New trip, new group

As mentioned, my Uganda time was now over and it was time to catch up with the other trip I'm doing. They actually left Nairobi on the 5th, but since the first four days is an optional excursion in Serengeti I decided to skip that and just go with them for the rest of the trip. 

Meaning I had to go to Arusha in northern Tanzania where the truck, the guides and any travellers not doing Serengeti are while the others are away.

My transport from the hotel in Kampala to the airport in Entebbe wished for us to start early due to traffic in town. We left at 8.00 and my flight was at 12.00.

After driving around for an hour trying to avoid the traffic and still get out of town, the driver stopped and said he needed to check something. What he could see was that the one break "had jumped off". It should be an easy fix. Luckily we were just by a garage.

It turned out not being so easy to fix. The break was all broke and the van couldn't go any further. 

So, here I was in the outskirts of Kampala, needing to go to Entebbe to catch a flight. No car anymore and time was ticking.

The driver got hold of an other car and off we went. With approx 30 min to spare I got to the airport, through all the two hundred controls of passport, ticket, security, luggage etc...

Today was a day of travelling. First flight went from Entebbe to Kigali, Rwanda. From there I flew to Nairobi and then finally to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Where I got picked up and taken to the lodge close to Arusha where we are staying.

I met my new guides, but no travellers. They are all in Serengeti. I had a nice dinner and a fantastic shower before I crawled into bed in my very nice room. Only tent for the night is the mosquito net.

Woke up after a pretty good night sleep. I was taken to a snake park and Masai museum, which was included and where the others had been before. It was ok, not something I will remember for the rest of my life maybe.

We stopped at a big supermarket in town where I could get some local currency and some essentials + lunch. 

As I got out of the supermarket the heaven had opened and the rain bucketed down. Waited a bit, but realised it was just to get out there if I should get some food. Found a place where you built your own burger. It was nice!

On the way back to the lodge the rain came back and it didn't want to stop. We stayed in the truck a couple of minutes to see if it would ease off, but not, so I took my thinks and rushed to my room, just to find it flooded. 

I had to move! The new room wasn't as nice as the first one, but perfectly fine, and most importantly - dry!

The rain lasted quite a while and I took the opportunity to read a bit and sort out papers and money and other admin needed on a trip. 

When the rain finally stopped I sat out on my little veranda with a glass of wine.

A bit later when I was inside in the dark waiting for the power to get switched on I heard a big noise and a few people shouting. My first thought was that they dropped something from upstairs at the cottage next door. I later got to know that it was a tree that fell over. And that it was pretty serious. It fell over the campsite where I should have slept if they didn't gave me a room. I few tents are under the tree and we don't know if they are ok or not until the tree is removed, which hopefully will happen tomorrow. 

It also pulled a few wires in the fall, so now the electricity is not only switch off, it is totally gone.

After a candle light dinner on my own I got into my dark room and thought I could read a book in the light of my head torch. When I noticed that I've already read the book I brought, and it wasn't even that good the first time.

Another adventures day in Africa!