Africa Trip 2024 - Day 12, 41 Hours to Home and Lasting Memories

[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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

1.  Africa Trip 2024 - Some Highlights
2.  Africa Trip 2024 - The Adventure Begins
3.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 1, First Day in Arusha
4.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 2, Second Day in Arusha
5.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 3, Flight to North Serengeti NP
   
6.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 3 (con't), Mara River Crossing and More
7.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 4, Another River Crossing 
8.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 5, More Exploring the Mara River
   
9.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 5 (con't), On to the Central Serengeti
10.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 6, Breakfast with the Lions
11.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 6 (con't), Kopje Critters
12.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 6 (con't), Baboons and Cheetahs and Leopards, Oh My!
13.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 7, Big Cats:  Cheetah, the Marsh Lions, and Leopard (with lion)
14.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 7 (con't), Leopard Redux and a Bush Dinner
15.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 8, Parade of the Marsh Lion Pride
16.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 8,  Leaving Serengeti N. P. and on to Olduvai Gorge
17.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 8,  Ngorongoro Crater
18.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 9,  More Ngorongoro Crater
19.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 10, Lake Manyara
20.  Africa Trip 2024 - Day 11, Tarangire N. P.
21.  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. 

Africa Trip 2024 - Day 11, Tarangire N. P.

[This is post #20 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 Friday, September 20, Day 11 of our grand Africa adventure.  Since our flight was to depart late afternoon on Saturday out of Kilimanjaro International Airport, we would be leaving for Arusha first thing Saturday morning.  That meant today would be our last safari day.

After breakfast and then choosing our box lunch buffet style, we were off.  We were headed for nearby Tarangire National Park.

Tarangire is known for its high density of elephants that gather along the Tarangire River during the dry season, so we hoped to see elephants.  Like every other day on this trip, we saw what we hoped to see and a whole lot more.

Elephants along the Tarangire River

At 1,100 square miles, Tarangire NP is very large.  We only drove through a small portion of the northern part of the park. 

Tarangire NP.  Our Day 11 track is blue.

 

Even before we got to the park there was notable wildlife including parrots in a roadside tree.  I know it is just a bird, but it seems special to see wild parrots.

Red-bellied Parrot

Termite mounds.  One of the first things we learned when arriving at Tarangire NP is that it is known for its termite mounds.  While Fazal went inside to handle paperwork, we checked out the termite mound in the parking lot.

Termite mound in the Tarangire NP parking lot of the Main Gate (Tarangire Gate) with the Frog for scale

 

African termites are incredible.  They practice rudimentary agriculture.  Yes, really!  They grow fungus, their source of food, by gathering wood and leaves which they feed to the fungus.  The fungus can only grow in the conditions (a constant 31 C) within the mound.

The mounds are an architectural marvel.  Th termites construct them from clay, saliva, and excrement.  They mix in other soil types, as needed, to get a strong structure. Not only are the mounds huge and as hard as concrete, but they have a complicated internal structure.  There is an internal chimney which takes air in from lower levels.  The fungi are grown in a below ground nest.  The fungi produce heat in the nest which rises towards the closed chimney. The heat is exchanged via the chimney and its smaller tunnels that lead to the surface. Carbon dioxide and oxygen are exchanged near the surface of the nest and workers may open or block individual tunnels to regulate temperature. 

There may be as many as a million termites in a single mound, divided among workers, soldiers, nurse larvae, and a single queen.  While the workers only live a few months, the queen can live for 20 years or more.  By the way, termites are not related to ants.  They are more like cockroaches.

Digging of tunnels to build the mounds opens up the soil and use of the otherwise indigestible plant material produces nitrogen, phosphorus and other ingredients for improved growth of surrounding plants.  

Abandoned mounds are home to many small animals.  The mounds are also apparently a place to hang out if you happen to be a baboon.

