So just a quick post really (which will probably be my last before coming home now)...
In case you hadn't heard, I made it to the rooftop of Africa! This week has been exhausting but never once not enjoyable. I have come back a truly changed person! Having now proved that I can do something as ridiculous as walk in extreme altitude I feel invigorated and ready for my next challenge! I was extremely lucky with not getting any major symptoms of AMS and for those who've worked as a medic - the doc had a SATS machine with him and generally speaking from about 3000m - peoples sats were dropping to 77/81. I am pleased to be able to say that mine were 94 on summit day and only 83 at the top. Go blood cells!!
The view from Gilmans Point was just absolutely breathtaking. At that altitude you can see the curvature of the earths atmosphere which again was absolutely breathtaking. The group got on so well and I met some really interesting characters...ultimate bonding of course occurs when a toilet visit becomes necessary and there aren't any bushes to hide behind...
As a group we managed to raise over £140,000 for Marie Curie Cancer Care which is just absolutely fantastic as i'm sure you'll agree!
Tomorrow I head to Mombasa for some more adventures before flying home next Friday. So this will most probably be my last entry - which is surreal for me really. My time here has gone by so quickly and I have somehow managed to adjust to african life far too easily. It's now a home from home and I will sorely miss this place when I get back to the UK. However, my experiences here have opened up my eyes certainly and I feel like I am returning to the UK more confident and clued up/cynical than I was before...
Anyway, looking forward to seeing everybody again in just over a week. Let's hope it's not too cold...see how I cleverly missed winter and just jumped from autumn to summer??!
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Monday, March 12, 2007
AAHHHH
AAHHHH ok so here we go, just 24 hours until the big event... This time tomorrow and i'll be on a ridiculously small plane flying into Tanzania to meet the rest of the Marie Curie group from the UK.
Having spent a week being ridiculously nervous about it all I am now ridiculously excited and cannot WAIT to just get going - the anticipation is a bit boring just want to be out there walking/climbing/dying of exhaustion....
Other good news ... Have found out that the Mountain Inn (where the group will be based) has very VERY nice accommodation and comes complete with a swimming pool. SO if all else fails and I don't make it to the top - I can just sit by the pool for a week with several martini's and just pretend that I made it... ONLY JOKING I wouldn't do that now would I?!
Have packed up my rucksack and main bag and BOY have I got a lot of stuff just for a week.
Anyway, I will update in just over a week and I really really hope I am able to say 'hurrah I did it' and hopefully a monkey won't bite me and give me rabies....
Having spent a week being ridiculously nervous about it all I am now ridiculously excited and cannot WAIT to just get going - the anticipation is a bit boring just want to be out there walking/climbing/dying of exhaustion....
Other good news ... Have found out that the Mountain Inn (where the group will be based) has very VERY nice accommodation and comes complete with a swimming pool. SO if all else fails and I don't make it to the top - I can just sit by the pool for a week with several martini's and just pretend that I made it... ONLY JOKING I wouldn't do that now would I?!
Have packed up my rucksack and main bag and BOY have I got a lot of stuff just for a week.
Anyway, I will update in just over a week and I really really hope I am able to say 'hurrah I did it' and hopefully a monkey won't bite me and give me rabies....
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Waaa SO I have just got back from the Masai Mara.
It was a real experience I tell you! Not only did I manage to spot a huge pride of lions and about 4 different pairs/groups of cheetahs, but also managed to experience the interesting weather down there.
I was staying right on the top of what is called the Sira Escarpment. It is a huge range of small mountains/large hills at 1850m and runs north to south parallel with the Mara river. As such, we had spectacular views out across the mara/serengeti and the noise of the river and the rapids was just like being at the ocean. There has been so much rainfull (in what is meant to be the dry season) that the river is really very full. This is not good news for people going to the Mara in the next few months as the heavy monsoon rains come in march and added to therains of this season I worry that what I saw will only get worse.
It was rainy ish on our first day, and we drove through thick mud in the 4x4 landcruisers to get up to the camp from the airstrip which is in the reserve. We were delayed in our first game drive - it is against the 'rules' now to drive in the park whilst it is raining. However we were quickly underway etc and we didn't actually enter through the park gate. The road from the gate we would go through (oloololo gate) was shut due to the mud. We very quiickly found out why they shut this road only 24 hours later... Anyway despite not being physically IN the reserve, we saw lots of cheetahs. I guess bceause tehre is no boundary around the park so the animals can go where ever they want! We saw two males hunting some warthogs but in hyena territory, so the hyenas proceeded to attack the cheetahs (somethign the guides said was unheard of). Then we saw hiding in the grass three 10 month old cubs whose mother had been killed last week. They were doing well and looked full from a recent kill. It was so amazing to see the animals in their natural habitat. Despite often feeling like a zoo with 8 safari trucks cramped round any one animal, it was still refreshing to see them roaming around rather than in a cage somewhere.
I am a huge big cat fan and was desperate to see some lions(having been to other national parks where there are lions and seennone). Kenya is synonymous for its lions and the idea of coming home without seeing any was SO DEPRESSING! So the next day we set off on a long afternoon game drive - where we went through the oloololo gate and into the park. (having watched big cat diary so religiously I knew that the lions would be the other side of the river and that would take a while to get there from our tented camp). We made it through on a glorious sunny day - and most of the mud was soon dried up in the heat of the day. We saw the usual, huge herds of elephants right by the car and all the plains game etc. But NO LIONS. I had literally just given up (having spent 3 hours saying WHATS THAT and then ebing told it was a warthog or antelope and nto a lion) when I did it again thinking it was sand but thougth I had better check. And there they were, two male lions from the Marsh pride one of them being the alpha male. We got so close, and they were so happy asleep lazily on the floor. We turned to leave and again saw a big pride of females - perhaps 4 older females and 5 or 6 teenage cubs with their manes just starting to grow.
So exciting. ANYAWY our seriously amazing driver Ibrahim (these guys can get out of anything I just don't know how they do it!) thought we should head back as we were 2 hours away from camp and the sky had turned so amazingly black. We drove through grass tracks to avoid the roads (which with only 5 minutes of drizzle had turned to slush again) but we quickly realised we had to rejoin the road again where the grass turned into swamp land. It was as we did this manouevre that the vehicle lurched dramatically onto its right and I geniunly thought it would tip over!! We were stuck. In the drizzle in the mara. But hey people get stuck all the time right? Not in the Black cotton soil they don't. It is infamous for its ability to make vehicles stuck. It is really really sticky but also very slippery at the same time. We had to get out of the car whilst Ibrahim revved the engine like MAD (made a video) driving forwards and backwards carving upa trench just trying to release the wheel that was stuck down in the mud. Once you're stuck in certain tracks it is so difficult to get released from them again. Anyway after about 15 minutes of constant reversing and accelerating the car was finally free and steadily made the 150m drive where the black cotton soil ended and the 'normal' mud/earth began. So we then had to walk to the vehicle, it was only then that we saw a lion on the other side of the road (talk about irony - spending so much time searching for them and here was one on the bloody side of the road looking very hungry and licking her lips claerly out hunting)
Anyway we made it, and had to endure the very tough 2 hour journey back to camp. There were many other situations where we could have got stuck again - and with hindsight I see now that if we were in any other smaller vehicle something really dangerous could have happened the road conditions were really that bad. The real worry was coming to cross the river. The 'bridge' was really just a small level of earth placed over the top of the river and had there been a downpour and the bridge had flooded we would have had to camp it out in the car overnight. eek. anyway we were fine and eventually got back to camp, and it was an erm...adventure...but not one i'd necessarily like to repeat!
Made all the worth while obviously by the sightings of lions and cheetahs. I got some really excellent pictures, although I saw a leapord in the early morning but was without camera. Almost more enjoyable to just watch the animals rather than get snap happy. I think I did both in equal quantities lol.
4 weeks yesterday until I get home which is not that long. Everything will rush by I can just tell. It seems only yesterday that I was in Chagaik having the difficulties I had. And now I find myself running out of time to do things! The masai market on a friday for example - My last chance to visit it will be next friday as every other friday I am either up a mountain, down at the coast, or on a lpane home! It'sno t a bad life really!!
It was a real experience I tell you! Not only did I manage to spot a huge pride of lions and about 4 different pairs/groups of cheetahs, but also managed to experience the interesting weather down there.
I was staying right on the top of what is called the Sira Escarpment. It is a huge range of small mountains/large hills at 1850m and runs north to south parallel with the Mara river. As such, we had spectacular views out across the mara/serengeti and the noise of the river and the rapids was just like being at the ocean. There has been so much rainfull (in what is meant to be the dry season) that the river is really very full. This is not good news for people going to the Mara in the next few months as the heavy monsoon rains come in march and added to therains of this season I worry that what I saw will only get worse.
It was rainy ish on our first day, and we drove through thick mud in the 4x4 landcruisers to get up to the camp from the airstrip which is in the reserve. We were delayed in our first game drive - it is against the 'rules' now to drive in the park whilst it is raining. However we were quickly underway etc and we didn't actually enter through the park gate. The road from the gate we would go through (oloololo gate) was shut due to the mud. We very quiickly found out why they shut this road only 24 hours later... Anyway despite not being physically IN the reserve, we saw lots of cheetahs. I guess bceause tehre is no boundary around the park so the animals can go where ever they want! We saw two males hunting some warthogs but in hyena territory, so the hyenas proceeded to attack the cheetahs (somethign the guides said was unheard of). Then we saw hiding in the grass three 10 month old cubs whose mother had been killed last week. They were doing well and looked full from a recent kill. It was so amazing to see the animals in their natural habitat. Despite often feeling like a zoo with 8 safari trucks cramped round any one animal, it was still refreshing to see them roaming around rather than in a cage somewhere.
