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After being dropped at the airport in Burundi at 730am to begin our journey to Mozambique, we heard that the flight had been cancelled and then unfolded a very frustrating 36 hours. The cancellation was a result of the fire at Nairobi airport a couple of weeks before, and we were put on another flight 3 hours later.
Three hours came and went and the next flight was delayed for a further hour and a half. Eventually, we arrived at Niarobi at around 330pm. Nearly the entire airports operations have been moved into tents on the tarmac. Each tent is labeled with its function e.g. 'international departure lounge' etc. As so many flights connect through Nairobi its fairly chaotic and the staff are pretty stretched.
After waiting in several long queues to transfer to our connecting flight, we were told our connecting flight had been moved to an earlier time and consequently we had missed it and would have to stay in Nairobi until there was availability on another flight to Pemba. Trying to communicate anything in all the chaos, with so many passengers stuck in transit, was fairly impossible, but we were reassured by the airline that if we would sit and wait they would arrange accommodation and visas for us. 3 hours later they changed their minds and said we would need to look after ourselves. We eventually made it to a hotel that night at 11pm having drunk one glass of water all day, praying that we would get a flight to Pemba soon.
We arrived at the airport at 1030am the next morning, and asked anyone who looked like they might know anything how we could get on a flight to Pemba. After a series of sitting, waiting to speak to 'the right person', calling the UK for details from our travel agent, sitting, waiting, etc etc, finally at 2pm we made it through into the departure tent to wait for our 4pm flight with LAM (the Late And Maybe airline), without having to buy a new ticket. We were very grateful (apart from when the engines seemed to have difficulty starting, which delayed us for another half an hour) but it was definitely a happy moment when we touched down in Pemba.
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Daniel Anticich Wow!! Travelling Africa stlyie! Sounds like a total nightmare. Hang in there team! The blue seas of Pemba! Have a latte at the Naval for me...memories.