Day 0 - Arrival
Day 1 - Arusha
Day 2 - Lake Manyara
Day 3 - Ngorongoro Crtr
Day 4 - Tarangire NP
Day 5 - Arusha
Day 6 - Kilimanjaro, d1
Day 7 - Kilimanjaro, d2
Day 8 - Kilimanjaro, d3
Day 9 - Kilimanjaro, d4
Day 10 - Kilimanjaro, d5
Day 11 - Kilimanjaro, d6
Day 12 - Arusha
Day 13 - Departure
Tanzania
Basically a continuation of the previous day with no break, we hung around at the lodge til 11pm or so the day before, then were packed off to the airport after a chance to shower and eat, but not much other rest! (and our drivers had an even longer day than we did!)
3am take off for the quick 38 minute flight to Mombasa (Kenya), where we were stuck on the plane as they spent two hours servicing and cleaning the aircraft, then loaded new passengers at 6am and headed off to Istanbul. Clouds over the Nile River unfortunately obstructed most of the view-- looks like Egypt will have to be another trip in the future! And yes, Turkish Air clearly gets their money's worth from the 737-900ER they use on this run! It was actually rather fascinating how efficiently the Kenyan cleaning crew cleaned the airplane, as opposed to the lousy job most other aircrews do.
Or perhaps it was just the lack of sleep that made it so fascinating. More cheese sandwiches before landing, another quick rush through Istanbul's Ataturk airport, and finally, 13 more hours back to Houston.
This time we were crammed into the middle of the 777-300ER, but we were so tired it didn't matter. The seats were sufficiently comfortable and the in-flight entertainment system just as good as the first time... and then all of a sudden it was good to be back home!