Tuesday, October 14, 2014 - Amsterdam to JFK to Ft Lauderdale - Day 20

We both woke up about 1.5 hours out of Amsterdam.  We had the express breakfast.  We landed in Amsterdam about 8 am and went to the business class lounge and caught up on email.

We headed to the next flight to NYC – loaded up and left on time.  It was raining in Amsterdam when we took off.  Tim watched movies as we crossed the Atlantic and I watched documentaries and took a long nap.  Good meals and nice Delta flight to JFK.

We arrived in JFK on time and went through immigration and customs in record time.  There was no one there.  No mention that we had been to Africa and the current ebola issues.  We went to the large Delta lounge and relaxed for a couple of hours.  Then we took the shuttle to the other Delta terminal for our flight to Ft Lauderdale.  We got there early so we went to the other Delta club lounge and relaxed there until the flight loaded.

Left NYC on time – arrived in Ft Lauderdale 3 hours later completing our 20 day, XXXX mile adventure.  We got a taxi to the Venetian.  When we got in the apartment Tim took a shower and went to bed.  I unpacked some and followed him to bed and we both slept over 10 hours.  What an adventure we have had!!! 

18,336 miles traveled by air and 3,000 kilometers traveled by safari vehicle.  We saw a lot of new things and had a fabulous experience.  Thoroughly enjoyable.  Thanks, Safari Legacy!

Time to plan another trip.

Monday, October 13, 2014 - Arusha to Dar es Sallem to Amsterdam - Day 19

We slept later this morning since we don't have a tour until later.  We had breakfast in the dining room and then I went to the front desk to ask them to call the tour company to find out when our guide would arrive.  They told me they would call me in the room and let me know.

 

Our stand-alone hut at Lake Duluti Serena Lodge

Our patio overlooking the gardens

The gardens - beautiful jacaranda tree in the distance

Lake Duluti - somewhat hard to see from the Lodge

Our guide, Godson, didn’t arrive until 10:30.  He told us that they misinformed us on the arrival time.  It was good to see him again.  He had a long 9 hour trip back to Arusha from the Northern Serengeti and had no trouble, other than it being long and boring.

He took us into Arusha and we went to the New Arusha Hotel right in the middle of town.  They ran our credit card for the Kilimanjaro day trip and the Arusha Town tour.  I bought an ebony carving while Tim was handling that.  Also bought some M&M’s for Godson’s 4 year old son –he loves them.

While Godson was setting that up, Tim had a latte and I shopped in the small gift shop.  They had a statue made of ebony wood with carvings in it.  Beautiful, and part of the tree branch was left to show that the outside bark is light and the ebony wood is black.     

Godson then took us to a "craft village" where there was shop after shop of beaded items, wood carvings, colorful fabric, jewelry, and pictures.  Tim hated this as they all wanted us to "Come Visit My Shop".  I went in several and then Tim said "You can't go in all of them!", so we just roamed through the complex.  It was huge.  It looked like most of the shops had similar items.

When we were finished shopping, I went back to one of the first shops we had visited.  I picked out 3 giraffe carvings - tall, not as tall, and baby - and bargained with Gottfried for the items.  He wouldn't give me a price so he asked "How much will you pay" - so I let him know that I can play this game and I told him $10.  He was shocked that I wanted all 3 pieces for $10 - so he asked for a better price - I offered $20 - he said $35 - I told him $25 was my last offer and he took it.  He wrapped the items and we left.   

Godson was waiting for us and we walked back to the car.  Godson drove us all around Arusha where 850,000 people live.  Hard to believe this city is that large and that many people live here with no high-rises!     We drove by the hospital, central bank, cemetery, large market, tanzanite trading district, and then to a beautiful garden restaurant for lunch.  Godson tried "Hawaiian Pizza" for the first time - he took a picture for his wife.

The clock tower square in Arusha

A monument to the independence of Tanzania

Part of the very busy market

A motorcyclist with chickens in a basket on the back

And our favorite beer of the trip - Kilimanjaro!

We got back to the Duluti Lake Hotel a little after 2 pm.   We finished packing, changed clothes, updated email and the blog, and relaxed until 5:30.   I called for the porters to come and get our bags, we checked out and Godson took us to the airport at 5:45.  Our KLM flight leaves for Dar es Saalem, Tanzania (the capital) at 8:30.

We met up with Godson and he took us around Arusha and pointed out the sights.  There is a huge market that operates every day.  The traffic was congested.

He took us to a garden restaurant and we treated him to lunch.  It was great – a lot of Americans and English people were there eating.  After lunch he took us back to the Lake Duluti Lodge and we relaxed for a few hours until time to go to the airport.  Godson waited for us in the lobby.

We checked out about 5:30 and he drove us to the Kilimanjaro Airport which is about 30 minutes away.  We checked in and went through Tanzanian immigration and then went to the business class lounge.  The plane was on time, and we loaded up.  The KLM flight left on time but we had to fly to Dar es Saalam first – a 45 minute flight.  We were there about an hour and then took off for Amsterdam.  Tim took an ambien before we took off and he was fast asleep.  He doesn’t remember the take off!