I am a huge big cat fan and was desperate to see some lions(having been to other national parks where there are lions and seennone). Kenya is synonymous for its lions and the idea of coming home without seeing any was SO DEPRESSING! So the next day we set off on a long afternoon game drive - where we went through the oloololo gate and into the park. (having watched big cat diary so religiously I knew that the lions would be the other side of the river and that would take a while to get there from our tented camp). We made it through on a glorious sunny day - and most of the mud was soon dried up in the heat of the day. We saw the usual, huge herds of elephants right by the car and all the plains game etc. But NO LIONS. I had literally just given up (having spent 3 hours saying WHATS THAT and then ebing told it was a warthog or antelope and nto a lion) when I did it again thinking it was sand but thougth I had better check. And there they were, two male lions from the Marsh pride one of them being the alpha male. We got so close, and they were so happy asleep lazily on the floor. We turned to leave and again saw a big pride of females - perhaps 4 older females and 5 or 6 teenage cubs with their manes just starting to grow.
So exciting. ANYAWY our seriously amazing driver Ibrahim (these guys can get out of anything I just don't know how they do it!) thought we should head back as we were 2 hours away from camp and the sky had turned so amazingly black. We drove through grass tracks to avoid the roads (which with only 5 minutes of drizzle had turned to slush again) but we quickly realised we had to rejoin the road again where the grass turned into swamp land. It was as we did this manouevre that the vehicle lurched dramatically onto its right and I geniunly thought it would tip over!! We were stuck. In the drizzle in the mara. But hey people get stuck all the time right? Not in the Black cotton soil they don't. It is infamous for its ability to make vehicles stuck. It is really really sticky but also very slippery at the same time. We had to get out of the car whilst Ibrahim revved the engine like MAD (made a video) driving forwards and backwards carving upa trench just trying to release the wheel that was stuck down in the mud. Once you're stuck in certain tracks it is so difficult to get released from them again. Anyway after about 15 minutes of constant reversing and accelerating the car was finally free and steadily made the 150m drive where the black cotton soil ended and the 'normal' mud/earth began. So we then had to walk to the vehicle, it was only then that we saw a lion on the other side of the road (talk about irony - spending so much time searching for them and here was one on the bloody side of the road looking very hungry and licking her lips claerly out hunting)
Anyway we made it, and had to endure the very tough 2 hour journey back to camp. There were many other situations where we could have got stuck again - and with hindsight I see now that if we were in any other smaller vehicle something really dangerous could have happened the road conditions were really that bad. The real worry was coming to cross the river. The 'bridge' was really just a small level of earth placed over the top of the river and had there been a downpour and the bridge had flooded we would have had to camp it out in the car overnight. eek. anyway we were fine and eventually got back to camp, and it was an erm...adventure...but not one i'd necessarily like to repeat!
Made all the worth while obviously by the sightings of lions and cheetahs. I got some really excellent pictures, although I saw a leapord in the early morning but was without camera. Almost more enjoyable to just watch the animals rather than get snap happy. I think I did both in equal quantities lol.
4 weeks yesterday until I get home which is not that long. Everything will rush by I can just tell. It seems only yesterday that I was in Chagaik having the difficulties I had. And now I find myself running out of time to do things! The masai market on a friday for example - My last chance to visit it will be next friday as every other friday I am either up a mountain, down at the coast, or on a lpane home! It'sno t a bad life really!!
Monday, February 26, 2007
32 days until I come home :-(
So i'm a bit pants really at the whole blogging thing - but at least started out with the best of intentions!
On Wednesday morning I am catching a small plane down to the Masai Mara where I will spend a lot of time in a 4x4 but hopefully seeing lots of big cats to make it all worthwhile!! I was originally going by road - which should normally only take about 5 hours from Nairobi. However as was widely reported in the media over Christmas, the Mara received hellish amounts of rainfall. Whilst the park has mostly recovered now (it was shut for a period of time over christmas) the main road into the park has been washed away and rendered totally inaccessible for the forseeable future. The two alternatives that I was offered involved either flying (at a further expense) or driving the long way round which take roughyl 9 hours. If you knew what the roads are like you would understand why I therefore chose to catch a small plane. And i'm terrified of planes ESPECIALLY small ones so I hope that illustrates just HOW much I don't want to be on Kenyan roads for 9 hours!!
Anyway, greatly looking forward to it. This week has been spent training hard for the Kilimanjaro trek. Despite spending a lot of time at the well air conditioned gym in Aylesbury (thus giving me the illusion of being fit) I arrive in the heat here and find myself struggling to do just an hour of hard cardio. So amidst my efforts here, my short trip to the Masai Mara - I feel - will be great relief! I almost look forward to the freezing cold early morning game drives. When I say freezing cold I of course am only talking about 14 degrees MINIMUM and there's me with windchill LOL. Oh dear I really am going to struggle when I am back in the UK.
Which is only 32 days away. Very depressing really - whilst I am missing home and all the connotations that go with it - I really am loving my time here. Despite hiccup after hiccup, Kenya has really grown on me. And I only have roughyl 4 and a half weeks left until I pack to come home. Which is another HUGE problematic issue. Packing. Since some intelligent person with an IQ of 2 at BA decided to change baggage policy - I now have to work out how I am going to return to England with ONE bag when I flew OUTHERE WITH TWO. What is that all about?! WHO EMPLOYS THESE PEOPLE/!?! Anyway, I am going to struggle with that I am sure but right now I have bigger fish to fry.
Apprehension is mounting (PUN!) now that the Kili climb is only 2 weeks away. All the usual is running through my mind - what if I don't make it to the top, what if I get attacked by a monkey and get rabies and go mad, am I fit enough? Will my waterproofs leak? Will my leg suddenyl fall off on day one thus rendering my presence there pointless. I MEAN these are all possible circumstances!!
Anyway that's all for now folks. Found our resident colobus monkey climbing the bars on the windows yesterday afternoon and as such we're now having to be obsessive in closing windows and doors. Not too much fun really now that the humidity is building as the rainy season draws closer and temperatures are around 36degrees right until half6 in the evening!
Han
On Wednesday morning I am catching a small plane down to the Masai Mara where I will spend a lot of time in a 4x4 but hopefully seeing lots of big cats to make it all worthwhile!! I was originally going by road - which should normally only take about 5 hours from Nairobi. However as was widely reported in the media over Christmas, the Mara received hellish amounts of rainfall. Whilst the park has mostly recovered now (it was shut for a period of time over christmas) the main road into the park has been washed away and rendered totally inaccessible for the forseeable future. The two alternatives that I was offered involved either flying (at a further expense) or driving the long way round which take roughyl 9 hours. If you knew what the roads are like you would understand why I therefore chose to catch a small plane. And i'm terrified of planes ESPECIALLY small ones so I hope that illustrates just HOW much I don't want to be on Kenyan roads for 9 hours!!
Anyway, greatly looking forward to it. This week has been spent training hard for the Kilimanjaro trek. Despite spending a lot of time at the well air conditioned gym in Aylesbury (thus giving me the illusion of being fit) I arrive in the heat here and find myself struggling to do just an hour of hard cardio. So amidst my efforts here, my short trip to the Masai Mara - I feel - will be great relief! I almost look forward to the freezing cold early morning game drives. When I say freezing cold I of course am only talking about 14 degrees MINIMUM and there's me with windchill LOL. Oh dear I really am going to struggle when I am back in the UK.
Which is only 32 days away. Very depressing really - whilst I am missing home and all the connotations that go with it - I really am loving my time here. Despite hiccup after hiccup, Kenya has really grown on me. And I only have roughyl 4 and a half weeks left until I pack to come home. Which is another HUGE problematic issue. Packing. Since some intelligent person with an IQ of 2 at BA decided to change baggage policy - I now have to work out how I am going to return to England with ONE bag when I flew OUTHERE WITH TWO. What is that all about?! WHO EMPLOYS THESE PEOPLE/!?! Anyway, I am going to struggle with that I am sure but right now I have bigger fish to fry.
Apprehension is mounting (PUN!) now that the Kili climb is only 2 weeks away. All the usual is running through my mind - what if I don't make it to the top, what if I get attacked by a monkey and get rabies and go mad, am I fit enough? Will my waterproofs leak? Will my leg suddenyl fall off on day one thus rendering my presence there pointless. I MEAN these are all possible circumstances!!
Anyway that's all for now folks. Found our resident colobus monkey climbing the bars on the windows yesterday afternoon and as such we're now having to be obsessive in closing windows and doors. Not too much fun really now that the humidity is building as the rainy season draws closer and temperatures are around 36degrees right until half6 in the evening!
Han
Monday, February 19, 2007
So this weekend just gone, I ventured into the heart of the Great Rift Valley to stay in two towns - Nakuru and Naivasha. By road it is 2 hours to Naivasha and another 2/3 hours on to Nakuru. Both towns have large lakes; Naivasha is a freshwater lake and Nakuru is one of the many soda lakes that are dotted along the rift valley. Flamingos are at Lake Nakuru in abundance, although last year - due to huge drought and the levels of the lake vastly shrinking - the flamingos either flew away or were left for dead on the edge of the lake. They are slowly starting to return, although I cannot imagine anymore in the lake as it was just as if someone had poured strawberry flavoured angel delight all over the lake.
I stayed at the most luxurious of tented camps at Nakuru for one night before staying at the former home of Joy Adamson - Elsamere. They were, understandably, born free mad up at Elsamere and as such I found myself returning home with that stupid John Barry themetune stuck in my head. Learned the meaning of 'early morning game drive' on saturday morning. I think they should rename it 'middle of the night game drive' as I was up at 5am. That is just not healthy. Especially if you're me and allergic to early mornings.
