Three days. Almost three days of flights, layovers, and bus rides to eventually bring us to the EcoScience Lodge, the first place we’ll be staying in Tanzania. With the time zone changes, it feels like it was yesterday when I made my first blog post.
Travel has been tiring and exciting at the same time. I am now a huge fan of Turkish Airlines in-flight cuisine (shoutout sour cherry juice and spicy hummus!). The twelve-hours-plus-eight-more-hours of plane time gave me a chance to watch a couple movies, one of which was a Turkish film. It was a love story about two travelers crossing paths: one while backpacking and the other while on a roadtrip. It was fun to watch a travel-related movie while being on a voyage of my own.
Our layover in Istanbul offered a lot of time for exploring the airport, which was absolutely gorgeous. I got some baklava as a snack and attempted to figure out the logistics of Turkish coffee with Kacey. It was so cool seeing the departures signs of where all the other flights were going!
From the bus ride out of Nairobi, there was already so much to absorb. Immediately after leaving the airport, we spotted a giraffe towering above low trees, then soon after, a small herd of zebras. Within Nairobi itself, the sides of the road were lined with colorful market stands, tuk-tuks, and countless herds of cattle, goats, and donkeys. Outside of town, the trees were scattered with tall rust-colored termite mounds in front of a backdrop of forested mountains. As we got closer to the border, Mount Kilimanjaro’s snow-capped summit loomed over us.
The border crossing took a long time— mostly because you have to “check out” of Kenya before starting the process to enter Tanzania. Once we successfully made it through customs, we drove to the town of Arusha for a quick stop at the mall to get lunch and exchange money, then continued on to the very remote EcoScience Lodge.
By the time we reached our destination, it was dark and the sky was sparkling with stars. I’m so thankful our travels went smoothly, and even more thankful for a shower and a bed to sleep in tonight!
Best wishes (especially to the architect who designed IST),
Carina
