Tanzania Journal, part 7

In which our intrepid explorers go home

Well, gentle readers, this is the last journal entry for our safari trip. I will likely post some more pictures in another post, and have some reflections in the days ahead.

Friday-Saturday

Friday was our departure day, though we had time for a quick game drive in the morning. We did not see much, but it was nice to enjoy one last ride among the acacia trees. We did see an unexpected sight: some Washington politicians were hanging out and watching us:

When it was time to depart the entire crew came out to sing to us.

It was in Swahili, so I’m not quite sure of the words, but I think they ran something like this:

“We wish you well, wise young man with the white hair.

We wish you well, you who are so fair.

We wish you well, come bless our land again.

We wish you well, you who are so thin.”

It was a good song.

We hopped in the jeep one last time and Eugene took us to the airstrip. After a few minutes an eight-passenger plane landed, and we walked down the side of the “runway” to it. The pilot introduced himself as Terry, and said one of us was welcome to sit in the copilots seat. I jumped at the chance. I LOVE the window seats on a plane, but have had to get aisle seats for the last ten years cuz I have to get up and stretch my back so often. So I was thrilled. My daughter, however, was not. She got the stern look that she has been practicing to use on her parents as we get older and need “direction”. She made me promise not to joke around and ask things like “What does this big red button I just pressed do?” The conversation went something like this.

Sarah: I mean it dad, no joking around.

Me: I gotta be me.

Sarah: No. I’m serious.

Me: Can I just ask if I can man the machine guns?

Sarah: See, this is exactly what I’m talking about!

In the end I promised to be good, and I was. Not because I promised, but because Terry seemed taciturn, and I wasn’t sure how we would take some inane question like, “so, where do they put Mount Kilamanjaro in the winter?”

I just sat back and enjoyed a better view (by far) than on any flight I have been.

We landed in the Arusha airport (still in Tanzania) and hopped on a flight to Addis Ababa on Ethiopian airlines, which took a couple hours. So far my bad back and I had conquered eight long jeep rides and five flights. But now we faced the final boss: A 17 hour flight from Addis Ababa to O’Hare.

And it was…not too bad. Boring, yes. But not really painful. It helped that we had bulkhead seats, so I was able to get up every hour and stretch. But I was surprised and thankful that my leg and back barely hurt.

I did not sleep, however. In fact, I did sleep the whole 30 hour trip from the Migration Camp to home, other than a ten minute snooze in which I was awakened by my own snoring. By the time I laid my head down on Saturday night I calculated (with the time change) that I had been awake for about 44 hours.

We did make it to church the next morning, but it really took until Tuesday morning till I felt right in the head. Or as much as I ever am, I guess.

Amy and I both mentioned that we feel like we are still processing things. It still seems surreal that we went to Africa. It seems overwhelming that we got to experience what so few people get to do. I am filled with gratitude and wonder that we got to do this.

And since, gentle reader, you have made it this far, I will reward you with some bonus pics. I will likely have one more post with my favorite photos from the trip, but for now here are some random shots from the week: