From Dubai to Dar es Salaam
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Goodbye Asilia
Our morning started around 4 am with a gentle wake up ‘jambo’. We finished packing our bags and left our camp to drive almost 3 hours to the airstrip. It was completely dark and very humid and chilly this morning. The boys slept a little bit but surprisingly stayed awake more than I expected. While on our drive, we saw a huge hippo walking across the middle of the road. I guess our presence startled him because he began to run and for his massive size, he can really move!!!
We also saw a ton of bush rabbits- they look like regular bunnies but with taller ears and slender bodies. While driving in our open air safari jeep, a bird flew in above our drivers head. The vehicle does have a cover on it so the bird got stuck for about 30 seconds in the vehicle. It was flying around frantically trying to find its way out. All of us ducked our heads in fear of getting smacked in the face by this bird. Finally, once the bird flew away, Finn says, that would be pretty sad if we got hurt by a small dove in Africa. Of all the animals to get injured by, this little bird would definitely be the most embarrassing to tell everyone back home!
We were also fortunate enough to see a serval crossing the road while we were driving this morning. A serval looks like a leopard or cheetah but is only the size of our puppy, Kai. After driving for almost 3 hours on bumpy, dirt roads, we finally made it to the airstrip! Now we are the only people (besides the pilot) on our plane heading to the central Serengeti.
Dubai
Off We Go
By some miracle, we were able to get it together enough to leave for JFK Monday night around 6:30 pm rather than waking up at 3 am on Tuesday morning. We spent the night at the Marrott JFK airport hotel- literally, just checked in, put our bags in the room, got some dinner around 9 pm and then slept from 10 ish until the alarm clock abruptly sounded at 5:45 am. As our taxi is dropping us off at JFK airport, we hear loud sirens blaring behind us. Not paying much attention and trying to collect our bags (and children) from the car, I hear some of the airport security guards yelling "MOVE, MOVE, GET OUT OF THE WAY". Paul quickly grabs the boys and rushes them inside the airport. Dazed and completely confused at whats happening, I'm just trying to get our bags while I angrily glare at Paul for "running" inside the airport. As I'm walking inside and trying to drown out all the sirens and yelling, I look behind me and see this massive "bomb" proof vehicle parked directly behind our taxi driver. I then see several men wearing bullet proof vest while holding some type of machine looking gun as they are jump out of "the bomb squad" (as the boys called it). As I'm looking around, still dazed and confused, I find out someone has left unattended luggage outside for quite some time now and the airport security called the FBI bomb team to come deal with it. Fortunately, it was nothing and we just got to watch the bomb squad guys walk around our terminal patrolling with their AK machine gun weapons while we waited for over an hour to check in. As we are standing and watching this, I realize we are in the "middle east' terminal with EXTRA security.
From Dubai to Dar es Salaam
Click here to add text.
Dubai
Off We Go
By some miracle, we were able to get it together enough to leave for JFK Monday night around 6:30 pm rather than waking up at 3 am on Tuesday morning. We spent the night at the Marrott JFK airport hotel- literally, just checked in, put our bags in the room, got some dinner around 9 pm and then slept from 10 ish until the alarm clock abruptly sounded at 5:45 am. As our taxi is dropping us off at JFK airport, we hear loud sirens blaring behind us. Not paying much attention and trying to collect our bags (and children) from the car, I hear some of the airport security guards yelling "MOVE, MOVE, GET OUT OF THE WAY". Paul quickly grabs the boys and rushes them inside the airport. Dazed and completely confused at whats happening, I'm just trying to get our bags while I angrily glare at Paul for "running" inside the airport. As I'm walking inside and trying to drown out all the sirens and yelling, I look behind me and see this massive "bomb" proof vehicle parked directly behind our taxi driver. I then see several men wearing bullet proof vest while holding some type of machine looking gun as they are jump out of "the bomb squad" (as the boys called it). As I'm looking around, still dazed and confused, I find out someone has left unattended luggage outside for quite some time now and the airport security called the FBI bomb team to come deal with it. Fortunately, it was nothing and we just got to watch the bomb squad guys walk around our terminal patrolling with their AK machine gun weapons while we waited for over an hour to check in. As we are standing and watching this, I realize we are in the "middle east' terminal with EXTRA security.
From Dubai to Dar es Salaam
Click here to add text.
Dubai
Off We Go
By some miracle, we were able to get it together enough to leave for JFK Monday night around 6:30 pm rather than waking up at 3 am on Tuesday morning. We spent the night at the Marrott JFK airport hotel- literally, just checked in, put our bags in the room, got some dinner around 9 pm and then slept from 10 ish until the alarm clock abruptly sounded at 5:45 am. As our taxi is dropping us off at JFK airport, we hear loud sirens blaring behind us. Not paying much attention and trying to collect our bags (and children) from the car, I hear some of the airport security guards yelling "MOVE, MOVE, GET OUT OF THE WAY". Paul quickly grabs the boys and rushes them inside the airport. Dazed and completely confused at whats happening, I'm just trying to get our bags while I angrily glare at Paul for "running" inside the airport. As I'm walking inside and trying to drown out all the sirens and yelling, I look behind me and see this massive "bomb" proof vehicle parked directly behind our taxi driver. I then see several men wearing bullet proof vest while holding some type of machine looking gun as they are jump out of "the bomb squad" (as the boys called it). As I'm looking around, still dazed and confused, I find out someone has left unattended luggage outside for quite some time now and the airport security called the FBI bomb team to come deal with it. Fortunately, it was nothing and we just got to watch the bomb squad guys walk around our terminal patrolling with their AK machine gun weapons while we waited for over an hour to check in. As we are standing and watching this, I realize we are in the "middle east' terminal with EXTRA security.
What doesn't kill you only gets hungrier?
That's literally what Paul just asked me while I'm sitting here trying to remember how to use Webador again before we fly out tomorrow. After telling several friends and family members where we have finally decided to travel to this summer, the response we get is "you're going back to Africa, again?"
Me: Yes, we are.
Confused Friend: "But why?"
Paul: "We heard the lions are hungry and like to eat businessmen" (refer to BBC article about a lion eating a businessman leaving his tent to take a pee in the middle of the night article published about 2 weeks ago)
Confused Friend: "But, you have already been there a few times, don't you want to try someplace new'?
Me: "Tanzania is about the size of California, some of the areas we are traveling to we have actually never been to. Also, we know the people are friendly, it's a safe country, we already have all the vaccines and medications from our previous trip, the weather will be nice, and it's a lot easier to get to than other African countries.'
Anyways, we are leaving out bright and early tomorrow morning and below is our travel plans for this adventure.
