Many of you are wondering if we made it home.
The answer is yes. Evacuation Sucks.
Since we had that itch to get stuck in a jungle somewhere, we went ahead with our expedition in Tanzania despite the virus news out of China. There might have been a handful of cases in the states at that point. We all watched in horror as this beast spread quickly about the world.
News from the State Department
Sitting on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in the exact place Stanley found Livingstone, we got the news from our state department. “You have 48 hours to get home. We’re closing our borders, and you could get stuck indefinitely with no assistance should you need it.”
We did actually think about it for a moment. Tanzania really is paradise. We could be like Livingstone…. living on the shores of this gorgeous lake. The NYT could send someone to find us a year or two later….
It was the “indefinitely” that got me. That and the fact that some of the locals started yelling “CoronaVirus” at us since the only cases in Tanzania were brought in by foreigners. We all now know how the Chinese felt in America last month. Things could get sketchy quickly if the dice rolled the wrong way. So we made the call to evacuate.
Flying Home
36 hours, 4 new airline tickets to America through the Middle East, 2 tickets to Johannesburg, and 1 case of malaria later, we were on our way home, barely. We were on the last flight out. And that wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t get the fever down in our malaria-ridden crew mate. Unlike here, Tanzania takes everyone’s temperature as they go into the airport. After a madcap ride to the pharmacy, we stuffed him full of the pills that cure malaria. His fever broke just in time to check in at the airport. I have to say that he’s one of the toughest people I know. To have full-blown malaria on long-haul flights is no easy task. Our South African counterparts made it home just in time as South Africa closed its borders.
So here we are in a temporary world where folks stay six feet away from each other, and countries shut their borders. And that makes exploring really rather difficult. Rather than searching for Osa and Martin’s flying route through Tanzania, we’re quarantined in our homes.
Since the world seems to be changing the disaster level from “oh no” to “ah shit” on an hourly basis, we moved the rest of the research and filming dates so they’re not so right-in-the-middle-of-a-bloody-pandemic.
So now I’m going through hours of footage that we shot. I have plenty of work to do, so hopefully, the lockdown will fly by.
I hope all of you stay safe, and we’ll see you on the other side of this madness. #wingsovertanzania
