ISSUE 56: Departing Tanzania 2018

The journey back to Arusha felt long probably because it was. I'd say it took us nearly six hours at least, not including our stops. While it was long, it was beautiful. The sky was heavily overcast. We had great migration encounters on the way back, and I was even able to snap one of my favorite photos which is available in the shop, Shepherd Boy.

When we reached the park gate that morning, it was clear that getting out was going to take time, and patience. Once again, we had to work our way into the mob, and push our way to the counter. I copied the locals... Credit card in hand I made my way to the desk, tapped my card around in order to make it visible that I was ready to go, and wasn't going to be moved to the back of the line. I tell you what, those Tanzanians our feisty, there is no regard for order, and they make that clear.

Once we were through, it was just driving, driving, and more driving. ...but this was it, the final leg of our journey. The wildebeest and zebra had moved quite a long ways since we arrived at the Serengeti, and it was great getting to see the massive herds spread over the savannah grazing and slowing human traffic once again.

We passed back through the vast flat lands watching the animals feast on the remaining grasses and white fluffy flowers.  As we began to climb back up into the mountains toward Ngorongoro we see saw giraffes lying down completely at ease. They had a beautiful view over looking the Serengeti, and for a moment I was slightly envious.

As we reached a dip in the hillside, we were back in realm of the Maasai village. We saw groups of young Maasai boys in their warrior costumes standing on the side of the road waiting patiently for tourist who might have wanted a picture with them.

When we reach Ngorongoro, the crater floor was perfectly visible so we stopped for one last picture and then moved along. We were ready to get to our hotel, and get our things organized and unwind for one last night.

The drive back into Arusha was fairly easy. However, finding our hotel was a different story. We quickly discovered that the location of the Lake Duluti Lodge did not match our GPS. Not only were the coordinates wrong, but when we finally found the sign on the side of the road, it led us down a road with no entrance to the lodge whatsoever. We were absolutely baffled once again. We drove back to the main road and down a little ways to see if we could figure it out, but there was nothing. So, we decided to go back down the road the sign pointed to one more time just to make sure we did not miss anything, but it only reconfirmed what we discovered before. There was no way in! As we were driving, a long trail of teens, fresh from school, was walking down the road. We pulled over to ask them if they knew where the lodge was, but they were unable to help.

After about an hour of effort and a heaping serving of stress, we gave up. Brad finally turned on the cellular service on his phone to see if he could call the hotel. Sure enough, when Brad finally got a hold of someone, they told him that we had to enter from a different entrance, and the way we had gone led us to the old entrance that was now closed off. We were agitated to say the least, but grateful the hotel sent someone to find us to lead us back to them so that we could discontinue our search in vain.

When we reached the hotel, the sun was starting to set. The man at reception explained that they had to change the entrance of the hotel for security reasons, which also explained the electric fence. With everything then squared away, we were shown to our private suite. Our room was more than comfortable with a private deck, a plush bed, and a spacious bathroom all in addition to the air conditioning.

Finally settled, we made our way to dinner. We enjoyed our multi-course meal as well as each other’s company on our final night together. It felt so good to finally relax and take in another good meal. Once we wrapped up dinner, we just headed back to our room to unwind and organize. We lounged in each other’s arms while we watched tv, something that seemed almost foreign to us after not seeing one in weeks. It was the perfect way to wrap things up.

The next morning, we were allowed a late checkout. So, we slept in a little then headed to breakfast before we finally zipped up our luggage. With all of our morning tasks complete, we still had some time to kill before heading to the airport. We chose to wander around the hotel grounds and tried to make our way to the lake which we couldn’t find. Since the lake was a lost cause, we opted to watch the Vervet monkeys instead. Naturally, I felt fulfilled, as I stood amongst my little friends who were as eager to watch me as I was to watch them. They leaped and scurried from tree to tree, playing with each other and hanging upside down from the branches. When the time came to go, I was sad to leave them, but also eager to get home to my own little monkeys.

With our 4x4 loaded up, we headed back for the airport. We met our car provider one last time to give back the keys. Unfortunately, when we got there he did not have the credit card reader as promised. Instead he insisted that I wire him our payment when I returned to the states. Looking back now, I think this was his way of getting out of paying any processing fees for the card, and inflicting all fees upon us instead. I suppose its fair, since we were suppose to pay cash in the beginning, but it still bothered me. Finally, we rid of all the stress that lingered with us in Tanzania. We were in the airport in the terminal about to return to respective homes.

I could not wait to see my sweet little Zanzibar and Zoey and sleep in my own bed with them once again, but the thought of leaving Brad again was not easy.