On Safari in the Serengeti
July 2023: Day 10

Leaving Serengeti for Home

Introduction

We were scheduled to fly out of the Seronera Airstrip at 11.00am, so a 9am departure was planned to allow time to drive to the airport and to check in. Along the road we saw much of the wildlife that we had spent several days trying to find, as if they had lined up near the road to say goodbye. The airport was surprisingly busy, the small building full of people. We soon found that this was due to about 10 plane movements in an hour. Our filght was on Auric Air, a major airline based in Tanzania. They operate three fleets of planes - the Dash 8, the small Cessna Caravan EX and the smaller Caravan 208. Ours was to be the smallest. It seated 10 people but the aisle was extremely narrow. Seronera airstrip is unsealed, so with a brisk breeze and the wash from frequent aircraft movements the waiting area outside under a tent fly was rather dusty. After checking in our bags were stacked outside in a pile. Our hand luggage was scanned and then we headed outside to wait. We soon realised that security was absent, as people wandered in and out of the waiting area from the carpark. Eventually we were invited to walk out to our plane and squeeze onboard, then we were off to Kilimanjaro International Airport, where we had a 5 hour wait for our flight to Doha.

Last glimpse of our view from the camp

Camp staff lined up to say goodbye.

Wildlife on the way to the airport.

Here we are at the airport.

Security between waiting area and car park was tight....

Auric Air Dash 8 - not our plane.

Small Cessna Caravan - our plane.

Back on the ground at Kilimanjaro Airport.

What are those Gulfstream G450 jets doing here?.

Our Qatar Airlines plane waiting to board.

Doha Layover

We arrived back in Doha at 11.30pm but our next flight was not until8.30pm the next day, so we booked into the Oryx Airport Hotel for a good rest. This also gave us time to explore the airport.