2nd and final update for now!!!!

Following the viewpoint we all took a less strenuous, most welcomed, downhill walk back to the centre and spent an again very welcome bit of time which was spent relaxing, showering or just catching up on their diaries..

After another delicious evening meal which lacked any semblance of junk food and was not accompanied by chips and ketchup and consisted of nothing but local nutritious, organic food the kids were given a treat of being permitted to stay up until 9.30 but still hadn’t twigged to the fact that they were still going to bed at 7.30 pm UK time!!!!.............. how long before they twig?

Before bed on the Saturday the students were offered two alternatives on the Sunday. They could either complete the Old Colonial Road walk of about 5 miles or cover a less gruelling Ethnobotanical walk with one of the Centre’s guides knowledgeable in the trees, plants, their medicinal uses and cures and knowledge of the Pokot Culture.. About 20 opted for the ‘more strenuous’ yomp leaving only a handful to meander about the Centre and the surrounding riverine forest……………
Little did the latter party realise what they were in for as they walked through much of the difficult sections of the Colonial Road Walk near to the Centre and also spent a lot of their time in the sun. However they did learn a lot and seemed to enjoy themselves and gained a lot from what they had been put through.

The Old Colonial Road walk by comparison was a jaunt in the park. The Old Road although overgrown and in parts has crumbled is still an easy walk which runs parallel to the Moruny River as it flows through the MArich Pass. It was reasonably shaded and so, even in the mounting heat of the day, was easily achieved by all. We were met aty the foot of this section by the buses who replenished our water supplies and then it was decided that ALL would complete the walk through the Riverine Forest back to the Centre. This section passed through the remains of the road building site and through the workers compound which is still utilised some 30+ years after the road from Kitale to Lodwar, in the north, was completed. There was only one part of the walk which caused a problem when we all had to negotiate a fairly steep cliff but we all managed it with tremendous team spirit. We all worked to help each other up in order to complete the walk. From here it was downhill all the way back to the Centre where we all partook in an ice-cold soda……………… a very welcome respite from the heat of the day.

After a wholesome but basic lunch we were bussed up river to where the locals pan for gold. They also wash their clothes, water their cattle and goats, bathe, collect water and do their ablutions……………….. sounds idyllic doesn’t it?

Here some of the students stood on the bank and watched whilst others fished or panned for gold from the safety of the bank as H&S assessment of the river deemed this slow flowing, shallow river too risky to paddle in and their was a risk of bilharzias which is not present in the river.

After this it was back to the Centre to pack and deposit the bags at the bus to ensure that we could make a quick getaway the following day.
The final evening meal was BBQ’ed goat (known locally as Nyama Choma) which was enjoyed by all.

Everyone then had an early night……….. we all needed it before an early awakening to see the last sunrise over the Cherangani Hills. Then it was breakfast, last minute packing and off we set for Nakuru for a night in the Elementaita Lodge where we had stayed on our first night in Kenya.

The journey down was uneventful albeit extremely bumpy as was the journey up. We stopped in Eldoret for lunch and then it was on to Nakuru where we checked in to the Lodge…………… our last night of any semblance of luxury before the two night’s camping at the world famous Masai Mara National Reserve.

The only event of note on the journey was that after a lot of the students had commented on how well they were eating in Marich without the standard intake of junk they would now change their lifestyles for the better. This lasted until the first fuel stop at Makutano which is less than 50 miles from Marich. It was here that some of them discovered chocolate and ice cream and bang went the lifestyle change!!!!!

We were fed and watered well in the Lodge before yet another early night for the kids at 9 pm. Food was again a buffet with the kids again preferring the sweets section to the main course……………. Where do they put it all?

After an uneventful night…………. Well I slept through anything if anything did happen,…………. We were up at the crack of dawn to pack for the journey to the Mara and then bags to the mini-buses and then for breakfast. The buffet selection was immense but again most of the students hit on the pancakes with chocolate sauce.

We left Elementaita almost on time which was good for the field trip to date which has not to date kept time apart from the coach to Heathrow and the flight to Nairobi.!

The journey from Nakuru to Naivasha was fast and smooth which is a complete novelty for Kenya………….. cynically, how long will this last!?!?!

From Naivasha to Maai Maihu was also uneventful with views across the Rift Valley, squatters camps full of people displaced during the troubles of 18 months before and the occasional wild animal (zebra, gazelle or impala) dotted amongst herds of Maasai goats and cattle. A little known fact is that about 95% of the wild animals in Kenya live outside the confines of National Parks and Reserves on private land or just roaming free as they have for centuries.

This stretch of road has also recently been resurfaced and is therefore a dream to drive along with bottoms and backs as well as other parts of your anatomy being able to recover………… a little from the onslaught of miles upon miles of atrocious roads.

