September 24
Since I didn't want to miss
today's departure from the camp I had asked Jim to wake me up properly,
preferably not by pouring a bucket of water on me but by something more
civilized, like kicking my feet. So it came that I woke up thinking that I am
back in California, in the middle of a Richter 9 earthquake: Jim didn't kick me
but the bed, with vigor - and it worked. For a second I looked for a flashlight
until I realized that it's bright and that I am still in the Serengeti.
Packing was quite simple: open bag, aim, throw, squeeze, close. I still had some
unfinished photography business so I didn't want to pack my photo bag quite yet,
and everything else is quite throw-able. With bags packed and lined up for
departure we enjoyed one last breakfast in Tanzania, full of SUGAR jokes and
group pictures. We paid our honor code based bar bill and headed for the
airport. While Derek failed to earn himself $100, he did deliver the last
planned shot - zebras in tall grass. The fact that the picture sucks more than a
warehouse full of Hoovers has to do with my technical abilities and lack of
preparedness. But we got to see them.
We arrived at the air strip just as our airplane was approaching. Before landing
the pilot had to scare off the vultures that were camping on the runway, as
that's exactly where a poor antelope met the cheetah that didn't want to show.
The ranger dragged the leftovers off the runway, the plane was unloaded of
supplies for the camp, and we said our goodbyes. The plane was the nicest small
plane I've ever been on, not that I have really all that much experience. While
Valerie was fighting to keep her breakfast to herself most of us enjoyed the
views of the landscape below, including of the Oldoino Lengai volcano that had
erupted just earlier this year.
Click on the first image
to start a slide show for this day (68 pictures)
Images shown below are a small selection.
In slide show, click on image to return to index.
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We landed softly at Arusha's
small airport, quite a difference to KLM's controlled crash ten days ago. The
Ladies went straight to the Departure Lounge as they were heading on to
Mafia
Island; the rest of us went on to the local Culture Center, which is a nice name
for shopping center / tourist trap. It's of no real relevance what people were
buying, but I shall mention the how: I ran into Graham at the checkout, just as
he was trying to pay for something rather expensive. His (only) credit card was
denied, even though it had just worked minutes ago. No problem, I offered my
credit card. It was denied as well, surprisingly, since mine worked minutes ago
as well. No problem, let's try my Amex. That one was neither denied nor approved
- we got stuck in the approval process. At that point we were holding up our
entire group, and so Graham decided that it simply wasn't meant to happen. To
this the shop owner said: "You are with Thomson Safari? Here, keep it, and when
you get back to the US then call your credit card company and make sure it gets
approved." We were both quite speechless - there still seems to be a place where
reputation and trust works. And make no mistake, Graham was buying something
very nice.
With that story to share we went to the local lodge for lunch. It was buffet
style everything, very fine food, ranging from soup to - you guessed - beef.
Mmmm, beef! Just don't overdo it, since the next ... ah, 36 hours will be spent
on airplanes and at the airport. From lunch we rode to the pre-departure lodge
where we could freshen up and pack before departing. On that drive through
Arusha we got to see more of this city and marvel at the many
instances of Engrish as well as other
cultural oddities.
Our day camp featured a room with everything that belonged there,
including air conditioning - something we haven't seen in two weeks. It just
would have been nice if the shower came with towels; one hour, three calls and
one walk to the reception later and we were proud owners of towels and stormed
the shower. With the laptop and iPod batteries charged we had a quick dinner and
headed to the airport.
The security at Arusha is in a way even more obnoxious than at US airports. I
don't necessarily mean better or worse - just more obnoxious. I think that you
are more likely to bring a gun / bomb / Coke on board in any US city than here,
but they do rub it in. And they weigh the carry-on luggage, which carries a
strict 20 lbs limit. Fortunately, my photo bag was not weighed, but I was
prepared to ingest most of it into my dorky photo vest, just as Andy did when
his bag hit the scales. And the paperwork to enter and leave the country
definitely helps employing tons of people - which means more here since people
are lighter.
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We boarded the plane in a
very chaotic fashion on two stairs and joined those passengers continuing the
flight to Dar Es Salaam. The friendly folks sitting next to me were also
returning from a safari, they were even on the same flight to Arusha as I was;
what a small world. But I didn't talk too much to them as I knocked myself out
and woke up just before landing in Amsterdam.
In Amsterdam we had breakfast in two groups at different locations, after which
we split up - Andy and I catching our respective flights pretty much right away,
and the rest enjoying the rest of their layover at the internet cafe. Our flight
to SFO was delayed for half an hour because a wrong bag was on the plane, and we
sure didn't want that for security reasons. The real kicker was however my
neighbor: a young Polish woman, sitting in the middle seat, traveling with her
husband, sitting in the middle seat behind her. I selfishly denied her request
to switch seats with her husband because this time I needed to walk around more
than ever before, and with my action guaranteed myself a lot of entertainment.
Passive entertainment, as I put on my headphones and turned on the iPod for the
entire duration of the flight; the entertainment was in the form of the woman
getting progressively drunk and flirting with the stranger sitting in the window
seat, her husband watching in disbelief from behind. Good stuff. The humor was
twice interrupted when she spilled her wine onto herself and I tried to save my
Powerbook from making a trip to Donna's. But overall, thirteen hours of
uninterrupted fun. Good thing I had four laptop batteries with me, too, as that
way I finally managed to go through all my pictures and weed out all the awful
ones - as in, most of them.