We’ve been in Africa for eight weeks. Thus far we’ve had four major problems. The first one was when our train from Dar Es Salaam to Mbeya had everyone disembark in the middle of nowhere because the train in front of us had crashed. We were left scrambling to find a way back to Dar Es Salaam.
The second problem was when we went to check into our Airbnb in Lake Naivasha. It turned out to be awful and we abandoned it and had to scramble to find other accommodations (we were happy about this in the long run because we ended up a fantastic lodge with a lot of very close wildlife).
The third problem was when we went to check into our Airbnb on Lamu Island. This also turned out to be awful. So we again had to scramble to find other accommodations.
Our latest issue was getting out of Addis Ababa airport. We first had to fill out a health check form on our phones. But the airport wifi wasn’t working and the form had glitches. That only took forty-five minutes. But in the security screening to leave the airport they discovered Kate’s binoculars. It turns out that you’re not allowed to bring binoculars into Ethiopia unless you get special permission. We were told this usually takes at least a week. We then spent three hours trying to get permission to keep our binoculars with us. We were finally told that it was impossible. They gave us a form to collect our binoculars when we return to the airport. We have our fingers crossed that we will get them back.
Of course, I am not counting the frequent problems with little or no wifi, little or no hot water, weak or no air conditioning, trains that don’t show up, planes that take off two hours before you are expecting them to, etc.