30 January 2013 - Jo'burg to Arusha, Tanzania

Up early trying to contact Annabel Tuckfield, Terry's haematologist, to get advice about Clexane injections and flights of 4 hours or more. The doctor we saw in Sydney suggested that flights of 4 hours were long haul and Terry would need an injection. This was different to the advice Annabel had given us, so we needed to get it sorted given we were taking a bit over 5 hours to get to Kilimanjaro today. Thankfully the email came back from Annabel saying she thinks we only need to worry about flights over 8 hours.

We had breakfast in the hotel and headed to the airport around 9.

There wasn't a lot going on at the airport so we got through immigration quickly. 

Got on the plane to Nairobi, not that full. We had a couple with a baby sitting across the aisle. They are also connecting through Nairobi to Kilimanjaro. Their baby girl, Jessica, at 7 months would have to be the best behaved baby we've ever travelled with.

Waited for 2 hours in Nairobi airport until the flight to Kilimanjaro. This plane was smaller; could hold about 30 passengers. A young Australian girl, Marlee, sat across the aisle. She had been flying 26 hours via Abu Dhabi to meet up with friends in Kilimanjaro. She hadn't done a lot of travelling and when this smaller plane hit a serious air pocket and dropped possibly 100 feet she got very nervous. Pam had a half glass of water on her tray which didn't fall over but all the water jumped out and went everywhere. The plane was quickly under control and Terry kept chatting to our young friend to keep her calm. She was very appreciative that she had someone to talk to. We arrived safely in Kilimanjaro.

We had to buy a visa in Tanzania, US$50 each, which was a relatively simple process. Got through immigration and collected our luggage and met our guide, Gabriel, outside the terminal. It was about 7.30pm and dark so really not much to see. Gabriel drove us to our accommodation in Arusha, the nearest city to Kilimanjaro. We were staying at the Rivertrees lodge for one night before we started the serious safari in Tanzania. The lodge was very luxurious. We went to the dining room for a light meal and a glass of wine before hitting the sack around 10.

 Bedroom at Rivertrees lodge

Garden view at Rivertrees lodge