Leaving Tanzanian was quite emotional; saying goodbye to everyone I met there and was staying with was quite sad.. but, heading to South Africa (SA) is the next exciting step in my journey!
I took the smallest airplane I had ever been on from Zanzibar to Dar and then had to hang around the airport there for about six hours before I could check-in. There is absolutely nothing to do there! I met another traveller waiting for his flight, so we had a drink together and a chat, so there was at least some distraction!
Upon checking-in, I was told that there were some issues, because I only had a one-way flight to SA and was not returning to Dar. So they thought that I was a Libyan refugee or terrorist (they never made it clear to me) and thought that I had a forged passport. So while I was waiting for them to sort out the problem they had with my documents (I have a perfectly valid European biometric passport) the entire plane managed to check-in. I had to explain to them why I had not arrived by airplane into Tanzania and why I was not returning; and since the airline I'm using to leave SA does not fly to Dar, they did not have the ability to verify my flight out of SA and they were worried that I would be rejected at the border in SA and sent back to Dar (for which I didn't have a ticket). They were not able to scan my passport for my details because apparently the airline did not contract with them to use those machines, so they didn't do that for this flight (instead they stress the passengers at 1 in the morning) and I had to convince them of my identity and that I would not have issues entering SA. So after like 1.5 hrs of explanations and them reassuring themselves that I am who I say - and my passport says - I am, they finally let me go.
Then the security check was the next joke; there were two airplanes worth of people and one x-ray machine and 2 security people. So you can imagine the queue and the speed with which that went. By the time we actually boarded the airplane, I think most people on the flight were rather irritated by the inefficiency and silliness of the airport staff. There was also a box in the waiting area where one could fill-in forms to let them know "about your experience at the airport and any suggestions" - funnily enough, there were no more forms to fill-in (if there were ever any)!
Obviously, I didn't have any issues entering SA and I am now safely here, having a nice time so far and enjoying a relatively western lifestyle (which makes for a nice change again) - constant power, proper roads, proper supermarkets etc.
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