Day 1 (January 19th, 2014) - Kigongoni Lodge, Near Arusha, Tanzania

Greetings from Tanzania!

We are currently awaiting breakfast at our first lodge after a long day of travel. We left our house in NH at about 2PM, drove to Boston, flew overnight to Amsterdam (no one slept much), stayed in AMS for a few hours, then departed at 10:15AM for Kilimanjaro, arriving around 8:30PM local time. It took about an hour to work our way through the airport ($100/person for a visa, we were photographed twice, and they electronically recorded all my fingerprints) and then we met Nickson (sp?), our guide from Massai Wanderings.

We were immediately struck by the moist, tropical, and fragrant nature of the air.  We drove for about 45 minutes along the main highway in the area, past gas stations, supermarkets, and small towns with active parties (neon lights, music, etc.). Overall, everything appeared a bit  more developed than I had expected. The road was well paved and commercial/industrial buildings were common. It appeared more developed than many parts of Belize (or the US deep south) that I have visited.

We arrived at the Kigongoni Lodge and were greeting with glasses of freshly squeezed baobab juice (tasted like a mild orange mixed with apricot) and then porters delivered our bags to a large thatched-roof comfortable bungalow. After 25 hours of traveling, we slept easily under mosquito netting.

I arose around 7AM to photograph the grounds. The family slept until 8. We are now enjoying breakfast on a large outdoor patio surrounded by exotic plants, mysteriously rustling bushes, and abundant birds sounds. I've dropped a few photos below to get a sense of the grounds.

I am very excited to head off to Lake Manyara and the Crater Highlands today to start our safari!

Thanks for reading!