I’m in Tanzania!

Having taken care of my visa online before the trip I was the first through customs and the luggage was already arriving by the time my passport was stamped. With no line and nothing more than a scan of my copious luggage through x-ray I was through the airport and looking for my driver in under 20 minutes. Scanning the signs being held by eager drivers I was nervous when I didn’t see anyone holding my name but a man approached me, “Are you Laura?” Ahh, apparently the guide service had given him my passport photo to find me.

Rashid was a man of few words with me; maybe because I was gripping the door for dear life hoping he didn’t kill us both as he narrowly passed other cars, barely avoiding many a head on collision. While my life flashed before my eyes as he drove, I got in touch with my little Kili crew. Kyra, having arrived last night, was on her way to a waterfall and coffee farm tour while Katie and Shane were just landing for their short layover before hopping on their final flight here. This is really happening.

Men on motorcycles with umbrellas attached to the top zipped around as others walked the side of the road. Rashid reminded me that it’s Sunday, everyone is headed to church. The land is lush and a brilliant green. I’m not sure what I expected but this was not it. As we approached the turn off to the Ilboru Safari Lodge, our home for the next two nights, the road turned to dirt. And that dirt road turned into an obstacle course, washed out by heavy rains. I didn’t think my driver would be able to make it but I’ll be damned, he navigated through with determination.

Ilboru Safari Lodge is a beautiful property with individual two-room huts spread throughout the grounds. The room is VERY basic but it will do. I mean, hell, at least it’s a room with a bed and a shower and not a tent like I’m about to be dragged to!

With a few hours to spare before the rest of my crew arrives, I unpacked and reorganized all my luggage, getting my Kilimanjaro gear appropriately moved into my mountain duffels and organizing my safari gear. A nap would be amazing but I have to keep myself awake so I can get in proper sleep tonight. We still haven’t heard anything from our main guide service contact so I got a hold of one of his partners to confirm our Arusha National Park Walking Safari tomorrow and coordinate a time for our orientation with the guides this evening. I feel so much better now that I’ve finally gotten a hold of someone!

The lunch menu at the lodge is sparse, it’s no Qatar Airlines, but the friendly service makes up for it. When I asked the cheerful waiter his name he explained to me that his name is Abdullah BUT his name is also Babu since that means grandfather so when men in their culture achieve white hair then they are called Babu in honor and if I wanted to call him Babu it would make him very happy. You got it Babu!

My grilled chicken smelled divine but was a little difficult to efficiently eat off the bone. I was starving, I inhaled my cabbage slaw, chicken, and chips; stopping myself from eating ALL the chips. Fruit cocktail was a refreshing way to round out the meal. I also found what I think will be my souvenir of choice; an effective and smart little mosquito-net square with beaded edges that they put on the water bottles to keep the bugs out; such a great idea! Kyra texted me to let me know that she and her driver had retrieved Katie and Shane from the airport and they were headed my way! Yay!!!

I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself for another hour plus. I sauntered back to my room, only slightly getting lost on the way, to plug in my iPad and quickly realized that there was nothing for me to do in here. It had been overcast and rainy during my lunch but was drying up now and a cup of mint tea in the garden sounded like a good idea.

Babu eagerly took my tea order and I sauntered over to check out the other side of the garden where a sheltered area with seating and a fireplace looked inviting. An older gentleman sat alone at the table on the end of the pool deck. Earlier I had heard him mention to Babu how much food he ate on the way here from London so I greeted him warmly, made a comment about eating in transit, and we started chatting about our travel days to Tanzania.

Graham was traveling alone and going on safari for the next week. His wife had died a year ago and so he didn’t have a companion to join him. I asked if I could grab my tea and sit with him and he eagerly urged me to please do so. I brought over my pot of tea and as I sat Graham solemnly lamented, “What I miss the most since my wife died is having someone to talk to.” He told me how at home he talks to himself, talks to the walls, talks to anything he can because it’s sad to have nobody there to talk to. Well that hit home and I shared that I talk to my dog and cats all day long.

With an audience before him, Graham had plenty to say. We talked about travel, his wife who had suffered with dementia for four years before passing, his daughters, boy is he proud of his younger daughter Claire but the older daughter was too much like her mother while Claire is his twin, life, philosophy, religion, stars, the universe. The sun came out strong and stung my eyes but I did my best to shade them because this man needed company and I was not going to take that away from him. Babu came by to check on us and Graham ordered another beer because “now I have someone to talk to!”