Anyway it was a most enjoyable weekend and it was nice to have another break away from things. Have now started another week of gym training in prep for Kili and will spend the week being healthy (or at least trying to be) and doing lots of exercise. The following week I will be spending several days in the Masai Mara. As it turns out, the roads to get to the mara are now impassable due to heavy rains creating giant mud roads - so I am instead flying there (at a very high cost annoyingly.) This I am most looking forward to, but even more so since I received a parcel from my parents this morning. Amongst the hot chocolate sachets and Hello magazine were two newspaper articles on the Masai Mara. The Mara is a natural reserve and not a national park. The difference is that a national reserve is owned by the local council (in this case the Masai tribesmen) and a national park is under the charge of the Kenyan Wildlife Service. The articles claim that the park entry cost is soon to go up from £22 to £58 PER DAY (well, 24 hours). This is absolutely ludicrous. The Masai are getting too greedy and wanting more money - the charge was only put up from £15 to £22 last year. They claim it is to protect the delicate ecosystem in the Mara and the only way of doing that is to drive away budget tourists and attract less but richer tourists who can provide the same level of revenue to the parks but without the hords of people. I do understand this to a certain extent, but they are not only shootign themselves in the foot (in that the Mara is not the only place to see Lions - Botswana and Namibia have huge safari industries) but not solving the problem! Whilst they are driving away tourists, the clear solution to the preservation of the Masai Mara is to make it a National Park and hand it over to the KWS. By doing this, the KWS would be able to enforce the rules of being in a NP very strictly. The main reason that the Mara has turned into the dustbowl that it has been in times gone by is because of tourists not sticking to the tracks provided and offroading it. But if there is no enforcement of rules like this then people will have no incentive to adhere to them.
By increasing prices so dramatically it is my personal opinion that many tourists will go elsewhere for safaris and the Kenyan government will complain about the lack of tourism. The claim in the newspaper article was that 'People perceive Kenya to be a very cheap holiday destination' and quotes were given of very low rates. However these are only out of season (i.e. going ot the mara when it has been raining lots and the grass is too thick to be able to see anything) and if you visit in July/August/January/February you will pay extortionate prices for the most basic of accommodation. In this way I am glad I am in Kenya now, and not in 5/6 years time when I fear it will be only a small 'elite' that will be able to visit one of the most beautiful countries.
I am very quickly running out of money - due mostly to the living costs in an expat area being so much more than that in Kericho - which is what I budgeted for. Very frustrating and i'm not sure travel agents and the like quite realise what my financial situation is. (for example - assuming it'll be easy to pay for a £100 return flight to the mara) I.e. i'm not some gap year student with bags of money to spare and endless resources. and I am literally going to go back home without a single penny to my name. Perhaps slightly exaggerated but true lol. aaahhh. lol.
I stayed at the most luxurious of tented camps at Nakuru for one night before staying at the former home of Joy Adamson - Elsamere. They were, understandably, born free mad up at Elsamere and as such I found myself returning home with that stupid John Barry themetune stuck in my head. Learned the meaning of 'early morning game drive' on saturday morning. I think they should rename it 'middle of the night game drive' as I was up at 5am. That is just not healthy. Especially if you're me and allergic to early mornings.
Anyway it was a most enjoyable weekend and it was nice to have another break away from things. Have now started another week of gym training in prep for Kili and will spend the week being healthy (or at least trying to be) and doing lots of exercise. The following week I will be spending several days in the Masai Mara. As it turns out, the roads to get to the mara are now impassable due to heavy rains creating giant mud roads - so I am instead flying there (at a very high cost annoyingly.) This I am most looking forward to, but even more so since I received a parcel from my parents this morning. Amongst the hot chocolate sachets and Hello magazine were two newspaper articles on the Masai Mara. The Mara is a natural reserve and not a national park. The difference is that a national reserve is owned by the local council (in this case the Masai tribesmen) and a national park is under the charge of the Kenyan Wildlife Service. The articles claim that the park entry cost is soon to go up from £22 to £58 PER DAY (well, 24 hours). This is absolutely ludicrous. The Masai are getting too greedy and wanting more money - the charge was only put up from £15 to £22 last year. They claim it is to protect the delicate ecosystem in the Mara and the only way of doing that is to drive away budget tourists and attract less but richer tourists who can provide the same level of revenue to the parks but without the hords of people. I do understand this to a certain extent, but they are not only shootign themselves in the foot (in that the Mara is not the only place to see Lions - Botswana and Namibia have huge safari industries) but not solving the problem! Whilst they are driving away tourists, the clear solution to the preservation of the Masai Mara is to make it a National Park and hand it over to the KWS. By doing this, the KWS would be able to enforce the rules of being in a NP very strictly. The main reason that the Mara has turned into the dustbowl that it has been in times gone by is because of tourists not sticking to the tracks provided and offroading it. But if there is no enforcement of rules like this then people will have no incentive to adhere to them.
By increasing prices so dramatically it is my personal opinion that many tourists will go elsewhere for safaris and the Kenyan government will complain about the lack of tourism. The claim in the newspaper article was that 'People perceive Kenya to be a very cheap holiday destination' and quotes were given of very low rates. However these are only out of season (i.e. going ot the mara when it has been raining lots and the grass is too thick to be able to see anything) and if you visit in July/August/January/February you will pay extortionate prices for the most basic of accommodation. In this way I am glad I am in Kenya now, and not in 5/6 years time when I fear it will be only a small 'elite' that will be able to visit one of the most beautiful countries.
I am very quickly running out of money - due mostly to the living costs in an expat area being so much more than that in Kericho - which is what I budgeted for. Very frustrating and i'm not sure travel agents and the like quite realise what my financial situation is. (for example - assuming it'll be easy to pay for a £100 return flight to the mara) I.e. i'm not some gap year student with bags of money to spare and endless resources. and I am literally going to go back home without a single penny to my name. Perhaps slightly exaggerated but true lol. aaahhh. lol.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Well well well, what a day!
Today we set off to visit the Elephant orphanage on the other side of town. It is called the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (http://sheldrickwildlifetrust.org) and at at the moment they have 13 baby orphaned elephants in their care. (just put car by mistake - that would be interesting - fitting 13 small elephants into a car ahahahahah anyway ahem) Being the soft touch that I am seeing these small elephants made me literally go weak at the knees. They raise them until they are two years old and then re-introduce them into Tsavo East national park (as opposed to Tsavo West - the one that tourists usually visit). They have been going for years now, and whilst the elephants have a 50% chance of surviving whilst at the orphanage - once in the wild again they do really really well. It's always disheartening to see animals that will have to spend the rest of their lives in capitivity for human reasons such as keeping baby cheetahs as pets etc meaning they'd never be able to fend for themselves with the same instincts as a normal wild cheetah.
Their oldest elephant is 2 years old and the youngest is ONE MONTH. awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
It was so so tiny (well, it's an elephant I guess it's all relative. you'd be a bit shocked if a human baby was 3 foot tall but still...) they only let visitors in between the hours of 11 and 12 to reduce the amount of human contact they have. Whilst the keepers have a lot of interaction with them - it is all done in the way the elephant's mother would have. They wear blankets to keep them warm as their mother would normally do that (being about 7 times bigger!). They have to keep them warm as pneumonia is the number one killer in baby elephants; of the elephants the orphanage has lost - about 90% die from pneumonia. They also put tarpaulin over them when it rains for the same reason and they sleep in stables with a mattress and blanket! They get fed every 3 hours with milk - in fact the closest to elephant milk that is around is the SMA formula milk given to human babies. It is vegetable based and therefore closer to the milk produced by an elephant than any of the other formulas around. The keepers rotate their time spent with each elephant so that they (the elephants) don't get attached to any one keeper.
Anyway. the elephants were so unbelievably cute - even when they were rolling around in the mud and squirting me...ugh. Still cute though! They made several bids for freedom by trying to crawl through the crowd much to everyone's delight but to no avail they were recaptured and fed more milk (it's a hard life eh?!) And I spent a good quarter of an hour playing with this 1 year old elephant who liked exploring my arms with his trunk (and I thus proceeded to get covered in red mud ... mmmm) and it was so exhilerating stroking and petting a "small" elephant! First the cheetahs, now the elephants...I better not get any ideas like this whilst i'm in the mara or else I might get my head bitten off. Quite literally...
It was 35 degrees C this morning whilst at the elephants and we set off to have lunch up at the club and enjoy a cooling afternoon spent in the ice cold swimming pool. However! It soon clouded over, temperatures had dropped to 14 degrees C (brrrrr freezing) and following the thunder and torrential rain with lightning came the .... HAIL. what the HELL?! Massive humungous balls of hail that were falling out of the sky like some torrid rainfall. The majority of cars pulled off the road to sit it out and the remainder of cars drove at 5kph with their hazard lights on. It was like footage you see of hurricanes in florida where all the trees are leaning scarily horizontally and leaves blowing sideways 6 foot in the air... Global warming anyone...?
The even scarier news is that I am now in my 7th week here and just over half way through my trip. In 6 weeks time I should be safely back home regaling the by-then-boring anecdotes that will dominate my conversation for the next 3 months. Hurrah!
Today we set off to visit the Elephant orphanage on the other side of town. It is called the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (http://sheldrickwildlifetrust.org) and at at the moment they have 13 baby orphaned elephants in their care. (just put car by mistake - that would be interesting - fitting 13 small elephants into a car ahahahahah anyway ahem) Being the soft touch that I am seeing these small elephants made me literally go weak at the knees. They raise them until they are two years old and then re-introduce them into Tsavo East national park (as opposed to Tsavo West - the one that tourists usually visit). They have been going for years now, and whilst the elephants have a 50% chance of surviving whilst at the orphanage - once in the wild again they do really really well. It's always disheartening to see animals that will have to spend the rest of their lives in capitivity for human reasons such as keeping baby cheetahs as pets etc meaning they'd never be able to fend for themselves with the same instincts as a normal wild cheetah.
Their oldest elephant is 2 years old and the youngest is ONE MONTH. awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
It was so so tiny (well, it's an elephant I guess it's all relative. you'd be a bit shocked if a human baby was 3 foot tall but still...) they only let visitors in between the hours of 11 and 12 to reduce the amount of human contact they have. Whilst the keepers have a lot of interaction with them - it is all done in the way the elephant's mother would have. They wear blankets to keep them warm as their mother would normally do that (being about 7 times bigger!). They have to keep them warm as pneumonia is the number one killer in baby elephants; of the elephants the orphanage has lost - about 90% die from pneumonia. They also put tarpaulin over them when it rains for the same reason and they sleep in stables with a mattress and blanket! They get fed every 3 hours with milk - in fact the closest to elephant milk that is around is the SMA formula milk given to human babies. It is vegetable based and therefore closer to the milk produced by an elephant than any of the other formulas around. The keepers rotate their time spent with each elephant so that they (the elephants) don't get attached to any one keeper.
