29th - 30th - Return home

Last night when coming back to Tana our guide set up a pickup at 1100 at the hotel so I could get to the airport to be there in time. This meant that I would have plenty of time to relax and pack before departure. To be able to say goodbye to people I showed up like everyone else for breakfast at around 0800 after which some people said their goodbyes and some went on an all-day city tour.

We were 3 people who were going to the airport at 1100. Unfortunately, the planned pickup never arrived so we took a random taxi that happened to come by. Three average sized Westerners including luggage in their small cars was a challenge but we managed to squeeze in and get to the airport.

Check-in was problem free (if you ignore I ended up arriving almost an hour before check-in actually opened), but the security/immigration was… thorough. Immigration sees passport and boarding pass. On the other side of the booth you show your passport. 20 steps further in a direct line of sight you show passport and boarding pass at security. I had to remove all camera equipment from my bag when going through the scanner. Got fondled by security - borderline sexual harassment. Picking up everything, 5 steps later you show passport, AND 10 STEPS LATER STILL IN VIEW OF SECURITY show passport and boarding pass and get questioned what I have in my bag (but he just said ".... Nah" when I asked if he wanted to see). Well, at least they are making sure nothing illicit is getting through…

Flight to Nairobi went fine, layover in Nairobi was still as dull as it always has been, and flight to Amsterdam was also unremarkable. Had a bit of a layover in Amsterdam without any issues and I was soon on the way to Copenhagen. When getting out of the plane and turning on my phone I immediately receive a text and mail. Both are from KLM and both of them say that my luggage accidentally didn’t come with me on the flight. Annoying, but luckily it was on my way home and not going somewhere (and one might say that statistically with all the flights in recent years me losing my bag was something that was bound to happen sooner rather than later) and all I needed to do was to go to the luggage service and report it lost and they would take care of things.

I received a call a couple of hours after coming home from them informing me that they had received my bag and the following evening somebody came by with it. In the end a bit inconvenient but they did everything in their power to make it easier for them. And they did.

So, all in all it was another great trip. Got to see a bunch of animals I haven’t seen before and of course meet a lot of nice people on my way. Big thanks to Bentine, Sara, Dave, Esben, Fran, Boris & Michael, Michael, Bob & Sue, Janine, Greg, Deb and Nataliya, and thanks to our guide Riana and the driver and assistant Mamy and Henri. You guys made the trip even better and more fun than it would otherwise have been. Thank you all and hope we’ll have a chance to meet again some time.