I'll begin with a simplified mathematical formula:
(Anticipation + Discomfort) x (Restlessness) = Bruce on a Plane
I think that the United States should begin to use long-distance air travel as a modern interrogation technique for their remaining terrorist suspects. Needless to say, this has been a long boring flight. While I am thankful for the in seat video console, I can only stomach one viewing of "2001: A Space Odyssey."
If you include the pre-boarding period and layover in Amsterdam, the trip between Minneapolis and Tanzania is about 24 hours. Sadly, I am not one to sleep on planes... So for what it's worth, I'll invest a few moments of my precious flight time to summarize our safari itinerary for this blog that no one will read.
We arrive at Kilimanjaro Airport after 8 p.m. on June 10th. Supposedly we will be met by the Dik Dik Hotel staff who will transport us to the hotel where we will enjoy a late champagne dinner (I'm not sure if I'll need a drink after 24 hours of travel, but when in Rome...). Our travels include two evenings at the Dik Dik before beginning the safari. From the Dik Dik we will take a "puddle-jumper" from Arusha to the Western Serengeti. We will be spending spending three nights in the Serena Kirawira Tent Camp. From Kirawira, we travel to the Serena Serengeti Lodge in the Eastern Regions of Serengeti National Park. We will spend three more nights here. This offers us a minimum of six safari days in the Serengeti. Ok... I have to admit that I have overused the word Serengeti in this paragraph, but it sounds so exotic that I can't help myself!
From the Serengeti, we will travel East to Ngorongoro Crater National Park. On our way to the crater we will stop at a Masai village and Oldupai Gorge. We'll spend the evening at the Serena Crater Lodge and game drive throughout Ngorongoro crater on the following day. We leave the crater in the evening and head East to the Serena Lake Manyara Lodge. The next day we plan to game drive thoughout Lake Manyara National Park and continue east until we reach Tarangire National Park. We'll spend the night in the park at the Tarangire Sopa Lodge and game drive out of the park on the next day.
At this point, I'm not sure how many nights we have spent in Africa, but I do know that we will be working our way back to the Dik Dik Hotel/Lodge in Arusha. While in Arusha, we will visit Arusha national Park. Arusha National Park includes Mount Maru (the other big mountain in Tanzania). After seeing Arusha NP, we'll spend one last evening at the Dik Dik and fly home to Minneapolis. This will be my final opportunity to experience the 32nd circle of Dante's vision of hell.
©2000-2010 BTLeventhal.com / Bruce & Tamy Leventhal. All rights reserved. No image on this site may be used without permission
No comments:
Post a Comment