<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Most often you don\u2019t even feel it when the bug bites. You didn\u2019t know it was coming, you never even knew it was there, and you only realise you\u2019ve been bitten when you\u2019re already somewhere you had never dreamed you would ever be.<\/p>\n
Lance Abramson realised how fully he had been bitten on a Shabbos walk one day, after a nice kosher lunch, revelling in G-ds world and enjoying just being. On mount Kilimanjaro, that is, the highest mountain in Africa. How did he get there?<\/p>\n
Lance had heard a presentation at his workplace on climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, and he was so taken with it that he felt the germ of an idea growing. The more he listened to the talk, the more he realised that, as a kosher and shomer-Shabbos Jew, it would not be so simple. The idea grew, however, and Lance spent the following months putting together a trip \u2013 creating contacts and planning menus, working out climb schedules to fit in with Shabbos, and finding like-minded people to join him.<\/p>\n
\u201cSixteen of us made our way to Kilimanjaro, and the climb was amazing. Shabbos on the mountain was spectacular, we made an eruv around the campsite and another so we could hike on Shabbos, the food and supplies were all brought in for us from South Africa. Summit night was breath-taking. There we were, in temperatures of around -20 degrees, breathing with difficulty, disconnected from the world and alone with the beauty of nature, in a space where we could just be.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Lance began the process of organising the Kilimanjaro climb, he had \u201cno idea of where it was going to go\u201d and, on his return, was left \u201cblown away by the experience\u201d. He says, \u201cThere was no question that we had to go somewhere else next.\u201d And so, Lance\u2019s unofficial kosher adventure travel group was born. Being kosher doesn\u2019t have to close you off from the world, Lance believes, and travelling the world doesn\u2019t have to impinge on your Shabbos observance. \u201cIt takes more effort to arrange a kosher trip, sure, but it can be done, the world can still be your oyster.\u201d Even one of the members of the group who didn\u2019t keep kosher was amazed at how \u2018easy\u2019 it was to be able to experience Kilimanjaro in a kosher way.<\/p>\n
And it was this that sold Dr Ivan Esra, who found himself bitten by the adventure travel bug when he bumped into Lance at the gym. Lance mentioned that he was organising the second of his trips, a hike in the Himalayan Mountain Range in Nepal to Mount Everest Base Camp. \u201cMy initial response was that I was not really interested, even though I would love to see Mount Everest, but I gave him my e-mail details anyway. When I opened his e-mail later that day, I just knew that this was a trip I would enjoy and so I signed up for what would be one of life’s great adventures.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having travelled rather extensively before, such an adventurous, extreme trip was beyond anything Dr Esra had previously experienced, and his prior travels involved \u201cextensive organisation\u201d for kosher food. So the idea of being able to participate in a hike to Everest Base Camp and having kosher food arranged was a \u201chuge positive deciding factor\u201d. Even though extreme travel and more offbeat parts of the world are not closed off to kosher travellers, says Brad Shorkend, \u201cit was near impossible to get catered for in terms of the eating requirements\u2026 one would have probably needed to do it all for oneself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brad was bitten by the bug after breaking his back riding a motor bike in 2000, and climbing mountains was the motivator to get him up and strong and able again. Like Dr Esra, Brad also participated on the Everest Base Camp trip as well as the next one, which went to Peru, hiking in the Andes Mountains along the Salkanty trail and ending in\u00a0Machu Picchu. He says that the willingness of select travel and adventure operators to meet the kosher requirements as well as the commitment of kosher travellers has now enabled people to embark on these journeys without the hassle of the catering logistic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis makes these trips much more enjoyable as one can now focus on the actual adventure aspect while having the kosher stuff managed by very capable support teams,\u201d says Brad. That said, Lance admits that he invested a \u201cmassive amount of time teaching the travel operators what the requirements were for the kosher component of the Everest trip\u201d. The mobile kitchen, the food, lighting of the fire, and the eruv were all part of this education process, but it was a meaningful exercise, he says, because once in Nepal it was \u201ca seamless kosher\u201d experience.<\/p>\n
The hike in Peru was a little easier in terms of Shabbos and kosher, says Lance, as there is a Chabad in the city of Cusco that assisted with the kosher food, utensils, equipment, and even a mashgiach accompanied them throughout the trip. In far-flung locations, all the kosher travellers agree that Chabad is instrumental in making these trips happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrips like these allow people to see the beauty of the earth. There are very few, if any, sights which are more magnificent than seeing the beauty and splendour of Mount Everest, the incredible height of the mountain, along with the opportunity to recite the blessing, giving thanks for\u00a0the opportunity to see one of the earth\u2019s seven natural wonders,\u201d says Dr Esra. \u201cThe group gathering together to recite Kabbalat Shabbat in isolated camps high on the mountain, with no electricity, was a truly spiritual experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
And in-between these daring international mountain hikes, the group makes sure to experience the beauty and wonder that is \u201cright on our doorstep\u201d, says Lance \u2013 the Otter Trail, Kruger Park walks, and of course, many a Sunday training hike, as well as time spent on the \u201cunforgiving\u201d Westcliff Stairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that everyone should put on their bucket lists to visit places that take them out of their comfort zones. This is where real growth happens, and also awesome surprises that one can never begin to imagine,\u201d says Brad. And since Lance started this unofficial kosher travel group, there is no stopping them from making these exciting and offbeat experiences their new comfort zones.<\/p>\n
Future trips include hiking the Fish River Canyon in Namibia in August next year, and next on the radar is a trip to hike around Mont Blanc Mountain in the Alps Mountain Range. The world is indeed an oyster for those who join Lance on these adventure trips around the world \u2013 but it is a kosher and shomer-Shabbos one, you can be sure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bitten by the travel bug By Chandrea Serebro Most often you don\u2019t even feel it when the bug bites. You didn\u2019t know it was coming, you never even knew it was there, and you only realise you\u2019ve been bitten when you\u2019re already somewhere you had never dreamed you would ever be. Lance Abramson realised how fully he had been bitten on a Shabbos walk one day, after a nice kosher lunch, revelling in G-ds world and enjoying just being. On mount Kilimanjaro, that is, the highest mountain in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":922,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-november-2017"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=927"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":928,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927\/revisions\/928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}