Day 4: Off to Tanzania

So, early this morning we had to farewell the lovely staff at the Southern Sun hotel, Nairobi. They had packed us a picnic breakfast to take with us. Our driver Paul, from Gamewatchers was waiting outside in a van so we clambered in and set off. It was still dark and there was very little traffic on the motorway as we whizzed past huge, colourful digital billboards which loomed over the road. The last time I had seen billboards that large and fancy had been in New York City, USA and suddenly I was transfixed. "Oh, what a surprise!" I yelled, spotting a billboard with a 3 metre tall viking warrior on it! "I have to send a text to Mrs Henderson!" I added. "They have Ragnar Lothbrok here!!" 

Now, I don't know why I was surprised to see a billboard advertising a very popular TV show in Africa. Television has a global audience and I know that, so I should not have been surprised.  Here's one of the best things about travel to foreign countries-it is confronting. What I mean is this: what you see and experience in a foreign country may be totally different to what you imagined and expected and you then will have to think about your own thinking and ask yourself questions like: Why was I surprised by that? What attitudes and opinions about this place might have made me feel that way? Maybe some of my attitudes and opinions are incorrect? Perhaps I will have to adjust my ideas because something has happened that is the complete opposite of what I expected.

Soon were pulling into the curved roadway outside the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, gliding


past gorgeous life-size metal sculptures of rhinocerous, wilderbeasts, warthogs and lions which looked almost real in the early morning light. Soon we were checked in and settled down to wait for our Kenyan Airlines flight. In no time at all our boarding call came, and, scattering a few croissant crumbs, we crossed the tarmac to the jet which would whizz us to Tanzania. The Kenyan Airways plane that we boarded had a slogan sprawled across it that said, "The Pride of Africa." That was no understatement; what a very good service they provide and our pilot, who was a female, gave the very best on-board announcements that I have ever heard on any airline. Usually when you are in a plane the captain or someone else will make an announcement in a voice that lacks expression and gives you the impression that they are thinking: " I really hate having to make this boring announcement and it's sooooo  beneath me but I have to do it, I  have no choice." Then they speak so quickly using such poor phrasing that you sit in your seat afterwards thinking, "I really hope that what he just told me was not important because I did not understand a word he said!"

About halfway through our flight we got a wonderful view of Mt Kilimanjaro which I think is the second highest mountain in the world. It is so high in fact that even though it sits practically on the equator, it has snow on top all the year round. It is a volcano with a lovely rounded top so off course we liked it instantly because it reminded us of all our fab volcanoes at home.Less than an hour later we had buzzed over the border and were landing in Tanzania, one of the countries which borders Kenya. The airport was named after the mountain and had the prettiest gardens including lots of absolutely gorgeous Flamboyant trees which were covered all over with flame coloured flowers.


Then we were greeted by Tasha, from Roy Safaris who was to be our driver/guide for the next three days. We climbed into our land rover, and set off for Sopa Lodge, on the rim of the Ngorogoro Crater, a place I had dreamed about visiting ever since I was a child. Yes, it has been a very long-held dream and I was pretty excited as we set off on the long drive via the city of Arusha. The sun was high, the sky was blue and the wide open plains of Tanzania lay before us.