The road from Maai Maihu to the Masai Mara can only be described as vried! It is littered with broken down vehicles and vehicles which have suffered accidents. The accidents are as a direct result of the awful road surface. However, they are, bit by bit, rebuilding this road as well………….. or more correctly, the Italians are! The surface therefore ranges from excellent, to bumpy, to poor, to damn right diabolical!

This section does however benefit with the opportunity to view animals. Bearing this in mind, it wasn’t long before e saw our first giraffe of the Field Trip. This herd regularly move around the area with landmarks of Mt. Suswa and Mt. Longoniot as well as Hell’s Gate National Park. They spend their days browsing the trees from one end of their territory to the other.

We had a lengthy stopover at Narok which is the last major town before the Mara itself. Here we had to attempt to get educational rates for entry into the park. This was obtained and we headed off to our final destination of the trip.

Some 5 hours after leaving Elementaita we finally arrived at our final destination. This was a very basic campsite pitched in a shaded area of medium sized trees of a variety of species. Not the greatest of accommodation choices but what the hell for two nights. I provided basic food and coke etc. was available at a price. The one surprise was that it provided hot water from a Nairobi Boiler and so several people were happy to be able to freshen up without fear of frostbite!!!!!

There was a slight delay in getting settled in as the tent allocation had been changed and three more tents had to found and pitched before everyone could get themselves ready for our first Masai Mara Safari. This followed consumption of the packed lunch from the Lake Elementaita Lodge!

Entry to the park was rapid, unlike the lengthy delay at Nakuru the week before. It was not long before we saw our first pride of lion which were snoozing on top of an outcrop of rock. This amazing sight was quickly followed by the sighting of a leopard relaxing on the fork in a branch in a tree. This completed our sighting o 4 out of 5f the ‘BIG FIVE’ with the Rhino and Buffalo being seen in the Nakuru National Park. Only the elephant remained on our checklist and again we didn’t have long to wait until we saw one and then another and then another. They were however a little distance away from us but we had seen them.

Our first visit to the reserve rapidly came to an end and we were racing back down the main road through the reserve back to the main park gates an d our campsite a few kilometres beyond.

Fortunately we came armed with torches as we arrived back at camp after 6 pm and it was rather gloomy to say the least. Not much to report that night with dinner being eaten around 7.30 pm…………. Soup followed by beef stew and rice with fresh fruit salad to follow. Tea, coffee and water were available but soda was sold at two and a half times cost……….. I suppose the Maasai have to make money some where but when it’s not even cold………………. It’s a liberty!

Everyone slept early that night with lights out at 9pm, although I’m sure that some slept a little less soundly than others when the sounds of the African Bush at night were head spasmodically throughout the night! First it was a hyena and then what sounded like a baboon in pain or being taken by s leopard. There were also reports of lion roaring throughout the night but some disputed that and blamed a nameless member of staff for loud snoring!!!!

The plan for Thursday, our only full day in the Reserve was to have breakfast and then head out with a picnic to spend the whole day watching wildlife.

We saw, during the day, baboon and vervet monkey, birds too numerous to mention but which included lilac-breasted roller, auger buzzard, wydah birds, francolin, crowned crane, helmeted guinea fowl and vultures and maribou stork. Almost forgot the ostriches, again many of them and finally we saw several Batleur Eagles soaring on the thermals.

The list of animals was impressive with gazelle, both Grant’s and Thompson’s, Zebra and Impala as well as Eland, Buffalo Wildebeest, Topi and Hartebeest. There were also herds of Giraffe wandering majestically across the valleys and grazing the tall trees at leisure.. They were numbers of them all over with a number of close sightings and others more distant.

We were also fortunate to see silver-backed jackals but surprisingly we never saw a hyena. Warthog were also fairly common and, for a change, more willing to pose for he cameras when usually they high tail it off into the bush at the first sign of a amera being prepared for use!

The same could be said for the elephant. We could see them all over the place but only at a distant. Small herds and larger herds wandering, what seemed aimlessly, across the Mara We did however come across a small herd of elephant browsing in a thicket who provided us with numerous photographic opportunities. That was about it for elephants but we never saw a lone bull on its own up close but they were around but only at a distance.

We however couldn’t drive far without bumping into lion. There were more of these kings of the plains than you could ever want to shake a stick at! Huge males were found on their own or in pairs lazing around and just surveying their surroundings. Females were dotted here, there and everywhere. They ranged in group sizes of 2 or 3 up to 7 or 8. Then we came across a male and female together and finally, when retracing our steps to help one of the mini buses which had become stranded/stuck we were fortunate to view a couple of lionesses partaking of a siesta in the shade of a bush. With them were about half a dozen cubs who played hard to get when it came to getting a decent photo of them.

