Prologue: January 15

Arrival in Tanzania

I get my first view of Tanzania as my Emirates 777 flight descended into Dar Es Salaam - it was the islands of Pemba and Zanzibar, just off the coast of mainland Tanzania. Zanzibar looks a lot bigger than I expected - probably as big as Oahu, although without the towering mountain ranges. I would get to see it up close in a couple of weeks - hard to believe. The name "Zanzibar" has such an exotic feel to it - I know Sam was playing the piano at Rick's Place in Casablanca, but I bet Sam's cousin Ted is playing a similar piano at Hashim's Place in Stonetown...

...but this blog is about my Kilimanjaro hike, so onward...

The plane landed at Dar Es Salaam airport, which is relatively modern, except for the fact that it has no air conditioning. I was able to transfer my bags from the Emirates flight to a Precision Air flight to Kilimanjaro Airport (JRO) relatively easily. Luckily, the Precision Air flight was delayed, so the fact that I arrived only a half hour before it was supposed to take off was a non-issue.
It ended up being about an hour late, so I arrived in JRO only about 20 minutes before James' KLM flight, saving me a long wait.

The sole purpose of JRO airport is to dump unsuspecting European (and some North American) travelers into the waiting arms of hundreds of tour operators. Outside the baggage area is a crush of guides, all holding up signs with the names of the individuals for their tour. Not a big deal when I arrived, as the Precision flight was quite small, so it was relatively easy to spot Benjamin from Good Earth Tours holding up a sign with my name on it. However, the KLM flight was huge, and it was quite funny to watch the first travelers walk into the lobby with a look of pure shock as a hundred individuals held up signs with different names on it. The look of pure joy as one 70 year old Frenchman hugged his guide after about five minutes of searching almost brought a tear to my eye. Here is a photo of James and Benjamin just after James arrived at the airport. We got in a jeep and drove about 30 miles to the town of Arusha, and the Impala Hotel. First thought on Tanzanian roads - they are actually in very good shape. The only problem is that every five miles are so, there are these massive speedbumps that require the driver to slow to a snail's pace. Must have had a lot of drag racing on the streets in the past. The Impala Hotel is quite modern, with masai carvings everywhere, and four different restaurants. We had a few drinks but, not feeling very adventurous given the task ahead, we crashed around 10:30. Bring on the big hill tomorrow!!

Read the next post: Day 1: January 16