Day 16: Heading Home

We are allowed to sleep in a bit today since we are heading straight to the airport. I take a sponge bath when the hot water arrives, then dress and wander around the camp until breakfast. There are two marabou storks wandering around camp and a little orange bird I have not seen before.  I snap some shots of the weaver bird tree with all the nests.  We were told a male bird builds multiple nests in one tree then the female will lay eggs in only one.  This fools the predators who give up after checking a few nests thinking the tree to be abandoned. 

After breakfast, we pile into the land rover and head to the airport.  We encounter much of the same game on the way that has been common on all the drives.  We stop at a service station near the airport for gas.  It is a full service place with guys pumping gas and fixing flat tires.  They even have a service bay with a pit for mechanical work under the truck.  We take advantage of the restrooms so we don't have to worry about becoming a meal while we pee.  Then we arrive at the Serengeti airport about 45 minutes before the scheduled flight time.  The terminal is a small open air chickee hut with a ticket counter and a gift shop.  It is surprisingly crowded with about 100 people awaiting flights.  Our plane seats 14 people including the pilot.  The pilot is a young lady of about 25 years.  We load our bags and climb aboard.

We taxi down to one end of the dirt runway, make a quick turn and begin our takeoff.  Once airborne we have a spectacular view of the vast openness of the Serengeti.  Its broad brown expanse goes on forever it seems.  Soon enough we are so high it is hard to see the details.  Towards the end of the 1 hour flight, we see Ngorogoro crater on one side of the aircraft and Kilimanjaro on the other.  We snap pictures as best we can, but the aircraft windows are dirty so the quality of the photos is low.

We land in Arusha and are met by Kaseem the Thomson driver I had at the very beginning.  I say hello, but he does not recognize me, so I let it go.  He drives us to the cultural heritage center.  Again it is over priced and I know this for sure now, but I pick up a few things anyway since it may be my last chance.  I prefer to see the proceeds go directly to the artists, but I am forced by circumstance to patronize this place. As we are getting in the truck, Kaseem takes the first good look at me and recognition blossoms as a big smile across his face.  He says: "Hey I know you".  He did not place me with this crew as I was with Lisa, Mike and June before. 

After shopping, Kaseem takes us to lunch.  It is a much better establishment since it creates jobs for handicapped Africans and teaches them skills like glass blowing, mosaic art and others.  It provides jobs in the restaurants for those that are capable.  The artists use a lot of recycled materials like broken soda bottles to make the art.  Thomson, you got this one right.  I would rather spend much more time here shopping and meeting the artists than the other place.  Here is Hillary having lunch.

After lunch Kaseem drop Joe and Hillary off at the Mount Meru hotel.  They are staying the night and I am leaving this evening so Thomson put us in different hotels. I give them business cards an they promise to stay in touch.  Then we are off to my hotel.

I have a day room in a gorgeous hotel called River Trees.  When I arrive, I repack all my luggage since I got my checked bag back from Kaseem.  I cram everything I can into my suitcase and lighten my backpack for the trip home.  I keep mostly my electronics and souvenirs with me.  Next I take a long hot shower.  You really learn to appreciate showers when they become few and far between.  I did through my luggage for some "cleaner" clothes for the flight home.  By this point, even the clothes that have not been worn much are covered in dust and have the body smell from being packed with the ones more "seasoned" by the repeated wearing and lack of showers.  I would not want to be sitting next to me on the plane.  then I realize, most people on the first flight at least will be in the same situation.  Anyway, I don't care much what anyone thinks, I just climbed to the roof of Africa and these smells are my badges of honor, heh heh heh. In reality, I find clothes that are reasonably fresh and put them on.

