Tues, August 10: DEPART ZANZIBAR AND TANZANIA

7:00 am: Breakfast and time to pack

8:00 am SHARP: Depart for Airport

10:10 am: Flight Zanzibar to Dar es Salaam International Airport. 

On the flight many of us watched a National Geographic special entitled Animals on the Edge. We were overcome with delight when one of the topics was conservation of the Sumatran rhino. The narrator was one of the lecturers we had at White Oak Conservation Center and our envirovet classmate Nia was featured in the show! 

10:40 am:  Arrive Dar, assemble luggage and transfer to outbound flights.

Once we arrived back on the mainland we were greeted by a vehicle with the rest of our luggage. Everyone sadly packed up the rest of their belonging and began saying the dreaded goodbyes. 

We had over four hours to sit with our luggage and reminisce. Asabe (Nigeria) spent some of the time attempting to braid my hair. She is one of the nicest ladies ever and gave me a bracelet to remember her by. The first group that we had to say goodbye to were the Nigerians (Asabe, Kemi, Ademola, and Ayo), Sridar (India), and Sukuman (Thailand). It was an emotional event.

The rest of us were on the same 5-hour flight to Dubai. I slept for most of the flight. When we arrived in Dubai I was horrified to find that somewhere between security in Dar Es Salam and our new gate that my iPhone had been stolen. Already sad about saying goodbye, it put a real damper on my spirits.

10:00 pm: Depart Dubai for JFK

Before getting onto our next flight the group had to say goodbye to our Marcella and the Indonesians – Lia and Nia. Surprisingly, I stayed awake for a large portion of the 12 hour flight. I chitchatted and played a variety of games unique to Emirates Airlines.