Baboon on a termite mound near park entrance

More baboons

Giraffes.  We were barely in the park when we started seeing lots of giraffes.

 

Two little giraffes and some adults

As seen in the following video, they are extremely graceful and seem to float along when they walk.  They have the walking style similar to a camel where both left legs move together, then both right legs.

 

It was interesting to watch them eat.  Although many of the trees and bushes have significant thorns as a defense mechanism against the giraffes eating the leaves, the giraffes use their flexible tongue to work between the thorns.

Giraffe munching on leaves

The giraffe works around the thorns to get the leaves in the following video.

Like we had seen on the hippos in the Mara River, there were oxpeckers going after the bugs on the backs of many of the giraffes.

Yellow-billed oxpeckers hitching a ride on these two young giraffes

The video shows how fast the birds move.

Baobab Trees.  Tarangire NP is also known for its iconic baobab trees.  The trunks are enormous, 33-46 feet in diameter.  The trees can live for more than 1500 years.  The oldest known baobab tree lived to nearly 2500 years.

Baobab trees are important for their many potential uses.  Their often hollow trunks can be shelter for animals or humans. The bark stores significant amounts of water during the dry season.  Even elephants will eat the bark for water if no other source is available. The pulp from the fruit, often called monkey bread, is edible as we discovered when we visited the Arusha Central Market earlier in our trip.

Baobab tree

Due to their unique shape, they are sometimes called an upside down tree.  The whole time we were there I kept thinking about the trees in Wizard of Oz every time I looked at them.

Elephants.  It was not long before we started to see lots of elephants.  Most were hanging around eating, which is what elephants do most of the time.  The average adult elephant eats about 300 pounds of food a day.

Scratching his ear?

However sometimes things happen.  For example, in the video below the elephants for some unknown reason became annoyed by the approaching ostriches.  Not surprisingly, the ostriches turned around and moved away.

There were many groups of elephants.  We watched the group below cross the road in front of us.

On their way to the field across the road

 

Everything was going smoothly and the entire group crossed the road until the last elephant, the bigger one of the two in the following pictures, decided to pick a fight.  He is a male in musth, a state of heightened aggression and sexual activity.  As part of that, he had a sticky secretion running down his cheeks.  

We did not know how serious the fighting between these two males might become, but it went on for quite sometime.  Given their smallish tusks, they may have not been too old.

Below is a video of part of the confrontation between the two males.  The smaller one submitted and walked away, but the larger one went after him again.  Interestingly, the larger group seen near the end of the video seems to be ignoring them.

More Animals.  As we drove around we saw a variety of animals scattered about.  There were quite a few buffalo.  As always they seemed to think they were in a stare down with us.

Buffalo and cattle egrets

We  kept running into zebra.

Lots of brown fur still on this little one

There were lots more giraffe.

 

Serengeti without the Crowds.  Tarangire NP is part of the larger Tarangire Ecosystem.  According to Wiki, the Tarangire Ecosystem hosts the second-largest population of migratory ungulates in East Africa and the largest population of elephants in northern Tanzania.  

During the dry season, the animals congregate around the Tarangire River.  We did not see any wildebeest, but we saw lots of elephants and zebra. Although predators must certainly be around, we saw no lions and only fleetingly saw one leopard.  One site referred to Tarangire NP as "Serengeti without the crowds".  It might be totally devoid of animals during the wet season, but we certainly saw a lot during this short dry season visit. 

More Zebra.  As we were moving towards the exit we encountered even more zebra.

Lots of zebra as we were preparing to leave

 

It seemed to us on multiple occasions that zebra are on alert and more skittish than many of the other animals.  That seemed to be the case here when something suddenly spooked the herd.

Spooked by something

We were not sure what scared them, but it may have been these two having a disagreement.