Anyway. the elephants were so unbelievably cute - even when they were rolling around in the mud and squirting me...ugh. Still cute though! They made several bids for freedom by trying to crawl through the crowd much to everyone's delight but to no avail they were recaptured and fed more milk (it's a hard life eh?!) And I spent a good quarter of an hour playing with this 1 year old elephant who liked exploring my arms with his trunk (and I thus proceeded to get covered in red mud ... mmmm) and it was so exhilerating stroking and petting a "small" elephant! First the cheetahs, now the elephants...I better not get any ideas like this whilst i'm in the mara or else I might get my head bitten off. Quite literally...
It was 35 degrees C this morning whilst at the elephants and we set off to have lunch up at the club and enjoy a cooling afternoon spent in the ice cold swimming pool. However! It soon clouded over, temperatures had dropped to 14 degrees C (brrrrr freezing) and following the thunder and torrential rain with lightning came the .... HAIL. what the HELL?! Massive humungous balls of hail that were falling out of the sky like some torrid rainfall. The majority of cars pulled off the road to sit it out and the remainder of cars drove at 5kph with their hazard lights on. It was like footage you see of hurricanes in florida where all the trees are leaning scarily horizontally and leaves blowing sideways 6 foot in the air... Global warming anyone...?
The even scarier news is that I am now in my 7th week here and just over half way through my trip. In 6 weeks time I should be safely back home regaling the by-then-boring anecdotes that will dominate my conversation for the next 3 months. Hurrah!
Sunday, February 4, 2007
ERRR so picture this if you will…
There I am innocently sunbathing in the garden for half an hour. I am with my hands behind my head (as one does). All of a sudden I feel claws drag across my hands and I look up to see a red kite inches from my face before flying off again (obviously realising that my hands were indeed attached to the rest of my 6 foot body and no I wasn’t food). Cheeky blighter! The red kites here are commonplace – they take permanent residence on the lawn eating the fallen avocados from the tree. But it is not everyday one tries to make a pass at eating you. Ah.
Other animal related stories this week…The house is meant to be anti-monkey because it has about 6 or 7 Bombax trees. They are evil – they have spikes all over the branches so the monkeys don’t climb them hence SUPPOSEDLY you don’t have monkeys. Monkeys are a huge problem here, baboons being the worst, and they can wreck houses just hunting for food. So as you might have guessed we have a resident monkey. But not just any old monkey! A male colobus monkey. Each day he has ventured a little further up the garden and we’re now being especially cautious to shut windows etc as this could potentially turn into a really nasty situation. I, however, am most excited about this latest development! In the blurb provided to us Kilimanjaro trekkers by Kuoni, Colobus monkeys are written about with such excitement e.g. ‘watch out for the rare colobus monkey’ ER got one in the bloody backyard. They are magnificent though, they have these white ruffles on their bellies and a white fluffy hat like an old gentleman with white hair.
Another growing problem here, and across the country is the Rift Valley Fever. It isn’t actually a problem here in Nairobi – no one living in Nairobi has caught it yet. But it is a huge problem in Naivasha/Nakuru area (which is about 2/3 hours west of here towards Lake Victoria). People are literally dropping like flies. This bodes well of course when you then take into account that I will be spending 4 days in that exact area on safari etc in 2 weekends time. Ahahahahahaha! It is spread through undercooked meat, such as steaks etc so I think my eating policy for that weekend will be adapted to vegetarian mode. There is a cure, but unsurprisingly it all comes down to cost. The harsh reality of it is that people just can’t afford to get treated and there aren’t sufficient enough facilities in the local and more rural areas to get the correct treatment.
Despite being the middle of summer and many parts of Kenya reaching 50° C every day – the last two nights we have seen torrid and torrential rain. This kind of rain is what leads to flash flooding and within the space of hours parts of Nairobi are awash with muddy water and the roads have deteriorated beyond belief. These are further effects felt here of the El Nino phenomenon. It seems that Africa is the continent that is least harming the planet in terms of global warming but is most seeing the effects of other countries polluting. The arid land and extreme drought are testimony to the furthered effects of desertification across this amazing continent. And while some elements of this are natural processes, we are acting as a catalyst and only provoking the problem. Being a bit of a greenpeace groupie I find this very hard to bear witness too. It reminds me of some quote in the film ‘Sahara’ – ‘It’s alright, nobody cares about Africa’. To a certain extent this is true. Multinational companies may have green policies and seem to be ethical but it is they who dump waste on the continent. It is they who trial new untested medications on locals out here abusing the fact that they can’t afford medication so they offer it free (constant gardener anyone? It’s true). It is they who burn the natural gases produced from the oil refinery process – and produce more in the way of greenhouse gases than would be regulated in their native country where they are signed up to the Kyoto protocol… Another story that failed to ever make the news was the wash up of nuclear waste bins on the Somali coast. The Italians had been illegally dumping into the Indian Ocean for years and it was only after the Tsunami of 2004 that these bins were washed up on the Somali coast. Locals opened these bins inquisitively (as anyone would do if huge big bins appeared on the beach) and there are huge exposure health issues now as a result.
Is it just me that this saddens? It’s not even anger. It’s extreme sadness that we willingly live in our own naivety, turning off the tap when we brush our teeth to be green. But really what difference does that make when we continue to (often unknowingly) support big organisations that are slowly destroying our planet. You say ‘a football field’s worth of amazon rainforest gets cut down every 18 seconds’ to anyone and it’s upsetting to hear. But what do we actually do about all of this? I’m not trying to convert people to become lunatic save the planet types, but isn’t it all a little frustrating that we are being shown adverts on saving the planet and making a difference when we’re really not. Our country is tiny. I know that we as Brits use stupid quantities of electricity and fuel – I myself am guilty in that I was too lazy to ever walk from school to tesco so we would drive. Hands up who else drives when they could really just walk?
When there are 435 million living in the European Union alone compared to the number of brits trying to energy save (which will be nowhere near the 60 million who reside in the UK). Aren’t we being made to feel guilty enough? Are our efforts all just futile? I get the impression most people are already feeling strongly about global warming but surely the next step for the government would be to actually try and make a global difference. So long as America doesn’t sign up to the Kyoto protocol or anything like it – what are we doing wasting our time getting stressy about turning off the odd light or two? It’s not like America can’t afford to use more Eco-friendly methods of living – such as running cars on Ethanol (distilled from sugar – the Congo’s largest export btw and being 5 times the size of France supply and demand would not be a huge issue). It’s because we’re nearing a US election and they don’t want to upset car manufacturers, factories and the like for fear of losing votes. I could just scream with frustration!!!
And would someone please explain this new air tax to me please? Being 4000 miles away and relying solely on the 2 dodgy international news channels (one being Sky, which reported Jo S’Club from celebrity big brother in an interview claiming to be suicidal ABOVE the birdflu story and destruction of recent ceasefire in Gaza….) So anyway it all seems to be a little unclear at the moment, but has the government actually given any information as to what the money will be spent on? Or will it be joining the lottery funds that are soon to be raided by Mr Brown in an attempt to cover the costs of the 2012 games that have reportedly risen to 5bn? What the hell is going on?
More importantly above ANY of these global issues is the superficial problem of what to do with the great big djembe drum I have recently purchased at a local market…It is literally about 3 ½ feet tall and I arrived about 7 kg over the weight limit….bags that is. Not me. So I’m not entirely sure what I will be doing to solve that problem….
Until next week. Leave a comment! Even just to say hi – I want to hear from you!
There I am innocently sunbathing in the garden for half an hour. I am with my hands behind my head (as one does). All of a sudden I feel claws drag across my hands and I look up to see a red kite inches from my face before flying off again (obviously realising that my hands were indeed attached to the rest of my 6 foot body and no I wasn’t food). Cheeky blighter! The red kites here are commonplace – they take permanent residence on the lawn eating the fallen avocados from the tree. But it is not everyday one tries to make a pass at eating you. Ah.
Other animal related stories this week…The house is meant to be anti-monkey because it has about 6 or 7 Bombax trees. They are evil – they have spikes all over the branches so the monkeys don’t climb them hence SUPPOSEDLY you don’t have monkeys. Monkeys are a huge problem here, baboons being the worst, and they can wreck houses just hunting for food. So as you might have guessed we have a resident monkey. But not just any old monkey! A male colobus monkey. Each day he has ventured a little further up the garden and we’re now being especially cautious to shut windows etc as this could potentially turn into a really nasty situation. I, however, am most excited about this latest development! In the blurb provided to us Kilimanjaro trekkers by Kuoni, Colobus monkeys are written about with such excitement e.g. ‘watch out for the rare colobus monkey’ ER got one in the bloody backyard. They are magnificent though, they have these white ruffles on their bellies and a white fluffy hat like an old gentleman with white hair.
Another growing problem here, and across the country is the Rift Valley Fever. It isn’t actually a problem here in Nairobi – no one living in Nairobi has caught it yet. But it is a huge problem in Naivasha/Nakuru area (which is about 2/3 hours west of here towards Lake Victoria). People are literally dropping like flies. This bodes well of course when you then take into account that I will be spending 4 days in that exact area on safari etc in 2 weekends time. Ahahahahahaha! It is spread through undercooked meat, such as steaks etc so I think my eating policy for that weekend will be adapted to vegetarian mode. There is a cure, but unsurprisingly it all comes down to cost. The harsh reality of it is that people just can’t afford to get treated and there aren’t sufficient enough facilities in the local and more rural areas to get the correct treatment.
