Day 5, Disaster Strikes!

March 15, 2009, Sunday

The birds were up before we were. It was time to leave this camp. We finished our last minute packing, checked under the beds, bathroom, and all shelves and bins for overlooked items. Satisfied that we had not forgotten anything, we left for breakfast. I knew that this day would be extremely long, so I tanked up. We were taking our private charter from that grassy airstrip back to Entebbe. We would fly from Entebbe, Uganda to Nairobi, Kenya to Kilimanjaro Airport, Tanzania. We would be picked up by our same transfer men from Far Horizons and taken back to the Entebbe International Airport. Always remember, TIA. Something will happen in Africa, you just never know when or what will happen. This is the beginning of the disaster that I want everyone to avoid.

When we reached the counter of Kenya Airlines, everything was normal and no problems. Since we wanted to save money on private charters, we decided to take a regular Kenya Airline flight to Nairobi. Here’s the flaw. As we were checking in, the counter people said that we could not bring aboard our roll along luggage. We were not prepared for this. (This is the only regular airline that we have flown on that does this, however. South African Airlines is a wonderful airline that can handle anything. Botswana Airline, depending if the right airplane is gassed up, will let you roll your luggage out to the airplane, take it from from as you walk up the gangway, and put it into the tail section. They take it out as you deplane, and you pick it up as you walk off. No problem.) So, when we got this news at the counter, I’m thinking CAMERAS. NEVER EVER, NEVER EVER, NEVER EVER CHECK ANYTHING THAT IS VALUABLE. IT WILL BE STOLEN! PUT THAT IN YOUR ETERNAL BRAIN BANK! We disobeyed our first rule. I had my Canon Mark 5 and Canon 70-200 IS lense in the camera bag on my shoulder. (BTW-These African airlines really don’t give a fig that you only must have only two carry-ons. You can take anything that will fit on your lap or overhead. ) I had a pack of bright pink plastic zip ties that I had bought before the trip in my bag. Steve had buried the extra locks in his duffle and did not want to search for them, as they had already left for loading. (This is all happening on the check-in desk in full view of the counter people.) I told Nicole to take her camera and lense out of her bag and put it in her backpack. Counter people: three people and two of our cameras were out of the bags. Steve had put his brand new Canon Mark 5 2D in his camera bag in his roll along bag. I guess he was distressed and did not want to take the camera bag out. Bad idea, really bad idea. As this was going down, the eyes of the counter people were flitting back and forth between the three of us. Steve left everything and other equipment in his checked carry-on. Nicole and I had our cameras on us. I placed the bright pink zip ties on all three bags. The orange vested bag handler disappeared with our precious bags. This bitter comedy of errors continued. We boarded the Kenya Airline watching everyone with their carry on luggage. It seemed to us that there was several bags that were the same size as our checked bags that were going into those overhead bins. Hmmmm. When we arrived in Nairobi, we checked our connecting flight to Kilimanjaro International Airport. It would be a while for the next flight, so we settled in the closest bar for a beer or two. It is amazing how small the bar was. Closer to departure time, we went down to the gate. Nairobi has adopted the US stance on security measures. At the end of the belt was a really big local security agent. The first pass through, my only bag didn’t pass muster. Pass it through again. Hand search the bag. The search agent went through everything and found nothing. The big security agent was making with the small talk. I was annoyed. He finally waved off the search for me to leave. I found Steve and Nicole, and a vacant seat. This holding area is full of tension. You always wear sunglasses so you can watch everyone. Sit right next to the door, because when they call the flight it is a cattle call. First come, first served: everyone for themselves. Kenya Airlines changed our airplane to their smaller one, Precision Airways. This could be the reason why we couldn’t have our roll-alongs. We eventually arrived in the evening at Kilimanjaro International Airport. We were tired and stressed out from the day, when the loudspeaker announced that not all the bags were put on our flight. That is the kiss of death. All the passengers lined up around the incoming luggage belt  hoping that their bags were the ones that made it on the flight. One by one, all three of my bags arrived. Nicole’s roll-along arrived, but none of Steve’s bags arrived. Here’s the rub. We were met by an agent of Abercrombie and Kent for our transfer to the hotel that night and airport the next day. You can imagine how upset and confused everyone was standing in the que to record their missing bags. We had the A&K agent with us in the que. It was confirmed that the bags would absolutely arrive on the next flight. (The local A&K transfer people were really eager to unload us, as our hotel was a two hour truck trip through Arusha to the opposite side of town. We had no idea of this, period.) The smartly dressed local agent said that he would remain at the airport, retrieve the bags, and deliver them to our hotel that night. Lie, Lie, like a rug!! You can just see this. We’re in this random airport at night, tired, standing in line for an hour, with antsy agents, Friday night, and they want to get rid of us. After the main agent pledged us that he would honestly deliver our missing bags that night, we started out the terminal. Steve, stopped and said at the top of his lungs, ‘I will not leave!!!’ Again, they said they would bring us the bags that night. The A&K guys dumped us off at the Coffee Tree Lodge on the other side of town. It is a huge place, with big chunky gravel stone pieces path to walk on. I had flat shoes, bit these extra large stones to walk on made me to walk on any grass, dirt, or mud. As Steve finished with our A&K people, he again was reassured that they were bringing the bags that night. We were exhausted. We dropped our bags in our rooms, regrouped, and went to dinner. I was glad I had eaten a big breakfast, as it was very late by now. The dinner was included in our fees, so we ordered a lot. After dinner, we went to the bar. Steve and I have always met some pretty interesting people in foreign bars! Nicole went to bed. We drank away our fears and went to bed. The bags never arrived. Contact me at info@outrageousred.com. Join my Fanpage, Outrageous Red, on Facebook!

Tags: Abercrombie and Kent, Add new tag, Africa, Arusha, cameras, Coffee Tree Lodge, Entebbe, Far Horozions, Kenya, Kenya Airline, Kilimanjaro, lost bags, Nairobi, Precision Airways, safari, Tanzania, Uganda