[This is post #21 of 21 posts about our 2024 trip to Africa. To go to the first post in the series CLICK HERE. At the end of the last post there is also a Directory with links of all 21 posts.]
It was Saturday, September 21, our last day in Africa. After breakfast at Maramboi Tented Lodge, we took off for Arusha.
The plan was to check into a room at Arusha Coffee Lodge, the same place we stayed our first two nights, but this time only for a couple of hours. That would give us a chance to get organized, get cleaned up, have lunch, then head to Kilimanjaro International Airport for our 5:55 pm flight to Doha.
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| Arusha Coffee Lodge |
Royalty. We arrived at the Coffee Lodge in mid-morning. When we went to check in they told us HRH Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, (Prince Edward's wife) had stayed there the night before as part of her official royal visit to Tanzania. I had to stop and think who the Duchess of Edinburgh was, but the people there were super excited. Tanzania is an independent country, but I think a lot of people still feel a closeness to Britain from their days as a British territory.
Although she and her entourage would be leaving shortly, there would be a slight delay getting us checked in until they left. We were staying, now for the second time, in the same place the royals stay while in town?! We felt throughout this trip that everything had been first class and we had been treated royally. Maybe that was closer to the truth than we realized.
We were in the lounge on the far side of the reflecting pool when Sophie and her entourage left, so we did not see them. However I had to smile to myself. I could hear the staff serenading them with the same Jambo Bwana ("Hello Sir") song that the staff at Maramboi Tented Lodge had sung for us the night before.
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| Entrance to Kilimanjaro International Airport [https://planet-lodges.com/airport-guide-for-international-travelers/] |
Chaos at the Airport--the Low Point of the Entire Trip. Our epic adventure to Africa had been fantastic. Almost everything met or exceeded our expectations. However there was one major exception. The absolute worst part of the trip was our return to Kilimanjaro International Airport. It wasn't the slow moving lines or the myriad other hassles we have come to associate with airline travel these days. The problems included being physically jostled around in a scrum of people trying to get through security. The worst was the real fear of losing some of our belongings in the midst of the confusion. What am I talking about?
Trip to the Airport. Everything was going smoothly. Fazal reappeared and picked us up at Arusha Coffee Lodge for the trip to the airport. We knew it would take awhile since we had to go through the center of Arusha, but he dropped us off at the terminal in plenty of time. That is when everything became crazy.
Security check number 1. Maybe it was unusually busy since it was Saturday afternoon, but the terminal was packed. We had to stand in a long line just to get into the front door. To enter the terminal we had to go through a security check and that was a major choke point. Making it worse, the security personnel seemed inexperienced and had lost all control.
All of our luggage, both carry-on and checked bags, needed to be scanned. We had to take off our shoes--ok, that was to be expected. Belts had to come off even though they contained no metal. Not only did we go through the metal detector but we had to be patted down. When they discovered the money pouches under our clothes (around our necks) they wanted to examine those. Fortunately mine was only around my neck, but the Frog had put his arm through his. He had to take his shirt off to get it off.
This was all going on while we were being jostled and pushed by other people since there was no longer a well defined line. The pushing became even worse after we got everything screened. I was trying to get put back together and still keep track of all of our belongings. I couldn't go far because the Frog was still dealing with security about something and had no ability to look after his things. I tried to pull all of our things into one pile so I could keep track of everything, but there was not enough room. People were going around and stepping over our things. At this point it was a lot of stuff since we still had both our carry-on and checked baggage plus shoes, belts, cross body bags, the undergarment money pouches they had made us take off, etc. Fortunately everyone around us were just hassled passengers like us. If anyone had been trying to steal from us, it would have been really easy to do.
Next up, check-in with Qatar. After that mess we made our way to the Qatar Airways check-in counter. We gave them our checked bags and got our boarding passes. They also gave us passes to the lounge. That sounded promising, but we weren't there yet.
Security check number 2. The Qatar person pointed us in the direction of our gate, but to get there we had to go through immigration so they could stamp our passport. Then we had to go through yet another security check. Fortunately this was less chaotic than the first, but it still required going through the whole process again after a considerable time waiting in line.
After all of that we drug ourselves into the lounge and swore we would never return to Tanzania again. Now that we are no longer so stressed out, we feel much less negative. However, I am still very thankful we didn't have anything stolen in the free-for-all. It could have been so much worse.
On to Doha. We hung out in the lounge and decompressed. Eventually we made our way to the gate and took off on time for the 5 hour flight to Doha.
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| Boarding gate with plane in the background [By Peter Makholm, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41072793] |
Our flight was uneventful and I no longer remember many of the details other than Qatar service continues to be incredible. Despite a slight detour around Yemen, presumably to avoid any problems with the Houthi rebels still very active at the time, we landed in Doha at 11 p.m., which was 30 minutes early.
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| 5 hour flight from Arusha to Doha |
Sightseeing in Doha--not this time. Qatar Airways makes it very easy to visit Doha during long layovers at Hamad International with easy access to tours or during an overnight stay by offering very low hotel rates. Since our layovers were at night, we would have needed to add at least another overnight stay to see the local sights. I remember how interesting it was to visit the markets in the United Arab Emirates when I was there 24 years ago. The main Doha marketplace, Souq Waqif, would have been fascinating especially if we got to see the Falcon Souq.