Despite being the middle of summer and many parts of Kenya reaching 50° C every day – the last two nights we have seen torrid and torrential rain. This kind of rain is what leads to flash flooding and within the space of hours parts of Nairobi are awash with muddy water and the roads have deteriorated beyond belief. These are further effects felt here of the El Nino phenomenon. It seems that Africa is the continent that is least harming the planet in terms of global warming but is most seeing the effects of other countries polluting. The arid land and extreme drought are testimony to the furthered effects of desertification across this amazing continent. And while some elements of this are natural processes, we are acting as a catalyst and only provoking the problem. Being a bit of a greenpeace groupie I find this very hard to bear witness too. It reminds me of some quote in the film ‘Sahara’ – ‘It’s alright, nobody cares about Africa’. To a certain extent this is true. Multinational companies may have green policies and seem to be ethical but it is they who dump waste on the continent. It is they who trial new untested medications on locals out here abusing the fact that they can’t afford medication so they offer it free (constant gardener anyone? It’s true). It is they who burn the natural gases produced from the oil refinery process – and produce more in the way of greenhouse gases than would be regulated in their native country where they are signed up to the Kyoto protocol… Another story that failed to ever make the news was the wash up of nuclear waste bins on the Somali coast. The Italians had been illegally dumping into the Indian Ocean for years and it was only after the Tsunami of 2004 that these bins were washed up on the Somali coast. Locals opened these bins inquisitively (as anyone would do if huge big bins appeared on the beach) and there are huge exposure health issues now as a result.
Is it just me that this saddens? It’s not even anger. It’s extreme sadness that we willingly live in our own naivety, turning off the tap when we brush our teeth to be green. But really what difference does that make when we continue to (often unknowingly) support big organisations that are slowly destroying our planet. You say ‘a football field’s worth of amazon rainforest gets cut down every 18 seconds’ to anyone and it’s upsetting to hear. But what do we actually do about all of this? I’m not trying to convert people to become lunatic save the planet types, but isn’t it all a little frustrating that we are being shown adverts on saving the planet and making a difference when we’re really not. Our country is tiny. I know that we as Brits use stupid quantities of electricity and fuel – I myself am guilty in that I was too lazy to ever walk from school to tesco so we would drive. Hands up who else drives when they could really just walk?
When there are 435 million living in the European Union alone compared to the number of brits trying to energy save (which will be nowhere near the 60 million who reside in the UK). Aren’t we being made to feel guilty enough? Are our efforts all just futile? I get the impression most people are already feeling strongly about global warming but surely the next step for the government would be to actually try and make a global difference. So long as America doesn’t sign up to the Kyoto protocol or anything like it – what are we doing wasting our time getting stressy about turning off the odd light or two? It’s not like America can’t afford to use more Eco-friendly methods of living – such as running cars on Ethanol (distilled from sugar – the Congo’s largest export btw and being 5 times the size of France supply and demand would not be a huge issue). It’s because we’re nearing a US election and they don’t want to upset car manufacturers, factories and the like for fear of losing votes. I could just scream with frustration!!!
And would someone please explain this new air tax to me please? Being 4000 miles away and relying solely on the 2 dodgy international news channels (one being Sky, which reported Jo S’Club from celebrity big brother in an interview claiming to be suicidal ABOVE the birdflu story and destruction of recent ceasefire in Gaza….) So anyway it all seems to be a little unclear at the moment, but has the government actually given any information as to what the money will be spent on? Or will it be joining the lottery funds that are soon to be raided by Mr Brown in an attempt to cover the costs of the 2012 games that have reportedly risen to 5bn? What the hell is going on?
More importantly above ANY of these global issues is the superficial problem of what to do with the great big djembe drum I have recently purchased at a local market…It is literally about 3 ½ feet tall and I arrived about 7 kg over the weight limit….bags that is. Not me. So I’m not entirely sure what I will be doing to solve that problem….
Until next week. Leave a comment! Even just to say hi – I want to hear from you!
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Phewy it is just so hot. The weather here has now turned slightly humid and for the last couple of days it has been too unbearable to venture outdoors in the sizzling sun. Not helped of course by a small bout of EXTREME cramps. However I have now finalised (pretty much … lol) various travel plans between now and coming home.
Alison’s mother is being moved into the Fairseat foundation next weekend and the coming week will be spent chaotically organising the move. The following weekend, Alison and Paul are venturing to the island of Lamu – known now as the more popular choice to Zanzibar the spice island. Zanzibar is the destination for most South Africans going on holiday and has therefore become extremely commercialised. Lamu is on the north coast of Kenya and is relatively near the Somalia border. For this reason they advise that you fly direct to Lamu and don’t drive (because of the car-jacking risks). Once you’re on the island though, you’re as safe as you can be in Kenya and able to enjoy a relaxing break on an island that has no cars. (Similarities could be drawn with the Scilly isles?) Perhaps people are turned off from going to Lamu because of it’s closeness to the Somali border.
Anyway, I have two safaris booked now – one of which I will be going on whilst A + P are in Lamu and the other at the end of February. I then plan to spend the week preceding the Kilimanjaro trek sleeping, stuffing my face with vitamins and healthy foods and doing obscene amounts of exercise. :-D and then it’s off to Kilimanjaro! A week long trek up Africa’s highest mountain is – I’m guessing – going to leave me feeling pretty washed out. So I have a short while of recovery before flying down to Mombassa for a weekend with Alison and Paul. I was planning on visiting Tsavo national park but upon realising that I would not see anything unique to Tsavo (i.e. it’s all in the Mara) I am saving the money and will stay in Mombassa for a couple of days extra. People go for entire fortnights to Mombassa and all they do is sunbathe so I am not going to feel guilty for having two days of perfect happiness lying in the sun on a white beach with clear seas and palm trees scattered everywhere. Bliss or what. I’m on holiday, holidays are all about enjoying yourself! They also have glass bottomed boats which take you out so you can go snorkelling. They stay the beach side of the reef (which is so vast along the Indian Ocean and enables the seas along the beaches to be so still and clear) so you can [safely] view all the local sea life. They do offer diving training but with my fear of deep open water I think I might give that one a miss… Snorkelling though…how awesome would that be. And me in a wetsuit?! Phwoaar I’ll be fighting the locals off… (those who remember Aberdyfi will remember my hysterical struggle to even get IN a wetsuit let alone walk around as if it is a second skin…) and I will be wearing a wetsuit because too many embarrassing stories could come so easily from not wearing one.
SO I would then fly back just 3 days before I fly home again to the UK. When I talk about it all like this it seems that time passes so incredibly quickly (can’t quite believe it has been a month already…) and before I know it I will be back from Kili and Mombassa and on a plane home again to the grey old Wendover.
Despite the heat in the middle of the day, it has only really affected me because of the humidity levels rather than the actual heat. I find myself getting more and more used to the temperatures here, and almost like clockwork – at half past 4/5 o’clock I find myself in need of a jumper because it has dropped down to just 22 degrees!! I mean, how on earth will I cope once back in the UK?!? I’ll be wearing my snow jacket and ski trousers that I have brought with me for Kili. Brrrr just thinking about temperatures in Wendover are making me shiver…
However, despite not being overly homesick, I will be happy to see and live in the UK again. Just a few months make you realise how lucky you are to live in such an overly developed country. I am certain that upon my arrival at Heathrow I will shortly want to turn around and get back on the plane to Kenya… but for now, I miss simple things like having a choice of 20 brands of yoghurt and cheese. SALAD I miss it so much I genuinely am not functioning properly (ok being SLIGHTLY melodramatic there) without a good chicken caesar. Like the one from Pizza Express…mmm. Salad and vegetables in general go off so quickly down here. They grow amazingly quickly but have a very short shelf life. Got very excited this morning as I got to try my first Pawpaw (which is only exciting because of it’s reference in the Jungle Book ‘if you pick a pawpaw….’) etc
Another thing I find myself missing is Hugo, my true love – my red VW Polo car. It became a second room for me to empty all the rubbish I seem to acquire over [short] periods of time and now he is empty and clean and only being driven once or twice a week. Heartbreaking stuff right?!?
Whilst I increasingly find that I am falling in love with Kenya, nothing excites me more than the day I will get to see my mummy and daddy again (altogether now … aaaawww). The day that I left to come here was pretty emotional and I imagine that coming through the arrivals hall will be just as funny to watch as a stranger… If only because most people on gap years tend to go backpacking - yet here I am with two HUGE bags that I can barely lift (all full of clothes) in such a typical Hannah way. Ha ha ha!
Alison’s mother is being moved into the Fairseat foundation next weekend and the coming week will be spent chaotically organising the move. The following weekend, Alison and Paul are venturing to the island of Lamu – known now as the more popular choice to Zanzibar the spice island. Zanzibar is the destination for most South Africans going on holiday and has therefore become extremely commercialised. Lamu is on the north coast of Kenya and is relatively near the Somalia border. For this reason they advise that you fly direct to Lamu and don’t drive (because of the car-jacking risks). Once you’re on the island though, you’re as safe as you can be in Kenya and able to enjoy a relaxing break on an island that has no cars. (Similarities could be drawn with the Scilly isles?) Perhaps people are turned off from going to Lamu because of it’s closeness to the Somali border.
Anyway, I have two safaris booked now – one of which I will be going on whilst A + P are in Lamu and the other at the end of February. I then plan to spend the week preceding the Kilimanjaro trek sleeping, stuffing my face with vitamins and healthy foods and doing obscene amounts of exercise. :-D and then it’s off to Kilimanjaro! A week long trek up Africa’s highest mountain is – I’m guessing – going to leave me feeling pretty washed out. So I have a short while of recovery before flying down to Mombassa for a weekend with Alison and Paul. I was planning on visiting Tsavo national park but upon realising that I would not see anything unique to Tsavo (i.e. it’s all in the Mara) I am saving the money and will stay in Mombassa for a couple of days extra. People go for entire fortnights to Mombassa and all they do is sunbathe so I am not going to feel guilty for having two days of perfect happiness lying in the sun on a white beach with clear seas and palm trees scattered everywhere. Bliss or what. I’m on holiday, holidays are all about enjoying yourself! They also have glass bottomed boats which take you out so you can go snorkelling. They stay the beach side of the reef (which is so vast along the Indian Ocean and enables the seas along the beaches to be so still and clear) so you can [safely] view all the local sea life. They do offer diving training but with my fear of deep open water I think I might give that one a miss… Snorkelling though…how awesome would that be. And me in a wetsuit?! Phwoaar I’ll be fighting the locals off… (those who remember Aberdyfi will remember my hysterical struggle to even get IN a wetsuit let alone walk around as if it is a second skin…) and I will be wearing a wetsuit because too many embarrassing stories could come so easily from not wearing one.
