Zanzibar

January 5^th, 2025

We had been expecting to tender in Zanzibar, but luckily there was a berth available for us in the cargo port, so this was our view at breakfast.

Brian and I have 2 wedding anniversaries – we had both a civil ceremony and then a religious one a few weeks later, so we get to celebrate twice. Today was the anniversary of the first one and we were treated to heart shaped pancakes at breakfast. Seabourn certainly know how to make you feel special.

While we were enjoying our pancakes one of our friends came by to update us on their safari saga. Their original safari had been cancelled as per Seabourn’s demand. Then Seabourn had relented and allowed them to go as long as the organizers didn’t go with them. So they let the tour company know that it was not canceled, and the safari was on again.

Well they found out that their charter flight had been canceled again so once more the safari was off. They were not happy campers and were scrambling to find another safari at short notice. We wished them good luck and headed off to find our taxi driver.

As it was a cargo port we couldn’t walk to the port gate to meet our driver, but there was a shuttle bus which took us to the gate where our driver was waiting, and whisked us off to the airport.

We had been concerned about our flight information as despite my request for an eticket or booking confirmation number we had no proof of what flight we were on; all we knew was it was on Auric Air and we knew the time.

Our driver dropped us off at the Auric Air terminal and we headed inside to check in. Check in had not opened yet, so we sat and waited for a while. Eventually we were able to check in. The agent asked for our ticket or any proof that we were on the flight. We were unable to show him anything, and he let us know that he had no record of us being on the flight.

This was not good.

However, in one of my emails from the tour company there was mention of a flight number, so luckily from that information he was able to guess that we might be on Precision Air. He phoned Precision, and sure enough they had a record of us. Panic over.

They were in the next terminal, but a very obliging young man from Auric kindly carried our bags and escorted us to the correct terminal, and stayed with us through the check in process making sure that we had no problems.

Finally, we were in the departure lounge, and that bit nearer to being on safari.

Only one of the flight schedule boards was functioning and it had our flight number as going to Dar es Salaam. There were a couple of semi official folks lounging around so I asked them if our flight was actually going to Dar es Salaam instead of Arusha. They thought it was probably going to Arusha, so we felt a bit better.

Then the time for boarding came and went. I went to speak to them again as the board said that our flight which had the wrong destination, was on time. They shrugged and said it was probably delayed.

The time for our departure came and went. People in the departure lounge were looking a bit concerned and restless, however there was still no update.

Other flights came and went, were we destined to remain in Zanzibar?

Finally there was an incomprehensible announcement about Arusha so we jumped up and headed to the gate where people had start congregating, and sure enough, that was our flight. Over an hour late, with no explanation, but it was there. We were definitely getting closer to the game park. We climbed on board the plane, and took off for Arusha.

While Zanzibar Airport is a bit of a dump, unchanged since we were there in 2006, Arusha airport is a bright and modern building, quite a difference. The only issue is that despite being new there is no carousel, and you have to wait for your luggage to be handed to you through a sort of hatch, where you have to watch out so you don’t bump your head as you try to grab your bag from the man below.

Steven our guide was waiting for us in a Land Cruiser, and he whisked us away towards the Crater.

We saw Mount Meru in the distance, but no sign of Kilimanjaro.

It was a lovely drive on an excellent road – not a pothole in sight. I wish our roads at home were that good.

It was a very different story when I was last here with my parents in April 1963. The drive from Nairobi had taken much longer than expected due to the roads being flooded. This road, which was a dirt road at the time was under water, so my mother walked in front of the car in her Wellington boots making sure there were no large stones in the way. I remember it taking far too long to get to our camp on Lake Manyara and I wanted to see giraffes.

The only obstacles today were livestock.

And a roadblock where the police officer took a long time talking with Steven.

It was a very pretty drive

Finally we reached the conservation area

And the main gate.

Because of the delay in us getting to Arusha and the delay at the road block the parks workers from the main gate had now gone home, and Steven had difficulty finding someone to process our parks permit.

Meanwhile we sat watching the baboons – with the windows closed in case they wanted to join us and share our snacks.

Finally, as it was getting dark. We were able to get our permits and drive through the park to the crater rim, and then around the rim to our lodge.

It was very dark by the time we reached the rim. I remembered there was a lovely view of the crater from there, but it made no sense to stop as it was pitch black by then.

We drove for another hour and a half along the very rutted dirt road towards our lodge.

Suddenly there was a lion walking along the road next to us

And then when we passed him, there were buffalos.

Then there was a hyena and a heard of zebras. I had never seen so many animals on the rim before, it was very exciting to see them all.

Finally we reached the lodge. It had been a 5 hour drive that should have taken 3 hours. However, we were there, and having missed lunch, we were very happy to go straight to dinner.

At dinner it was someone’s birthday, so the staff did a song and dance performance for them. It was wonderful and made me feel that we were really back in Africa.

One of the staff members escorted us to our room. We looked up and there was the moon peeping at us through the trees.

Yes, it was good to be back in Africa again.