Final Night in Arusha - Nairobi - Home

We are now in Arusha at our hotel Planet Lodge for the night. The drive in to Arusha and around Arusha is so interesting, very busy and you never know what you will see on the back of a bike, on a cart, on top of a car, being carried on a womans head...  These pictures are right down one of the main streets, it's the men pushing the carts right in the middle of the crazy traffic that amazed us that no one was killed, well that we saw anyway

We were picked up at the airport by taxi who took us back to the tour operators office who wanted to hear about the trip. She said she had been speaking to Felix every day and knew that everything was going well. We asked her about shopping, we wanted to pick up a couple of souvenirs. We told her nothing expensive, just a couple of shirts etc. She told her she would get the taxi driver to take us to the Maasai Market and she sent her accountant with us too for security (??? not sure what that was about, and he didn't even have a flashlight!!). Found a few little things, so very few tourists here and it is a pretty big market, I really felt sorry for the sellers, I'm sure we were one of their only sales for some of them today. 

Maasai Market in Arusha

Inside the market

 

Clock tower in Arusha, midpoint between Cape Town and Cairo

We spent some time this afternoon by the pool at the lodge, had a nice swim, it is very hot here again. They must sell day passes here for use of the pool/grounds. Quite a few locals arrive to use the pool. What a fantastic time, many of them are just learning how to swim, one guy is teaching them how to dive off the side of the pool, lots of laughing, and just a great time. Olympians in training they are now, but a great time was had by all. There is also another family that shows up with their children, this would be a fantastic place to stay with kids, a really nice playground right on the grounds.

Swim lessons time

Our room at Planet Lodge

Room 22 again, not the same view as Tarangire Safari Lodge

Supper, then back to the room to get a little organized for travel day tomorrow. We are only being picked up at 1PM so no urgency, nice to just relax a little after a very busy couple of weeks.

Final Day

A sad day for me. A few little tears while looking over some of the pictures are reading parts of the blog. So much anticipation and it all goes by so quickly...

We just hang around on our little porch, enjoy the sun and heat that we know that we will not have once we get home for quite a while. We walk around and explore the grounds looking for birds and just enjoy our last morning.

Mt Meru from the patio area

Flycatcher

Dark capped Bulbu

Baglafect Weaver

African Pied Wagtails

Beautiful sitting areas, but no shade in the day, we took cover on the patio

Would love to have this table for our deck at home

Kitchen was in a separate building that had a covered walkway to get to

We do spend some time in their tiny gift shop and spend more here than anywhere else! They had 2 beautiful carved wooden bowls for $20 and $25 that we loved, we decided to buy them and just claim on our customs form back in Canada that we had wood and see what happens, worth the $45 risk. Also picked up a couple of bracelets and another magnet for Brian I think.

Back to the room and head over for lunch with all our stuff at around noon. On the walk over a woman comes up and asks us if we lost a pouch. No, we do not use pouches so we didn't lose one. Then another man comes over and asks us if we lost something, no nothing lost. Andre then realizes he has lost his wallet, oh no. Over to front desk and they have it. Turns out when we were sitting on the chairs outside enjoying the beautiful views of Mt Meru at the main lodge his wallet must have fallen out of his pocket, this is where it was found. Thank goodness, this would have been a nightmare, replacing credit cards and ID is such a pain!

They setup a nice table for us outside to have lunch with the beautiful view. We were the only 2 people here today I think, yesterday we saw 2 other couples. Definitely low season, we spoke a lot to the staff here as we were just hanging around so long, they said the hotel is full starting in December. We loved speaking to the staff, they wanted to know about Canada. Asked if we had parks and we said yes we have National Parks too, they wanted to know if we had giraffes, no but we do have some animals but nothing like Africa. Andre had come Canadian coins so we were able to show them a few animals, I don't think we explained the Bluenose correctly on the dime though. We left them all of our change, I hope they understood it was just a souvenir, that they will not be able to exchange it. They also went and found all the different coins for us to take home of theirs, something that Andre always does when we visit another country.

As we were getting ready to leave I went back to the front desk to see who had found Andres wallet, and also to ask if it was appropriate for us to give her a little something, they said yes it was fine, so a little reward passed along for finding the wallet.

The taxi comes and picks us up at 1:00 and off to catch the shuttle from Arusha to Nairobi. Pulling into the shuttle station is a hoot, we are in the taxi and basically mobbed by all the different companies trying to get us to use their service. Swala had prepaid our shuttle service, so everyone is out of luck. One thing we learned is even if you pay for one company you may end up with another, a little shuffling around, not sure how they decide who goes with who, but some people were moved off our shuttle to another company. Also, this shuttle is much quieter on the way, no need to put luggage on top, everything is just stored in the back row of seats.

