We are on the go!

Our dream air safari just began!

We were kindly greeted by six lions on our way to the Kanzi airstrip yesterday morning at sunrise. We could not have hoped for anything better!

Yesterday was the longest day of our three weeks air adventure: Kanzi, Mombasa, Dar, Mzuzu (Malawi) and Likoma, on lake Malawi, where lovely Kaya Mawa is.

769 miles in 6 ½ hours of flying.

A Kilimanjaro covered by snow at sunrise, after bidding farewell to the lions, was an unforgettable view.

We landed in cloudy weather in Mombasa.

Our most challenging leg was the next one: Mombasa to Dar El Salaam, in Tanzania.

We expected it to be the easiest, flying low level over the beaches…

Very strong headwinds made us leaving the low flying over white sands and traffic controller put us on a required altitude which was precisely where we did not want to be: in pouring rains…

We flew in it for 40 minutes, good Luca did his IFR training: he had to put it to good work.

We landed in Dar Es Salaam refueled and headed to Malawi.

Amazing flying over wild Tanzania. We crossed the Rufiji, it was hard not to think of what has happening there 100 years ago: British and German fighting each other, with Von Lettow never losing a battle and surrendering several weeks after the Versailles treaty was signed.

We had good tail winds and we reached Malawi in just three hours.

We landed at this super fancy and modern airport, had to be careful about the four legged traffic (dogs and goats), walked into the state of the art tower you see in the photo, pay landing fees and go for our last flight of the day. 

In just 30 minutes we flew to Likoma island, admiring the stunningly beautiful waters of lake Malawi under us.

The magical serenity of Kaya Mawa wrapped us in.

We admired a spectacular sunset and enjoyed a great red wine under the brightest African starry sky.

What a great way to start our air safari.

 

Tomorrow we fly to Victoria Falls, through the Luangwa Valley and over Lake Kariba. A shorter day, just 4 hours flying for the Caravan. And a little bit more for the flying giraffe (Luca’s 206!).

You can follow our flying here: https://go.spidertracks.com/fleetpro/public/lucasafari/

Keep tuned! Tomorrow we fly over Victoria Falls, we expect to have breathtaking photos.