Tuesday, January 25... today is the first day of my sabbatical.  Finally I am getting three months off with pay to just do what I want to do….  Wow, I am so blessed.  It felt great not to have to go to work, but strange.  I finished getting the last minute items done before I left, which included one last call to my director of product marketing to answer a few questions.  I do have to admit that I did stay up to 1:00am finishing paperwork and sending email.
 
The flight to Nairobi was long but I was excited to get there.  Thank goodness Bill got my tickets in first and business all the way there.  I left SFO at 1:50pm, noticing a couple who looked like they were going a safari.  Arrived in Frankfort (10 hours later) and went to the business lounge for a four hour layover.   The next flight was Frankfort to Istanbul (5 hours), they were serving dinner, but the only thing they had was venison covered in gravy, so I declined. 

Arrived in Istanbul and thinking I had a two hour layover found the nearest Burger King and order a chicken sandwich and ice tea.  For some reason, if you’re American they seem to assume you want the sweet tea.   Ironically there are more non-Americans eating at Burger King compared to the other more traditional food court vendors.  I looked at the boarding pass to see when the plane was going to be boarded and I only had 10 minutes and the gate was not even close, plus you have to go through a double screening.  I got to the screening section and it had a line, so I quickly munched done the sandwich and lucky it was sweet tea, so I didn’t feel bad not drinking it.  I went through screening and the plane was late.  

The flight from Istanbul was quick, about 1.5 hours.  I noticed again that the same American couple from SFO was on the flight.   Arriving in Nairobi at 1:30am, I got in line to get a visa, which should not have taken long, but it took over one hour.  They put in a new system that week which required registering anyone including locals by getting their picture and finger prints.  By the time I got downstairs, my luggage was there.  For as long as a flight we had, it seemed pretty easy…I got to see three movies, read four magazines, finish one book and even managed about six hours of sleep on the different planes.

It was great to see my driver waiting with my name.   He had a great smile and was concerned why it took so long to get through customs.   His name was Jackson.  I climbed in front with him and we started the journey to the Windsor hotel where Bill was staying.  I cannot believe the roads in such a large city.  Half of the roads are torn up, they are putting in a new freeway system and according to Jackson, and this project has been going on for years.  Fortunately it was 3:00 in the morning so there was not much traffic, but it was amazing to see streets turn from pavement to 4-wheel drive segments all the way to the hotel.  I could tell Jackson had been driving there for a long time as he knew where the pot holes were and how to maneuver his way around the half built roundabouts.  Also there is not much lighting on the streets and people cross all the time.  I was amazed at how well Jackson kept missing running over these people.  I saw a number of homeless fires burning on the way there.  Once we got to the hotel, the attendant could not find the note to allow me into Bill’s room, nor could she find any record of Bill staying at the hotel.  The mistake I made was not asking Bill for his room number.  Finally after a number of conversations with her and asking for a supervisor I got them to take me to Bill’s room # 313.  By then it was 3:45 am.  I was so happy to see Bill even if he was sleeping.   I went and took a quick shower, snuggled with Bill and went to sleep. 

Bill had to work on my “official” first day off so I could have slept in, but I was excited to be there and frankly really wanted to get an appointment with the spa.   My body needed a massage after such a long flight.   Bill mentioned on his way out that there was a five km walking/jogging trail around the perimeter of the golf course and that it had monkeys all along the way.  I got up and went to have breakfast.  It was a nice hotel, according to African stats it is a five star.  It was a bit run down, but you could tell that when it was first opened, it was a grand hotel.  I loved the decor and the atmosphere.  Breakfast was fabulous.  Not sure if that was because I was starving or because it was really good.  I had sauteed spinach, roasted tomatoes, fresh mango, bananas, and a really great vegetarian omelet.    During breakfast I read a very interesting article about a 23 year old woman who was going around to villages educating people on AIDS and how they can be cured.  When she was seven years old her parents were killed in a car crash and she went to live with an elder sister and her family.  When she was 14 she felt really sick at school and through a number of tests they found out that she had AIDS.  She was infected in the womb.  She had no idea and in her eyes, she said that she thought the only people who got AIDS were people who were filthy prostitutes and had unprotected sex while not being married. Her belief was that you only had sex when you were married.  At first her sister was helpful and paid for and took her to treatments but after a few months, she noticed that her sister did not want her to touch her nieces and nephews, and even the sister backed away from hugs.  Even the kids at school once they found out started treating her as if she were a contagious disease.  Finally her sister kicked her out and fortunately her doctors got her into a facility of like children and she was able to finish school with top honors, and with treatment the disease has gone dormant or possibly cured.    She is happily married with one child and wants people to understand that AIDS is not the original stereotype, but instead infects many unknown suspects, especially children who did nothing wrong except be born.  Apparently she is making a difference and I just really felt proud of a woman who went through so much and came out with passion and conviction.

Monkeys on the golf course

Monkey’s on the trail, right in front of where I was walking

I had my massage at 11:00 with a woman named Maggie.  She was very good, but I don’t think she likes her job that much.   Afterwards, I showered and then hung out at the pool reading and watching all the different people.  I guess this particular hotel is also considered a country club as it has a golf course and a pool, so most of the people at the pool were locals.  There were many happy kids in the pool and most had a nanny who did most of the work.  The mothers did play in the pool with the kids.  I had lunch while Bill came to see me and then went up to the room to shower and get ready to move to the Fairmont Norfolk Hotel in downtown Nairobi.  Jackson came at 4:00 to get us but we didn’t get out to the van until 4:45.  The traffic was unbelievable.  Not only did he have to deal with unpaved roads, once we got closer to town, there were no stop lights, stop signs, or lines in the street.   There were small vans that would have 12 people in them, motorcycles that are considered taxis, big buses filled with people, private taxies, and cars all piling up in the same roundabout going the wrong way to try to get through.  In many cases the vehicles would drive upon the sidewalks to pass the other cars.  Many times, people would get out of the cars to direct traffic, usually to their benefit.  Once you would get through one jam, another one would be around the corner.  It was crazy!  As we reached closer to the middle of downtown, the police were directing traffic and I even saw a few stop lights.  We finally reached our destination and met with James (the Kenyan tour representative) who told us what to expect in the next few days in Rwanda. 

We were also notified of a schedule change to our flight; we had to leave on an earlier flight.  They would give us our new e-ticket in the morning.   While we were checking in the power went out and the attendant acted like nothing had happen and continued to give us directions on where our room was.  We had dinner at the hotel at a place called Tatu.  I had grilled tuna and broccoli and it was really good, Bill had beef filet, which turned out to be about 3 oz of meat and a huge baked potato that got ruined when Bill thought he was putting butter on the potato but it turned out to be sour (as in really soured) cream.   The prices were too high for the size of the proportions.   During dinner the power kept going off and on and when we got to the room, the hotel was still running on the generator.    That in itself is not a big deal but what they don’t allow is air conditioning on the generator.  We got to the room and it was really hot in there, but there was nothing we could do because you could not open the sliding glass door as it did not have a screen and mosquitoes are your enemy at night and early dawn. Bill said the monitor in the room stated it was over 92 degrees in the room.  Neither of us slept well and got up at 5:00 to take a shower and meet Jackson at 6:00 in the lobby.   While we were getting ready Bill could not stand it and open the door some and sure enough the room filled with mosquitoes almost immediately.  I killed five within minutes.  I got one bite on my arm on the backside near my wrist.  We arrived at the airport and got to the gate with no problems.  It is a small airport but it was busy and lots of flights going out. 

We arrived in Kigali, Rwanda on time, no visa is required for Americans and our luggage was waiting for us, but there was no driver waiting for us.  Bill saw this one couple get picked up, ironically the same couple who had been on the flights to Kenya with me, and thought it may have been for us.  We waited for about 20 minutes and Bill called our agent.  They were surprised that we were not picked up and said they would call us back with a status.   Of course the status was they will be there in a few minutes, or they said they picked you up.   I went and got a coffee, diet coke, and banana bread for us ($7 usd).    We did finally get picked up by an overly apologizing driver named Simba.  Really, his name is Simba.   His grandfather was a hunter in one of the villages and for some reason loved the name Simba.   He told us that the agency in Rwanda was not updated on the change, just as Bill thought.   He said first we had to go by the office so that the paperwork was arranged and correct and then he would drive us the two hours to our destination to see the mountain gorillas.  The first thing that I noticed about Rwanda, which is so much smaller than Kenya, was their freeway and road infrastructure was that of a large city in the States, Europe or Asia.  I was so happy about that! 

Once we arrived at the office, Simba introduced us to Rachael, she was the same girl that was at the airport to meet the other American couple.  She also felt very bad and made sure our departure information was correct.  It wasn’t, but we had the paperwork and she fixed it.  They asked us if we wanted to visit the genocide dedication and we declined, as both of us have read and understood how awful a period that was for Rwanda and also seen many specials on the subject as well as the dedication site.   I didn’t want to be sad, just like I was when we went to the Pearl Harbor dedication in Hawaii.  During the drive up, Simba drove us around the town of Kigali, after the genocide you can tell that the country leadership really made an effort to organize the city in sections and make sure there was even competition.  We traveled through the food markets, textile markets, retail, etc.   He said that people are not allowed to sell on the street, for example, there were many women holding baskets of vegetables on their head and if the police were to catch them they would be in trouble and told to leave.  Most of the city is made up of Catholics, Baptists, and Protestants, but in the last few years there has been a small migration of Muslims.  Simba then took us through the Muslim neighborhood that had two mosques. 