SO I would then fly back just 3 days before I fly home again to the UK. When I talk about it all like this it seems that time passes so incredibly quickly (can’t quite believe it has been a month already…) and before I know it I will be back from Kili and Mombassa and on a plane home again to the grey old Wendover.
Despite the heat in the middle of the day, it has only really affected me because of the humidity levels rather than the actual heat. I find myself getting more and more used to the temperatures here, and almost like clockwork – at half past 4/5 o’clock I find myself in need of a jumper because it has dropped down to just 22 degrees!! I mean, how on earth will I cope once back in the UK?!? I’ll be wearing my snow jacket and ski trousers that I have brought with me for Kili. Brrrr just thinking about temperatures in Wendover are making me shiver…
However, despite not being overly homesick, I will be happy to see and live in the UK again. Just a few months make you realise how lucky you are to live in such an overly developed country. I am certain that upon my arrival at Heathrow I will shortly want to turn around and get back on the plane to Kenya… but for now, I miss simple things like having a choice of 20 brands of yoghurt and cheese. SALAD I miss it so much I genuinely am not functioning properly (ok being SLIGHTLY melodramatic there) without a good chicken caesar. Like the one from Pizza Express…mmm. Salad and vegetables in general go off so quickly down here. They grow amazingly quickly but have a very short shelf life. Got very excited this morning as I got to try my first Pawpaw (which is only exciting because of it’s reference in the Jungle Book ‘if you pick a pawpaw….’) etc
Another thing I find myself missing is Hugo, my true love – my red VW Polo car. It became a second room for me to empty all the rubbish I seem to acquire over [short] periods of time and now he is empty and clean and only being driven once or twice a week. Heartbreaking stuff right?!?
Whilst I increasingly find that I am falling in love with Kenya, nothing excites me more than the day I will get to see my mummy and daddy again (altogether now … aaaawww). The day that I left to come here was pretty emotional and I imagine that coming through the arrivals hall will be just as funny to watch as a stranger… If only because most people on gap years tend to go backpacking - yet here I am with two HUGE bags that I can barely lift (all full of clothes) in such a typical Hannah way. Ha ha ha!
Sunday, January 21, 2007
So yet another week has passed and here I am in Nairobi once again.
This past weekend I ventured back to Chagaik with the help of Paul and Alison. They [the school] had said that the accommodation was now ready and they were expecting my return. I stayed for a night and gave it all the positive attitude that I could muster under the circumstances. I quickly realised however that it really wasn’t for me. Everything continued to change, and to cut a seriously long story short, I am now back in Nairobi safe and sound. I have had about 6 hours sleep in the past 48 hours so am completely kanckered.
Anyway, for now have decided to neglect the idea of researching other volunteering opportunities. It will take a long time to organise, and if it was a placement anywhere other than Runda it would be a logistical nightmare to try and organise transport to and fro etc SO have decided I’m going to travel and have a good barrel of fun instead! I think this is an awesome idea. No idea where, no idea what and no idea how much. But will be researching this week and feel much happier knowing that I will hopefully return to the UK now with extremely fond memories of Kenya and wherever else I drag my little tushi off to.
Hurray!
The bonus of being here in Kenya and realising that I now want to do travelling is…. Everything is cheaper!! You get resident’s rates, and because you’re organising without the aid of some overpaid fat man in England – the costs are cut further. (And this is just from looking in the window of the local travel agents…) To drive is cheaper than to fly (but that’s pretty obvious) and so what is 6/7 hours in a car if it saves some money to see more baby lions or whatever?! More updates on this when I know more.
My brief stay in Chagaik (for the second time round…) was more fruitful than the last however. My new good friend Faith (an english teacher at the school) showed me around and took me on a walk in the area etc etc Not only are the surroundings absolutely stunning (plush like looking out of Wendover woods in spring…but with MILES of bright green tea leaves and huge big trees) BUT I learned a little something about the tea process… You know that the leaves are ready to be picked when you look at a field of tea and see little dimples in the plants – almost like holes where the plant has failed. At this point (and I clearly came at the right time…) the tea plants grow hundreds of new shoots. The bits of the plant which pickers pick are the top three leaves. They are grown from one stem, and consist of three leaves – each slightly smaller than the other. These apparently are the only leaves to be picked. Pickers are paid by the kilo – their pickings are weighed at the end of each month and they are paid accordingly. Interesting stuff hey?
Kenyan tea (as I already knew) is made differently to the English ‘whack a bag in a mug’ concept. Instead, they heat lots of milk with some water, sugar and loose tea leaves in one pot and sieve it off when they want some. They leave the pot of tea brewing on a hot fire for hours (and it doesn’t taste as though it has been sat heating up for ages). It truly was the best cup of tea I will probably EVER have. Not only was it made from ground tea leaves from the field just opposite the school, the milk was freshly produced by the dozen cattle that are resident at the school.
An authentic cup of tea.
Now, speaking of authentic tea. Alison and Paul spent the night at the appropriately named ‘tea hotel’ in Kericho town. One might make the dangerous assumption that they might be catering for a clientele interested in sampling the local tea. However, ONE would be mistaken! The tea was rather disgusting apparently, and the food and accommodation not much more improved. I do get the impression they would have preferred coffee (which seems SCANDELOUS given the grief they give Alison’s mum for ordering coffee on their first and previous visit to the Tea hotel some time ago). Oh the hilarity! I think I’ll give staying at that one a miss….
Our first journey to Kericho saw us stop via Molo (which I have since discovered is the best place in the world to buy vegetables). This involved Alison winding down the window and dozens of women begging you to buy their potatoes, carrots (that are HUGE), peas, plums, cabbages (the size of a small bin) and so on. Strong accusations of 'you do not promote me my sisters' get flung through the window and having been in Kenya for only a few days I thought this was pretty intimidating...not scary at all they just want you to buy their veg, but intimidating all the same to have people smacking the window inches from your ears. ANYWAY on the way back through Molo to Kericho for the second time, I planned to get some veg thereto keep me going whilst at the school. And a sign of just how used to the culture I have become...what did Hannah do? I just hopped on out of the car and walked along the street trying to find the freshest looking veg! Managed to get a huge sack of potatoes, a gargantuan cabbage and a large bag of even larger carrots all for about £1.50. And to think that I was trying to haggle them down on that....surreal.
On our return from Chagaik/Kericho some 24 hours later, the car began to slow pretty quickly and we came to a grinding halt... A tyre had gone. The rubber had completely burnt out and it was so hot to the touch. SO Alison and Paul (who seem quite used to this occurance considering the state of the roads) worked like clockwork getting the jack out and putting the spare tyre on. We put a warning triangle about 8-10 metres from the car - but the drivers still came whizzing past at 80/100 kph leaving only a foot or two between them and Paul's back. We then ventured into Narok to try and find a replacement for a spare (considering the roads were only getting worse and we were 2 hours from Nairobi another wheel down would not be good...) And this place was selling second hand tyres and tried to sell Paul a pretty rotten looking tyre for 3,800 KSh (that's nearly forty quid...) anyway a guy came along and said he had a better tyre with a better price, which did indeed turn out tobe true.
It was at this time that I realised that I had got sunburn THROUGH the window of the car on the right side of my neck shoulders and arm. So annoying but there we go, with a tyre now fixed we were well on our way and arrived safely back in Nairobi whereupon I crashed out and had a well deserved kip...
This past weekend I ventured back to Chagaik with the help of Paul and Alison. They [the school] had said that the accommodation was now ready and they were expecting my return. I stayed for a night and gave it all the positive attitude that I could muster under the circumstances. I quickly realised however that it really wasn’t for me. Everything continued to change, and to cut a seriously long story short, I am now back in Nairobi safe and sound. I have had about 6 hours sleep in the past 48 hours so am completely kanckered.
Anyway, for now have decided to neglect the idea of researching other volunteering opportunities. It will take a long time to organise, and if it was a placement anywhere other than Runda it would be a logistical nightmare to try and organise transport to and fro etc SO have decided I’m going to travel and have a good barrel of fun instead! I think this is an awesome idea. No idea where, no idea what and no idea how much. But will be researching this week and feel much happier knowing that I will hopefully return to the UK now with extremely fond memories of Kenya and wherever else I drag my little tushi off to.
Hurray!
The bonus of being here in Kenya and realising that I now want to do travelling is…. Everything is cheaper!! You get resident’s rates, and because you’re organising without the aid of some overpaid fat man in England – the costs are cut further. (And this is just from looking in the window of the local travel agents…) To drive is cheaper than to fly (but that’s pretty obvious) and so what is 6/7 hours in a car if it saves some money to see more baby lions or whatever?! More updates on this when I know more.
My brief stay in Chagaik (for the second time round…) was more fruitful than the last however. My new good friend Faith (an english teacher at the school) showed me around and took me on a walk in the area etc etc Not only are the surroundings absolutely stunning (plush like looking out of Wendover woods in spring…but with MILES of bright green tea leaves and huge big trees) BUT I learned a little something about the tea process… You know that the leaves are ready to be picked when you look at a field of tea and see little dimples in the plants – almost like holes where the plant has failed. At this point (and I clearly came at the right time…) the tea plants grow hundreds of new shoots. The bits of the plant which pickers pick are the top three leaves. They are grown from one stem, and consist of three leaves – each slightly smaller than the other. These apparently are the only leaves to be picked. Pickers are paid by the kilo – their pickings are weighed at the end of each month and they are paid accordingly. Interesting stuff hey?
Kenyan tea (as I already knew) is made differently to the English ‘whack a bag in a mug’ concept. Instead, they heat lots of milk with some water, sugar and loose tea leaves in one pot and sieve it off when they want some. They leave the pot of tea brewing on a hot fire for hours (and it doesn’t taste as though it has been sat heating up for ages). It truly was the best cup of tea I will probably EVER have. Not only was it made from ground tea leaves from the field just opposite the school, the milk was freshly produced by the dozen cattle that are resident at the school.