Coming of the Rains?  Just as we were leaving we saw a baobab tree that was starting to leaf out.  It was the only one with leaves we saw all day.  According to myth, baobab trees can predict the weather.  Leaves start to appear when rain is imminent.  Many locals throughout our visit were talking about the coming of the rains.  We thought it was wishful thinking on their part after many months of the dry season, but maybe according to this tree they are right.  Maybe the rains are coming.

Baobab tree leafing out--predicting the coming of the rains?

Back to Camp.  We returned to camp and spent the remaining time getting things ready to leave in the morning.  We wanted to make sure everything was packed appropriately for getting on our flight the next day.  Since this camp was larger with more amenities than most, we were even able to buy a bag in their gift shop to use as a different carry-on.  Our previous arrangement was too heavy for me to lug around comfortably during our layover in Doha.

As we made our way to the pool area for happy hour we encountered this little guy outside our room.

Vervet monkey on the path hanging around outside our room

I don't know how many rooms there were at Maramboi Tented Lodge, but it seemed a lot bigger than previous camps based on the much larger size of the dining area.

Dining area at Maramboi Tented Lodge.  Due to the high lake level, the area to the left of the railing was all under water while we were there.  [https://twctanzania.com/tarangire/maramboi-tented-lodge/]

We enjoyed some downtime at happy hour, including talking again to a couple from Indiana.  We had kept bumping into them over the past week since they were also on safari with Africa Dream Safaris and seemed to be stopping at many of the same places.

Sunset over Lake Manyara during happy hour at Maramboi Tented Lodge

It seemed like it was going to rain, so we started the walk back from the pool and retreated to the covered lounge area adjacent to the dining area.  

Sure enough there was a brief shower.  Although all of our meals at the camp had been outside, we expected that to mean they would move dining inside.

Dining area at Maramboi Tented Lodge after dark [https://twctanzania.com/tarangire/maramboi-tented-lodge/]

Wrong.  Dinner location was not moved.  The rain had stopped so dinner proceeded outdoors as planned.  Hakuna matata.

Our reserved table during the soup course was still quite damp from the brief shower

Surprise!  It was another great meal.  We were winding down after another long day when we were met with one more surprise, a serenade from the staff.

We had heard the song they were singing multiple times on the trip.  Known as the Jambo Bwana ("Hello Sir") song, it was apparently actually written for tourists in the early 1980's but has become wildly popular.  The lyrics change depending upon location (Kenya, Tanzania, Kilimanjaro, etc.) but are roughly as outlined here.

That seemed like a wonderful way to end this epic nearly two week adventure to Africa.  We were now definitely ready to settle in for the night in preparation for our departure in the morning.

But wait, there is more.  As I was preparing to take a shower the Frog, who was reading on the bed, pointed to the curtains near the front door and said, "Is that dark spot a tear or something on the curtain?"  I went to look. No, not a tear...a bat.

Picture from earlier in the day showing the area near the front door.

We called the front desk, thinking they would come immediately.  Not.

The bat stayed put for quite sometime, then flew to the side curtains.  I was in the back trying to get more appropriately dressed when it lit on the mosquito netting around the bed.  Then, as best the Frog could tell, it dropped down and was possibly under the bed.

By this time it had been at least a half hour and we called the front desk again.  Finally someone showed up. We looked under the bed with a flashlight but didn't see anything.  

Our fear was being trapped inside the mosquito netting overnight with the bat.  The camp guy took the bed completely apart and turned everything upside down. Still nothing.  

Probably unbeknownst to us the bat had retreated to the very high peaked (and thatched) ceiling.  There was nothing else to do but put everything back together and get ready for bed.  Tonight the mosquito netting would also be bat netting.

Our room with mosquito netting for the bed, as seen earlier in the day. A bit of the steep thatched ceiling is just visible.

I guess there was some symmetry to these night time animal mishaps. Our first safari night the buffalo disabled the electricity.  Tonight the bat, who may have been more concerned than we were, caused us to tear the room apart.  In the grand scale of things, neither one of these was a major problem.  Hakuna matata.