Nairobi to Arusha

Exhausted by Amsterdam, we all fell asleep before our flight could leave the ground. Nicole was thoroughly disappointed that she didn't get the chance to finish the Justin Beiber classic "Never Say Never" - thankfully Allison and Julia have already seen it. She has her fingers crossed for the return flight. We landed in Nairobi, grabbed our bags, and ventured out to look for our transportation to Arusha. We couldn't have been happier to see a woman with a sign reading "J Sorbara and N Visconti x 3" - luckily they let Allison take the place of one N Visconti. She directed us to a cafe where we patiently waited for our 'bus' - having read Jocelyn's blog re: Kenya time, we had no idea how long this wait might be, but we didn't care - just happy that someone was expecting us, and seemed to be putting us on a bus! The bus turned out to be a twenty person minivan with a mix of locals and tourists from the States and Australia. Nicole was lucky enough to get the solo front seat, while Julia and Allison were crammed in the very back. We think Julia's seat may have been derived from a pre-existing arm rest. Six hours of sweat (or freezing if you're Nicole sitting directly under the only working AC) vent, bumpy roads, whiplash and border crossings later, we arrived in Arusha at L'Oasis Lodge. We had no idea what to expect, as the lodge was located far from the main road (was it even on a road??), but we were all relieved to see the lovely grounds with a pool, lounge, and spacious hut style rooms. We promptly collapsed on our beds and fell asleep until a knock at the door announced Achmed's arrival in the lounge.

For those of you who don't know Achmed, he was our Safari coordinator extraordinare. Originally from the UK (though we think he's traveled the entire world), he settled in Tanzania years ago after he met "the wife" and started his own Safari company. To create a visual, he dons a red Amsterdam baseball hat, a plaid traditional Masai blanket covering his safari clothing, a white handlebar moustache (groomed to perfection, with neatly curled ends), a 1L Safari beer in one hand and a pack of cigarettes in the other. These are all permanent fixtures. He welcomed us with open arms, and introduced us to three Australian girls who had just returned from a safari with Basecamp (Achmed's crew). He does this every night, welcoming Safari-ers back and sending new ones on their way. This was a trip changing night for us, as we learned that our current safari itinerary had one minor flaw - it skipped the Serengeti (the LARGEST of Tanzania's national parks, with by far the most animals in terms of both numbers and diversity). Having learned this, we decided to forego our "rest day" and start our safari one day early, giving us enough time to get to the 'Geti.Once we settled on our new plans, we had dinner with the lovely Australian girls (highlight: the rum-laced chocolate pot for dessert that we proceeded to dream about for the next 4 days on safari), and headed to bed - excited to leave in the morning!