We awoke early and often. Jetlag was not our friend. Luckily breakfast started at 7 and I think we were the first ones there. It was a buffet fairly standard but eggs were ordered special, there was this avocado with salsa dish that was good and they had "pancakes" which were like premade crepes.
We took a walk, got packed up and then hit up the pool for a bit. We had to pack because the plane we were boarding today only allowed max of 15kg. We found out why. And, we were to leave at 10 to make the 11am flight, but were told on arrival that the plane was leaving late and the guy was coming for us at noon. This scenario made me nervous.
But he did arrive before noon and after a brief orientation we were off. We dropped our bags off in the office they had at the airport and went through.
At this airport, many things were much more different than I would have thought. First, you scan your belongings upon entering the airport, which feels extra secure, yet we didn't need a boarding pass, just the itinerary. Second, we were told that the woman who looked over our itinerary would find us. Already it was the type of airport that only announced gates an hour or so before, but this seemed a little much. Yet, she did, indeed find us, about a half hour before our new flight was supposed to leave. Third, she picked a gate at random for us to go to. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason. This was confirmed when 20 minutes later, another flight joins us at the gate.
Because apparently we were the only ones on the flight, so space didn't really matter. We boarded a bus to go to the plane, with just us and the staff and then folded ourselves over to get on board. Joe wasn't allowed to hold onto his backpack bc it was too big.
There were 12 seats. I tried sitting next to joe at first, but with his broad shoulders and the smallness of the plane it just wasn't worth it. Plus, then I got a window seat.
We were off. The flight lasted about an hour. We reached about 10000 feet(or maybe meters?) at most and could see the ground at all times. We ran into a few clouds but otherwise was pretty smooth sailing.
We made a stop in a small town. The airstrip was simply grass and the airport was a single roomed building. We picked up a couple who had just done a "chimp trek".
We were back in the air quickly and had about 30 minutes left and at this point we wouldn't rise more than 7000feet (or meters, the motor was loud while he was explaining). We were told, if we were lucky we'd see game on the way. I suppose we were because we saw several elephants, a rhino or two and possibly hippos or seals.
We landed. While the airport was slightly bigger than on the last stop, it was still not much more than a small arrivals hall. We were greeted by several land cruisers. This did not bode well.
We were told it would be a 1.5 hour journey due to bad roads. While there was paved roads for about a 2 minute stretch. The rest of the bumpy 1.5 hours were on dirt roads. We passed towns, farms and the like on the way. Several people were walking the road alongside us. Very few even moved even though it seemed we were fairly close to some.
We have now arrived. I may have barely spoken for the last hour or so because, well, that was a lot. However after a quick shower and some down time, I'm feeling a bit better. Definitely not looking forward to reversing that commute.
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