May 7, 2013
I have arrived in Tanzania and have settled in at the Ameru
River Lodge in Arusha. I have arrived
with on-time flights and all of my luggage.
When I last corresponded, I was at Addis Ababa Airport and
things did not look like they were going well.
After getting an early start in Cape Town on Monday morning, Jenman met
me and took me to the airport for the two hour flight to Johannesburg. Negotiating the O R Tambo Airport in Jo’burg
is a real chore. The airport is bigger
than Atlanta and the signage is not great.
There are three terminals and you have to go through security between
each one. Plus there are shops after
shops selling pretty much the same stuff.
Anyway, I found the ticket counter for Ethiopian Airlines (after getting
my bag wrapped in saran wrap- I’ll bet the TSA wouldn’t go for that) and since
I was flying first class and had a 13 hour layover, they gave me a voucher for
a hotel and two meals. That turned out
to be a wise investment. However, after
the five hour flight to Addis Ababa, I wasn’t so sure that going this route was
a good move.
In the first place, I had eaten something that upset my GI
tract and I didn’t want to be too far from the facilities. In the second place, even under perfect
conditions, arriving in Addis Ababa is not a pleasant experience. I must add that there was a flight in the
middle of the night from Addis Ababa to Kilamanjaro via Mombasa, Kenya. I didn’t want to arrive at Kilamanjaro at
3:30 am as it is in the middle of no where and you could be stuck. The airport personnel kept trying to put me
on that flight (although my bag did make that journey). Then they kept sending me to the wrong line
(and there were thousands of people arriving from all over). Finally, a young
man pointed me in the right direction and I got a no cost immigration stamp and
a hotel room at the Hilton. Then to find
the Hilton desk and wait for a limo at 10 PM.
Traveling through Addis Ababa at that time of the night was not my cup
of tea but we made it (I was the only passenger) and the lady at the desk gave
me key to room 506 and a voucher for dinner-and the restaurant was to close in
15 minutes. The key didn’t work, so I got
another key for 506. Unfortunately, the
key worked but the room was occupied already.
I high tailed it out of there and went back to the front desk again. This time (it was after the restaurant
closed) I got my room and about 6 hours of sleep.
This morning back to the airport and went through security
only to find out that I should be at the other terminal a quarter mile away. Eventually, Joe and his plane got
reunited. I was one of three in first
class and it was nice. Three glasses of
wine before noon.
Arriving in Kilamanjaro in a steady rain, my main concern is
finding my luggage. It wasn’t on the
conveyor……oh shit he thought…but I checked lost and found and there it was
(having taking the earlier flight). The
only problem was that some idiot had just painted the counter at the lost and
found. Guess who had paint all over his
arms?
At any rate, Naipenda met me at the airport and whisked me
the 45 minutes to Ameru River Lodge. I
was the only customer as they had been closed until today for renovations. There are plusses and minuses to being the
only customer. The plus is that you get
to know the bar tender. The minus is
that you get to know the bar tender really well.
This lodge is spectacular and I met the operators (a German
couple) and they showed me to room 2.
Here are some photos of our room.
I am off tomorrow morning to get my blood work done for DR.
Cline. Maybe they will take my blood
pressure as I have skimped on the medicine so I wouldn’t fall down the steps at
the various airports. Oh well, I am
feeling pretty good tonight and anxiously awaiting my bride who is in the air
now.
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