Saturday, September 4, 2010

On to Kilimanjaro,Tanzania




After a day in Amsterdam that allowed us to adjust somewhat to the nine hour time change, and then a good night's sleep at the Radisson Hotel, our group departed The Netherlands on August 13, for the second leg of our journey, an eight and one half hour flight on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, from Schiphol Airport to the Kilimanjaro International Airport in Tanzania.
Everyone in the group knew at least one other person, so we quickly established a sense of connectedness. "The Fortuitous Fifteen" brought a mix of interests and past travel experiences that made for good conversation each evening. There were seven individuals - Katharine, Anne, Mary, Peg, Maggie, Sharon and Jan; and four couples - Martin and Carol, John and Jeanne, Robert and Diana, and Larry and Bonnie.
When we arived in Tanzania, we were greeted at the airport by our lead guide Idrissah ("Iddy"), who sheperded the sleepy group onto a shuttle bus for the hour-long ride to our lodge in the city of Arusha. The lodge chef had prepared a delectable vegetable soup for a late evening snack, and then we were off to bed, enveloped in gauzy mosquito netting.......

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