Well…all good things must come to an end and so Neil’s trip to Tanzania which turned out to be pretty epic came to an end. The last day they packed up at the camp and after a dancing and singing sendoff by the camp staff headed out just after sunrise. The plan was to game drive and end up at the airport to catch a late morning flight back to Arusha. On arrival they would head to a cultural center for lunch then back to the same hotel they were at the night before flying out to the bush for the afternoon…and then a late afternoon drive out to the airport for their flights home. Everyone but Amanda was leaving and heading home via Amsterdam, she had an earlier flight not going back through Europe at all so she went straight from lunch to the airport. They all bid adieu to Steve, Rose, Pokea, and Ellison at the airport. Steve and Rose were staying as they had scheduled another few days for just them and Pokea was going to be their driver for those days and Ellison was heading home driving to see family and have a bit of time off.

Lessee…what’s happening around here. Not much really. We’re getting ready and making preps for our trip to Costa Rica, watching hurricane Beryl down in the islands in the Caribbean and the disturbance behind it following the same path that will likely become another hurricane later. 

We have been having a run of medium bad luck on date night though. The past few weeks…we tried Tamiami Tavern but it was closed and ended up elsewhere, Tamiami again but without any A/C but we stayed anyway even though Connie couldn’t have the lobster bisque she wanted because it was too hot for soup, tried 1025 (a craft beer and cocktail place) but it was pouring rain down there so we ended up at Longhorn’s, and Sabor el Mexico last night which was closed so we ended up at Applebees instead. We had a great time at all the alternate places even though we sort of wanted the places we initially picked…hopefully we’ve gotten past that and won’t have any more issues. 

The good news is that most of the wildlife seen on the last day was new subjects that they had not sighted before…and the bad news is that there was no more after arrival at the airport…but even that wasn’t really bad news as they were all tired but happy…and ready to head back home…although getting home would be another more than a day ordeal. However…thanks to business class tickets for at least some of them it wasn’t really all that bad. Two of their 5 remaining after Amanda’s earlier departure only bought economy tickets…and with a 13 hour flight back to Amsterdam via Dar es Salaam (which is actually located south of Arusha…the flight actually makes a 3 stop loop after leaving Amsterdam, Arusha to drop off and pickup, Dar es Salaam where just a few people got off and lot on, then back to Amsterdam)…an overnight flight in a cramped economy seat seems to be economically unwise, especially considering even business class tickets were cheap compared to the cost of the workshop. 

Anyways…they headed out right after sunrise and actually had the first couple of sightings outside the park on the main road to someplace else.

Black Backed Jackals. This is a family group with an alpha pair and then their offspring. Once they’re full grown but still juvenile they stay around for a year or two before heading off (or being run off by the parents) to do their own thing and start their own family group. This group was spotted off to the left side as they headed mostly north on the main road they were on and with the just after sunrise time they were almost perfectly positioned for great images.

Just a bit down the road they spotted this lioness just waking up.

On turning into the park…they spotted a couple of Hamerkop hunting and he was able to get a nice sequence of one of them eating a worm of some sort.

On down the road…a Ruppell’s Griffon…Griffons are in the vulture/carrion eater family.

African Fish Eagle with some nice takeoff images.

Vervet Monkeys. They weren’t sure until the second image exactly what was going on but it sort of gives away the genders and what’s on who’s mind.

Spur Winged Lapwing.

Silverbird.

A couple Egyptian Geese.

After the geese…it was time to head to the airport for the flight as it was still most of another hour to get there…so the decision was made to only stop for something spectacular…which didn’t happen. On arrival they all tipped Pokea and Ellison, said their ‘until next times’ to Steve and Rose, and went through the check-in, security screening, and trudged out to the single engine aircraft for the flight back to Arusha.

Neil got a few shots out the window via iPhone on the flight.

A lake in a crater it looked like.

And a couple shots of some gorges that had been cut by rivers through the mountains.

On arrival in Arusha…the plane parked just about as far as it could get from the airport exit so it was a long, long walk. At the exit, the porters turned their luggage back over to them and they boarded the bus for lunch.

After lunch and back at the hotel…where all of them had greatly appreciated showers and clean clothes, then they met the driver back downstairs around 1700 for the hour or so trip over to Kilimanjaro International Airport.

On the way…they stopped and got the obligatory picture…because you can’t come to the Serengeti and not get a picture of the mountain and it was hidden by clouds both ways on the bush fights. This is a view from about 30 miles away looking northeast from just outside the airport. Neil took the liberty of using the AI features now included in Lightroom and Photoshop to remove the power lines, power poles, and assorted tourists who had also stopped for photos from the foreground.The ridge in the middle distance is below the peak is actually part off the mountain’s lower slopes…it’s a very wide mountain about 20 miles across at the base where it rises above the surrounding plains.

On arrival at the airport…another check-in line and security screening (twice) before heading into the gate area…where Neil and Luanne headed to the Delta lounge for some dinner and cocktails…they headed back down an hour or two later just before boarding.

The flight was pretty uneventful…an hour down to Dar es Salaam to pick up more passengers. Neil had some dinner and another cocktail on the flight…but on takeoff from Dar es Salaam around 2200 he told the flight attendants he was sleeping so would skip the second dinner on the flight as well as cocktails, so he buckled his seatbelt outside the blanket, reclined his fully flat business class seat, put on the eye shade in his goodie packet and slept until just about two hours before landing. Woke up and had some coffee and pastries but passed on the rest of breakfast. Once in Amsterdam…he and Luanne again found the Delta lounge for some better pastries and better coffee which he spiked with bourbon. He left her in the lounge as her flight home was later in the day, got on the plane to Atlanta and after another nap and some lunch and avoidance of some thunderstorms around Atlanta actually arrived there only 40 minutes before the flight back to Miami so he had to almost do the OJ sprint through the airport as the gate was completely at the other end of the airport in a different terminal. He got there with 10 or 15 minutes to spare and was in the pre-boarding group as that included military, military retirees as well as people with babies. An uneventful flight to Miami, collected luggage and cleared customs and waited less than 5 minute for the shuttle to the Sheraton to pick up the car…followed by a 30 or 40 minute ride to the Indian Casino northwest from the airport to put him away from rush hour traffic. He had a good night’s sleep there before hopping onto I-75 in the morning to get back home.

All in all…this was a really great trip…in fact it was so great he’s already scheduled a repeat African safari for next summer with Steve and Rose in Botswana which is further south from Tanzania and just north of South Africa.

Long post already…so that’s it for today.

Cyas.