Waiting for the shuttle to leave is another great experience in itself. White skin = bring on the vendors. So many laughs, I told Andre he was sitting by the window, I was filling out the paperwork needed to cross the border and it started. All kinds of paintings, jewelery, shirts etc being passed in through the window for us to look at. One very persistent young man with the wax art kept saying when Mamma (me) is finished with the paperwork she needs to look. He did have beautiful work, but not interested. This went on for about 15 minutes, then Andre says how much? Oh no, the guy beside me on the bus and I just roll our eyes, here we go, this will never end. Andre went through all his work again and picked 2 pieces. At this point Esther from Swala Tours gets on the shuttle, she came by to make sure everything was fine, so we then get her involved in the purchase as well. We basically had the whole shuttle going, telling this poor vendor that he was charging us too much, lots of laughs from everyone. Finally came to an agreement on price, everyone is happy, and a fun last experience in Tanzania. The vendors are running beside the shuttle trying to finish up a final sale as we are pulling out!

The ride back to Kenya was quite fun as neither of us really remembered it as we were so exhausted on the way here. A different bathroom stop than on the way over, I guess they want to spread out the shopping. Again the driver is really helpful at the border, there is just us and another group of 3 that are not from Kenya or Tanzania and he pretty much walked us through everything. I wasn't positive if our single entry visa that we bought when we landed in Nairobi was still good, but I guess so as we were asked for nothing else. I think I read somewhere it is good for 2 weeks going back and forth, but I could be totally wrong.  On the way back we did see some impala, on the way to Tanzania 2 weeks ago we didn't see any wildlife.

Bike taxi, Andre liked the winter jacket

<5 liters of gas = 10,000.00 ouch

One last view of Mt Meru on the way to Nairobi

Nairobi airport is not nearly as bad as I remember it. I have been here twice before by myself and remember it being very nasty, and spending most of the time waiting sitting on the floor. There now seems to be more chairs available, still definitely not the airport you would expect from the amount of traffic that goes through here, but it works. Lots of clean bathrooms, a decent place to sit, what more do you need? Not sure about the restaurant, we never did go in, but I think it is the same one restaurant that has been there for years.

Flight home is Nairobi, Brussels, Montreal and finally Moncton. Lucky Andre got emergency exit all flights except last one to Moncton. If you are early at check in it doesn't hurt to be friendly and ask, no additional charge for this. Brussels gave us the opportunity to buy some crazy expensive chocolate, Montreal gave us the chance for Moe's Smoked Meat, yummy!! Much better connections on the way home, left Nairobi just after midnight, and got into Moncton at 5:30 PM on the same day.

Customs in Canada (Montreal), what a treat, they finally have changed it and Canadians have their own lines when you return home! We have now joined the rest of the world. It is all electronic now as well, so easy. So, I did check off that I had wood, we were sent to the customs officer who asked what I had, I said 2 salad bowls, I carried them with me on the plane so I showed him, he said fine and we were off! So easy, wish I had know for sure before, but I guess we saved some money :)

Swala Safaris - We were very happy with the service they provided us.  As I mentioned earlier it was not the least expensive quote we received, nor was it the most expensive.  Something just "clicked" when I was emailing Rose back and forth and we chose to go with them.  She promised us an excellent safari, not to worry about anything, and they delivered.  This is a very small company, 6 jeeps, and we felt we got some very personal service from them. A note about Felix, we were very happy and pleased to have Felix as our guide.  One of our main requests was we have a guide that would be willing to start early in the mornings, and Felix was more than happy to do so, and was always on time!  He was able to read us well, and we could tell he was adjusting our days to fit our style.  Felix would not be a fit for everyone, he is not a big talker, but is very happy to answer when you ask him questions and show interest.  Felix was the reason we saw the Big 5, and experienced so many special moments on safari, thank-you so much to Felix.

Final counts from Safari:

Lions - 83

Leopards- 6

Cheetah- 9

Rhinos-2

Not enough fingers and toes to count anything else!

Sounds I hope I never forget:

Birds singing in the morning and evening

Kids giggling when they see their pictures, and Andre poking them in the stomach

Wake up call - “Jambo Jambo” from a worker outside your tent

Warning call from a lion when you get too close!

Purring cats

Clash of antelope horns

Silence of elephants moving, until they destroy the tree!

Hyena crunching on bones

Vendors saying “mamma mamma you need to see this” 

Karibu from everyone, constantly 

So we are now home and reflecting a little more on our trip. I can honestly say we have never experienced somewhere that we felt so WELCOME. I have never been asked so many times to please come back. This is coming from someone who lives in a part of Eastern Canada that is known for its hospitality, we have nothing on Tanzanians. All this and we barely knew 5 words in Swahili, one thing I do regret is not learning a little more of at least the basics.

 

Big question we are being asked, will you go back. In a heartbeat we would go back, will we go back, another question. We still have many places we have not seen, but Africa definitely does have a special place in our hearts. Along with Galapagos, so special, if only they weren't so far from home, and the trips so expensive.

We really have had a fantastic trip, the trip of a lifetime. I wish everyone could experience this at least once in their lives, words and even pictures just cannot describe what we have experienced. Until next trip....

Welcome!