Day 29

After a night reminiscing about our time in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater, we woke for an early breakfast at the Ndoro Lodge. It was a quiet morning at the table assumably because it was the last day for most of us or maybe it was just too early. We all made sandwiches for lunch during the drive because we anticipated traffic as we drove back through Arusha and when we hit Nairobi. Will again felt sick when he woke up which made me worried for the long day.

As expected, Arusha was slow going but we made it through town and headed north as the sun began to heat up the day. Will looked uncomfortable during the drive which made me feel really bad because it seemed like there was nothing I could do to help him. When we had a pit stop on the side of the road, Will’s nausea caught up to him but luckily it did release some of his pain.

A few hours later, we arrived at the border crossing. The line to exit Tanzania was quite long and standing in line was hot. Twenty minutes later, we walked through the plaza to the Kenya side. There were several locals including people in Masai dress that were selling goods. They were very persistent and even put a bracelet on Will as we walked. He just handed it back as we entered the immigration building but it seemed like an extra annoyance during his already rough day. It was a bit hectic at the Kenya office because there was confusion over which line we needed to stand in and if a form was necessary. When we finally had the forms filled out, we handed them in with our passports and awaited visas. We applied for transit visas which permitted us to stay in the country for 48 hours. We were unsure if the officers needed to see each of us again, so Will just waited on a seat in the corner pushing through the pains of his sickness. About 45 minutes later, the officers finally handed our passports back complete with visas and no further action was needed. Of course! The longest boarder crossing in Africa had to be when Will was sick.

The rest of the drive was uneventful to Nairobi. We did hit some traffic in the city but it was not nearly as bad as other cities in Africa, like Dar Es Salaam. We arrived and checked-in to Boulevard Hotel early afternoon. I gathered our belongings from the truck and sent Will up to the room. He settled in going right to bed and falling asleep immediately.

Meanwhile, I scrambled on the internet trying to develop a plan for our next destination. We were scheduled to fly to Doha the following day but Will felt like he was running a temperature. I researched the possibility of going to a different location than our original plan. We needed to leave Nairobi because of the transit visa but I did not want us to travel to an expensive city just so Will could spend a few days in bed. I called American Airlines using Google Hangouts several times and ended up just pushing back our departure of out Nairobi one more day. Changing the day of the flight was free within the terms of the Global Explorer around the world ticket but changing locations would have cost quite a bit.

That evening, everyone enjoyed drinks at the hotel bar and most of us even had dinner together while saying our goodbyes. Everyone asked about Will because they all saw how sick he was earlier in the day. While talking it over with tour guide Tabi, we thought that it might be possible Will had contracted malaria and decided to take him to the clinic the following day. Tabi gave us directions and told us what to expect.

Day 30

After a good afternoon and night of sleep, Will was feeling better but we all decided it was best to still go to the clinic. We did a bit of research and Will had several of the symptoms and we learned the symptoms commonly come-and-go in phases which would explain why he felt fine in the Serengeti. And if it was malaria, we figured it was best to have it diagnosed in a country that deals with it regularly. My mom join us and we walked to a clinic about a kilometer away.

Although the building was a bit rundown, the clinic was as expected plus the staff was very nice and helpful. They did a blood test which confirmed that Will did not have malaria but it indicated that he did have a bacterial infection. They prescribed him medications for pain and instructed him to take cipro antibiotic. We had brought a prescription along on our travels as a remedy for travelers diarrhea. Will actually took a few pills when he first started feeling sick which is most likely why he felt fine in the Serengeti, but he had not taken enough to kill the bug. A full 5 days of the dose would clear it up.

The rest of the day was spent organizing our belongings. We needed to again live out of our backpacks so we lightened our load by sending unneeded clothing plus African souvenirs home with my mom. That afternoon, we said goodbye to Carolyn then to my mom and Erin. This was the first time I was not ready to say goodbye. It was so wonderful to have our family traveling with us and to be able to share those moments with them. We had so much fun and there’s so much more to see in a Africa! I didn’t want it to end.

Day 31

Will and I enjoyed breakfast at the hotel before taking a taxi to the airport. Thankfully, Will was feeling much better and was almost back to normal. The morning was uneventful as we boarded to a flight to Doha and said goodbye to Africa (we’ll be back)!