Later as we got to know Simba better, we found he held a strong prejudice against the Muslims.  He told us that he does not understand how a God would think that the more people you kill gets you closer to heaven.  Bill tried his best to educate Simba that the Islam is a peaceful religion and unfortunately there is a small proportion of people in that religion that interpetes the Muslims’ beliefs incorrectly and these is not representative of the real Muslims.  I don’t think he believed it, but at least Bill tried.   The drive up was awesome, lots of winding roads, but we got to see and be educated on the many small villages along the way.  Both of us were amazed at the women who could hold huge baskets full of items on top of their heads.   In one village, they are building a community center and there was a woman who had five bricks high and three or four across walking across the street to deliver the bricks.  She was barefoot and did not even use her hands to hold onto the bricks!  We also saw many children carrying items this way including five gallon jugs of water across their backs.  What amazed me the most is that these children age’s two to four are pretty much left on their own to play outside without any parents around.  We were on a heavy traffic road and these children were out basically on the edge of where we were driving, waving hi and playing.  The older children (age’s four to seven) were all working in some manner, either cleaning, carrying jugs of water, carrying potatoes, corn, etc home.  Again, there were no adults walking with them, they knew their job and they were doing it.   In America (not talking rural) you would never see this happen.  Parents are too afraid to even let their children outside to play even in gated communities, and could you imagine giving them chores to do and asking them to walk miles down to the store and bring back a 5lb bag of potatoes home?

Some of the homes outside of Kigali

One of the larger villages on the way to Gorilla’s Nest

We arrived at the Gorilla’s Nest around 2:00 in the afternoon.  This is the same hotel that the crew and actors stayed at when they were filming Gorillas In the Mist.  It is a pretty cool hotel.  For Africa standards it is considered a higher end hotel.   It is run down, but the staff is great and accommodating, the food was decent and the upkeep of the grounds is immaculate.  We ordered lunch and noticed that all the other tables in the room were filled by Germans.  At first it did not appear that they were together, but all of a sudden a man started talking loud in the room and a few of the others listened to him and one man talked back.  They had just come back from their hike to see the mountain gorillas.   When you walk out to your rooms you are surrounded by a huge eucalyptus forest with huge crows cackling through the trees.  To get to our room (#39) we had to cross over a covered wooden bridge.  At first I was intimidated by the bridge but after three days I mastered it.   The opening after the bridge greets you with a garden of all types of flowers, but what most stands out is rows of yellow flowers lining the path.  The room was nice and there was a great breeze moving through the room.  

Bill was really tired as he really hadn’t slept well in four days so I went off and explored the grounds and read a book while Bill got in four hours of needed sleep.    Around 6:00 we went over to the bar and got a nice cold Primus beer and it was now obvious that the Germans were indeed a (boisterous) group.   They were having a very good time at the bar and getting pretty loud.  We went to the dining room and ordered dinner.  Right before dinner arrived we heard live music coming into the hotel lobby and went to see what was going on.  It was a local village group of adolescents and teens singing and dancing traditional songs.  It appeared they were songs wishing for safe travel and to come back soon.   They sang and danced for about 20 minutes and then invited the guests to dance with them.   Of course, I got up to dance and had a great time!  It was great music and I felt like I was in my Zumba class.  Later that evening a father and son from Tasmania, Australia arrived.  The son, Evan, had just graduated from high school and his father, Gordon, gave him a father and son trip to Africa. They had just visited Botswana and said it was magical.  They were going to be traveling throughout east Africa for the next three weeks.  When they arrive home, they will have been gone 31 days.  What a great present!

Gorilla’s Nest Main Lobby, Bar, and Dining rooms

The bridge we had to cross to get to room	The path after the bridge to our room

During the middle of the night, half of the bed caved in.  Bill got up to look at it and saw that it has been repaired many times.  So we spent a “toss and turn” night on half of the bed without much rest.  The next morning we had to meet up with Simba at 6:30 am, so I had breakfast, Bill was not hungry as we were really excited to get going to see the mountain gorillas - we were supposed to be back by noon, so he'd just have a good lunch. That decision came back to haunt him!  We arrived at the staging area around 7:15am and were greeted by François, the head park ranger.  He asked us if we needed low, medium, or high, which we took to mean, easy, medium, or hard trails.  So we choose low as we wanted to see what that detailed before we tried something harder the next day.  I said, we will choose low because of Bill and his knee, but if it were up to me I would choose hard (later regretting that statement). They only take sixteen groups of eight people each day.  It costs each person $500.  Eight groups are tourists, while the other eight are researchers.  They then pull together the groups based on their preferences and you are introduced to your guide.  Our guide’s name was Vincent.  He has been a guide for over five years.  Vincent went over the gorilla family we were going to meet; the family consisted of one silverback (the head of the group), four females, two babies, and two adolescents.  The silverback was named Charlie.  The group name is Umubano. Our (people) group consisted of an elderly couple in their late 70’s, a couple in their late 20’s, and then the couple who had been following me since California!   Their names are David and Carol, they live in Southern California and we hit it off with them.  They are in their 60’s and retired from Alcatel Lucent with a great pension package and were enjoying their time traveling the world.    Once the groups are briefed you are driven to the trail head. 

This is the mountain we climbed	Vincent our guide

Our trial head was not too far away, but the road to get there was truly a 4-wheel drive experience. There were rocks all over the road, no pavement, and of course bicycles, babies, men and women walking with large items on their heads joining us on the road.  Simba is an amazing driver to avoid hitting anyone and getting us there safely.  At the trail head (7500’ in altitude…keep this in mind) you are asked if you want a porter to help you on the trail.  They explained to us that these porters are from the local village and are being encouraged to save the gorillas and other animals in the forest as before they and their families were poachers and would steal or kill the animals. It cost $10 per porter so we asked for one to carry Bill’s heavy camera bag.   Our porter’s name was Bousco and he had a very friendly smile.  They gave us walking sticks and we were on our way.  To get to the “wall” we had to walk through the village fields passing people working in the fields, washing their laundry in the waterholes, and children playing.  I loved saying “hello” to the kids as they would get great big smiles and say “hello” back.  They are so cute but it was interesting to see that most of them had runny noses and flies around their faces. The flies did not even bother them.  The “wall” is the area where the forest begins, the reason they call it the wall is because they had to build a large rock wall between the village and the forest as the water buffalo and antelope were coming down at night and would raid and ruin their crops. 

It took us about 45 minutes to reach the wall and we were already sweating and then found ourselves climbing a ladder to climb up to start the hike to find the family.  Vincent introduced us to a guard with an AK47.  We were told not to worry, they guard was there to protect us from charging water buffalo or an angry Silverback.  As we started the hike up the mountain, Vincent was communicating with the trackers who were giving directions to our destination.  Thirty minutes passed and we were all breathing hard and had been stung by nettles and pretty much asked for a break.  Vincent checked again with the trackers and was told that the gorillas were on their way down but still pretty far up.  Vincent asked if we wanted to wait or keep going, we said keep going. When asked how much longer he said soon but he was not too sure but it was going to be very steep.  The elderly couple was asked to come up front as the woman was having a hard time.  We started again and believe it or not, the vertical climb was really super steep and it was up and down crevices.  I finally had to give my camera and bag to Bouscoe and he had to hold my hands in tight areas so I would not fall.  I am so thankful he was there!  We stopped for another break after 30 minutes to take a bathroom break.  Vincent said the whole forest has bathrooms, but the rules are #1 is ok at anytime, but if you need #2 then you have to dig a hole before and then bury it.  They do this because they do not want the gorillas to get susceptible to human diseases because 97% of their DNA is just like humans.  Now we are two hours into this hike.  It is really hard for Bill to breathe at this altitude (now around 9000’) and all of us except the 27 year olds are breathing hard and asking “are we there yet?  He checked in with the trackers and said we were only about thirty minutes more away.  This break area had a large tree we dubbed the “thirty minute tree”.  

We started off again and a porter who had a machete literally was cutting new trails for us to walk through.  The nettles were everywhere, and when they sting you, it feels like you are being attacked with thousands of needles with some kind of stinging poison lasting about two to four minutes.  It does not leave any marks, but you can really feel the sting.  Finally 3 ½ hours later (and 90 minutes from the 30 minute tree) the trackers finally appeared!  This meant that the gorillas were only about 50 meters away.  We were so tired that I don’t think any of us gave a cheer. But I do remember Bill looking at his iPhone GPS and stating that we had climbed over 4500 feet in altitude (now putting us over 11,000!) and were pretty close to the top of the huge mountain range.  

In order to see the gorillas you cannot take any bags, walking sticks, food, or water.  It’s just you and your cameras.  You can only stay one hour and then you have to leave.  The porters stayed behind while we continued with Vincent who then was using the machete again to break a trail for us to get to Charles family.  I, of course, not having Bouscoe’s hands holding me up, fell backwards right into a full nettle plant.  I almost started crying because the entire backside of my body was stinging.  Luckily it only lasted about three minutes which was just in time for us to see the gorillas!  Wow, it was so cool!  It was after 12:00 and they were in a resting state.  Charles was sleeping and the mothers were trying to sleep but the three toddlers wanted to play.   They were so cute.  They would climb up higher in the tree and then jump on the poor mother’s bellies while they were trying to sleep.  A few times I caught the mothers kissing and grooming their babies. We were all getting some great pictures; the trackers and Vincent were very good at clearing the foliage and letting us in close around 5-10 feet.   About 45 minutes into our session, Bill started feeling dizzy-headed and lost balance, mostly from high altitude but I also believe it was because he had not eaten for over 15 hours and was suffering from heat exhaustion.    He sat down to start feeling better.  Charles finally woke up and decided he had enough of us staring at him so he moved into the tree’s some more followed by the babies.   The trackers then broke through about 30 feet up where Charles was and I climbed up to get some great pictures of him playing with the babies.  I also got a great picture of him yawning, man, this silverback was huge and his teeth were really big and sharp.   I would not want to get him mad at me! 

