Travelling to Africa...

Africa Travel day(s)

Edmonton to Montreal- Smooth. We’re early so we register our gear at customs. There are no line ups and we get on our flight. 4 hours later we are in Montreal.

Montreal to CDG, Paris- Another smooth connection with a 90-minute connection time.

CDG Paris to Istanbul- Oh CDG; What a crazy place. When we were here in 2008 it took us 3 hours to get from one connection to the next. This time we walked for 30 minutes or so. From there we had to go through security and here they examine all of my gear lens-by-lens, camera-by-camera. We catch a shuttle bus to terminal one only to walk and walk and walk and end up at security again where again, we empty my gear out of three camera bags so they can inspect every piece. This is the only airport in the world that I have been in that is that thorough. Oh well, perhaps that is good for safety reasons. It is just stressful as I have to hold everyone up while my bags get torn apart and I hope that every piece of camera gear finds its way back in my bag.

At Istanbul we have a 6 hour lay over so I posted my Iceland/France blog and wait…Our next flight and we are finally in Nairobi. Istanbul to Nairobi. We leave at 12:50a.m. and arrive at 8:40a.m. Kind of makes for a long day.

Since Aeroplan changed our flights around our travel was a little more challenging. As I type this, I am lyng in something called a bed. I haven’t been in one of these in over 50 hours! We got in this morning, had a little time to do some souvenir shopping before we caught  our flight to the Mara. In all honesty Gaye had time to do some souvenir shopping. I don’t know if it was the first malarone pill (malaria pill). Or lack of sleep or a little of both. I was feeling really uncomfortable so I rested in the car while Gaye shopped. Gaye had a successful shopping spree, was happy and bought me lunch after her shopping spree. Dry bread and soup were a welcome addition.

The airstrip we landed at in the Mara.

Our Flight to the Mara...

Most people while flying over the Masai Mara National Park look down at the herds of giraffe and elephants and are in awe of the spectacle from above. Me? I look up at the ceiling thinking please don’t throw up, please don’t throw up. Then oops. Better luck next time chump! So much for the dry bread and soup making me feel better. Fortunately for me, Gaye and I were the only ones on the flight and I know where the sick bags are. I'm weak and shaky, but we go on our first game drive and do okay. I certainly wasn't going to travel 50 hours and miss any drives. That's for sure. In fact I even got a pretty decent image or two on that first game drive. I'll post more later.