We had a brief stop at the Mara River where in a month or so the annual migration will be in full swing. Here we saw hippo and crocodile before heading across the bridge o a lone tree for some shade where we could take our picnic. The first tree had already been grabbed by others and so we moved on to the next which we found to be vacant and it was here that we demolished lunch under what little shade the tree provided.

After lunch, because some of the group were tired, we crossed back over the river and headed back to camp. Apart from the aforementioned vehicle getting stuck only one other vehicle had trouble and that’s when the driver, having seen the lion and lioness, tried to get back onto the main road got the vehicle stuck on a shingle bank with both front and rear wheels barely touching the ground. It was a simple case of all out and rock the rear of the vehicle until sufficient contact had been made between ground and tyre to inch forward and get on the road again.

We were back in camp shortly after 4 and there we remained although one mini-bus had to refuel and whilst that was being completed the passengers got a sneak view of what luxury safaris are like when we walked around a lodge attached to the petrol station. Luxury is not the word for it and was a totally different world to the one we were experiencing but with a price to match……………. One day we all dreamed!

We all spent the rest of the afternoon tidying up and starting that long laborious process of packing for the journey home. Some students slept as did at least one teacher and others, including some staff, did their own thing.................. this included interacting with our students, chatting reading, taking photographs, relaxing, interacting with others, including the local Maasai, camp staff and our guides or just taking in that last bit of Kenya on our penultimate day.

Dinner was soup, chicken stew and boiled potatoes which had been extremely lightly fried. This was accompanies by coleslaw and sukuma wiki (We know it as Kale!). Dessert was again fruit salad

It was by this time that people were feeling exhausted………….. a lot had been packed into the previous 10 days and it was all taking its toll on a lot of the group.

Crash out time was 9 pm and I for one, having competed tent checks, hit the sack rather rapidly and slept soundly until dawn.

Our last morning in the Mara was an early starter as we were to embark on a sunrise game drive. This together with the end of the day, are the best times for game drives as the animals are more active during the cooler parts of the day as opposed to during the oppressive heat around the middle of the day.

We headed off after a hot drink and even though there were a few complaints about yet another early start, no one was to be disappointed after 3 hours of driving around. Most importantly we came across 3 cheetah or I should say others had come across them and we followed the glinting windscreens to where they were and sat for about a quarter of an hour watching these beautiful creatures in the early morning sun. The group consisted of a mother and her two almost fully grown cubs. Surrounding them were numerous prey animals watching in anticipation every little move the cheetahs made!

On our return we saw more lion including a young male who just by his presence was worrying the onlookers who clearly felt that they might be the lion’s next feast!

We headed back to reserves main gate and saw our last animals before exiting for the final time.

Back at camp it was showers, breakfast, packing of bags, clearing up and loading of the vehicles which was all achieved in a little over an hour! We left just before 11 am for the 5 hour journey back to Nairobi where we would have about 4 hours before heading for the airport and our flight home.

Needless to say the journey could be made quicker if it wasn’t for the obligatory stops at souvenir kiosks along the way. The routine is that the drivers get a kick-back on anything that the party buys from the stall. The quality is generally poor as iss the choice and the prices are far higher than what one would expect to pay in Nairobi subject to the bartering skills of the prospective purchaser!

So, that is it………………… 11 days, thousands of miles, highs, lows, ups, downs, good and bad. However in general a positive, huge thumbs up from the kids and in the end it was for them that this trip was all about. They were the ones that I hoped would benefit from the trip and get a hell of a lot out of it and overall, by the comments I got and the reactions that they gave to situations that they experienced I thin k that the aims were achieved.

I do hope that they have enjoyed themselves and that they think the trip was all that it was hyped up to be. I also hope that they treasure the memories and that their diaries remind them, for a long time to come, of the experiences that they have had during the trip. It would also be nice to think that at some point in the future they will save the money in order to return to Kenya to do it all again under their own steam or with a friend who they travelled with on this trip or with someone they can show what they achieved in 2009.

So, this is me, signing off from somewhere in between the floor of the Rift Valley and the escarpment as we climb our way back up to almost 8,000 feet on our journey to Nairobi and home to Norfolk.

Finally please forgive me for all the typo and grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. Just bear in mind these BLOG entries have been typed whilst on the move along some of the most atrocious roads one will ever experience whilst trying to avoid potholes, speed bumps the size of mountains and matatu drivers with aspirations of one day becoming a Kamikazee pilot.

At least we got this far with little more than a scratch, a few misplaced possessions and a few dodgy tummies but we have all gained hearts and minds full of life changing experiences and we have all made friends along the way.