Second in the series
We flew into Mt. Kilimanjaro International Airport on September 27th at around 8 p.m. It was a long flight for both of us and my dad had never traveled internationally despite his lifelong desire to travel. I was amazed as we dropped down close to the runway in our rather large Boeing 777 to see very few sparse lights…..I don’t mean like landing in small regional airport in the States…but more like landing in the middle of a pitch black landscape on a runway that looked like it was lit with landscape lights.
It was a little overwhelming for even me (despite that I had traveled abroad before) to step into that small airport in this foreign country so I can’t even imagine what my dad felt. I just did my best to maintain my composure and emit that everything was under control! We went through Customs and multiple lines and finally grabbed our luggage. I wasn’t sure how it was going to work with the driver picking us up and of course I had no cell service! Finally, we found our driver and loaded up the van to head to our temporary resting spot at Onsea House in Arusha.
Driving from the airport into Arusha, I was struck by the scene. There wasn’t the normal convenience stores and brightly lit restaurants littered along the highway into town but ramshackle buildings, poorly lit roadways, and people everywhere that were obviously living in abject poverty. I felt uneasy. Honestly, I felt scared. I finally really understood what it must be like to come to a small town in the United States and be the only person of color…how overwhelming that would feel. This isn’t racism talking. It’s just an understanding of how different it feels to be the only one of your nationality in a sea of other people. We had no way to contact anyone in our world at that moment. No cell phone service, no sense of where our embassy was, no idea about local law enforcement….it was just us plunged into this exotic world. It was also stunning from the point of view that in the United States we have so much….abundance, stimulus, light, frenetic energy, automation, television screens, etc. I felt like we just came out of a time machine.
We settled into Onsea House for the night. The staff there were incredible. We were greeted with fresh drinks and warm washcloths. I think I breathed a sigh of relief! It was so nice to get settled and get a good night sleep….ready for the beginning of our adventure the next day, a real African safari….I couldn’t wait to see what that would bring.