Car to Manchester airport
Plane to Amsterdam Airport
Tram to Amsterdam centre
Tram to Amsterdam airport
Plane to Nairobi
Coach 27 seater to Kisii
Coach 27 seater to Lion Hill
Coach 27 seater to Nyeri
Coach 27 seater to The Ark
Coach 27 seater to Nairobi
Coach 22 seater around Nairobi
Local shed company to Nairobi airport
Plane to Amsterdam
Plane to Liverpool
Coach to Manchester Airport
Car to home
Thats 2 weeks of memories to stay with us!
Love Sister Anna
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Monday, 2 May 2011
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Here we are in Schipol again!!
Well hello all, I thought I'd be doing a follow up blog to the trip but i didn't think it would be this early!!
The delayed flights are not the start to our "end of trip hic-ups", it actually began last night. We sadly had to say goodbye to Gabrielle who had been with us for the bulk of the trip and was replaced by Joseph and a different coach.
The morning went well with a trip to the Nairobi Scout Shop and the city centre for some lunch and last minute shopping. We returned to Wildebeest to pack bags, various cries were heard from tents shouting "how the hell am I going to get all that in there", I'm seriously hoping they were talking about the bags and their clothes.
So 6.00pm arrived and off we went for a last night supper; restuarant choosen in a lovely setting alfresco, and when the drinks order was about to be taken we then found out that the restuarant was alchohol free, well done Brendon, the only Irishman to find the only alcohol free resturant in Nairobi!!
The meal, despite the lack of alcohol (sorry Brendon, won't mention it again) was lovely. As the hour approached for the bus to pick us up we left the restuarant very sober (sorry couldn't resist
it!) and awaited our chariot.
9.30pm came and went and 10.00pm was fast approaching and no sign of the bus, alsorts of plans and solutions were formulated but we shouldn't have worried our trusted driver with bus arrived and whisked us off for a good nights sleep.
So plans were put in place for the bus to pick us up at 4.30am, load the bags and off to the airport. The first stirrings occurred at about 3.45am with the steady beat of the local rave wafting across the site people started to rise and appear complete with bulging bags ready for the trip to the airport.
4.30am arrived and passed, so did 5.00am but there was no sign of Joseph and the bus. By the time we got to 5.15am a new plan was hatched, "Martin Tom do you fancy popping up to the garage at the corner to see if somebody up there knows where we would be able to get a bus from?"
So dispatched through the security gate Martin and Tom went off in an attempt to locate transport. Two minutes later they returned with news, "for cash in hand a couple of blokes would get a coach and take us, we just need to take our bags up to the petrol station"
Everyone jumped into action, bags were grabbed and off we went to load a local bus; all the bags
were thrown in the back and we all piled on. There was a slight moment of concern when somebody had to show the driver how to start the engine, but it was too late now we were on our way.
I think this driver was a trainee of Schumaker, I'm convinced we went around a couple of corners on two wheels. Arrival at the airport was announced by the sound of the bus hitting the bus shelter, the driver was awarded a stop and go penalty of 200 shillings, but we were there at the airport and a sense of relief was felt by most.
Boarding was on time and we sat there waiting, 30 minutes later after the last of the passengers were boarded we were pushed back and our journey home started.
As you will all now know we missed our connecting flight and will be returning to Manchester via Liverpool airport. Everybody has been fed and watered with 10 euros being provided by the airline (but we were told not to tell anyone) and 10 from the trip funds.
Hopefully the rest of the trip will pass without incident and we can all meet up again later.
Saturday, 30 April 2011
The Last Blog from Kenya
Well this is the last blog entry from me of this trip, I am hoping that you have found the entries informative and I can only hope that you may have found them even mildly entertaining.
Instead of me rattling on again, hooray I here you shout, I have decided that this last blog should be from everyone, and as such I have asked everyone to tell me their best and worse parts of the trip and their favourite quote. Some of these will possibly make no sense to you but will give you the chance to ask them (and of course make them squirm) as they try and answer!
So here goes with the worse parts of the trip:
- Kenya belly
- The smells on the bus
- Long flight and feeling helpless at the orphanage
- The toilets that are just a hole
- Thinking of the worse and best bits
- Lion Hill
- Brendon’s haggling stories
- Accounts on Saturdays meal and stepping in dog S***
- Disagreement over the money at Nyrei
- Food at Lion Hill
- Arriving at the first hotel and being two rooms short
- The possibility that monies donated to headquarters in Kenya may not reach the intended recipients.
- Plane journey
- Leaving Harambee
- It’s a fecking giraffe picture
- Harambee, spending times with the kids
- Sense of achievement and seeing the real Kenya
- Renewing the promise at BP’s grave
- Visit to the orphanage
- The elephants at The Ark
- The projects
- The whole trip has been amazing
- The children at Harambee
- Carnivore ambiance
- Seeing all the wildlife
- Colouring with the children
- Being at BP’s grave
- Reading the promise at the grave
- Being able to pass on the knowledge of the founders resting place and twinning with the Nyrei troop based at the BP Centre
- The friendships made on the trip/adventure
- Completing the projects that we came to do and making many new friends
Quotes of the trip:
- “I’ve got an IBE”
- “It’s good to have a hobby”
- “A wee hare”
- On passing a cemetery in Nairobi somebody said “That’s the dead centre of Nairobi” followed by a very serious “Is it?”
- To Gabrielle sung “you’re the best around”
- “It’s only one night”
- “We’re singing in the rain”
- “How many shops to buy a complete toilet”
- “How much is that in sterling”
- “Job done and dusted”
- “ ........... give us a wave”
- “That reminds me of a story about ........”
- “Walk beside me as my friend”
Sorry I know I said I wasn’t going to make this about my thoughts but I felt I needed to say this in summary. During this trip somebody came up with a deep and meaningful comment that went something like, “You can plant a seed but you don’t know if it will grow”.
Just over 15 months ago two individuals made a promise to return to Kenya and planted the seed, on the 16 April 2011 22 people were able to take part in their promise. I want to take this chance to thank them for letting me and 19 other people to be part of that promise.
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