The Beers of Tanzania

We landed in Kilimanjaro International Airport after dark. They don’t really have any gates so all the planes just kind of park and you all funnel towards the airport doors where you are greeted by people wearing medical masks that are handing out medical survey forms. It was at this point that I realized I failed to pack a very key item, a pen. However a nice clinical researcher from Vienna had a company pen and said I could keep it. We filled out our forms, went through immigration and were very pleased to find our luggage waiting for us. We were limited to 15kg (around 33lbs) so packing became an art form. We were finally here and we had all are stuff, the adventure was about to become reality and was no longer just a dream. We exchanged some U.S. dollars for Tanzanian Shillings (Note that larger bills give you a better exchange rate. Ben and I exchanged the same amount in U.S. however he ended up with more Shillings because he exchanged $50 bills, while I exchanged $20 bills). We then found a driver who had a sign with our names mostly spelled correctly and the name of the hotel that I believed we were staying at. We talked to him and then he made a phone call, he said a lot of stuff I did not understand, then hung up and said yes he was our ride. And he was. We got to Kia Lodge and checked in. After checking out the room and verifying the integrity of the mosquito nets we headed to the open air restaurant and bar.


I had a nice steak with a great peppercorn sauce and Ben had the chicken and we sampled a few of the local brews. I really enjoyed Kilimanjaro and Safari the most, but the others were not bad at all.


I miss my dog, Koda. But until I return home this hotel had a loaner for the night.


We found our way back to our hut and called it a night knowing the adventure was just about to begin. Just a couple of kids on Christmas Eve.