RWANDA, KENYA & TANZANIA

I have wanted to see gorillas in their natural habitat for decades, ever since I saw the movie about Dian Fosse’s life. If I’m lucky, my dream will soon be coming true.

In a few weeks, I’ll be leaving for five days in Rwanda. This is the pre-trip OAT offers before their main trip to Kenya and Tanzania. The maximum amount of time that any group is allowed to spend with the gorillas is one hour. But that’s not guaranteed. If the gorillas become agitated, they could retreat into the bush before the hour elapses.

According to the documentation that I received from OAT, there are eight of us on the pre-trip. A ninth traveler will be joining us in Nairobi at the start of the main trip, so it’s a nice small group, composed of two couples and four women traveling solo. At least that’s what I’m guessing, from last names and geographic areas.

I have to tell you, getting to and from that part of Africa is not easy. My flight from Newark to Kigali leaves after midnight, stops for about an hour in Istanbul, and doesn’t arrive in Kigali until 1 AM the following day.

Okay, confession time. I screwed up. Originally I booked a one night early arrival into Kigali. When I got my flight information and saw I was landing the next day, I canceled the early arrival. It took me a while to realize that I HAD to book that early arrival, otherwise I’d be sitting in the lobby from around 1 AM until a room for that day was available. Not fun. By the time I figured this out, it was less than 90 days before departure, so I called OAT to rebook that room. That’s when I learned that OAT doesn’t allow changes within the 90 days before departure. Internet to the rescue. I booked directly with the hotel. They are going to keep me in the SAME room that I would get with OAT (which happens to be an upgraded room, at no additional cost), AND they are meeting me at the airport and transporting me to the hotel at no additional charge. I love it when my stupidity actually turns into a good thing.

For the return trip, I will be flying out of Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, leaving at 2:30 AM, and arriving in Istanbul around noon. Because I’m hoping to sleep on the plane for BOTH flights, I decided to fly business class with Turkish Air. The OAT flight department was able to find me a reasonably priced flight as long as I stayed two nights in Istanbul. Such a deal!

While in Africa, we will be flying in small planes, so OAT supplied us with duffles, specially constructed to ensure that everyone’s luggage can fit onto the plane.  When Mike and I went on OAT’s Ultimate Africa trip in 2014, we received similar duffels, which I decorated with sharpies, including–much to his surprise– Mike’s.  After the trip, I gifted my duffel to my sister, Sandy, so new project!

The decorations made it easy to spot our bags, which was very helpful, because other OAT trips were leaving from the same hotel. Not only were we able to differentiate our bags from others in the trip, we were also able to make sure OUR bags were on the RIGHT trip!

Yes, I know it looks like the bag was decorated by a not very talented six year old. But you have to admit, no one else will have a duffle that even REMOTELY looks anything like this.

OAT’s documentation included confirmation of the hotels and lodges, so I checked them out on line. I couldn’t believe that almost all accommodations have swimming pools, so I added a bathing suit to my packing list.

I am beyond excited about this trip! I hope you’ll travel vicariously with me. The next post will be from Africa. The map at the top of this post shows where we will be visiting.