26/03/2019: In to Africa

Kevin has always wanted to see big game in Africa and finally, with the need to use up some extra leave days by the end of the financial year, we decided to book a short holiday to Africa to see what it is like and whether we would like to travel independently on the continent in the future.

We chose Africa Safari as they did a week’s safari trip to Kenya visiting three different national parks.  It’s all packaged and our only requirement was getting down to Heathrow.

We set off later than planned to Heathrow as we hadn’t managed to organise ourselves and all the household animals.  We stayed at the Hilton T5 at Colnbrook, but arrived after the pool and spa had shut.  Having eaten on the way down, we had loaded nachos and wine before an early night.

It was an early get up the next morning.  We caught a Heathrow Hoppa to T4, cleared security and settled in to an airport lounge for breakfast. (Joan had got a good deal with her Vodaphone package that gets you access for £16)

Our plane was due to leave at 0840 for Schiphol Airport and we presented ourselves at the gate in good time.  Departure time came and went without announcement.  We already starting getting nervous as the transfer time that our travel company had booked for us was quite tight – less than an hour.

Eventually we were told there were freak winds in Amsterdam and many flights had been cancelled.  We boarded the plane only to sit on the concrete for ¾ of an hour whilst we awaited air traffic control clearance from the Nederlands.

We were half hopeful that our connecting flight to Nairobi would be late too.  But approaching landing, the Captain announced that it had already left.

There were huge queues understandably at Schiphol as thousands of people tried to rearrange their flights.  It was difficult enough trying to find out what queue to get in.  We phoned our travel company and they told us to update them when we had rebooked.

We knew there was another KLM/Kenya airways flight out to Nairobi at 8 pm .  Having located the right queue, the attitude of some of the other passengers was poor.  The bloke in front kept trying to moan to us and anyone else who would listen but we were all in the same boat.

We were given water and chocolate by patient KLM staff and eventually got to a machine which told us we had been rebooked on the same flight the next day and churned out hotel, airport shuttle and food vouchers.

We realised we would have to give up a day of our holiday, but that’s the way the dice fell.

So we called our tour company and they instructed us to ask for a transfer onto the evening flight.  We explained the long queues but they insisted.  So we waited in line again to speak to a real person.  In front of us was a lady from Oregon, US and we struck up a conversation.  She asked how long we had been together, which we thought was odd.  We told her and asked why.  She said that we were so mellow together.  That was a nice compliment.

Later, she couldn’t use her mobile so we lent her ours to call the friend who was meant to be picking her up in Marseilles.

Eventually we spoke to a real KLM representative who said the evening flight was fully booked and nor could we get access to our cases.  Usually when we travel we carry a spare change of clothes in our hand luggage as our self-made plans often become undone.  On this occasion we had been caught out.  Lesson learned!

So we called Africa Safari and explained all other flights were fully booked.  They said, but you will miss your safari, as if it were our fault!! We asked if we should go to the hotel but were asked to wait another half hour whilst they called KLM for us.

True to their word, they called back and said we had been booked on a flight that evening to Nairobi via Abu Dhabi that would get us to Kenya early afternoon.  All we had to do was go to the KLM desk office and change our tickets.  It is a good job that we Brits are good at queueing!

The KLM man was not happy and told us we had complicated things as our luggage was in the cellar and it was a big problem to collect it en route.  He also said Etihad, on whom we were newly booked, were not good at disruption times.  He suggested we went on the waiting list for the evening flight direct saying we had an 80% of getting on.  KLM wanted us to do one thing, our tour operator another.

However there was no guarantee of a place on the KLM flight whereas we were guaranteed a flight with Etihad.  He then told us Etihad would not let us fly without our luggage.  We stook to our guns and eventually he submitted a request to retrieve our luggage, though he made no guarantees.  After this we had to negotiate with security to get access back into arrivals via the mysterious Door 16 to get to the luggage conveyor belts.  He said to wait for 30 minutes and then, if nothing had arrived, to seek help.  After exactly a 30 minute wait, the conveyor moved and magically our cases arrived.  We had to clear customs again and then got back in line to check in for the Etihad flight.

Not having eaten since breakfast, we used the vouchers KLM had given us to have a meal, before boarding our flight to Abu Dhabi.

All went smoothly – a 7 hour flight to Abu Dhabi, a three hour wait then just under 5 hours to Nairobi.  We even managed to blag some veggie meals.

It was a relief to land in Nairobi.  The airport terminal was small and we headed to the pick up point.  We’re not sure what happened, but the driver wasn’t there.  More phone calls to our tour operator, and eventually George arrived, saying we had looked at his sign and ignored it!  Like!

It was good to get in his jeep and head to Amboseli.  It seems we are the only ones on the tour, which is good.

The main road between Nairobi to Mombasa is single carriageway.  Progress was painfully slow, stuck behind lines of slow moving lorries.  Minibuses undertook on the verges, and overtaking was an extreme sport, particularly as our jeep did not have great acceleration.

There were checkpoints at which folk sold watermelon, sweets and vegetables.  Stalls adjacent to the road sold tyres and car parts as well as food. 

Finally we turned south towards the Tanzanian border and in no time, the cloud clad slopes of Kilimanjaro came into view.  It was late afternoon and the clouds slowly dispersed to reveal the flat topped volcano in all is glory.

We managed to reach the National Park’s gates before they closed for the night.  Whilst we waited at the gates, quite persistent folk tried to sell us jewellery and wooden carvings through the window but we resisted as we haven’t worked out the exchange rate yet.  Plus we are under strict instructions from Ava and Erin to bring back a cheetah and an armadillo!

As soon as we got in the park, there were animals.  A line of 30 elephants crossed in front of us.  A giraffe was in the distance.  There were hippos in the swamp, wildebeest, zebras and apes.  All under the volcano.

Ol Tukai Lodge was magical.  In an oasis of trees, it is a wooden structure with a central lodge and chalets.  More on this later. 

Night fell quickly and the stars were so bright.  The noise of the insects and the smell of the charcoal burning was evocative.

It was time for dinner – a formal three course meal.   Our waiter was keen to talk about economics and social disparities.  And then it came – we were asked about Brexit.  You can’t escape it, even here.