The terrain of the mountain, you can see it is lots of up and down to get to your destination	The terrain where we were able to start taking pictures

Charlie with a female and baby	Baby eating

Charlie yawning	Charlie wanting to go back to sleep

There are two sounds that a silverback will make, if they are happy with you, they will make a sound like. MMMMMOOOOOOMMM, if they are irritated and a sign you should quit taking pictures and stand still is when they make the sound, HENHUH, HENHUH, HENHUH.  Fortunately for us we did not make them irritated.   Once the hour was up, we were told that we were going to head back down.  We went back to where the porters were and gave the trackers a tip for finding the family.  The way up was three and a half hours….and the only way back was the same way we came.  So we were really not looking forward to that because going down was going to be just as hard because we had so many up and down crevices and Bill was really suffering at this point.  So were the lady and Carol who has foot issues.  So on the way down, we would ask for him to stop more often.  We finally made it off the mountain but still had to walk through the village to get to the vehicles.  During the hike down, I thought it was interesting that not one person talked, not about the experience not how cool the gorillas were, we just were silent. 

Once we got to the parking area, the guides asked if anyone was going to go tomorrow and besides us, Carol and Dave said they were.  But we only wanted to do it if they found an easier hike because we were too old for these type of endurance tests!   We said our goodbyes and Bill asked Simba to find some Coke (and he hates Coke AND sugar) as he really felt he needed to get his blood sugar up.   Simba went to the first village and went to get the Coke.  The area were parked was where a lot of the teenagers were hanging out and one of the girls came up to the jeep where I had my arm outside the window and swatted my arm.  I said hello and they just stared at me.  Vincent who was driving down with us told them off and all the kids disappeared.  Bill was so thankful when Simba gave him not one, but two Cokes.   We then went back to the lodge arriving at 3:30.  We split a hamburger and went to the room to have a quick nap.   When we went back to the main lodge for dinner we meet a very interesting couple, Elizabeth and Brent who are 27 and 30.  I noticed that Elizabeth had on a Colorado sweatshirt and so I asked her if she was from Colorado and she said no, Florida, but thought Colorado was a beautiful place.   Bill got into a conversation with them and found out that Elizabeth had graduated from Nashville with a hospitality degree and when she graduated she moved to Kigali, Rwanda.  She’s been living there for over five years and two years ago she and Brent started a school for Rwanda women to get a certificate in the hospitality industry.  Tourism is the biggest industry for Rwanda.  Brent, her boyfriend, is self employed as an investor and fund raiser consulting for opportunities he believes in.  He was born and raised in Hong Kong and spends time going back and forth from Kigali and Hong Kong.  The second year of their school is just started and they now have over 120 students and staff that can help support the school.  Elizabeth said that the Rwanda government has been very generous and has just given them property right outside of Kigali to renovate an old school property.  It was really cool to see this young couple who really wanted to make a difference in the world and had the gumption to make it happen.   

When we returned to the room, the bed was fixed, thank goodness, because we were exhausted from our day of hiking.  We figured it was 9-11 miles starting at 7500’ climbing up to over 11,000!  I talked to Gordon and Evan and they said that their hike was just as brutal, and another man who wasn’t that friendly said that he did not arrive back until 6:30 and that his family of 29 gorillas were very active and they spent over five hours hiking to find them, and it was all in a bamboo forest where they spent most of their time bent over while making the climb up.  This was his second time to see the same family and he said it just must have been something in the moon or sun that made all the families move up the mountain that day.

Our second morning in Rwanda we woke up and the bed had not broken!  We both had a great night sleep, it’s a wonder what a strenuous workout will do for your sleep.  There was a woman next door to us named Mary.  She was an ambassador for the International Health commission.  She was very spunky, but you could tell she had just gotten over chemo therapy.  We were walking to breakfast with her and she said on a whim she decided to hire a driver and come up to go see the mountain gorillas.  She had bought a $6 pair of flat Chinese tennis shoes for the hike.   She told us that she had hip surgery about six months ago.  After yesterday’s experience I was not sure she was going to make it.  Not because of her health issues, she sure showed the gumption to make anything happen; it was more about the shoes she was wearing.  We warned about our experience and suggested that   she talk to the guides to find out what hiking trail would be the safest for her.   Around 6:50, Simba had not shown up and we found out that he had experienced a flat tire so he had someone else pick us up. The couple in the Range Rover that he sent over was from Venezuela, Pablo and Suzy.   We got to the sorting area and Simba showed up, he also bought Bill two Cokes and said he would rather be safe than sorry from yesterday’s experience.  When we finally got in our group, we were happy to see Dave and Carol!  We laughed about yesterday’s experience and hoped that it would not be the same today.  I was concerned about Bill and we agreed that once we got to the trail and if it started to look like it was going to be a long vertical hike we would ask to turn around.   Suzy and Pablo also joined us along with a couple from London named Angela and Mark.  We were all about the same age which we felt was a good sign. Angela told us the day before they were with six 27 year old couples and they didn’t stop at all during the long hike up the trail.  They actually had a longer hike then we did!  Our new guide was Fidel.  He was from the village and was a super nice guy.  

He told us our family was a group called Hirwa which means Lucky.  We said we hoped so.  We got to the trail head and it was beautiful.  It was a smaller entry and it contained fields of flowers, potatoes and eucalyptus trees.  As we started walking I kept looking at how far and tall the mountain was and told Bill we should just turn around and go see the twin lakes and take pictures of the villagers, but he was insistent that we move forward and not make our decision until we reached the wall.   We reached the wall in about 45 minutes.   What was cool is that Fidel kept stopping every ten minutes to tell us something about the village.  We got to the wall and the trackers were there.  I could not believe it, I almost thought it was a mirage.  We were both ecstatic, because we knew we were not climbing the mountain.  So we left our items with the porters and followed the trackers into the bamboo and nestles.  It was great, the family was very active.  There was one silverback, four females, two adolescents, and five babies.  It was thrilling watching them move as we followed.  We got some great pictures and unfortunately, I stepped in gorilla poo and got it on my pants as I was knelling down to take pictures.  Everyone had a great time and the hour seem to go by too quickly.  We went back to the porters and started our hike back to the parking lot.  All the way down everyone kept talking about how much easier it was and how cool it was to see the gorillas so active.  We found out from Fidel that the reason yesterday was hard was because Charlie’s family had been in a location where the silverback who is bigger than Charlie decided he wanted that spot.  Charlie could have fought for the location, but if he lost it meant that the other silverback could take his women, so Charlie had to move his family.   Charlie took his family farther than normal to get out of the other silverback’s claimed territory.  As big as Charlie was, the other silverback had to be HUGE!

Our trackers and Fidel our guide	John our Porter
The Silverback	A baby that jumped down to see me
Females with babies

Simba joined us for lunch at the hotel.  He is a very entertaining man.  He said that many of the trackers and drivers asked if Bill was Bill Clinton.  We laughed and Bill said his birthday was on the same day as Bill Clinton but that is as far the resemblance goes.   We were talking about all the different types of people that Simba gets to meet and he told us a story about a 92 year old woman who really wanted to see the gorillas.  He knew she would never make it up the mountain and went to the park ranger and told him of his dilemma as he felt very sad for this woman.   They worked with the village and created a carrying cot something like the Egyptians used to carry the royalty and had the porters use long sticks to hold the cot and carry the women up to see the gorillas. When she got off the mountain she was crying and so happy that she experienced the gorillas and told Simba that she wanted her husband to experience it as well.   When he showed up, he was 97 years old.  Simba about fainted but they did the same thing and the man was also very thankful.  That year they both died.  It made him feel good that they got their wish to see the gorillas.   He also told us funny stories when he left Kigali to do training in Kenya and the first thing that was strange to him was the people movers in the airport.  He said he kept watching people get on and off, wondering why they were getting on a bus at an airport, and then had to work really hard to figure out how to get on the moving sidewalk.  Then when he got to the luggage claim there were moving steps and he really had a hard time trying to figure out how to get on, so he tried and grabbed on to the railing but it moved as well and he ended up falling down the stairs.  When he got to the hotel, he found moving doors going around and around and had to stand outside for quite some time to figure out how to get through them.  It was hilarious watching his animation with his hands and eyes telling the story.   

He then went on to tell us that in Rwanda you are suppose to live with your parents until you get married.  His mother‘s friends say things to her about “What is wrong with Simba, why are you letting him live in Kigali, what good is he up to?”  I guess that the mother is supposed to pick the wife for their son’s.   Simba said that he wants to live life and he is not ready to get married.  He is 35 years old, which is hard to believe, and why should he get married, it is nothing but a problem, plus to get married you have to buy cows to barter for your wife and it costs $300 a cow.  He would need $3000 to even get a good wife.  In a way it was crazy hearing him talk about having to have cows to buy a wife, but as we have been traveling through the country, we knew it still is a big thing.  He said he is building a house in the village that he is from and when he is ready he will have one child, just one.  I asked him if he had any brothers or sisters and the tone of the conversation changed.  He told us that all of his family except one cousin and one good friend were all killed during the genocide.  Talk about a downer, I felt horrible.  He then excused himself as he needed to do laundry and go to church. 

That night while we were sitting down for dinner we were invaded by a bus filled with Chinese.  It was crazy, they came into the lobby and you could tell that a few of the women were really whining.  We decided to hurry up and eat dinner so we could be done before they came into the dining room.   Right when we were leaving the poor staff looked like aliens had invaded them.  A few of them said to me, wow, they don’t even understand English.  The poor guide had her hands full!

