The last day of safari was spent in Tarangire national park before heading back to Kilimanjaro after lunch for an overnight stay before flying on to Zanzibar.
Tarangire has many baobab trees, which are the giants in Africa and can live for up to 600 years.
We spotted a small group of Waterbuck, which are very distinctive especially when viewed from behind, due to the white markings on their rear end looking as if they’ve sat on a toilet seat coated in white paint !
Below is the pretty red & yellow barbet, and the red billed hornbill. If you’ve seen the Disney film ‘The Lion King’ you’ll recognise the hornbill as the pesky Zazu.
Finally, a small herd of elephants making their way for a drink.
On our way back to Kilimanjaro we were told that our plans were to change for our final days in Zanzibar. We were originally due to fly out the evening our safari ended (Tuesday), but our flight had been cancelled and rescheduled for early the next morning (Wednesday), meaning we had to book accommodation near the airport for the Tuesday night. Then we were informed that the Wednesday morning flight was also cancelled, and wouldn’t be until the evening. That day was election day, and some trouble was expected at the airport in Zanzibar. Social Media was shut down and internet became patchy (even more patchy than usual in any African country!) We were also due to stay in Stone Town, (the historic centre of Zanzibar) for a few days, before moving onto the coast for our final days before returning home. Shemeji Safaris were concerned that Stone Town may not be safe for a few days, so they rearranged things so that we were to go straight to the coast, and then finish the trip in Stone Town. We spent a day at the airport hotel which was in nice grounds so it wasn’t too much of a hardship, although upon checking in the evening before they had no record of the reservation! I was able to show them the booking confirmation which also stated that payment had been made in full and luckily they had plenty of room availability. We duly went to the airport on the Wednesday evening to catch our evening flight, to be surprised that the airport was empty. The staff at the check in desk seemed surprised to see us, at which point I just knew that the flight had been cancelled – for the third time. I was told that an email had been sent to me, but I hadn’t received it. I was assured that we would fly out the next morning (Thursday), and it took a bit of negotiation to get the airline to agree to paying for a hotel for the night including taking us there and picking us up the next morning. Needless to say, this hotel was nothing like the one we’d just left, and it felt like we’d walked into the hotel in the film ‘The Shining’. It was in darkness apart from one small light over the reception desk, really dingy and creepy corridors, and I’m sure we were the only guests. It was clean and comfortable though, the water in the shower was hot, and a takeaway pizza for dinner was tasty enough. I did keep laughing though at the bizarre situation of it all. It’s all part of the adventure of travelling, and there was no mad axe murderer roaming around in the night !!
Next stop – Zanzibar. (Finally)