Once I am cleaner, I wander around the grounds and down to the river.  It is a beautiful place. I realize it is late enough to contact Trish so I head to the restaurant for a drink and some wifi.  The wifi is on the fritz at the restaurant so I have to walk about 150 yards to the office to gain access to civilization.  Of course once I gain access Trish says she is off to a meeting...figures.  So I go back to the restaurant and have a late lunch/ early dinner to kill time.  After an hour or so, I head back to the office and contact Trish.  She is available so I call and talk for a few minutes.  I am so looking forward to getting home now that i have started the process.  The downside is i wont actually be there until tomorrow night.  I go to the airport at 6 pm, the flight leaves at 8:20 and is ten hours long.  I will land in Amsterdam at 7 am and layover until 11.  The flight from Amsterdam to Boston is 8 hours and I land at 1 pm.  The flights from there are to Atlanta then Fort Myers landing at 9 pm.  I calculate the total trip will take about 32 hours.  Wow, I am a long way from home.   

The cell service in Africa is none too good and my call with Trish is dropped twice.  We finally give up and say goodbye until I get back in the US. I grab my gear and find Kaseem to start the long journey home. I am blessed with a final view of Kilimanjaro on the drive to the airport.  It is hard to believe that one week earlier I was on top of this monster.

He drives me toKilimanjaro Airport and amazingly there is a sky priority line.  the young man is very helpful and checks my bag through to Fort Myers.  I did not expect his since I booked the transatlantic leg through Delta and the other leg through KLM.  I have to go through departure customs and then into a waiting area.  We board in a hour or so and head to Dar es Salaam then Amsterdam.

I sleep better than I expect on the flight and arrive in Amsterdam feeling pretty good for an overnight flight.  I do a little shopping in duty free and spend a few hours in the sky lounge for coffee and brushing my teeth.  When it is time, I head to the gate.  Amsterdam has security set up at each gate.  I get into the quick sky priority line and think it will be a breeze.  However, the security people start freaking out over my backpack.  I am unsure why and tell them they are free to open it if they want.  the pull me back out of the gate into a secure area and make me open it.  I had pulled out iPad so I am not sure what all the fuss is about.  Then as I empty my bag, I see the solar charger, yikes, I probably should have pulled it our and placed it in a bin.  They all look very relieved to see it.  One of the guards confided in me they thought it was a bomb.  So lesson learned, when traveling with a solar charger, pull it out of the bag and set it in a tray.  Those scanners see it as something unfriendly and it worries a lot of people if you don't.

I was in first class from Amsterdam to Boston since I booked it with frequent flyer miles. I managed to sleep some and caught up on the blog.  I am tiring of the journey and am ready to be home.  Landing on US soil felt good even though they routed me through the more strict customs due to the wooden carvings.  Once they looked at a few, they let me pass.  They also checked my shoes for dirt in case I was bringing back some weird diseases on my feet.  Once I was through customs, I rechecked my bag and headed to the terminal.  This time I pulled the solar charger out and put it in a tray.  I went right through security that way with no issues.  

I sat in the sky lounge and posted a few more days of the blog.  I have been getting emails and texts from people saying I should post more frequently.  I usually replied that the elephants would not give me access to their network or something similar.  

Since my journey is complete, I am going to end the blog.  Before I do though, I will post a few more times with some interesting thoughts and photos I have not shared yet.  Thanks for staying with me.  This adventure has been a life changing experience.  I hope I have inspired some of you to make your own grand adventure or similar journey.  

Regards,

Scott

Day 15: Serengeti game drive

One of the crew wakes me with a loud "good morning" as he delivers a pitcher of boiling water for washing.  You mix it in your sink with one of the pitchers and have a nice warm sponge bath before breakfast.  As usual, Joe and I are eating alone joined by Phanuel just before time to leave.  Clint rolls in as usual 5 minutes before we leave and never in time to eat.  Phanuel  explains we are to pack a lunch from a table set out for us. I pack mine and Clint packs two for him and his father.  We then pile into the land rover and head into the wild.

The first animal we see is a warthog.  We declared it our lucky animal after Joe bought two carvings of them at the shack a couple of days back.  It is a magical creature per the Harry Potter series (Hogwarts...ok I know its a stretch but we find it funny and just go with it) and we embrace the ugly creature as our own.  I find it very odd how they run with their tails straight up in the air.

Our next animal encounter is a group of hippos.  July is the dry season and this means the hippos get concentrated into small pools with lots of other hippos.  The result is rather malodorous.  As you can see in the photos below there is almost as much hippo dung as hippos in the pools.  They did not seem to mind, but it put me off hippos a bit.  

