of Mount Kenya has long engaged environmentalist Wangari Maathai-the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner. She was born on the lower slopes of the mountain and has in her lifetime witnessed the changes up at the mountain.

You can reach the peak area by taking one of three routes: Naro Moru, Sirimon and Chogoria. Good roads will get you form Nairobi to Naro Moru, Nanyuki and Chogoria - the base towns for each of the trails. There are alternative routes but most have fallen into disuse and you need superior navigation skills and stamina to attempt them. This includes: Burguret, Meru, Kamweti, and Timau. It is highly recommended that you stick to the three popular routes. But if you have a good reason for doing otherwise, or indeed for pioneering your own route, you are required to register with the park authorities.

The Naro Moru route approaches the mountain from the west and is easily the most popular. The trail is well serviced with rest huts and is the fastest way to the peaks. It is however the steepest and climbers vulnerable to AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) may experience difficulties. The hike will take 4 days, though you may opt for an additional day at the summit. You start with a fairly steep 5-hour walk from Park Gate to Met Station (3,050 m). This is where you spend the first night and acclimatize to the thinning mountain air.

The next day is the longest and you will walk, under varying terrain, for anywhere between 8 and 10 hours. You spend the night at Mackinders Camp (4,200 m), in the vicinity of the peak area. You really should have an early night on this day. Very early the next morning -2.00 a.m is the usual time- you set out to attempt Point Lenana. The mountain is generally clear in the morning and stormy in the afternoon- so, the idea is for you to ascend and descend the peak when you have good traction. This is the part of the hike where some experience symptoms of altitude related ailments.

It will take you about 5 hours to reach Lenana. Here you must take some photos, to show the folks back home how you fared at the top of God’s Mountain. Afterwards, you descend in 3 hours to Mackinders Camp for breakfast. Then ascending back to Teleki Valley via Camel Rocks, you reach Met Station in about 4 hours. The night rest is at Met Station, before the final descent to Park Gate.

The Sirimon route has its base at Nanyuki to the north of the mountain. The route offers easier climbing than the Naro Moru trail and is also more scenic. It normally takes 5 days up and down the mountain. You start with a 3-4 hours walk through rain forest to overnight at Old Moses camp (3,300 m). Next day after breakfast you hike through the moorland and the Liki and Mackinder valleys. You reach Shipton’s camp (4,200 m) after a 6-7 hour hike. You spend the night here before setting out very early the next morning to attempt Point Lenana.

The Chogoria route begins at the town of the same name to the west of the mountain. This is the by far most beautiful and scenic of the popular routes. You will enjoy dramatic views of waterfalls, valleys, tarns and rugged rock formations. But the trail is not so popular because it is also the longest and therefore toughest. It will take you 6 days to ascend and descend the mountain. There are no usable service huts along the route and you must carry a tent along. Whichever route you use, you can prolong your enjoyment of these heights by taking a day to do the Summit Circuit Path.

It is important that you take enough water - about 4 to 6 litres daily- to keep dehydration at bay. Dehydration makes you more vulnerable to altitude sickness and hypothermia. Hypothermia is lowering of body temperature and symptoms include clumsiness and disorientation. Victims of the condition need to be quickly provided with a warm and dry environment. At heights above 3,000 m, oxygen levels reduce and altitude sickness stalks the trekker. That is why a fast climb is not advised, as you have no opportunity to acclimatize. The symptoms for Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) are nausea, headache, fatigue and general malaise. You should always descend to lower altitude with the onset of symptoms.

Other more severe medical conditions that can arise are High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE) and High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE). The coming of HAPE is betrayed by a dry cough and difficulty in breathing. HACE is marked by slurred speech, severe headache and disoriented behaviour. HACE and HAPE are both potentially fatal and you should always descend to lower altitude and seek treatment. To reduce chances of mountain sickness, it is advisable to acclimatize by spending an extra night near Park Gate or at the mountain huts above 4,000 m. If you temper your zeal for the peaks and take a slow sensible hike you will enjoy the adventure and will be all right.

You will generally need a guide and porters so that you can concentrate on the hike. Always go for those who have high altitude experience and are accredited by the park authorities. They will know the routes, and a good one is worth his weight in gold, in event of sickness and other contingencies. The porters shoulder the heavy stuff while you carry a daypack with essentials such warm clothing, fire making capability, some food and drinks, a flashlight and first aid kit.

The stuff you must bring along includes: warm clothing, waterproof hiking boots, rain suit, sleeping bags, flashlights, sunglasses and hand gloves. Many climbers find it expedient to buy a Mount Kenya climbing package in order to take advantage of those with local knowledge. Such a package will include transport, accommodation in the mountain huts, meals while on the climb, park entry fees, services of an experienced mountain guide and porters and cooks.

The main rainy season in the Mount Kenya region falls from late March to June, with secondary rains appearing from late October to December. You can climb the mountain at any time of year but the most comfortable climb is achieved in the dry months of January and February and from July to October.

After your climb, you can relax at some of the excellent hotels and resorts in the Mount Kenya area. Before you leave the country, take to heart the sentiments of the Italian climber Carlo Spinelli, who said: “I consider myself a nature lover more than a mountaineer, and for this reason Kenya has the best of both mountain and wilderness”. Take time to see wildlife on a Kenya safari in this region or in other parts of the country.

Andrew Muigai is the editor of AfricaPoint Insider online newsletter. It is part of AfricaPoint.com - the Africa travel website that has helped thousands of travelers discover Africa. You can view more info on Kenya safari and tours at the website.

