K&T Safari June 29
Due to an injury, our mid-May safari has become a late June/July safari. The rebooking process went smoothly, but of course everything cost more. We did get full credit transferred to the new safari including the air … but at a higher cost. We need new Kenya eTAs because they are only good for ninety days from the date they were ‘issued’. You cannot change the dates. The Tanzania visa is multiple entry and good for a year. The only good news is we got better seats going to Kilimanjaro, and the weather should be better by then. We were also lucky to get the only trip that had availability for two people this summer. There is now a vacancy for two people in May if anyone has their bags packed.
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OK. No one is interested but the board is very quiet. So I will bore you with the fact that packing is underway, and we leave in three days for our second attempt of the year. With a little luck “Hatari” will begin on Saturday.Have not heard from our new TD. The last one did send us an email.
Sealord, have a wonderful time.
Thanks. K&Tis one of my favorite movies. We watched “Space Cowboys” last night. Donald Sutherland was great.
SeaLord, enjoy visiting your favorite hotel !
Thanks. At the Mt. Kenya Safari Club last time we had a really nice private dinner. Fairmont has removed most of the William Holden trophies and photos, which I found a bit sad. The animal orphanage still has his name on it and a lot of pictures.
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Safe Travels!!
Sealord, safari njema!🦁🐘🦒🐃🦓
Trouble n Nairobi right now. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cerrv93yx1mo
Sealord, Safe travels. You may want to research departure options. Difficult to know what Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta Airport will be like, but I'm sure Tauck will stay on top of developments.
Probably no worse than Seattle or Portland in the last couple of years. I’m sure Tauck will do what is necessary.
I’m sure it will be all over by the time you get to Nairobi.
President has canceled proposed taxes. One civil war averted. Enjoy your safari!
Boarding passes at Kilimanjaro airport: I either forgot this or it is something new. When you get off the plane at Kilimanjaro you must show your boarding pass from your flight to Arusha in order to get into the terminal from the airplane … twice. If you are traveling with nine people this could.be a logistics problem. Some people could not produce their boarding pass, so they were ‘delayed’ while all the people in the world got ahead of them in the immigration lines. We fortunately had ours sort of available, so we were near the front of the line and it took us forty-three minutes from arrival time until we were sitting in our van to the Gran Milea. The ride to the hotel is about an hour. Outside we met Jeff our TD, and he had us quickly on our way.
Invaluable information SeaLord. Where were you flying in from, just incase that was relevant or made the difference?
We came from AMS, but another airplane arrived right behind us and got the same treatment. I was too busy to check the livery. The good news is that the immigration people have gotten a bit more proficient. We got checked in maybe five minutes after we got to the front of the line. Of course in AMS or the US the checks take seconds not minutes.
Thank you. Wish me luck with my crowd! Happy safari!
British - If you still have some of the old Tauck document holders from decades ago, use one or two for storing and keeping track of boarding passes. They work great for that purpose....and many other purposes!
Enjoy your adventure, Sealord.
Don’t think we still have any of those anymore. Mr. B takes charge of paperwork thank goodness. Now collecting them from everyone else, oh dear! We are having a final family get together next weekend before our trip. Have waited for this for so very long and now the time is finally going fast.
Sealord enjoy your trip, happy safari !!!!!
Thanks for the info @Sealord about the arrival into Kilimanjaro. I can see how that could hang up a large group like British's, especially when they are are not all in the same cabins and will be deplaning as the plane permits. But if everyone has their boarding passes at the ready, that should be too much of an issue.
@British - so exciting isn't it?! We have weekly zooms with my in-laws in Iowa and my brother-in-law in Wisconsin. I'm the over-preparer so...outside of packing, I think we've got it all dialed in. Our last Hep A/B vaccine is next Tuesday. I can't wait until we all arrive at the Gran Melia!
Dogdoctor, yes it’s getting real at long last. We are in business, and the fact that the rest of our group are near the front in economy will help. Either way, if there are others in the plane with Tauck, we may have to wait for them too. We have often waited as much as an hour for others on the same ride to the hotel. Our fast walking is no help when that happens. The other family we know who are on our tour are not on our flight, but still a mystery who else is on the tour.
Hoping no missed flights or bad weather, will be so glad to get to the Melia without any hitches.
@British - you haven't seen fast walking until you've seen me. LOL.
My wife plans to call Tauck to see about the kid ages/sex breakdown this week. I still haven't crossed paths with anyone on either platform (here or Tauck FB groups) going on our tour.
I'm glad your family (either because you did it or they did) put themselves at the front of the plane. We did that as well. We are in the first 3 rows of economy on each flight. I just hope I can sleep a few hours with my extra-legroom seat.
🤞🏻 for no travel hiccups!
You can’t compare my walk with yours, you’ve almost certainly got longer legs
See if your wife can find out the name of your TD just in case I’ve come across them before and can dish the dirt!
We rode with one couple who said they did not have to show passes but I don’t know the flight details. I know there are inconsistencies.
Oh dear, so it’s a c…p shoot of luck.
How is it so far SeaLord?
We decided to get up early to search for lions In Ngorongoro. Five AM wake-up and six for breakfast. Six there out the door.
Descending into the caldera at seven.
At shortly before eight.
Incredible! Hope we get that lucky!
British: Susan W. Is here doing the bridges tour. We have crossed paths a couple times.
We are having Chris M. Have had Susan before!
Lions were the first thing we saw when we got into the crater- a ratty looking mom and juvenile.