There was also a crocodile lazing in the sun near the hippos.

On the way out of the hippo pool, we saw a marabou stork and the elusive dikdik.  Dikdiks are very tiny antelope and skittish little guys.  He ran off once we stopped to take pictures.  I did manage to get one decent shot. 

You almost get used to passing giraffe grazing in the trees regularly.  Oh and there's another herd of zebra or cape buffalo meandering along side the road. The impala are numerous in the park.  The curve of the horns and sleek brown body give the male impala a majestic look.  I am beginning to like them better than the little tommies.

We come across two giraffe right along the road.  They are so big up close.  They must be close to 20 feet tall.  the elegant walk of the giraffe is amazing.  Its lope is unique and quite lovely to watch.  

We also encounter more herds of elephant wandering and munching on grass very close to the road. These creatures too are so large but are very quiet when they walk.  The elephant population in the Serengeti seems to be healthy based on the size and number of herds we saw.  I am glad to know the anti poaching enforcement is working.  Tanzania is such a wondrous place, it should be preserved for future generations.

As the day progresses we see our second leopard.  It is rare to see them so we feel lucky and stake out a good viewing spot.  We watch it sleep for a while and occasionally lift its head and reposition.  Just as we are ready to leave, Phanuel says, "she is about to move to a higher branch".  How he knew this we don't know, but the patience paid off as we got some great shots of her moving up to a higher branch.

We drive for a bit then encounter a pair of lions, one male and one female.  Phanuel says they are on their honeymoon.  We observe them for a while then leave them in peace to mate every 15 minutes like clockwork.  Phanuel says this will go on for days.

We come across two cheetahs near a river.  They are not hunting but are running around playing.  They eventually fade into the tall grass and are gone.

We stop under a shade tree to eat our lunch.  Since there are not many restrooms in the African savanna, when you need to go, you just stop on the side of the road.  This practice does not bother most men.  However, in the back of your mind you remember how well the lions blend in with the color of the grass and how stealthy they are.  You keep a keen eye out as you go quickly then hop back in the truck to safety.  As we continue our drive we encounter a new species of antelope called a tora or topa (sorry I can't remember).  We see numerous species of bird near the water sources.  There are big red and black lizards near the copes but no big game. 

We see a few tiny steelbuck antelope.  They ignore us unlike the dikdiks of similar size.  

We encounter more tommies along the road.  The Thomson gazelle seems to be doing well.  Then we see there is a lioness stalking a herd of tommies.  This is our first chance to see a hunt.  See comes along side the truck so close you could touch her.  She patiently worked her way to the downwind side of the herd. She crouches and stalks up to about 100 feet.  The tommies are in the tall grass and that gives the lioness cover to get close.  The all of a sudden, one of the does spots her and takes off.  She lunges but is too late the antelope are fast and she will stay hungry until next time.  It was exciting to watch.

We see some hippos out of the water sunning themselves.  There is also a pair of young ones play fighting in the pool.  They were far away but I managed to get an ok picture of the mock joust.

We are all tired and start head back to camp in the early afternoon.  We still enjoy herds of elephant, zebra and gazelle and we make our way home.  We encounter a troop of baboons close to camp and get some decent shots of them.  My favorite has a warthog running past two baboons with that tail straight up!  It seems fitting to start and end the game drive with the lucky magical warthog.

We enjoy our last night in the Serengeti with a beautiful sunset and drinks by the campfire.  A new family from LA arrive in the camp but keep pretty much to themselves. We have a nice dinner then head off to bed for the last time here.  We are all very aware of the short amount of time remaining in this peaceful and beautiful landscape.     

