From Dar es Salaam to Nairobi to Johannesburg to Antananarivo:

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I was up at 1AM as I had to be at the airport to check in for a 5AM flight.

My driver, Smoker (yes that is his name), was there are 230AM. I think he slept in his van, just outside my gate, to make sure he was on time. We whipped through the empty streets of Dar and was at the airport ahead of time. This left me plenty of time to sit around in the humidity and start sweating long before the sun rose.

From Dar, we flew north to Nairobi (90 minute flight) and I sat around until we got on another plane and flew south to Johannesburg (5 hour flight). At home, it would be like flying from Toronto to Quebec City so you could fly to Vancouver… It wouldn’t make sense to do it there, but here, somehow you just don’t question things too much.

I got to Johannesburg and went to the luggage carousel to claim my one suitcase. It never showed up. I soon realized that while I was going to Johannesburg on the first leg of my trip, the young lady at the Kenya Airlines ticket counter in Dar es Salaam booked it to go straight through to Antananarivo, Madagascar. This meant I was without major and minor necessities for the night… not a huge deal, but what are the odds of the bag really showing up once I get to Madagascar?

The hotel in Johannesburg gave me a tooth brush and tooth paste and I made due with everything else.

I was up at 6AM on Day 2 to catch my flight to from South Africa to Madagascar. I checked in and questioned about my bag. The girl was not very reassuring that it would show up, but she kept smiling as if that would somehow ease my concern. I walked away from the check-in counter and thought about how I would survive without anything in a place where there is only one flight a day and it arrives in the afternoon. If my bag wasn’t on the flight, I would have to wait until tomorrow to change my clothes, if the bag showed up then. Oh well, let the vacation start!

Flying over Madagascar, the country looked to be quite fertile as we descended into their capital city. The mixture of greens and browns was beautiful. Some plots of land looked to reflect the sunshine as we flew over them. I realized these plots were rice fields under water.

I got to Madagascar. I went through customs, got my traveler’s visa (which cost me nothing!), and stood at the luggage carousel… and a Christmas miracle happened! My bag showed up. I grabbed it quickly, hugged it, and headed to the arrivals hall to meet my tour guide.

There with my name on a board, was Njato (Nn-jot-too), a young Malagasy man who worked for the tour company I booked through. We jumped in his four wheel drive SUV and hit the road to my first destination, the Vakona Tree Lodge. It took us an hour to get out of Tana (short for Antananarivo) and then another four hours to drive 143 km to the resort. The roads were paved, but there is one lane in each direction and they twist and turn through the countryside.
We arrived at the resort after dark. I grabbed some dinner and then hit the sheets early. I was exhausted.

Day 3 of my adventure, promised to be busy day of looking for lemurs in the national forest.

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Photos

Somewhere High Above Tanzania
I like this formation of clouds. I could lie and tell you that is Mt. Kilimanjaro's crater in the distance, but I really have no clue.

The Mountains Of Madagascar
As you can see the roads are there, but there are not many.

The Colours of Madagascar
Madagascar has been called "The Red Island" because of it's iron-rich soil.

The Plots Of Land From The Air
Most, if not all, of these plots are rice fields.

Comments

[Jeff]

Bon Voyage
Enjoy your vacation...and your luggage!

[DEB HOLBIK]

Wow... Madagascar 4 (with Bob Lawlor)
Amazing. Still loving the blog Bob. I will take this opportunity to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Have a fantastic vacation.