Africa - Tanzania - Friday, February 24, 2017

Here's our itinerary for the next three weeks.

The moment we've all been waiting for has finally arrived.  The expedition begins today, but as you can tell, we've already had more fun than the law should allow.  Well now it's "GO" time.  We gathered our gear, lots of it, and departed this morning for Tanzania. 
 

I finally broke down and bought a new suitcase.  The camera and lens are too darn heavy to carry in a LuLu Lemon Bag!!

On board our private Boeing 757 jet and part time home for the next three weeks, we were airborne at 9:30 a.m. 

Only 46 lie flat seats. Plenty of room and quite comfortable!!

The aircraft is beautiful with roomy lie flat seats and a delightful crew.  There are three of us, so the empty seat next to me has been assigned to the National Geographic Photographer, Jay Dickman.  YAY!  He can refresh my memory and re-teach me how to use my camera.  It's been a long time since I've used a "big girl" camera.  The iPhone has done an outstanding job, but this job in the wilds of Africa calls for a real camera.  

Refresher course with Jay Dickman on the Canon Camera.

Jay and I talked about F-stops and aperture settings and ISO levels and range of field, wide angle lenses and telephoto lenses and when to use each.  Stevie, Lorri and I basically spent the afternoon pestering the hell out of poor Jay.  But he was so kind and patient and seemed to enjoy helping us learn how to use our beastly cameras.  He made it sound pretty simple.  Let's see what I bring to the blog tomorrow night after an afternoon on the Serengeti chasing animals.  Can't wait.  But I'm bringing my iPhone as a backup!!  

The crew kept us well fed and entertained on our flight across Africa.  

Caviar starter is always appreciated and so civilized!!

We arrived at Kilimanjaro International Airport in Tanzania at 8:45 p.m.  Long day and then we had a two hour ride to the hotel in Arusha (pronounced Ah-roo-sha).  I was a bit confused as to why we had a quick over night stop in Arusha until I remembered the airport in the Serengeti is nothing more than a grass strip with no tower nor landing lights.  So we have to arrive during daylight hours.   

Our accommodations for the evening are at The Arusha Coffee Lodge, a beautiful lodge surrounded by a huge working coffee plantation.  Each of the 30 rooms are free standing Plantation Houses.  Each house is incredibly luxurious in an early 1900's style with vaulted ceiling and crystal chandeliers, hard wood floors, comfy sitting room adjacent to an elevated bedroom that is separated from the living area by a fabulous lighted glass art wall.  The bed is enclosed with a sheer curtain tent.  I feel like royalty in this bed! 
 

Elevated Bedroom is separated from the living area by this illuminated glass art wall.

Felt like Queen for a Day with this lovely tent around my bed.

Little flowers embellish the tub and matts.

The molded double glass sink doesn't show well in the photo, but it's beautiful.

The bathroom is incredible too, with a large claw foot bathtub, walk in shower and glass carved double sink.   The historic original home houses a restaurant and lounge (Lobby Bar here we come!!)  If we had to have a layover, this is definitely worth the stop.

Arusha Coffee Lodge historic Main House.

After being escorted to our plantation houses, we ditched the bags and headed immediately to the Lobby Bar, which has become quite an evening ritual.   We had a late start in the lobby bar, so we didn't stay long as we have an early call in the morning as well.   

Lobby Bar.  Need I say more??

I came back to my house, organized my bags, arranged my camera and lenses and then decided I needed to put something on my face to exfoliate the flaking skin caused by the dry air in Arizona and Lisbon.  No offense, but I slightly resemble one of the natives who greeted us tonight.  

My face is frozen with this mask.

I'll close by saying, Africa is an amazing, magical, fascinating place and I'm so blessed and happy for the opportunity to be here.