The Journey to Kilimanjaro
December 2nd, 2007The journey begun on Sunday, November 18, 2007 with a knock on my door at 3:45 am. It was the Airport Shuttle right on time. I was ready so the driver loaded my luggage and we left my quiet neighborhood where I was certain everyone was still nicely tucked in bed doing what was expected of them-sleeping. I was ready for an adventure, I was traveling to Tanzania. The driver, Tom, informed me that he had to collect another passenger from Baltimore, drop him off at BWI then he’d proceed to Washington Dulles International where I was boarding my flight. Not a problem as my flight was leaving at 9:30 am anyway. So driving through the quiet streets of Baltimore (okay it was 5 am it had to be quiet) there wasn’t a soul on the streets. We arrived somewhere past St. Paul Street and the driver stopped. Before he could even get out of the van a young man approached us. I wasn’t sure if this was a traveler or not as he only had a small leather folder in hand. The man and driver exhanged words and before I knew it they were both on board.The man sat next to me and said good morning. I asked “Are you from East Africa?” He said yes. “Are you from Kenya?” He said yes. Jambo, I said and he said Jambo. So Tom, the man, and I talked and shared travel stories. The crazy things people say and do; the questions people ask about Africa. Do you have cars in Africa? We all laughed. Okay, which country on the continent of 50 plus countries are you referring to?The funniest stories I have to admit came from Tom the driver. He has picked up and dropped off a gizzilion travelers at the airport. Some of his passengers do not exactly enjoy flying so as you might guess this next story was about a passenger who was afraid of flying. As Tom shared it, he picked this woman up in the wee hours of the morning-he prefers the morning shift. The woman came on board and after they exhanged greetings she continued talking a mile a minute. Tom is a good conversationalist, however most people including Tom enjoy the exchange better than having to listen to a solo yapping passenger at 4 in the morning.The woman shared that she was terrified of flying and even three years after 9/11 she has not been on an airplane. Wasn’t it terrible what happened (absolutely). She is not sure what would happen as she boards her flight, etc. etc. This went on for 40 minutes or so. The Tom stopped to pick up another passenger. The woman did not miss a beat as she continued talking and didn’t even notice that Tom was not in the van. Tom returned with the new passenger and the woman was still talking. After 15 minutes of talking the woman turned and finally acknowledged the new passenger then proceeded to tell inform him about her fear of flying particularly because of 9/11. Then she decided to introduce herself-”I’m Mary” The other passenger said ” Mohamed” The woman held her head with both hands then started again, oh no I’m dead, this is not good, etc. etc.” They finally arrived at the airport with both Mary and Mohamed proceeding to the same airline. Tom does not know whether they were on the same flight or not. It may have been a blessing that Mohamed probably did not understand English or simply chose to ignore the whole situation.
By this time we had arrived at BWI, the Kenyan man departed and Tom and I continued on to Washington Dulles International Airport. I arrived, collected my luggage and proceeded to the Ethiopian Airlines counter which was tucked away in the back so I had to ask a couple of people to find them. I checked in, received my boarding pass and best of all rid myself of the extra luggage that had been checked all the way to Kilimanjaro. Now I only had my laptop and carry on with my camera and camcorder-the lighter burden was a very good thing.
We finally boarded the flight around 9 am and left Washington Dulles. I had a middle seat with an extra seat on eact side. Since the flight was light I was hoping no one would be assigned to the seats next to me so that I could sleep. I had also seen a couple of crying babies boarding and don’t get me wrong I have two kids, I love babies, but this was no time to be social as I needed to sleep so I was not happy when a mom and baby wanted to check out the seats next to me-after all there were many other empty seats on the plane-why me. I was relieved when they finally decided on other options. Soon after, another woman came and sat next to me. I tactfully informed her I was planning on stretching out and going to sleep. She wanted to sit there as her elderly mother was in a seat in front of us. The flight attended informed me of extra seats in the back, I checked them out they were indeed quiet and suitable for sleeping so I gave up my seat, packed up, and went to sleep.
I awoke to two or three meals served on the flight-very good meals indeed. I must have slept a long time because before long we had landed. I realized we were in Rome for refueling. After 35 minutes we took off again and this time landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, it is now Monday morning. Everyone disembarked and since I was proceeding to Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania I went to the transfer area. I got a boarding pass and waited.
This next flight was packed with no seat to spare. Same routine, we were fed more and more (good) food, snacks and drinks. It was a short flight so before I knew it we were landing at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya where all except 25 to 30 passengers disembarked from the plane. After a brief stay we took off again in the direction of Kilimanjaro. I quickly noticed that there was a group of about 20 on board-they wore identical t-shirts which gave them away a group. The shirts had a logo on th back “Everest 2008″ I asked one of the youngmen if they were going mount climbing in Tanzania. Unfortunately we could not communicate verbally as he spoke no English and I didn’t speak his language. I suspected that they were going to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro-the higest mountain in Africa, then Mt. Meru-third highest both of which were in Tanzania and probably Mt. Kenya iwhich is the second higest in Africa located in Kenya. These mountains would of course prepare them for Mt. Everest in 2008.
I also met a white Zambian man who lives and works in Addis Ababa and was on a business trip to Tanzania. Africans seldon identify the race, however I did because most people assume all Africans are black with the exception of South Africa. In any case during our conversation he infomed that there is a visible improvement in the standards of living in Zambia since the nation’s debt was cancelled. The debt cancellation has freed up additional money for health care, immunizations of children, education and many other local development initiatives that have already improved the quality of life. This was very good news because through African Travel Seminars I was privillaged to lead an organization of HIV/AIDS Activists to South Africa and Zambia in 2003. Their mission was to learn about the impact of HIV/AIDS on Southern Africa and also return to the US to lobby in support of debt cancellation for the poorest countries which included Zambia. I was smilling from ear to ear for many reasons. One reason the fact that debt cancellation has brought about tangible improvement. Secondly, some people in the deveopled world often assert that debt cancellation would not make a difference and that the poorer countries would mismanage resources and be back to square one-in effect debt cancellation would not work. I was thrilled to hear this good report from someone who works for one of the UN agencies.
Followin this discussion we landed in Tanzania at the Kilimanjaro International Airport. The plane landed smoothly as usual and taxid to the building but stoped several yards from the airport building. Everyone disembarked from the plane and we walked into the airport. After completing arrival forms we proceeded to immigration then collected our luggage with the aid of a free luggage cart. After this we went through customs. Those who arrived without visas had to of course join a different line, pay for the visa then go on from there.
I collected my luggage and customs was a breeze and out the door I went. I found a younman with a sign that said the sweetest name I needed to hear “Georgina” I walked up to him. He (Frank) was there to pick me up. Frank also had flowers for me, roses at that. I was home-well, my home for the next 10 days. Frank loaded my luggage on the vehicle and I went to sit in what I thought was the passenger seat. First mistake, I head Frank say with a smile. I was so tired and jet-lagged that though I knew Tanzanias drive on the wrong side (left side-that was a joke) I naturally just went to the right side of the car. That occasion was unfortunately not the only time I made that mistake either.
We left the airport and drove into town as I took in my suroundings and smelled the fresh air, enjoyed the cattle grazing in the fields, the shops dotting the roadside where people were buying and selling, and then we arrived at my lodge for check in. I am indeed in Tanzania; land of the Masai, Kilimanjaro, Serengeti. I will tell you more later