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There’s been about two metres of snowfall in the week. The snow was so heavy that ski lifts have been shut, the train has been finishing at the train station in Chamonix and not traveling onwards to Monroc. Roads were shut past our Chamonix chalet and weather announcements released.

This is in direct contrast to two winter seasons past, when we experienced the unusually warm Jan weather conditions, mud showing on the mountainsides, and warnings that global warming would mean the end of snowboarding in the Alps. The OECDs study from winter 2005 warned that global warming could make snowboarding too pricey for many snowboarders, with a third of ski domains becoming insolvent and the disappearance of alpine glaciers. Scientists assert that it’s inconceivable to attribute these seasonal deviations in the weather patterns to the outcomes of climate change.

We might be experiencing the longest downturn in almost 25 years, and the Sterling has headed to record levels compared to the euro, however the skiing is exceptional, and the last reservations prove that snowboarders are enthusiastic to revel in the fantastic snow conditions. This season is undoubtedly the best in nine winter seasons, and lots of skiers are saying that it is the best skiing snow in ten winter seasons.

However remember that lots of snow like this means high avalanches risks.

As with any textile product - be it clothing, upholstery, or bedroom furnishings - quality of a crib bedding collection is most often defined by the fabrics used in constructing the quilts, bumpers, and other articles that comprise the crib set. Unfortunately, little information is provided to consumers regarding the quality of fabrics used in the hundreds of crib bedding collections that are available. There are a few relatively simple characteristics that a consumer can consider when comparing competing products.

Woven versus Printed Patterns

Many simple fabric patterns - such as ginghams, stripes, and plaids - can be either woven or printed. Although the difference may not be readily evident at first glance, they are important.

Woven fabrics start with differently colored threads which are then woven together to achieve the desired pattern. The colors and pattern become an integral part of the fabric itself. A woven fabric is easily identified by noting that the pattern appears on both sides of the fabric.

Printed fabrics start with a solid colored (usually white or natural) material upon which the desired pattern is imprinted using a variety of inks and printing techniques. A printed fabric is easily identified by noting that the pattern appears on only one side of the fabric.

Patterned fabrics that are woven are almost universally superior to those that are printed. They are far more resistant to fading from repeated washings. The pattern, being an integral part of the fabric itself, will not wear off as compared to a superficial pattern that is printed on the surface of the fabric. The durability of a printed pattern is very much dependent on the amount of ink and precise technique used to imprint the pattern, both of which are very difficult to discern from simply looking at the fabric. But we all can surely recall the look that results as the pattern on a printed fabric wears off unevenly.

Of course, complex, nonlinear patterns cannot generally be woven. But a manufacturer who chooses to use printed fabrics for simple patterns is sacrificing quality in favor of cost. This is not to say that a printed pattern should be avoided. But the higher price of a crib bedding set made with a true woven gingham or striped fabric is usually more than justified by the higher quality.

Embroidered versus Printed Designs on Fabrics

Manufacturers have become increasingly creative in incorporating complex designs into their crib bedding to communicate a desired theme. These designs can be either embroidered into the fabric or printed onto it.

Embroidered designs use separate threads to sew the design into the fabric, oftentimes using the embroidery in combination with different colored and textured fabrics to achieve stunningly beautiful designs. While the techniques for achieving these embroidered designs have improved dramatically over the years to make them more cost-effective, it is still far more costly to embroider a design than it is to simply print it on the surface of the fabric. Not only are embroidered designs generally far more beautiful, they are also much more durable.

Again, not that printed designs need be avoided at all costs. But the consumer should be aware of the quality differences before choosing a crib set with printed designs over a more costly set with embroidered designs.

Patchwork - Real or Printed

A patchwork appearance is frequently seen in crib bedding quilts or comforters. Generally this effect is achieved by using different fabrics that are sewn together into the desired patchwork. In an effort to reduce cost, some “patchwork” bedding is really one piece of fabric with a “patchwork” design printed on it - the piece is then sewn over at the borders of the different patterns to achieve a patchwork appearance.

True patchwork is far superior to printed patchwork designs and is always more expensive. True patchwork shows different textures as well as different colors and patterns.

Premium Fabrics versus Standard Grade Fabrics

There are many factors that must be considered in determining whether a fabric is premium-grade or not. While the differences may not be apparent at first glance, they can be very important for long-term durability and overall appearance. Just some of the factors to consider are as follows:

Thread count - Thread count measures the number of threads per inch. The higher the thread count, the softer and more durable is the fabric. Higher thread count fabrics are more costly to make.

Pre-Washed - Pre-washed fabrics are washed and dried before being incorporated into a piece, thereby minimizing subsequent shrinkage and color loss. Pre-washed fabrics are more costly to make.

Brushed - Brushed fabrics are “sanded” before being incorporated into a piece to achieve a very soft feel to the fabric. Printed fabrics cannot generally be brushed, as the process would wear away some of the printed pattern.

Price versus Value

Unfortunately, some crib bedding manufacturers are increasingly choosing to move towards lower quality fabrics to decrease their costs without passing all of these savings on to the consumer. Consumers must be very alert to discover these differences. It can mean the difference between a crib bedding collection that will last for one baby, or one that will last for generations.

Robert Meier is President of Baby Supermall, an internet retailer of Crib Bedding, Baby Bedding Sets, and Baby Nursery Decor.