I had the express meal and then put my seat down in the horizontal position and slept for about 4-5 hours.  More than I usually sleep.  It was an 8.5 hour flight back to Amsterdam.

So long to Tanzania!

Sunday, October 12, 2014 - Arusha to Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania - Day 18

We had a light breakfast at 6:30 am and then met our guide, Ian Minja, in the lobby for the day trip to Kilimanjaro.  It was a 2 hour drive from Arusha to Kilimanjaro.  Ian showed us a book that a client had made of her climb to the summit.  He was the Assistant Guide on the climb.  She had been there 7 years ago with her father and he died due to heart failure the day before they reached the summit.  So she put a beautiful book together of her climb with her brother to honor their father.  Ian has climbed to the summit 188 times and currently is a trek organizer and caterer.  Tim was intrigued with this.

So we drove through Moshe and Ian stopped to get box lunches for us since he forgot to pick those up at our hotel.  Whoops!

Ian told us that he grew up in the Wachagga Tribe which is the largest in Tanzania.  He didn’t get any education but went to live on a farm and the man there helped educate him.  He learned English on his own listening to climbers when he was a porter and assistant guide.

As we approached Mt. Kilimanjaro, the clouds parted and we could see the peak.  Absolutely stunning.  Mt. Kilimanjaro is the tallest peak in Africa and the largest free-standing mountain in the world.  It is 5,895 meters tall or 18,300 feet.  Tim is wanting to climb it to the top!

Mt Kilimanjaro - the highest peak in Africa

 

 

Tim with "Kili" in the distance showing through the clouds

 

Larry with "Kili" in the distance showing through the clouds

 

On the way, farmers were spreading this grain that they use to make beer on mats to dry in the sun

 

Beautiful views of Mr. Kilimanjaro - 2 of the 3 peaks - as we approached the park entry

 
As we started our climb up the foothills, Ian stopped to let a woman ride with us to the park.  It was his mother, Honoretta.  She spoke no English, only Swahili.  She had a huge smile and I had to take her picture.

Ian's mother - Honoretta - all dressed up for church

 
We got to the Marangu Gate and Ian checked us in.  The park fees alone were $140 for us which was included in the day tour fee.  I’m now starting to get the impression that we are going on a long hike!  Ian kept talking about getting back about 4!  Ugh – it’s only 9:30 am and we are going to be walking that long. 

The 2 tallest peaks of Mt. Kilimanjaro - Kibo and Mawenzi

 

The visitor's entry to the National Park

 

Entry sign with "the rules"!

 

Entry sign to Kilimanjaro National Park with statistics - we are headed to Mandara Hut!

 Geeeezzzzz – ok, I can do this!  So we started climbing.  Ian explained that we climb “Pole – Pole” – or slowly, slowly – one pole at a time, one step at a time, but we don’t have walking poles!   The path was well maintained and clean winding its way through a rain forest.  There were birds and monkeys and we even saw a dik-dik or two.  The climb was a gradual one and relatively easy except where there were large boulders that we had to climb.  I did okay.

Getting ready to start the climb!

 

Ian, our guide, at the entry to the walking path

 

Tim and Ian on the early parts of the path up Mt. Kilimanjaro

 

Beautiful streams, waterfalls, and pools along the path - Ian used to swim here as a boy!

 

Walking across one of the early bridges on the path

 

Tim and Ian walking - I brought up the rear!

 

Rest break under the branches of a huge tree

 

An army of ants made a "super highway" with some ants forming a "cover" of the ants moving below

 

Nature call!

 

Beautiful pools and waterfalls

 
So 3 hours later we stopped for lunch at a place that had tables.  The porters for climbers were coming and going on the service road with huge, heavy packs on their heads.  Ian explained that there is now an Association that protects the workers with how much they are allowed to carry, working conditions and pay.  Those were some strong men and they are carrying most of this stuff up this mountain for 5-6 days – long trips each day!

The porters carrying packs up and down from the summit

 

After lunch we started the final push to Mandara Hut which is 9 km up.  This is the first camping site for the climbers going to the summit.  We climbed 2,595 feet in 6.5 hours – about 7 km and Ian called a stop.  My knees were killing me by then and Ian noticed that my breathing had changed due to the light air.  Hard to breathe as I get higher – similar to the Ngorongoro Crater!

During the entire climb and return we talked constantly with Ian.  Politics, relationships, sex (yes, he loved talking about "jiggy-jiggy"), circumcision, HIV/AIDS in Tanzania, travel, hiking, family, etc.  He was a lot of fun to interact with.

Mandara was 1 hour away, but Ian called time on us - time to go back down

 
The total distance to the summit from Marangu Gate is 69 km and we walked over 7 km – over 10% of the way to the top.  That was actually a great experience and I’m glad we did it.  It took us about 2 hours to get back down, only half the time that it took us to go up.

2 hours back to Marangu Gate and that's what it took us!  Better going down than up!

 

The walk down Mt. Kilimanjaro

 

Plaque honoring the first European to scale the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro

 

Congratulations to us - we did it!

 

 We checked out of the park and drove back to our Lake Duluti Serena Lodge. 

