On 10 March I flew out of Wellington, on Singapore Airlines, excited to embark on a solo and independent seven week trip to Ethiopia, Uganda, and Rwanda. However, to ensure that I had one of the limited permits to visit mountain gorillas, I was also booked on an eight day tour of Ugandan wildlife parks. While I was aware of the increasing Covid-19 threat, I considered all would be well for me in eastern Africa. 

 

However, on 14 March my Ugandan tour was suspended indefinitely by G Adventures. While disappointed, I believed there was a good chance that once in Uganda I could book a local tour to visit the gorillas, particularly if international tour companies were giving up their permits to visit the gorillas, (although I did realize that this may not happen due to fears of the gorillas getting Covid-19). By this time, I was suffering from a cold - coughing, sneezing, with a runny nose - and finding that as I passed some children and teenagers on the streets I was being called “Corona”, even if I hadn’t been coughing! When this happened I would stop, shake my head, and say “No Corona”, which in most cases wasn’t further disputed. I had mixed feeling about this treatment, ranging from feeling discriminated against (like what had been happening to some Chinese and Asians in western countries), to being impressed that poor, and probably uneducated children, were aware of Covid-19. I did feel that it was children/teenagers just being ‘silly’, rather than any antagonism or blame towards me. Although I did have one man appear to abuse me at the entrance to a bus station, however I couldn’t see him because it was still dark in the early morning.

On 18 March, while in Aksum (in northern Ethiopia by the Eritrean border) an email from the NZ Government’s SafeTravel advised me to return home. This reiterated what Sandy had advised me the night before. It was impossible to get onto Singapore Airlines’ website or app to make changes, and the website was indicating that their call centre in Singapore had a minimum waiting time of four hours – a very expensive phone call from Ethiopia! Also by this stage I was having some teenage girls and younger women, on seeing me approaching, would put their hand or scarf over their mouth and nose, and steer a wide berth around me. I also learnt from a German tourist that the German Embassy had sent out an advisory that foreigners in Addis Ababa were having stones thrown at them. (After I arrived home, the Ethiopian Prime Minister was warning citizens not to chase, throw stones at, or abuse tourists, following an advisory from the US Embassy in Addis Ababa).

On the following day, I visited the Ethiopia Airlines office to see if they could access the Singapore Airlines system (as my flight from Ethiopia to Singapore was on their (code shared) plane, and they are a member of Star Alliance). This was apparently not possible, even with assistance from their Addis Ababa office, and I would have to purchase a new flight. The first available flight to Singapore was on 27 March, which I felt was really too late, but there were some earlier flights to Bangkok which I considered. I pencil booked the flight on 27 March and went ‘home’ to consider my best option. That night I went onto Ethiopian Airlines’ website where I was able to get a flight from Addis Ababa to Singapore (NZ$1395) just after midnight on the 22 March, and a flight to Addis on 20 March.

On my arrival in Singapore on 22 March, Singapore Airlines put me on the next flight to Christchurch (which was only at about 20-30% capacity), but couldn’t get me to Wellington. While in Singapore I learnt Singapore was closing its border to most visitors, including those in transit, the following day at 11.59pm! I also learned that Ethiopian Airlines were stopping flights to 16 countries, (although the countries weren’t mentioned). Also there were no available seats from Christchurch to Wellington the next day, so I booked for the day after ($241). However, on arrival in Christchurch I was able to get a flight that day to Wellington (which was about 30% capacity). Apparently not all flight go on their website.

During my 14 day self-isolation my cold, which now seemed more like the flu, generally improved, but on day 4 of isolation there was a slight tightness on my chest if I breathed in deeply. On advice from the Healthline nurse I was tested for Covid-19, but this turned out to be negative. Following this, my chest was fine but I had some days when I was extremely tired and l did have one incredibly sore headache which came from nowhere, but also ended within a couple of hours. While I don’t believe I had Covid-19, I clearly had a virus which took 3 weeks to come right!

So what’s left to sort? G Adventures have given me a 110% credit on my Uganda tour for any tour within 12 months, but won’t give a refund. I cancelled my flights from Ethiopia-Uganda and Rwanda-Ethiopia, while in Addis Ababa, as I believed it was the best option for me, and best to do face to face in Ethiopia. While they took a cancellation of US$100 (approximately NZ$166), the net loss to me because of the difference in exchange rates between purchase date and refund date was only NZ$75, which was a pleasant surprise. At present I have a credit on my original Ethiopia-Singapore and Christchurch-Wellington flights with Singapore Airlines. And I’m desperately waiting to see when I can travel again!