However, standing on the tarmac at the foot of the stairway from our plane waiting for the bus, I was glad we were not going to try to explore Doha. The temperature with the humidity, even at 11 p.m., made Houston at its worst seem like a garden spot. It was only 91 F, but with a dew point of 77 F it felt like 105 F. I guess it is all relative. The all time record high in Doha was 122.7 F on July 14, 2010. With a relative humidity of 23% that day, the Temperature Humidity Index was 141 F! Surprisingly, at least to me, Doha is quite cool in the winter months, so there might be enjoyable times of the year to visit.
Arriving at Hamad International. After a long bus ride from the plane we entered the terminal. Unlike our arrival from the US, we now had to go through screening before entering the central portion of the terminal. Fortunately it was much easier than the fiasco at Kilimanjaro. There was even a separate line for business class.
Once through security we grabbed a cart and headed for the iconic Lamp Bear which was nearby.
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| A very tired Frog and Lamp Bear |
Although it looks soft and cuddly, it is not. It is a bronze sculpture.
Al Mourjan Business Lounge - The Garden. We again hung out at the Al Mourjan Business Lounge - The Garden. Our flight was not until 8:15 am, so we had lots of time to kill. We mostly lounged and napped a bit. We did grab some breakfast before heading out to find our gate.
One advantage of the slightly different time was a chance to see The Garden under sunlight before we had to leave.
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| Early morning view of The Garden as seen from the Al Mourjan Lounge |
More screening--this time at the gate. Being bored we left plenty early for our gate, which was a good thing. We had to go through screening again, the fourth time on this trip while never having been outside of a secured area.
This time the screening was right at the gate but before entering the seating area. It was quiet and organized, especially since we were so early, but the agents were extremely aggressive about wanting all electronics to go through the scanner outside of the pack or duffel we were carrying them in. That meant even all camera bodies and all lenses.
The agent asked me if I had any computers or iPads. I said no, just a Kindle. His immediate response was "Get it out." I am not sure he knew what a Kindle was. He seemed kind of surprised when I pulled it out and he saw how small it was.
As he looked through my camera backpack he was curious about my 15+ year old Garmin gps. He wanted to know what it was. When I told him it was a gps he looked at me kind of strangely and allowed it to stay in the pack, but with the flap open.
This whole process was not an especially big deal for me, but it was more cumbersome for the Frog, who had multiple camera bodies, multiple lenses, and lots of other gear. At least there was a nice table at the end where we could pile everything as we did the repacking.
Finally--our flight to DFW. We rode the bus out to the plane and finally took off on the last leg of this long journey home. The plane left over half an hour late at just before 9 am on Sunday morning. We arrived 15 hours later at 3:55 pm Sunday afternoon, 5 minutes early.
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| 15 hour flight from Doha to DFW, 9 am Sunday to 4 pm Sunday |
Our checked bags came up quickly. Customs was also really easy. We used the Mobile Passport Control app to fill out the forms online with our phone while still on the plane. When we got to the agents MPC was the only kiosk, including Global Entry, that did not have a line. We went flying through without incident.
Home at last. We quickly got the car loaded and headed for home. There was little traffic on the road on a Sunday afternoon during a Cowboys game so we made great time. We were home within an hour or so of when we had landed.
It had been 41 hours since we piled into the safari vehicle at Maramboi Tented Lodge and begun the trip homeward. Our bodies were confused and had no idea what time it was, but we were home.
Now Just Memories. This is the final post for this grand epic adventure. It truly was a once in a lifetime experience. Fortunately we still have lots of great memories, helped by looking back through these blog posts. Unless and until Google discontinues Blogger, this is my virtual coffee table book for the trip. Listed below is a directory with links for each blog for the trip.
Directory of Africa 2024 Blog Posts (click on title to go to post)
- Africa Trip 2024 - Some Highlights
- Africa Trip 2024 - The Adventure Begins
- Africa Trip 2024 - Day 1, First Day in Arusha
- Africa Trip 2024 - Day 2, Second Day in Arusha
- Africa Trip 2024 - Day 3, Flight to North Serengeti NP
- Africa Trip 2024 - Day 3 (con't), Mara River Crossing and More
- Africa Trip 2024 - Day 4, Another River Crossing
- Africa Trip 2024 - Day 5, More Exploring the Mara River
- Africa Trip 2024 - Day 5 (con't), On to the Central Serengeti
- Africa Trip 2024 - Day 6, Breakfast with the Lions
- Africa Trip 2024 - Day 6 (con't), Kopje Critters
- Africa Trip 2024 - Day 6 (con't), Baboons and Cheetahs and Leopards, Oh My!
- Africa Trip 2024 - Day 7, Big Cats: Cheetah, the Marsh Lions, and Leopard (with lion)
- Africa Trip 2024 - Day 7 (con't), Leopard Redux and a Bush Dinner
- Africa Trip 2024 - Day 8, Parade of the Marsh Lion Pride
- Africa Trip 2024 - Day 8, Leaving Serengeti N. P. and on to Olduvai Gorge
- Africa Trip 2024 - Day 8, Ngorongoro Crater
- Africa Trip 2024 - Day 9, More Ngorongoro Crater
- Africa Trip 2024 - Day 10, Lake Manyara
- Africa Trip 2024 - Day 11, Tarangire N. P.
- Africa Trip 2024 - Day 12, 41 Hours to Home and Lasting Memories
I don't know what new adventures might be on the horizon, but until then we will continue to think of cute kitties, baby zebra, endless numbers of wildebeest, silly giraffes, the lovable little tommies, elephants, leopards, cheetahs, African sunsets and so much more.
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