Beautiful views of the huge mountain as we drove down

 

Part of the summit appeared as the clouds parted briefly

We got back about 6:30 and went to the lounge for a last Kilimanjaro beer and to check email.  We went in to dinner about 8 and had a great dinner.  Both of us were ready for bed after dinner – that was a lot of exercise.  I sent Tony (Tim’s trainer) a note to let him know that Tim was working out!  We both slept very well that night!

 

 

Saturday, October 11 - Serengeti to Arusha - Day 17

We awoke at 6:30 and had breakfast at 7.  Godson is meeting us at 8:30 to take us to the small airport which isn’t far from here.  The flight to Arusha is about 1 ½ hours.  Hopefully our bags will be under the 33 pound limit.  Not so such about the weight we have gained during this trip, though!!!!

We had breakfast with Emanuel at 7 and gave him a nice tip for being our concierge during our stay.  Great service.

We did email in the lobby area and waiting for Godson to arrive.  We checked out and left for the 30 minute ride to the airstrip at 8:30.  We arrived at the airstrip and there were just a few other safari vehicles there.  No terminal –no security – no check-in – just dirt and the airstrip in the plains.  Three planes ended up landing one after the other.  Our plane was the last one to land.

Our last sunrise over the Serengeti on this trip

Larry and Tim looking out of the roof of the safari vehicle

Tim and Godson - he was a fabulous guide, driver, and spotter

Larry and Godson

Eric was our pilot – he put our bags underneath – he was baggage handling too – and we loaded up.  We were the only ones to get on at the Lobo Landing Strip.  He informed us we had 2 more stops before we went back to Arusha – GREAT!!!

Our plane lands on the landing strip

Inside the very small plane taking us back to Arusha

Beautiful scenery from the air - the Serengeti Plains

Flat in so many places

And the pilot comes in for a landing at one of the two other places we stopped before Arusha

Larry sitting behind the pilot

And we come in for another landing - this was fun

The flights were beautiful.  The countryside went from brown to green to brown to green over and over and over.  Most of the area was the Serengeti.  We got to the westernmost part of the Serengeti and left the park.  We flew right over the middle of the Ngorongoro Crater – Tim was listening to “Out of Africa” and was in another world.  I took in the scenery.

The dirt roads in the Serengeti - we were down there travelling them for the last 2 weeks!

The flat brown plains of the Serengeti

We flew directly over the Ngorongoro Crater - beautiful from the air

The Ngorongoro Crater

The lush green hillsides below - from brown to green . . .

And back to brown - no wonder the wildebeests stay on the move looking for green grass and water

We flew close to Arusha and Mount Meru came into view – I mistook it for Mt. Kilimanjaro.  But it is the 2^nd largest peak in Tanzania.

Mount Meru in the distance - the second highest peak in Africa in Arusha

We landed and the attendants took our luggage.  Chris, our driver in Arusha, better known as Pastor (although he isn’t really a pastor) met us and took us to the “Cultural Heritage Center”.  We had a light buffet lunch and some Kilimanjaro beer that was good.

There was a huge multi-story museum that we visited for over an hour.  There were a lot of new items and relics that explained the African culture – not just Tanzania.  We enjoyed the museum and its displays.

Thank goodness we didn't see any real snakes in the Serengeti - only these at the museum made of metal!

The museum had beautiful carvings, masks, furniture, and fabrics

These are intricate carvings from ebony trees - all one piece of wood - some were huge

Lots of animal carvings throughout

The entrance to the Cultural Heritage Museum in Arusha

More animal statutes throughout the museum grounds

This was a very modern building for Arusha

We went back through the shops but didn’t see anything that caught our fancy.

We got back to the van and Pastor gave us options for tours while in Arusha.  We booked an all day tour to Mount Kilimanjaro for Sunday and an Arusha Town tour on Monday.  We had an issue as they wanted cash for the tours and we aren’t carrying that much cash.  So Pastor told us that they would work it out before we left Tanzania – this would not have happened in the U.S.!

The local market just down the street from our hotel - Lake Duluti Serena Lodge

We checked in collected our baggage that we had left almost 2 weeks ago.  We got a single cottage that was spacious and nicely appointed.  We unpacked and I took a much-needed nap and rested my feet – the legs are still very swollen for some reason but no gout attack so far.  Taking anti-inflammatory meds trying to handle it. 

The intricate and interesting detail on the ceiling of our hotel room

We went to the lobby at 5:30 and had some Tasker beer and caught up on email.  I got 2 days of pictures loaded for the safari.  We went to dinner at 7:30 and enjoyed that.  We had forgotten to pay the bar bill and I mentioned this to the woman in charge and she was “thank you, thank you, thank you”.  They combined it with the dinner bill since our dinner isn’t included tonight.

We went back to the bar after dinner for a while and experienced a total blackout at the hotel – twice.  Everything went black.  I could hear the staff saying – “It will come back on soon!”.  And it did!

We went to our bungalow a little after 9:30 and sorted clothes for the next 2 days.  Early morning tomorrow as we need to meet our guide at 7 am to head to Kilimanjaro – Exciting!!!!