Day 14: Driving to Serengeti

For the first time on this entire adventure, I wake to my alarm which is set ten minutes before coffee should arrive.  A guy could get used to a warm comfy bed and being on holiday!  Coffee arrives with the wake up call as promised.  I have a long hot shower and head down to breakfast.  No one is there yet, but Joe turns up soon. We sit in the dining room alone enjoying the peace and quiet and a little subdued conversation.  Then the waiter comes in and dims the light.  Joe and I look at each other and laugh.  He says: "I think this guy has the wrong idea about us".  He jovially insists the waiter return the lights to their normal luminescence.  Joe is from Chicago and is is about as far from gay as you can get, but he takes the whole situation with a smile and a good laugh.  Later after telling him this tale, Clint will insist he was always late for breakfast to give us "some private time".

Phanuel is ready promptly at 8:00.  He says we are going to be in the car for 7-8 hours today.  It will take 4 or more hours to reach the Serengeti and then we will have a short game drive before heading to the Nyumba camp. We drive through the Ngorogoro gate, but stick to the crater rim.  As we descend the far side, we drive for another hour and reach Oldupai Gorge museum and gift shop.  

You know it as Olduvai Gorge the site where Louis and Mary Leaky found a two and a half million year old hominid fossil and named it Lucy after the Beatles song.  It is also known for the ancient bipedal hominid footprints preserved in volcanic ash dated back about 3.5 million years.  Apparently the name was mispronounced by a German in the 1800's and it stuck in western reference.  The Africans though, correct the error in their presentation on the region.  When we were walking in the museum, Hillary managed to find a picture of herself and Chelsea when they last visited the site with President Clinton.  I should have snapped a picture, but instead just laughed about the coincidence. 

We drive a couple of more hours until we reach the Serengeti Park gate.  We then drive about a half hour more to our predetermined lunch location and the registration location.  There are maybe 30 other land rovers there too.  There are picnic tables and a couple of shops for food, drinks and souvenirs.  There is also a hiking trail to the top of this big rock.  From the top you can see just how remote we are.  The Serengeti stretches on for miles in every direction.  The sparse landscape is dotted with the occasional tree and rock outcropping.  You really get the feeling you are in deep the wilds of Africa. We hike back down and drive deeper into the Serengeti.

Before long we come across a pride of lions.  They are resting in the shade of a tree.  then we get the real safari experience.  Whenever you stop, 5 to 15 other vehicles see and rush over to see what you are looking at.  Then the drivers start to jostle for position to get the best camera angles for their patrons.  It is really quite comical and often is a huge cluster where you are stuck in one spot for 30 minutes waiting for everyone to move so you can get your vehicle back on the move looking for other game.

As the game drive progresses we come across a herd of a dozen elephants crossing the road directly in front of us.  I got a great shot of the matriarch of the herd with her two babies.  One of the babies is eating and it is so adorable.

A little later we find a leopard in a tree.  It is sleeping and we really cannont get a good angle for pictures.  throughout the afternoon we see zebra, warthogs, elephant, gazelle, giraffe, hippo and ostrich, but no rhino.  As we start to head back to camp, we come across two cheetah in the bush.  We get some good shots of them and are happy to end the game drive on a high note.

When we arrive at the Nyumba camp, we are greeted with hot towels and juice.  There are 4 workers stationed there plus two guards that patrol the grounds at night.  We are advised to stay in our tents after 10.  The tents are more like houses with canvas and screen walls.  It is a bedroom and a bathroom complete with two sinks, a shower and a pump flush toilet.  Ahhh, the luxury compared to the mountain.  There is no running water, but two pitchers by the sinks.  If you want a shower, you have to ask them to fill up your tank.  Then when showering, you need to ration the water by getting wet and turning it off.  You then lather up and shampoo, only then can you turn the water back on and rinse off.  You will run out of water if you do not ration it as suggested.

We opt for drinks by the fire before dinner.  We are joined by grandparents and their preteen grandson and granddaughter.  They are from California and seem very nice.  We trade safari encounter stories for a while then are summoned to dinner.  Dinner is held in a permanent structure similar to a chickee hut in Florida.  It has open walls and a thatched roof.  Phanuel joined us for the reasonably good dinner and gave us a briefing of what to expect the next day: A full day's game drive in the Serengeti.  The night was cloudy as I headed for my tent.  It is so dark out that I needed my headlamp to find the way.  It is also so peaceful that you drift off to sleep almost instantly as your head hits the pillow.