How quickly I forget...TIA

“This is Africa”(TIA).  A phrase that will mean so much to anyone who had visited the continent.  An expression that seems to most often be used as an explanation, or in some cases a justification for a pace unlike one most ex-pats are used to.  This current trip marks my sixth trip to Africa, and while I fall short of a well-seasoned African explorer, I really ought to stop being surprised at “TIA”.  At least this was the conversation that I was having with myself as I sat on the curb outside the Nairobi International Airport – staring at a sea of signs bearing the names of several other people.

I had prearranged a layover tour that enabled me to do one of my favourite things in the entire world…safari.  With only 6.5 hours on the ground, thanks to a last minute flight change by Kenyan Airways, I needed to obtain a VISA, clear customs and then be back the required 2 hours prior to departure.  This urgency for a strict timeline had been communicated through numerous e-mails…and yet I sat.  And waited.  Jet lagged, exhausted and cursing the hot African air for a good 30 min before I saw a sign with “Ay Lee Porter” appear.  Close enough.

Thrilled to just see anyone, I thought…this is no problem….we’ll just head out, hop in the safari vehicle and then zoom off to see some African beasts!  Nope.  Instead my guide and I wandered the parking lot…looking for the “white safari truck”.  With an inadequate amount of parking spaces available, our driver was apparently forced to drive around in circles.  So we apparently wandered in one direction, my guess is the same direction, while he probably inadvertently followed close behind us.  It’s now an hour into my precious short layover time and I am looking at a lot chucked full of “white safari trucks” hoping that maybe my guide will recognize the driver, or at least will once she’s done with her cell phone call.

By some miracle we are reunited with the driver…ok, no problem…we are in the vehicle now we just need to zoom off to see some African beasts!  Nope.  You see, I was the only one that hopped in the vehicle.  Our guide had taken her own car to the airport.  Apparently the plan was to meet her at a different location and pick her up. 

I tried to keep a stiff upper lip as we headed along the Kenyan highways…Isaac the driver told me a few tales and we made small talk as I entered my 32^nd hour of travel.  We found the guide at a sketchy lot off a main road and I distinctly remember thinking…ok, no problem…we are now all in the “white safari vehicle”, let’s just zoom off to see some African beasts!  Nope.  We pulled into a gas station…need a fill up.  That’s when TIA came back and hit me like a ton of bricks…curses.

Well…we did eventually make it to Nairobi National Park.   It’s a small park and I realized just how small after crisscrossing it several times in search for the infamous black rhino.  Which, we never did find…but I did see the same giraffe a dozen times – we are ‘old friends’ now.  It’s good to have a friend here I thought as it almost became my home…with less than 2 hours before my flight we were still circling around in the National Park.

But Isaac finally gave in to my pleas to “forget the rhino – get me to the airport” and with less regard than the normal ‘no regard’ to the traffic laws we sped off to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport where I bid farewell to my useless guide and questionable driver as they dropped me off at the wrong terminal.  TIA.