The next morning we had breakfast and most of the Chinese were outside waiting for the rides, except one.   This woman showed up in the dining room with sandals to go hiking up the same mountain we had done.  She also decided she needed breakfast even though everyone else was ready.  The guide came in and told her it was time to go, but she ignored her and ordered a hot breakfast.   We were really glad we were getting out there!  Simba picked us up and we drove the two hours back to Kigali.  On the way back Simba stopped to ask a woman to show me how she wraps her baby on her back, they were very nice and let us take a picture.  Since we were early, Simba drove us around the new part of Kigali which was the marquee recovery from the genocide.  It was amazing how much money has been poured into the country.   The president of the country is Paul Kagame and seems to have a really good head on his shoulders, bringing harmony to the two religion sects, Hutu and Tutsi.  

They are moving the shanty towns out of the city limits but are paying the occupants to move them and also give them land to live on.   The way they evict someone is to put a big number on the house and a time limit.  Typically this is one year.  These homes (if you can call them that) are really falling apart and are really dangerous for these people.  He then took us to some new housing developments and we were stunned.  These were mansions and we were told were over $1M each.  I don’t know who can afford these after what we saw the last few days and I pray that doesn’t mean that corruption has come to Rwanda.  It may be that there is a lot of opportunity, which I do believe, and these are investors moving in.  At one point, even though we know it was wrong, we thought, we should look at a McDonalds investment here as there are no American fast food in Rwanda or even in Nairobi.  But we corrected ourselves. J    We got to the airport safely and ran into Mark and Angela, the London couple from our second day of hiking!  We spent a couple of hours with them talking and exchanging email addresses to share pictures when we get back.  We spent the night in Nairobi.   All in all, I had seven bug bites from Rwanda, two on my right front forearm, one on the back of the right forearm, one on the back of my right upper arm, one on the left side of my stomach closest to my waist, one on my left bun check, and one on my right inside bottom leg. Bill came out with no bug bites.

Newborn wrapped around her Mom

We woke up the next morning, Tuesday, Feb 1, 2011, to no hot water.  I was pissed.  The rooms are in a Fairmont and cost us $300 a night.  If we were in some $50 a night room, no big deal, but….  Anyway, that didn’t start my day off the best, needless to say.  Jackson picked us up with James and on the way to the local airport James told us about the flight.  He said that we were on a really small plane, they have parachutes if need be.  Our flight would only take 45 minutes, but the plane had multiple stops.  Then he showed us one of the planes on the field, a rundown awful looking plane and said that was it.  Talk about not laughing at this attempt at humor.  He was teasing, but neither Bill nor I are fans of really small planes. 

The plane held about 18 people and we had only nine people on the flight.  We were the second stop, but this was only five minutes from the first stop.  Flying in to theMasai Mara was awesome.  We flew over a number of zebra herds.  We landed on a dirt landing strip and William was there to pick us up.  We were fortunate to immediately see a number of topi (they look like gazelles but much bigger) we are told both the female and male get horns.  We then drove along and saw more zebras and a small heard of elephants.  It was crazy! 

William then took us to a local Masai tribe village where we were greeted by the Chief and Andrew.  They wanted $30.00 each for the right to hear their history, get a welcome dancing, and take as many pictures as we want.  The rule in Africa is you can’t take pictures of people unless you get permission.  I felt we were being taken for, but after being here a few days I think it is our price of admission to be on their land.  It was somewhat interesting, Andrew showed us some tress that use for medical purposes.  They don’t believe in modern medicine unless they have done everything they can do to help a person.  The first tree held leaves that they use for malaria, he said that they like to get infected with malaria to build up their immune system and this leaf made up as a tea helps them with the aches and pains (Bill thought this sounded like a bunch of crock).  He also said they use the bark of that tree to create a stew that you drink to keep your health up or ease other aches and pains.  The second tree’s leaves were used for sore muscles and arthritis.  They also use the thick stems of the tree as tooth brushes as they felt it had antiseptic that can keep your teeth healthy.  But when they smile, their teeth don’t look healthy and have lots of brown dots on them.   He said that the babies are all born in the village unless there are complications and then they are taken to the local clinic.  After that he had a couple of men show us how they start fires for cooking and keeping the insects away.  Bill was pretty bored at this point, it was just the old scouting trick of taking dried grass, getting a stick and stone (in their case, they used a softer wood) and using your hands to rotate the stick to create friction to start the fire.  Andrew then told us that the Masai are polygamists and have been since the beginning.  Each husband can marry as many women as they want as long as they have cows to afford the wives.   Until a man or female marries they have to stay with their parents or can stay with their grandparents.  Females get married between 13 and 15 years old.  The male can get married after he turns 27 years old.  But until they are 27 years old and become warriors, they are allowed to have relationships with 9-13 year old girls, as they have not had their period yet and won’t chance getting pregnant. A girl of this age can have up to three lovers and the parents are fine with this.   Having babies outside of marriage is frowned upon, and if a girl does have a baby, she and the baby or ousted from the village.   Many of the men in his village have 5-6 wives.  Each wife has an average of five children. 

The women in the village do all the hard work, cooking, cleaning, building fences around the village, building homes, getting the firewood, growing and tending the gardens and taking care of the children.  The males who are not married or younger stay behind to protect the village while the other men are out shepherding the cattle, sheep, and goats.  In the evening the males take turn making sure that wildlife does not attach the cattle which are put in a cattle bind made of sticks with gates in the middle of the village.   Each wife gets a home of her own and the husband has to treat each wife the same, he cannot favor one over the other and will spend each night with a different wife until all are covered and then start the rounds again.  We were able to go into one of the homes; a hut is a better word.  The house is first framed with wood sticks and poles in a square that can’t be more than 16X16.  Then mud with grass is mixed and put all around the house including the roof.  It is a square flat roof. The floors are hard dirt.  They divide the house in 3 parts, a very small entry which you can use as a sitting area, a second area behind the sitting area is for the goat and sheep to sleep at night.  The third area is the kitchen and bedrooms.  The kitchen is just a rock area that you can make fire with; there is a hole in the wall for the smoke to release.  The other side is a small area that is a flat area with dried cow skins that the children can sleep on (children meaning from 0-27 in some cases), the other side is another flat area but divided in two one side for the husband to sleep and the other for the mother.   The walls are covered with drawings that the kids draw using sticks and making paints out of the grasses and dirt in the area.  

The village females and young males entertained us with a few dances.  Most of the young women were pregnant and already had babies on their backs.  They sang very well and were very friendly.  The males showed us a competition dance where they jump as high as they can and who ever can jump the highest seems to get the envy of all the men, because the girls like the one who can jump the highest.  They then escorted us to the village market where we could buy locally made crafts.  They had lots of beaded jewelry and belts and wood sculptures but we declined and said our goodbyes.  Frankly, we felt a little put off as this seemed more like a tourist trap then anything.  We both bet that once the sun went down, they all stayed in nicer homes than the huts they presented to us.

Andrew showing us three trees that they use for medicine	Elder with decorated ears
Each wife builds their own mud house	Inside, there are 3 rooms, this is the main room
Women in village	Doing a dance with Bill and I
Children in the village

We made it up to the camp, Mara West.  The road to Mara West is crazy.  It is not paved and it is very rocky and has lots of tire ruts that are too deep to drive through.   We were in a van, and I don’t know how William made it up in some of the places in the road.   We were greeted with lots of zebras hanging out by the lobby of the camp!  Our room is a tent but attached to a wall that has a full size bathroom in it.  We look over the bluffs onto the Masai Mara (the western most part of the Serengeti)!  While we were being briefed by Rose, a giraffe walked by and she said go outside and get closer.  It was so tall, Bill said he could walk under it.  It was not afraid of us, it just stared at us while we were only 10-15 feet away and made its way on.   Rose said we were lucky that giraffes rarely come through the camp!  We had a nice dinner and meet a number of young nurses who are here volunteering for 9-18 months in the clinic.  They had a different story then Andrew, the Masai don’t like getting infected with Malaria and nine out of ten times they are giving them medication to get over it (so Bill was right about the crock story).  Also, the death rate for births is three to five.  Since the clinic has been open, they perform 18-25 births a month, typically a c-section, as these 13 year olds are not large enough to deliver a baby.  It is so sad.  They also said this is the tribe that does female circumcision.  They try to educate that they should not do this, but they insist it is their right and that their husbands go through circumcision, so it’s their right to do the same.  The volunteers are trying a new tactic, by talking and training the adolescents in school to see if they can change their ways.  Girls were not allowed to go to school from this tribe until the last four years, so it will be interesting to see if education works.  So far, they are seeing positive results. 

Baby zebra outside tent	Giraffe crossing our path to our tent
Our tent, you can see the back of the tent has a built in bathroom.	My kinda camping!

At 4:00pm, William took us out for an evening game drive.  Wow!   The first thing besides all the zebras, impalas, and topis along the way, we first pulled in where a number of people were watching a lioness and a lion resting.  We were too far away to get a good picture, but I did get a good silhouette.  During the next one and a half hours we saw lots of giraffes, wart hogs, water bucks, water buffalo, & elephants.  It is crazy to watch the elephants eating from the trees… they just grab a bunch of leaves and branches and munch.  We were told that the elephants have killed many of the trees.  We saw a number of giraffes and Bill got one on video doing a happy dance!  I don’t know what started it but it started jumping around and it looked so funny!  As we returned to the camp, it started raining really hard, we got soaked as we made it back to our room.

Silhouette of Lioness

During the evening we meet a man who is an Adventist preacher who has been fundraising for Africa for many, many years.  He is an investor in this camp and has helped bring funding for six schools, the clinic, and a church.  His name is Terry Clem.  His non-profit is call TLC Humanitarian International Missions, his wife is some famous doctor named Kathy.  She has opened up numerous clinics internationally as well as in Southern California.   I really admire people who take this on and really believe in it.  I do believe he does believe in it, but I have never been around a preacher who can’t talk about anything except himself (and every once in a while, his wife).  They have homes in Southern California, Vermont which they had a custom home built from a old barn, one in Nairobi and he bought both his daughters Chevy Escalades for Christmas this year.   Every time someone would try to change the subject, it somehow always ended up about him.  It was crazy; we had to leave the dining room along with another couple because we were so disgusted by it (although Bill thought it was pretty funny stuff, as the guy invariably didn’t know what he was talking about).  All the electricity goes off at 10:00pm, so we were in the room and asleep by 9:30! In the morning, they start fires for the water broilers attached to the tents at 4:30am so you have hot water from 5:00am until 8:00am. 