An authentic cup of tea.
Now, speaking of authentic tea. Alison and Paul spent the night at the appropriately named ‘tea hotel’ in Kericho town. One might make the dangerous assumption that they might be catering for a clientele interested in sampling the local tea. However, ONE would be mistaken! The tea was rather disgusting apparently, and the food and accommodation not much more improved. I do get the impression they would have preferred coffee (which seems SCANDELOUS given the grief they give Alison’s mum for ordering coffee on their first and previous visit to the Tea hotel some time ago). Oh the hilarity! I think I’ll give staying at that one a miss….
Our first journey to Kericho saw us stop via Molo (which I have since discovered is the best place in the world to buy vegetables). This involved Alison winding down the window and dozens of women begging you to buy their potatoes, carrots (that are HUGE), peas, plums, cabbages (the size of a small bin) and so on. Strong accusations of 'you do not promote me my sisters' get flung through the window and having been in Kenya for only a few days I thought this was pretty intimidating...not scary at all they just want you to buy their veg, but intimidating all the same to have people smacking the window inches from your ears. ANYWAY on the way back through Molo to Kericho for the second time, I planned to get some veg thereto keep me going whilst at the school. And a sign of just how used to the culture I have become...what did Hannah do? I just hopped on out of the car and walked along the street trying to find the freshest looking veg! Managed to get a huge sack of potatoes, a gargantuan cabbage and a large bag of even larger carrots all for about £1.50. And to think that I was trying to haggle them down on that....surreal.
On our return from Chagaik/Kericho some 24 hours later, the car began to slow pretty quickly and we came to a grinding halt... A tyre had gone. The rubber had completely burnt out and it was so hot to the touch. SO Alison and Paul (who seem quite used to this occurance considering the state of the roads) worked like clockwork getting the jack out and putting the spare tyre on. We put a warning triangle about 8-10 metres from the car - but the drivers still came whizzing past at 80/100 kph leaving only a foot or two between them and Paul's back. We then ventured into Narok to try and find a replacement for a spare (considering the roads were only getting worse and we were 2 hours from Nairobi another wheel down would not be good...) And this place was selling second hand tyres and tried to sell Paul a pretty rotten looking tyre for 3,800 KSh (that's nearly forty quid...) anyway a guy came along and said he had a better tyre with a better price, which did indeed turn out tobe true.
It was at this time that I realised that I had got sunburn THROUGH the window of the car on the right side of my neck shoulders and arm. So annoying but there we go, with a tyre now fixed we were well on our way and arrived safely back in Nairobi whereupon I crashed out and had a well deserved kip...
Sunday, January 14, 2007
So another week gone by, it’s only been two so far…yet already feel as if I have been here for months.
Being so well looked after by Paul and Alison, it really is a blessing that they are so willing (!!) to look after me!
So what a weekend of animal encounters! On Friday, knowing that the next day we would be journeying to Amboseli National Park, we visited the Kenyan Wildlife Service (the opposite side of town, a bit like trying to get from Marylebone to Barbican on a Saturday morning…a journey I know far too well…). Here you can pay for the national park fees in advance by putting the money onto a swipe card. A bit like topping up your mobile phone. Anyway, the KWS is situated in the Nairobi National Park and within the NNP there is an animal orphanage. WELL! I just couldn’t contain myself and so Alison and I headed into the animal orphanage. I was assured there wouldn’t be too many babies there - I would get far too mushy and want to take them all home with me which wouldn’t be the best idea - and in fact it is a home for animals that for various reasons are unable to survive in the wild.
We worked our way round the usual lions, blue-bollocked monkeys (they don’t show those on Monkey Business do they now!!) and a menagerie of Crowned Cranes. We got to the cheetahs den (I love cheetahs just to add) and the keepers asked if I wanted to go into the enclosure! I thought ‘hmmm let me think about this one….ER YES!’ and I got to go in with a nervous Alison behind me whilst the cheetah ruffled its head wanting to have its rather large tummy tickled (just like my own cats only 7 times bigger). I was not nervous around the cheetahs – I figured that they were hand reared from cheetah cubs and despite being fully grown with rather large canines they were still winding round the keepers legs. SO CUTE anyway we came back at feeding time and got to go in again and I started stroking this GORGEOUS animal and she was purring away (somewhat louder than my tabby cats at home…) and rubbing her head up against my leg. AAAHHHH highlight of my life.
So then yesterday we went to Amboseli National Park as Paul was entertaining a colleague over from the UK. We just went for the day (which involved two 3-hour drives there and back) but it was spectacular. Amboseli is known for its very large population of Elephants. Over 600 in all, and the park is only a third of the size of the Mara. It is actually an extension of the Serengeti – it is just called something different because of the border with Tanzania, hence the Mara and Amboseli not being called the Serengeti. It was so surreal to be standing out of a landrover window (which, ok, is pretty uncomfortable but you get the best photos…) and staring at this MAHOOSIVE big Elephant only 3 metres from your car. We also managed to spot a cheetah (although not a cuddly one I guessed, as it was wild…) and a hippo, as well as your usual gazelle, buffalo, zebra, ostrich etc
Amboseli is normally a very dry park – indeed it has a Lake Amboseli which apparently only has water in it after the rainy season (which comes in March). The pictures of brown dry and arid grassland was just a picture yesterday and not reality. The place was full of water, many of these brown fields of grassland/savannah were turned into luscious green landscapes – with some areas totally flooded and full of happy hippos. One road eventually got closed off as we watched a safari vehicle attempt to drive through a massive mud patch on the track and get stuck. You couldn’t overtake because the side of the tracks (which are built as causeways, higher than the ground) were boggy and water-laden so you’d just get stuck in that in trying to overtake.
I took over 200 photos CRINGE because my camera has that great multi-shot function. I got some awesome photos, and of this I am seriously glad. Being so close to wild animals in their natural environment is just magical. And despite the vast quantity of people who go on safari, the expanse of land enables you to just get away park your car and just sit watching these great big Elephants come lumbering up towards you..
On an even happier note, Alison received a reply to her newsletter from a chap who knows someone who runs a charity out here in Nairobi. Talk about coincidence. He and his wife work with street children and provide education etc (is the idea I am getting from what I have heard already). Anyway he plus a delegation from the UK have flown out THIS weekend to Kenya and we are going to get in contact – he has in fact offered that I could go and work with the people that have come over from Britain, at the local school in Nairobi. I was struggling to know what to do decision wise, whether I was to go back and try again with Chagaik or whether something better would actually surface as a result of the chaos. I sent a prayer request email on Friday and LOOK!! It really does work this whole Christian thing eh?! No promises yet, but it is a hopeful opportunity to replace the disappointment of Chagaik.
Being so well looked after by Paul and Alison, it really is a blessing that they are so willing (!!) to look after me!
So what a weekend of animal encounters! On Friday, knowing that the next day we would be journeying to Amboseli National Park, we visited the Kenyan Wildlife Service (the opposite side of town, a bit like trying to get from Marylebone to Barbican on a Saturday morning…a journey I know far too well…). Here you can pay for the national park fees in advance by putting the money onto a swipe card. A bit like topping up your mobile phone. Anyway, the KWS is situated in the Nairobi National Park and within the NNP there is an animal orphanage. WELL! I just couldn’t contain myself and so Alison and I headed into the animal orphanage. I was assured there wouldn’t be too many babies there - I would get far too mushy and want to take them all home with me which wouldn’t be the best idea - and in fact it is a home for animals that for various reasons are unable to survive in the wild.
We worked our way round the usual lions, blue-bollocked monkeys (they don’t show those on Monkey Business do they now!!) and a menagerie of Crowned Cranes. We got to the cheetahs den (I love cheetahs just to add) and the keepers asked if I wanted to go into the enclosure! I thought ‘hmmm let me think about this one….ER YES!’ and I got to go in with a nervous Alison behind me whilst the cheetah ruffled its head wanting to have its rather large tummy tickled (just like my own cats only 7 times bigger). I was not nervous around the cheetahs – I figured that they were hand reared from cheetah cubs and despite being fully grown with rather large canines they were still winding round the keepers legs. SO CUTE anyway we came back at feeding time and got to go in again and I started stroking this GORGEOUS animal and she was purring away (somewhat louder than my tabby cats at home…) and rubbing her head up against my leg. AAAHHHH highlight of my life.
So then yesterday we went to Amboseli National Park as Paul was entertaining a colleague over from the UK. We just went for the day (which involved two 3-hour drives there and back) but it was spectacular. Amboseli is known for its very large population of Elephants. Over 600 in all, and the park is only a third of the size of the Mara. It is actually an extension of the Serengeti – it is just called something different because of the border with Tanzania, hence the Mara and Amboseli not being called the Serengeti. It was so surreal to be standing out of a landrover window (which, ok, is pretty uncomfortable but you get the best photos…) and staring at this MAHOOSIVE big Elephant only 3 metres from your car. We also managed to spot a cheetah (although not a cuddly one I guessed, as it was wild…) and a hippo, as well as your usual gazelle, buffalo, zebra, ostrich etc
Amboseli is normally a very dry park – indeed it has a Lake Amboseli which apparently only has water in it after the rainy season (which comes in March). The pictures of brown dry and arid grassland was just a picture yesterday and not reality. The place was full of water, many of these brown fields of grassland/savannah were turned into luscious green landscapes – with some areas totally flooded and full of happy hippos. One road eventually got closed off as we watched a safari vehicle attempt to drive through a massive mud patch on the track and get stuck. You couldn’t overtake because the side of the tracks (which are built as causeways, higher than the ground) were boggy and water-laden so you’d just get stuck in that in trying to overtake.
I took over 200 photos CRINGE because my camera has that great multi-shot function. I got some awesome photos, and of this I am seriously glad. Being so close to wild animals in their natural environment is just magical. And despite the vast quantity of people who go on safari, the expanse of land enables you to just get away park your car and just sit watching these great big Elephants come lumbering up towards you..
