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Bush
Flight
 It
was a bright clear morning, sunny but sad. We packed up the land rovers,
waved goodbye to the camp staff and headed to the airfield. On the way,
we passed six female lions sleeping on a termite mound, our final spotting
of the trip. The airfield was quite a sight -  a
bare strip in the plains, edged with crumpled pieces of tin painted
white. The plane was a 14-seater, including the pilot, but it was in
good shape. I took comfort in the fact that Mary had taken flight lessons.
We said a sad goodbye to our wonderful guides, who would be driving
the empty vehicles back to Arusha. With giraffes and wildebeest in sight,
we took off into the air. It was a breathtaking sight, the Serengeti
from the air. We passed over the crater and spotted the round Maasai
villages that were scattered across the landscape. We flew past an active
volcano close enough to see black lava that had flowed the day before.
Empty land slowly gave way to farms and modern buildings, and within
the hour we were on the ground in Arusha.
Farewells
A Thomson guide
met us at the airfield and took us to our day rooms  at
Mt. Meru Hotel where we relaxed before our flight later that night.
Here we lost the first of our group, Mary and Carl, who went on to Nairobi
by bus. A  few
of us enjoyed drinks by the beautiful pool and marveled at how amazing
the trip had been. After a long hot shower it was time to leave for
the airport. We said goodbye to Mary and Erica, bound for further adventures
in Egypt. The rest of us got one last view of Kilimanjaro before arriving
at the airport. We also had fun spotting some of the business names:
Perfect Bar, Fantastic Café, Happy Place (a restaurant), Power
Shopping (a convenience store), House of Lubricants (a gas station)
and, in the airport, The Executive Carving Shop. In the terminal, the
power kept cutting out, which didn't inspire much confidence. I faced
37 hours of travel before I'd be home, so I was ready to get started.
I was asleep before takeoff, Africa left behind. The trip exceed my
expectations at every turn, from the lodging and food to the animals
to the guides to the people I encountered every day. I took over 800
pictures, saw over 36 kinds of animals and 50 kinds of birds, made 11
new friends and have a lifetime of memories.
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