Broiler that warms the water that is routed to the tent water tank

At 6:30, Rose delivered fresh coffee, sugar cookies, and milk for us in our room!  It was great; we got up looked over the Serengeti as the sun was rising.   Bill went in to take a shower and he was in there for about 5 minutes and came out and said there is no hot water.  I could not go another day with no hot water, so Bill said don’t take one until we get back.  They are supposed to warm the water again from 4:30pm until 8:00pm.  So I got dress and went up for breakfast.  As I walked over to the dining room tent, there were zebras everywhere.  By then, we had seen so many zebras, I wasn’t even that excited, and it was like “oh, look at that, there are some more zebras”.   Bill told Rose that his wife was NOT happy, and that when we get back, please have hot water.  She was very apologetic and said she would take care of it.  During breakfast we meet a couple from Seattle.  They reminded us of Uncle Jim and Aunt Kathy.  I think they are very close in age as well, John (the spitting image of Jim) and Michelle (with all the mannerisms of Kathy).  They had just retired a few years back and had been living in Alexandria, Louisiana.   She had a contract as an HR specialist for five years.  They moved back to Seattle two weeks before Katrina.   John is a chef and had a catering business.  They had meet 22 years ago on a blind date.  Her friends had set her up on a blind date and it was suppose to be John’s brother, but at the last moment, he chickened out and the friend said, he has a brother in town….now they have been married for over 19 years!   

After breakfast, William picked us up for a full day of safari, which included a picnic lunch.   When we reached the Serengeti, it was cool and very foggy!   We were surprised by that.   The first thing that we saw was four lionesses walking across our road with about 8-10 baby cubs.  They were so cute!   It was apparent that the lionesses were hunting so William followed them.  It was amazing to watch them as their ears perked up and they looked for prey.  The babies followed along tackling each other, running ahead of each other, and then some just sitting down to rest.  As we were watching and waiting for the lioness to do something, a park ranger pulled up and said we were on a closed road and had to leave.  According to William they are very strict on the rules and you get fined a large sum of money for breaking rules.   As we continued along the park, we saw a number of hyena and their pups, lots of elephants, giraffes, & wart hogs.  Around 11:00am, William took us over by a river and showed us a large number of hippos in the river.  There had to be at least 50 of them. It was so cool to watch them.  He let us get out of the vehicle and look over the cliff at them.  As you looked at the water, you would see hippo heads just pop up and then go back down.  It was super cool!  He then drove around to the other side of the river and told us this was the river that the animals use to cross during the Great migration.  On that side of the river, we saw hippos again, but also many crocodiles!  He said that the hippos and crocodiles get along and don’t harm each other.  Bill tried to get out of the vehicle and was told he could not.  Then Bill looked down the hill and saw a huge crocodile with his mouth wide open not 20’ from the car!  We made our way over the other side of the reserve, where there was a large family of giraffes with a number of babies.  There were also a couple of giraffes that appeared to be courting and they kept kissing and stroking each other’s necks.  

Lionesses with cubs	Cubs following their moms

For lunch we ended up at the Serina airstrip.  They had a stone gazebo that we could sit at.  Lunch was fried chicken, boiled egg, barbeque potato chips, orange, apple, cookies, orange drink, water, and Juicy Fruit gum.  We watched a small plane come in and according to William it was three young men who were learning how to fly.  Then a larger plane arrived to take a couple of families to their next destinations.     After lunch we made our back across the plains and most of the animals were hot and tired.  I know I was.  We saw four lionesses taking a rest under a large tree, and then we found water buffalo that were soaking in mud and water, they looked like they were in heaven.    As we made it lower into the valley, we found a family of elephants including babies who had found a large mud puddle and were sucking in the mud water and throwing it onto their bodies.  It sounded like they were in a swimming pool with all of the splashing taking place.   We watched this for quite awhile because you could tell they were having so much fun.  While we watching them, Bill asked William if he had ever been charged by an animal before, and William said no (famous last words).  When we started to leave, the elephants were walking across the road, so we waited.  As the last one a large mother and baby were crossing we started the engine…it must have freaked the mother elephant out as she turned really fast to glare at us and looked as if she was going to charge at us.  She was only five feet away from us.  William took off and she turned to follow the rest of her family.    Moving along about 20 minutes later, we came across another water buffalo family.   We got some great pictures and as we started to leave, one of the buffalos would not get out of the road.  It was right in front of our vehicle, so William started banging on his door and it scared the buffalo to get out of the road, but as soon as it did, it took a charging stance and starting huffing at us.  Fortunately, William has quick reflexes and we rushed out of there.   And finally, one of the surprising animals we saw today was ostriches! 

Baby Hyena	Hippos popping up and down in the river
Water Buffalo enjoying the mud	Elephants cooling off
Baboon resting	Ostriches

We made it back to camp seeing tons of zebras and impalas.  Back at camp we were really hot and dusty.   Rose said that she would send someone down to start the fire so we could take hot showers.  Bill was so hot, that he took a cold shower giving him immediate relief.  As I thought about, he was right we were so hot, and the tent was so hot, that I decided to get in the shower after him and right in the middle of the shower, the water turned warm and then hot!  It was heaven!  I had enough cold water to cool off and then hot water to clean up and feel refreshed.  Bill went out and read on the patio.  They have a really cool patio that is stone and has a stone fireplace in the middle of it.  Hangings around the patio are a bunch of Iguanas and to match the patio, they are purple and pink.  A strange sight for sure.  

Pink and Blue Iquana

I came down to join Bill and he smoked a cigar as we enjoyed the sunset.  I picked up a magazine called East Africa and it contains stories about the history and beginning of east Africa. Some of my favorite stories included one about how the railroad was financed and built in Africa, well before they had road infrastructure.  The railways were financed by Great Britain and they hired a number of Indians as labor.   They started in 1877 and had many trials and tribulations, including how to get the supplies to each of the areas, but the biggest was the threats of lions.  There were many stories about a lion coming and grabbing Indians out of their beds at night and killing them.   This put a huge scare into the workers and they would not leave their bunk rooms to do work.   They called in a famous lion killer and when the head supervisor went to pick him up, he did not show and so the supervisor figured he had ran into issues.   Around 5:00am in the morning the hunter showed up at the camp.   The supervisor ran out to meet him and found out that the plane had arrived late and since no one was there to meet him and his porter, they started walking and a lion came out and attacked him, as he showed when he turned his back and he had huge claw scratches on his back, and so his porter tried to save him and the lion grabbed him and killed him dragging him away.  All in all, they thought it was one lion, but it was two.  The hunter was able to track them down and kill them, but in the mean time they took over 27 Indians lives and according to the article, and a number of Negros lives.  This story was made into a movie called Ghosts in the Darkness (Bill thought this was a very well done and intense movie, fyi).   

The second story explained how the ostriches made it to east Africa.  A man and his wife had moved to east Africa from London and wanted to start an ostrich farm because the big craze in the early 1900’s were women wanting to use ostrich feathers as accessories to their dresses, hats, and purses.    The government gave the couple some farm land and they purchased 50 ostriches.  The lions soon figured out there was fresh, easy meat on the property and at night would raid the kennels killing the ostriches.  At one point, they killed 27 in one night.  Having enough of this Mr. Hill and his partner Mr. Cadwell decided to go hunt the lion that was targeting their farm.   They were successful and in many months to follow they had figured out how to hunt and kill the lions that were affecting their livelihood.  They became famous for it and many people asked if they would take them on a lion hunt, there was so much interest they decided to start a business and charge for this adventure.  They are known as the founders of the traditional big game hunting camps.  They hosted many famous people including President Theodore Roosevelt.   During this time, Mr. Hill was approached by a Hollywood film maker and he wanted to make a safari movie and film a real lion kill.  Mr. Hill said he was crazy and that he was not interested until the man bribed him with a large sum of money for doing it.  Mr. Hill said he would do it, but if he were killed during the filming, the man would have to promise to take care of his wife for the rest of her life.  The man agreed and they started on the hunt with the hound dogs that accompanied the man from Hollywood.  They found the lion and he had ran into some bushes.  The lion was very annoyed with the hounds.  During this time, the director asked Mr. Hall if he wife remarried would he still have to provide for her and Mr. Hall said no.  With that re-negotiation out of the way, the director sat up his camera and started to roll the film, Mr. Hall was waiting for him to say when to shoot the lion as the lion jumped out of the bushes and started to rush them.  As the lion got closer and closer the director had still not given the signal for him to shoot (and from the directors perspective, you have to be fair – either way, it’s a win/win for him)and finally Mr. Hill gave up and shot the lion.  The dead lion landed nine feet in front of the camera.  Apparently, they went on to make a number of African movies during the next few years.

Our waiters name is Wilson.  He is a really nice young man.  He told us he was from a Masai village near the Tanzania boarder.  His father had not wanted him to leave the village and asked him “who is going to take care of my cattle”.   Wilson was very excited to get out of the village as he had been educated outside of the village for High School and saw that there was a lot of opportunity and that many of the teachings of his village were not up to date with today’s society.  He has been working in the hospitality business now for four years and said he really enjoys meeting all the different type of people and all the new insights he learns from them.  Now when he gets to go back to the village he brings his father the little money he has earned and his father is now happy that his son is earning money and is encouraging his other children to get a better education.  It will be very interesting in the next ten years once this tribe’s adolescents are educated in modern society.  Today, even on the villages, most of the young adults are carrying cell phones.  Bill said Internet via smartphones will be next, and at a far quicker pace then the transition took place in the US, and I think he is right.
 
We were the only couple staying at the camp that night, and so they put on a Frank Sinatra CD (which says something about either what they think people from the US like, or that we’re far older than we thought.  Let’s go with the former).   We ate dinner and were once again asleep before 9:30pm.  It’s crazy at how exhausted you can become by not doing much of anything but driving around on 4-wheel drive roads and being hot.

The next morning we packed and checked out.  We were introduced to our new guide, Musa, a contractor from Tanzania, and who has a white Land Rover.  He has three kids and is really proud of them.  His daughter and son are both in college leaning computer IT systems.  He owns his business with his brother and they work for a number of the travel agencies in the area.  He is very involved with his church and said that many American’s have donated so much to help with schools and clinics and come and visit Africa asking him to show them where the money went.  He really enjoys showing them the progress that their charity has given to Tanzania.  He has also visited the United States twice.  He loved Disneyland and Colorado the best.  The man has good taste..at least with the latter. 

The drive today is supposed to take nine hours!  We will eat lunch on the road as they packed another picnic lunch for us. We started out and as stated before, the roads are awful, the do not up keep them at all.  I asked the owner of Mara West about this and he said he would pay to have the roads fixed but the Masai who own the land will not allow it.  It takes us three hours to finally reach a paved road!  I was very happy that I had my iPod as we bumped along the road.  Once we were on the pavement it took about an hour and half to reach the border.  First we had to go to the Kenya customs and they checked us out, then we went through two gates and were finally in Tanzania.  In Tanzania, it looks like any other border crossing, lots of people selling items and being very aggressive.  We went into the Tanzanian office and had to pay $100 US per person for our visa!  Most of other countries only had to pay $50 US.  The only other country who had to pay more was Pakistan at $150.  I am not sure what US did to piss Tanzania off, but obviously it is political.  

Border at Tanzania

The roads in Tanzania are all paved and taken care of.   I read for the next few hours as we passed village after village.  We noticed that the villages were dirtier but the homes were bigger and nicer.  Musa explained that the Tanzanians are better educated and are much nicer than their Kenya counterparts (of course, he’s from Tanzania, so that might have something to do with his opinion).  We stopped for lunch on the side of the road, it was the same as the day before.   He told us were an hour and half away from the Serengeti preserve gate.  We continued the drive and the landscape changed from lots of foliage, to these great rock hills to drier land with the large Acacia trees and bushes.  We finally made it to the gate where you pay your fee to enter the reserve.  While we waited there were a large number of baboons running around.  At some point, one of the baboons pissed off a number of the other ones which started a lot of screaming and running around form the baboons.  Bill got lots of great pictures. 

By this time it was 4:30, we had been in the jeep since 8:00 and I was ready to get to the camp.  But that was not in the cards, as our agenda called for a game drive.  As we moved into the park, we saw very large herds of zebras, gazelles, impalas, and wildebeests.   In one case, we didn’t see the birth of a wildebeests baby, but according to Musa, it had just been born, as the mother was over it and the baby was not standing up.  It was very small and he said that in 3-5 minutes it would try to stand up.   We drove on and went through the lion dens and did not see any lions.  We really want to see a male lion!   After that we went over a couple of rivers and saw lots of hippos and crocodiles.   It started raining pretty hard and it was closing in on 6:00pm, so Musa went up through the park and found our camp.  It is a very secluded camp and is one of the original safari luxury camps.  They have been in business for over 30 years and it is a moving camp, they move every 4-6 months depending on the migration habits.  The tents were pretty big, ours held two full beds and had a tented bathroom with shower and toilet.  It was not as nice as the Mara West, but then again this camp is very old!  When we were being walked to our tent our recognized our neighbors!   It was Michelle and John from Seattle.  

I went ahead and got us settled in the tent and took a much needed hot shower while Bill joined Michelle, John, and Musa at the fire pit for drinks and a cigar.  Musa said that we were finally in “real” African bush.   Dinner was nice, everywhere we have stayed you always get fresh soup before the main course.  John is a chef and it is true, no matter what vegetable soup it was, it was using the same chicken base so it all tasted the same. We have cream of green bean soup that night.   Musa said we would start out at 8:00am so we headed to bed.  About 4:30am in the morning, Bill and I are woken up to a very loud noise, it sounded like a huge roar and then something screaming.  Bill jumped out of bed and tried to figure out how to open up the tent window so he could see what was going on, but failed.  We had no electricity so it was very dark.   At first I thought he was going to leave the tent to see what was going on and I said, “are you crazy!", but Bill was just trying to figure out the window. The crying/screaming lasted for about 20 minutes, with an occasional growl thrown in.   At breakfast we found out that it was a leopard attack on a water buck.  Leopards don’t strike and kill their catch, they latch onto the throat and strangle them.  This is why the crying went on for over 20 minutes.   We definitely ARE in the real African bush!

Wildebeests	Rain pouring down in the Serengeti
Bill and Musa in the African bush	Our tent

The next morning Musa picked us up after breakfast with our luggage as we are moving to a different camp tonight.   The very first thing we got to see was a huge family of elephants, they were so close we could have reached out of the car to touch them.  They were all eating and pulling down the top of the trees .  It was so cool to see the babies.  As we moved on, there was a vehicle that was stopped with a flat tire.  Musa pulled over to help them and who came out of the vehicle, but Michelle and John.  We just started laughing and they asked if we were stalking them.  It was strange being out of the vehicle, especially with all the elephant’s around, but they pretty much ignore you.  We parted ways and continued on our journey.  

Elephant herd	John in his jeep

Bill talked with Musa on the drive, asking him to arrange a hot air balloon flight for Sunday morning.  Musa got on the phone, said he’d handled it, and that the balloon people would swing by the came that night (Friday) to take payment and do a briefing.  I can’t wait!

It is much drier in Tanzania, we saw many different types of birds and no kidding, herds of zebras, gazelles, impalas, and wildebeests.  The herds here are much larger than in Kenya, but all the same, we were really hunting for the male lion.  A couple of hours later, we figured out our guide, Musa, did not really know the area or the habits of the animals that reside here.  He was really good at looking for where there were a number of jeeps that had stopped together.  This meant there was something really cool to see besides zebras.  We did get to see a male and female cheetah making their way through the tall grass.  It was really cool to watch and the male liked to get on termite hills and pose.   At one point, the cheetahs walked in front of our vehicle and we got some great pictures.  The male was really funny, he came to the middle of the road, he is surrounded by vehicles of people, so he lies right down in the road and poises on one side, you could hear lots of pictures being taken.  He then turned around to our side and again, lots of people talking pictures, he almost looks like he was smiling.  Then they made their way across to the other side of the road and we continued to watch for about 20 minutes.  

Cheetah walking through the tall grass	Rolling in the dirt

We moved on, and came upon a field of herds and herds of zebra and wildebeests.   Because there were so many, we did stop to watch them and Bill got some good pictures.   As we moved on, we traveled over a very flat road where you could see hyena, giraffes, and elephants.  We looked out to the horizon and saw a great big hill with tree’s and rocks and thought that is a good place for lions.  We pulled up onto the hill and Musa decided it was lunch time.  We found a shady area and I found a place to go to the bathroom.  I told Bill I didn’t feel safe as I heard a roar.  I don’t think he believed me, but at the point, with all the jolting in the vehicle, I needed to go.   Each day that you spend in the field the camps provide a lunch box that is typically, fried chicken, boiled egg, some type of bread, something sweet, water, juice, and candy.  We ate and then gave Musa our leftovers as he likes to give them to the children in the village. 

We started out and no kidding, 20 feet away we found our first male lion.  He was hiding underneath a tree and you could only see his ears and hair flap with the wind between the leaves.   I knew I had heard a lion roar!  The next male lion was in the next tree over, and again, hidden in the shade of the tree.  I don’t blame them as it was getting really hot and dusty.  Bill didn’t count these as seeing male lions as he didn’t get a picture of them.   We left the lion hill and came upon another huge herd of zebras and wildebeests having fun in the water.  As we moved on, we came upon another hill that was mostly rocks and found some cool iguanas, lizards, and lionesses trying to find shade and a breeze.   It was around 2:00 in the afternoon and Musa said that we needed to head on to the next park to get closer to our camp for the evening.  It took about 45 minutes over a dusty, bumpy road to get to the next entry and while we waited for Musa to get our passes, which are $200 a day per person, we wandered around the entry way. 

I was so hot, sweaty and tired by this point, I found a good shady step to sit on and watched the people.  That is almost as exciting as watching the animals.  It was pretty apparent that the European and Asian people visit Africa more than Americas.  Musa came out to talk to us and said there was a problem as the paperwork for the passes had not arrived from the head quarters and he was trying to track this down.   After 30 minutes of waiting, we finally had the right paperwork and were on our way along some dustier, bumpy roads.  The first thing we saw what this really large “ugly” bird.  There were lots of them and Musa told us these birds are everywhere in this park and like to hang out with the Thompson gazelles and sure enough the gazelles (much smaller than the Grant gazelles) were everywhere.  The bird is called a Kori Bastard (great name!).

Lion Hill, we had lunch at the base	Zebra’s playing in the water
Herds of Zebra and Wildebeests	Kori Bastard

We wound our way through the trail and pulled into an area that had a huge river.  The bottom of the river was not completely full but in the far ground you could see s huge number of flamingos as the background looked like it was pink wall.  Bill asked if we could get closer, but Musa said that the ground was soft and you risk getting stuck and getting un-stuck could mean a 4-5 hour delay.  We saw many elephants in the background as well.  We made our way through the river bed  to a small hill and Bill thought he saw rabbits, but instead they turned out to be tiny foxes called bat eared foxes.  They are very shy and as soon as we got to close to get a picture they disappear into holes in the ground. 