He is a fascinating person. He told me of the Danish girl who was the one who got away. How his wife died four months before their 60th wedding anniversary. He told about the biography he was writing, by hand, at the request of his daughters and township. He would like to meet someone and have a partner again but he doesn’t know if that will happen. I was sitting exactly where I was supposed to be in this world at this moment in time. My crew would be arriving shortly and I agonized over how I was going to leave him to be alone again. I broke the news slowly; providing updates every few minutes on where they were and how I would be meeting them when they arrived. Just as I was about leave, he dropped a bomb on me; today was his birthday! He gave me some confusing date sequence explanation about being born on Sunday, May 28th which was such and such holiday and only fell on the same sequence again three times since his birth. I didn’t get it but I wished him a sincere happy birthday before I left to meet my people.

I had hoped to be waiting in front when they pulled up but I was about 30 seconds late and Kyra, Katie, and Shane had just stepped out of their vehicle when I walked through the doors. We squealed, hugged (Shane lifting me off the ground), and jumped up and down in disbelief that this was actually happening! Kyra had never met Katie and Shane before picking them up at the airport and I had never met Shane before but from our months of planning together all of us were already strongly bonded.

I felt like the tour guide showing them into the lodge and leading the way to our rooms after everyone got their keys and Kyra was finished trying to figure out how her driver/guide for today could send her pictures. The Lodge put us all in rooms next to each other which is awesomely convenient.

The chairs and ottoman in my room make for a perfect seating area for our little home base and after getting their bags settled everyone convened in my room so we could catch up on our travel and excitement together. With about three hours until we meet our guide and rainy weather outside there wasn’t much to do but sit, chat, and plan. It is surreal that we are all here now.

Startled by a knock on my door, I got up to answer and found two of the lodge workers standing in front holding out a giant leaf with a chameleon on it! One gentleman held the frond out at arms length while the other stood further back. Katie vocalized all our excitement with a squeal and reached right for it, confirming it wasn’t poisonous, and then going in with her hands to hold the curled tail, horned fella.

It jumped out of her hands but undeterred she scooped him up. Mr Chameleon is pretty cool but I don’t need to be holding him! She let it crawl up her arm before handing it off to her husband. The three of us ladies watched in amusement, and the lodge staff watched in horror, as the chameleon crawled up the side of Shane’s head. Finally, we transferred it to the plant by my door and watched as he started to change color. Soooooo cool.

After some more lounging, it was time to meet our guide. I was unclear on who exactly would be meeting us based on the broken service phone call and WhatsApp exchange I’d had with the gentleman, Rob, earlier. It turned out that he was the one who showed up himself. Earlier he had talked about trying to confirm a time with our main contact Samwel so I was expecting him, but no, it was this Rob person, someone we had never worked with in our planning.

Rob apologized that Samwel had been dealing with a family emergency and explained that he lived just five minutes from the lodge and was happy to be at our service. And boy were we happy to have Rob. He is an incredible man; worldly, well traveled, funny, so damn smart, just a gem. He is one of the owners of our guide company, Everlasting Tanzania, and also runs another company that does trekking through other parts of Africa. We probably spent well over an hour enjoying lively conversation about travel and exploration, not even touching on this actual trip, just getting to know each other and enjoying good company.

Another man walked over to our table and Rob excitedly exclaimed, “King Solomon!” Apparently, this was Solomon, our driver and guide for our walking safari in Arusha National Park tomorrow. We kept our casual conversation going, with Rob and Solomon explaining to us the cultural beliefs about chameleons and that they could either kill a man or make him impotent.

Finally, after about two hours, we got onto the topic of our actual trip. Our Kilimanjaro trek guide would meet us tomorrow evening and answer all of our questions for the mountain so for now we just needed to cover our bases for tomorrow. Since we would be out walking through the park on safari my main concern was if there were any bugs or reptiles we needed to be aware of that could cause serious harm or kill us. They found my question amusing, laughingly giving me a “respect the land and nature and you will be fine” type of answer, before finally confirming that no, there is nothing that could do serious damage. I had to explain to them how we have dangerous critters like black widows and rattlesnakes at home so they didn’t think I was just being dramatic with my question!

Long after the sun had gone down, Rob and Solomon peeled themselves away from us with the promise that we would see Solomon at 8am tomorrow for our safari. We all gushed with excitement, enjoying a delicious dinner in the lodge restaurant as we relished in each other’s company.

After dinner we convened back in my room and pooled together our cash to create our tip envelopes for tomorrow and for Kilimanjaro. We now have an idea of how many people will be with us and we already had the suggested tipping amounts so it’s just a matter of dividing all the money into envelopes by role. For Solomon and our ranger tomorrow, we’ll obviously tip then. For our support staff on the mountain, we’ll have individual envelopes ready to hand out at the tipping ceremony at the end of our trek. I read this as a suggestion in our planning and I highly recommend following our lead and getting all the tips ready in advance, you’ll thank yourself for doing it later.

I am so excited for tomorrow. I have heard that Arusha National Park wasn’t much of a “safari” and not the most interesting of land in the area but it the closest, offers the walking safari, and was the only destination really feasible for our free day tomorrow so I am hopeful that it will not disappoint.