I’M IN AFRICA !!!!!
I woke up this morning at Kia Lodge, went outside, and looked out on Mount Kilimanjaro dominating the skyline; I bet my Tuesday morning beats your Tuesday morning. Kia Lodge is actually adjacent to the airport, but it was still filled with all manner of birds in its sprawling gardens, including hornbills and amazingly-colored bee eaters. At 10 AM it was off to our home for the next two nights, Lake Duluti Lodge, which is a luxury lodge on the edge of a national reserve. The route there was Africa like you see it in movies – people herding cattle, people balancing massive loads of goods on their heads, and a way of life that doesn’t exist anymore in most western countries. There was definitely no mistaking the feeling of being very far from home.
Lake Duluti is the meeting spot for everyone joining the Cheesemans trip, and while it isn’t as iconic as the places we will be visiting, it is nevertheless a great introduction to Africa. I took a walk with a guide and one other trip participant around the lake, seeing huge monitor lizards and all manner of strange birds, and even getting a look at my first monkeys in Africa – a troop of perhaps six blue monkeys slowly made their way across the canopy towards us as the light was fading.
So far my happiness level is quite high – Africa is going to be an amazing experience. And a random side note, but apparently “hakuna matata” isn’t just a catchy phrase from a Disney film, but is a common Swahili expression that you hear all the time. The people I’ve met here have been extraordinarily friendly and genuine, and “hakuna matata” is inevitably their response whenever I apologize for a late flight arrival, asking for something at a meal, or any other little thing. Given the tough living conditions you might think “no worries” would not be such a common refrain, so it’s perhaps a lesson to learn and take home for application in the much easier world that I come from.
Update: on the way to dinner a nocturnal bushbaby was in the path – sort of like a lemur, and about the size of a cat. After dinner I went searching for him again, and found him scrambling through the trees and leaping 20 feet between branches. It was a sight that I don’t think has any comparison in America. This is going to be an awesome trip.
WOW!