Flamingos	Bat ear fox

Musa was not sure where our camp was located so he made his way up one trail and it appeared to be a local camp, he asked directions and found out we were in the next camp ground over.  I was so excited, hot shower here I come!  We pulled into the camp ground and were met by Omar with hot towels and mango juice.  The hot towel felt great on our faces and hands.  As they walked us up to the main tent, we saw a great fire pit and the main tent ahead.  This camp is called Lemala Ndutu,  it changes locations 2-3 times a year.  It ist he mostluxurious of the moving camps in Tanzania - and it definitely lived up to it's claims!. 

When we reached the main camp, I was amazed!  It looked like a tent, be it a very long deep tent, but still a tent.  When you go inside, it is amazing, you feel like you’re in a lobby of a 4 star hotel.   In the middle of the tent is a full bar, with bar stools, one side is a lounge area that has three leather lounge chairs, one huge leather couch and a huge table with coffee books of Africa.   There is also a charging station for people who need to charge laptops, cameras batteries, and mobile phones.   The other side of the tent includes a very long wooden table that seats over 24 people.  Omar told us that the camp is solar powered and that we each have our own butler to take care of our needs.  There is electricity in the tent for lights, which works all day long, and if we need hot water for showers or rinsing our face, we just let Isaac our butler know.   Isaac took us to our tent, and again both of us were amazed!  It was beautiful, the tent had wooden floors, there was a king side bed with beautiful coverings, nice weaved rugs on the floor, a desk, a lounge chair and a full size wooden ottoman for our clothes.  The bathroom was full sized and included a large shower area, toilet and large sink area.  It was so much different than the tent experience the night before. 

I asked if I could take a hot shower in 10 minutes and also if we could get some laundry done.   We unpacked, and as Bill made his way down to the fire pit, Isaac let me know that the shower was ready.   To get a hot shower, Isaac brings hot water from the main kitchen tent and pours it into a large water barrel that is attached to the shower head.  You only get three to four minutes, but it was heavenly.  The only weird thing was that while I was in the shower, I hear Isaac outside asking if the water temperature is ok.  Right when I was put conditioner in my hair, the water was out and Isaac asked if I needed more water, which he took care of right away.  I had left my comb at the Fairmont hotel in Nairobi and so the only way I could control my hair was to make sure I put conditioner in and then used my fingers to comb my hair...kidding, I told Bill I would have Rasta hair at the end of the trip.

Our tent	Inside the main area of our tent
Main tent lobby	Dining Area

Once I was done, Isaac asked if everything was ok and I said yes and then I was finally left alone, at least I think I was, as he didn’t ask any more questions.   I meet Bill at the fire pit and they brought out appetizers, which I think were onion fritters.  They were very good.  As we were sitting there, a juvenile giraffe came into the camp and was eating from the bushes, it was so cool!  The sunset was beautiful, but a little disturbing as when I looked up at a tree, there were three vultures sitting up in the trees.  Fortunately, they were not looking down at our camp, but the other way over the Serengeti.

There were many interesting people at the fire pit.  One couple was from the east coast in Boston and Cape Cod.  They had been on the safari for a number of days and were headed home the next day.  There was a family from Belgium that we really bonded with.  Ann and Sebastian were there for his 60th birthday celebration, and had brought along their 3 children, who were 32, 30, and 27.  He was a chiropractor as were his sons.  His daughter was in the magazine advertizing business.  His birthday was nine months before, but this was the time the entire family could get together.  They were having a great time and Sebastian talked with Bill about cameras and cigars.  He loved cigars but had quit three years before and I believe he was talking with Bill about cameras so he could get close to Bill's cigar smoke, even though he was a camera enthusiast.   Dinner was called and so everyone went on to the dinner table.  There we meet a couple and their daughter from Chile.  He said they come every year.  We sat next to a couple from Pennsylvania.  They were with a tour, but the camp that they were supposed to stay out was over booked and they were brought to our camp.  They said that the rest of their groups were staying at our camp the next day. 

As I talked with Sheryl she told us the group was going to head to Rwanda at the end of the week so we started telling her our tips and tricks about seeing the gorillas.  The Chilean families overheard us and were excited because they were also headed to Rwanda and the husband was very excited but the wife was terrified.   It was a fun dinner and for me, it is exciting to meet so many interesting people around the world. 

The next morning, I sat with our Chilean friends and said I would show them pictures of the gorillas that night.   Musa picked us up around 8:00am and we took off.  The first thing he had to do was get our parking passes; they cost $200 per person per day!  You would think with all the money coming in they would have better road infrastructure.    They had bathrooms at the rangers camp and when I went in to use them the toilet was basically a hole in the ground.  These were like the bathrooms I experienced in Tokyo about 10 years ago.   

Bill asked about the hot air balloon again, and again, Musa got on the phone and after a brief conversation, stated that the balloon team would swing by our camp that night.  As we drove to a different area in the Serengeti we again saw large herds of zebra, gazelles, and wildebeests.   About an hour into our drive we came across a lioness with two lion cubs.  They were so cute, we spent at least 40 minutes with them.  Surprisingly, there were large herds of zebras and wildebeests that were no more than 500 yards away from the lioness, but she ignored them.   We saw a bunch of cheetahs that were sleeping under a tree, we were so close to them and they didn’t even move.   Later we came across two cheetahs that were fighting over and eating a Thompsons gazelle.  An eagle was flying around our jeep and landed near the cheetahs, they glared at the eagle and it flew further away.  We drove around some more but really didn’t come across anything new. 

Lioness with baby cub	Cheetahs playing tug a war with a gazelle (Bill notes that he's pretty sure that the gazelle really didn't want to play)

Today, I told Bill that I didn’t want to drive around for 8-9 hours and would prefer a break.  Musa took us back to the camp for lunch and said we go back out around four pm.  As we were waiting for lunch, the manager of the camp was giving a briefing to two new people who just arrived.  One of them saw Bill and said “Hi Bill”.  I looked over and it was the Australian father and son that we hung out with in Rwanda!  What a small world.  They had been to multiple other camps and were spending their last days at the camp we were at.  It was fun catching up with them during lunch.  Bill told them about the balloon flight, and Gordon immediately went to his driver to get him to arrange it for them.  His driver took Gordon and his son to the balloon office to pay for the flight (something we wondered about, but trusted our driver).

We rested during the hot afternoon and then at 4:00, Musa picked us up and we went on another drive.  We went back where the flamingos were and it was an amazing site, it seemed like a pink wall, there had to be at least over 500 flamingos.   While we were watching the flamingos a family of giraffes were right next to us and were acting really weird.  They were all sticking really close together and then would all look the same way for awhile and then move in a different direction and do the same thing.  We got some great pictures, but we still don’t know why they were behaving that way.   We drove around the lake to the other side and it was pretty creepy, there were hundreds of wildebeest skulls and bones across the dirt and in the water.  Apparently hundreds of these animals die each year as they get stuck in the riverbed mud while crossing the waters and drown.  When the low tide comes in it gives the scavengers, such as hyenas, foxes, and vultures to come in and get a free meal.   We got back to camp around 6:30pm.  When I walked up to our tent, there was a vulture hanging out in the back of our tent on a tree, not a very good feeling.   I was really excited for the next day as we were going to go up in a hot air balloon and have a champagne breakfast!  It meant we had to wake up at 5:00am, but it would be worth it, I have never been up in a hot air balloon.

Giraffes with flamingos in the background	Dead wildebeests drowned in river

Around 11:00pm we were woken up by Musa outside our tent.  He said that the balloon people had cancelled and that he would be there around 8:00am to start the day.  We were pretty bummed as we were really looking forward to seeing what the Serengeti looks like in the air and hopefully get some good photos of large herds migrating.  Bill got up at 5:00 as he wanted to see if the balloon people were showing up because Gordon and Evan were also signed up for the balloon. Oddly enough, Isaac was outside the door when Bill walked out, talk about service!  Bill talked to the balloon people and found out that Musa was supposed to take us to their office and have us pay for the ride, but he misunderstood and thought they were coming to our camp to get payment.  Bill thought this was the issue because Gordon had told Bill the night before that they had to go pay for the ride.  I was so disappointed!

As we went to the dining tent the hot air balloon flew over our camp, Bill got some good pictures and left a card for Gordon and Evan to email us so we could send them the pictures of the balloon.   We said goodbye to our Chilean friends and started a 5 hour drive to another game park.  As we moved down the hill from the tent, Musa talked to one of the guides who said that there were lions near the camp, so we drove over to the spot and finally we got to see a male lion!  It was a family of lions and cubs.  The male lion was asleep but we watched for about 30 minutes and during that time he did wake up and walk around some, so we got some good pictures.  The drive took us across the Serengeti on the dusty bumpy roads and as we exited the park, we saw many tribe families.  Musa gave one of the boys who was taking care of the cattle some of the lunch leftovers we had from the previous days. He was thankful and let me take a picture of him.  He had huge wooden corks in his ears.  I just don’t get this tradition. 

We had lunch at a canyon overlook.  There was an elder Masai man standing around and I asked if I could take his picture, he said yes.  As soon as the picture was taken he reached out to me and asked for money.  I had forgotten that they will only let you take pictures if they get paid.   I gave him a dollar and then he stayed near us as we ate our lunch.  Once we were done, he pretty much took any leftovers and walked away.  We were headed to a large crater called Ngorongoro where there are many big animal herds that don’t migrate out of the crater.  This would be our last day out in the parks before heading home.  We arrived at the hotel, The Plantation Inn, at 2:30pm.  I was in heaven!  The hotel is surrounded by coffee plantations and is owned by a German family.  They have had the hotel for over fifteen years.  Each room is huge and has mosquito tents around the beds.  The ride down from the crater was even hotter and dustier than the previous days and so we immediately got to the room and took hot showers!  I had brought our swimming suits and so Bill was glad to have shorts to wear.  Bill went to the lobby where they had Internet access (the first access in over two weeks!) and I took a book and went and hung out at the pool for a couple of hours. 