On an even happier note, Alison received a reply to her newsletter from a chap who knows someone who runs a charity out here in Nairobi. Talk about coincidence. He and his wife work with street children and provide education etc (is the idea I am getting from what I have heard already). Anyway he plus a delegation from the UK have flown out THIS weekend to Kenya and we are going to get in contact – he has in fact offered that I could go and work with the people that have come over from Britain, at the local school in Nairobi. I was struggling to know what to do decision wise, whether I was to go back and try again with Chagaik or whether something better would actually surface as a result of the chaos. I sent a prayer request email on Friday and LOOK!! It really does work this whole Christian thing eh?! No promises yet, but it is a hopeful opportunity to replace the disappointment of Chagaik.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
I AM SO ANGRY.
Said the well-behaved Christian girl.
What follows is the reply email sent from Mr Langat responding to a sharp email Paul and I produced yesterday. Anything written in bold is my response at various points.
From: samwel langat
Dear Paul, I acknowledge receipt of your email.
oh good.
While choosing not to dwell much on last weekend, i nevertheless wish to convey our school's apology for the issue of accomodation It occured to me that Hannah looked enthusiastic to teach at Chagaik and i hope she still is.
Hmm let me see, that would be a no?
As i am writing now ,the contractor is on site and setting out to fix the cistern and pan in the house as well as the sinks and drainage.
Setting out? I was assured it was all nearly finished. Bodes well.
Paint work is over in all the other rooms except the bathroom which will be done soon.
There was no mention of paintwork at the weekend, just the plumbing. And the bathroom will be done soon?
I want to take his word that the whole plumbing job and any other work remaining will be over in 4 to 5 days.
He wants to take his word. Right. Well considering we were looking for a definite time frame that doesn’t PARTICULARLY help matters.
We all felt that the house need be in an acceptable state by the time Hannah and Lyndsey will be arriving.
There is much emphasis of Lyndseys presence here – we hadn’t confirmed to him when she was coming and what to do because of communication problems and now he is dragging HER into it? Plus they may have wanted the house to be ready when we arrived…but it wasn’t?
The fact that the house is in the school compound will give them the necessary experience and security.
Throughout all inward visits from the High Sch, we have taken every measure possible to assure our visitors of utmost security.
That is because the British Council organised everything.
This time we will do so appropriately. I once again assure you that in those 4 to 5 days the house will be fully ready.
Yet he is taking the word of a local plumber…enough said.
These past few days we have had to change our teaching plans with respect to Hannah and Lyndsey's absence and i do not want to think about students and staff response should Hannah decide not to come back. It will be devastating both to us and our Partnership with AHS.
We emphasised many times I was not going to the school on behalf of AHS for insurance purposes, this is unfair ‘blackmail’ and not at all deserved.
We had all looked forward to their presence.
Well I looked forward to going.
We will provide fuel as had been agreed on.That is Gas and lantern lamp.
HURRAY!
Hannah and Lyndsey will be expected to teach and assist in Drama As had been agreed. Any other related duty like accompanying students to the field during PE will also be considered. Worst part of the email. We had in fact agreed that I would be teaching two African novels and the Merchant of Venice in English Literature classes. I was also to teach History. I have this in writing, and I even have record of Samuel saying that drama lessons only occurred outside of school time. So in his eyes, I would be teaching drama after school and walking people to the field? Not exactly 8 weeks worth of work now is it?
I once again give you those assurances.Regards to Hannah and Alicen.Bye.
Samuel
So, I am riled but at least he has given us an accurate insight as to what the proceeding 8 weeks would be like (hell) if I were to return to Chagaik. For this I am at least thankful, in knowing that I do not want to return. There need be no more thinking about on this matter – Samuel has pretty much made my decision for me in that one email alone.
However, today I was searching for the right solution to this and at least I have now been provided with this. I will continue to be positive – there are many options for me back here in Nairobi and I just have to trust in God that this is what I am meant to be doing and that actually something better will occur from this.
What follows is the reply email sent from Mr Langat responding to a sharp email Paul and I produced yesterday. Anything written in bold is my response at various points.
From: samwel langat
Dear Paul, I acknowledge receipt of your email.
oh good.
While choosing not to dwell much on last weekend, i nevertheless wish to convey our school's apology for the issue of accomodation It occured to me that Hannah looked enthusiastic to teach at Chagaik and i hope she still is.
Hmm let me see, that would be a no?
As i am writing now ,the contractor is on site and setting out to fix the cistern and pan in the house as well as the sinks and drainage.
Setting out? I was assured it was all nearly finished. Bodes well.
Paint work is over in all the other rooms except the bathroom which will be done soon.
There was no mention of paintwork at the weekend, just the plumbing. And the bathroom will be done soon?
I want to take his word that the whole plumbing job and any other work remaining will be over in 4 to 5 days.
He wants to take his word. Right. Well considering we were looking for a definite time frame that doesn’t PARTICULARLY help matters.
We all felt that the house need be in an acceptable state by the time Hannah and Lyndsey will be arriving.
There is much emphasis of Lyndseys presence here – we hadn’t confirmed to him when she was coming and what to do because of communication problems and now he is dragging HER into it? Plus they may have wanted the house to be ready when we arrived…but it wasn’t?
The fact that the house is in the school compound will give them the necessary experience and security.
Throughout all inward visits from the High Sch, we have taken every measure possible to assure our visitors of utmost security.
That is because the British Council organised everything.
This time we will do so appropriately. I once again assure you that in those 4 to 5 days the house will be fully ready.
Yet he is taking the word of a local plumber…enough said.
These past few days we have had to change our teaching plans with respect to Hannah and Lyndsey's absence and i do not want to think about students and staff response should Hannah decide not to come back. It will be devastating both to us and our Partnership with AHS.
We emphasised many times I was not going to the school on behalf of AHS for insurance purposes, this is unfair ‘blackmail’ and not at all deserved.
We had all looked forward to their presence.
Well I looked forward to going.
We will provide fuel as had been agreed on.That is Gas and lantern lamp.
HURRAY!
Hannah and Lyndsey will be expected to teach and assist in Drama As had been agreed. Any other related duty like accompanying students to the field during PE will also be considered. Worst part of the email. We had in fact agreed that I would be teaching two African novels and the Merchant of Venice in English Literature classes. I was also to teach History. I have this in writing, and I even have record of Samuel saying that drama lessons only occurred outside of school time. So in his eyes, I would be teaching drama after school and walking people to the field? Not exactly 8 weeks worth of work now is it?
I once again give you those assurances.Regards to Hannah and Alicen.Bye.
Samuel
So, I am riled but at least he has given us an accurate insight as to what the proceeding 8 weeks would be like (hell) if I were to return to Chagaik. For this I am at least thankful, in knowing that I do not want to return. There need be no more thinking about on this matter – Samuel has pretty much made my decision for me in that one email alone.
However, today I was searching for the right solution to this and at least I have now been provided with this. I will continue to be positive – there are many options for me back here in Nairobi and I just have to trust in God that this is what I am meant to be doing and that actually something better will occur from this.
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
So last night we met at the Safari Park hotel on the other side of town, to welcome this delegation from Malawi. They are supposed to have come to Nairobi to look at the factory where their passports are made, but it in fact seems they came to have a bit of a jolly and go shopping...
They raised the issue that there has been a shortage of Malawian passports and they feel pressured because they have none to give out... this later turns out to be another flaw in organisation. Instead of reordering passports when they are down to their last 3,000 for example, they just let the stock completely run out and then panic order because they have none left! It's a totally different way of thinking, and is perhaps caused by the mentality that if there is still some stock left then why spend more precious money on passports. They do also order more passports, but fail to pay for them and then wonder why they don't get them. Very interesting drawing conclusions from that, and even more interesting to see that it is not just Kenya that lacks any sense of organisation skills, but indeed most of Africa.
Joseph junior has been off ill today and yesterday - Alison sent him to the doctors yesterday afternoon and it turns out he has typhoid. He should be fine as he is on a course of treatment that should hopefully sort it all out and Alison and Paul are paying. But at the high prices the doctors charge, many who aren't lucky enough to have someone pay their bill for them will just suffer in silence. On the Runda estate, Runda Water provides a drinking tap around the corner, where people have free access to drinking water. It turns out Joseph paid someone else for some water because he couldn't get to the tap or something, and the person selling the water clearly just fished it out of some stagnant pond and now he has Typhoid. How dreadful is that? It really brings home the danger of bad drinking water, and it is so cheap to fix up drinking water taps and wells etc. The old government of Moi seemed to just fritter all the money away on estates and backhanders that the Kibaki government is only just able to try and catch up on itself today.
They raised the issue that there has been a shortage of Malawian passports and they feel pressured because they have none to give out... this later turns out to be another flaw in organisation. Instead of reordering passports when they are down to their last 3,000 for example, they just let the stock completely run out and then panic order because they have none left! It's a totally different way of thinking, and is perhaps caused by the mentality that if there is still some stock left then why spend more precious money on passports. They do also order more passports, but fail to pay for them and then wonder why they don't get them. Very interesting drawing conclusions from that, and even more interesting to see that it is not just Kenya that lacks any sense of organisation skills, but indeed most of Africa.
Joseph junior has been off ill today and yesterday - Alison sent him to the doctors yesterday afternoon and it turns out he has typhoid. He should be fine as he is on a course of treatment that should hopefully sort it all out and Alison and Paul are paying. But at the high prices the doctors charge, many who aren't lucky enough to have someone pay their bill for them will just suffer in silence. On the Runda estate, Runda Water provides a drinking tap around the corner, where people have free access to drinking water. It turns out Joseph paid someone else for some water because he couldn't get to the tap or something, and the person selling the water clearly just fished it out of some stagnant pond and now he has Typhoid. How dreadful is that? It really brings home the danger of bad drinking water, and it is so cheap to fix up drinking water taps and wells etc. The old government of Moi seemed to just fritter all the money away on estates and backhanders that the Kibaki government is only just able to try and catch up on itself today.
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