Before dinner we went to the bar and sat out on the deck.  The hotel reminds me of Napa.  The grounds are beautiful and the evening had brought the temperatures down.   During dinner that night, we felt somewhat out of place as the rest of the guests were European.   We met a couple of gentlemen that were traveling together.  They told us that the crater was amazing and that for sure we would see many male lions and the rare black rhino.   

Lion and his pride	Hot air balloon (ours) flying over our camp
Boy herding cattle	Elder hanging out at a canyon overlook

The next morning Musa picked us up and it took an hour and half to finally get to the bottom of the crater.  The first thing we saw was a huge heard of water buffalo and then of course, zebras and wildebeests.  What was different though is that they weren’t skittish like they are in the Serengeti or Masai Mara – you could drive right up to them. We drove around the crater and unfortunately, it appeared once again that Musa was just following all the other vehicles.  We wished that they would limit the number of vehicles that are allowed in the crater at one time, as every time you would get to see something exciting, you would be joined by 30 other vehicles.  We did get to see a number of hyenas, lions, and elephants in the morning. 

At one point there were a bunch of vehicles near an area, as we pulled up I saw that they were looking at a dead zebra.  Its stomach was split open and it appeared that most of the inside of the zebra was gone but it still had a lot of blood pools around it.  I was surprise that the scavengers had not moved in to eat the rest of the zebra.  Not far from the zebra we came across two male lions moving across the grass fields.  They were beautiful.  Surrounding them were many wildebeeests and they seem to be leaving them alone.  It appeared they were just looking for a nice shady spot to rest in.  According to Musa, lions only walk and hunt 2-3 hours a day, the rest of the time is spent sleeping.  We drove around the rest of the crater not seeing much of anything else so we stopped for lunch.  It was a beautiful area and usually an area that the hippos like to soak in but there were not there that day.  During lunch, Musa said that he needed to head back to his home due to a family emergency and that we would have a different driver to take us to the airport in the morning.  He said that we had seen the crater and were done, but Bill told him that he wanted to do one more round in the crater so that we could at least find some rhinos as this were the last large animal that we still had not seen (keep in mind this was after three hours, and most guides spend at least two days in the crater).  I was glad that Bill did that as we did finally get some great shots of the rhinos.  

The rest of the tour, I think I fell asleep for over two hours, as there was no excitement.   At 2:30 we stopped for a bathroom break.  I met a bunch of women who were on safari from Canada.  They were really cool.  They had been camping out and were headed out that night to the beach in Zanzibar and were really looking forward to a hot shower.  Their camping out was the traditional camping out style. They were putting up their tents each night and did not have access to showers or toilets.   I am so glad that Bill realized that the only way he could get me to camp was to provide the luxury style of camping.   While I was chatting, Bill was taking tons of pictures of a Vervet monkey family – the baby was a crack-up!  We left the park and went back to the hotel.  Bill and I both got an hour long massage and I took a long hot bubble bath before dinner.  

Plantation Lodge	Mosquito netting around our bed
Herd of Wildebeests	Male lion making his way across the crater floor
Mother and baby rhino	Vervet monkey family

We got up early the next morning and packed our bags.  Bill went to check out and we found out that their credit card machine was not working and they wanted cash.  This was the third time this had happened to us.  It is one of our few complaints during the trip, we were told that the lodging venues would take credit cards and now we were out of cash.  Luckily it was our last day.   We were somewhat concerned about the driver showing up.  Musa had said that the driver had a small luxury car.  We were hoping it had air conditioning.  The driver did show up, the porter gave him our box lunches and we got into his car.  Instead of a small luxury car, it was a family van with no air conditioning and the inside door handles were all broken off.  Luckily we were not driving on dusty, bumpy roads!  The driver did not speak any English and we did not speak any Swahili so it there wasn't a lot of conversation -and it was kind of strange.  He played African rap music during the two hour drive to the airport.   The day before, we were told that we were flying out at 1:40pm from a small municipal airport.  About two hours into the drive the driver pulled onto a dirt road.  I thought I had seen an air strip, but was not sure. Both Bill and I were kind of nervous as it felt like he was driving us into back country and I think we both thought we might be getting robbed and left on the side of the road.  (I know, we watch too much TV)  He drove for about one and a half miles and came up to a guard booth where we saw the air control tower.  What a relief!  We parked at the front door of the airport and he just kept us in the car.  He was on the phone, so we assumed he was calling to make sure we were at the right airport.  Sure enough, he finally let us out and took our bags to the front of the airport.  Bill tipped him and we checked in for our flight.  Right when we got to the lobby area I remembered that he had our lunches so I went back to get them and he had already left.  Oh well, hopefully he needed the food more than us.  They finally called out flight...we boarded a very small plane with a woman pilot.  She told us it was only a 10-15 minute flight to Kilimanjaro where we would catch a larger plane to Nairobi.   The plane was so small and it was being blown around, I was sure glad that I got over air sickness so many years ago as for sure this plane would have made me sick.  We arrived in Nairobi at 4:30pm and Jackson met us to take us to the hotel.  Our flight home didn’t leave until 3:40am in the morning and we didn’t want to stay at the airport for 11 hours, so we went to a hotel, repacked our bags, went to dinner and then slept for a few hours before waking up and taking a shower.   Because we were flying first class we got to wait for the flight in a VIP room which made Bill happy, as it had free internet.  The flight from Nairobi to Istanbul was five and a half hours.  

When we arrived, I was surprised as I exited the plane and there were two gentlemen holding a sign up with my name on it.  They were with Turkish Air, and because I was flying first class to NYC they were there to help me get to the lounge and then to the gate when the flight was ready to leave.  I have never in all the travelling I have done been met at the door of the airplane!  It was pretty cool.  They took Bill and I to a cart and drove us to the customs area to register our passports and then to the first class lounge where they served us breakfast.  Bill was flying business class and had been trying to upgrade to first class for the last month but they gave him one excuse after another.  He decided to go to the gate and try one more time.  Our layover in Istanbul was three hours.  About 25 minutes before the flight left, a gate attendant came and drove me to the gate. I had to go through security and then once through security, she told me that because we were going to NYC that they also had to do a hand check security where they go through people’s carryons.  There was a long line but because I was with her, they pulled me up to the front of the line and then really didn’t even check my bags.  Later Bill told me that they tore apart his luggage.  The attendant took me to my seat, 1A, and I was amazed at the size of the seat!  Come to find out, I was the only person in first class and I had two people just to take care of me.   Bill came over to see me and said that they would not upgrade him even when he said he would pay for it because they didn’t have enough food as they only had one booking for first class.  Before the plane took off they gave me a glass of champagne, Godiva chocolate, and pajamas.  When the plane took off I asked if Bill could join me since no one else was in first class and they had ten empty seats.  She apologized over and over and said that it sets a bad perception if they move someone up from business class to first.   I could not believe the amount of food they served me, it was crazy.  For dinner I had grilled swordfish, and ironically everything I had except the caviar was served to Bill as well, he even had the swordfish! After dinner, I changed into the pajamas and the attendant had put out the bed with linens.  The bed was flat and the pillows were really comfortable.  They asked me if I wanted the lights out and I said yes.  Once the lights were out, it was crazy, the ceiling light up with sparking stars!  Seriously this was a fun flight segment!   I slept for about four hours. Bill kept checking on me and said I was sleeping like a log!  I felt bad for Bill because he was not getting any sleep and I was being spoiled in first class.  The flight was ten hours and we arrived in NYC at 9:30am.   I was the first one off the plane, they actually held up the other passengers so I could exit first.  I waited for Bill so we could go through customs together. 

When we got through the door at the gate, there were custom agents checking everyone’s passports before they could move on.  I have never seen this done before.  Bill and I think that they must have been looking for someone as the security was higher than either of us has ever seen.   It was strange we were the first ones at customs and there were no lines.  When Bill gave the customs agent his passport, he triggered something - as he got really suspicious. He brought over another agent who then sent us to a room.  They ran Bill’s passport and asked him a few questions and finally the room agent said this is just a guy traveling with his wife (so I guess they really were looking for somebody pretty seriously!).  I think the reason that Bill was worried because a few months earlier he had ordered some Cuban cigars from Switzerland and instead of getting the cigars, he got a notice from US Customs stating that the cigars had been confiscated so he thought maybe they had his name in a database.     Turns out that wasn’t the issue, and once we got through customs we had to go get our baggage and recheck it.  It was very cool because my bag was the first one to arrive on the carousel.  

Once we checked the bag we found out that we had to change terminals which meant that we had to go outside in zero degree weather to get inside the next terminal.  Neither of us had coats and I was wearing flip flops!  It was cold but fortunately we didn’t have that far to walk (brrr!).  Our layover was about four hours.  We were both in first class from NYC to SFO, a six hour flight.  I can sure tell you that being in first class on a US-based airline is nothing compared to what I had experienced on Turkish Air!  Pretty much the only difference between economy and first class on United is that you get “real dishes” for your meal, free drinks, and bigger seats.    Bill was so sleepy because at this point he had not slept for over 36 hours.  After we ate dinner, I watched a movie and finally Bill fell asleep.  He slept for about three hours, the longest he’s ever slept on a plane!  When we arrived at SFO we were both exhausted and so happy to finally be home.   The round trip from when we left the Plantation lodge for our travel back home took us over 38 hours! 

Truly this has been a trip of a lifetime and we had a wonderful time.  We got to explore nature, meet some truly cool people, experience different cultures, and hang out with each other as we shared this experience.