What a journey we had!

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

Some pictures that didn't make it to the blog due to time, space and shockingly bad t'interweb connections. In no order whatsoever.

2nd sitting due to Googles "Blog Editor"

































Some Tigers that escaped from Amsterdam zoo.











Tigger alarm clock.

Some pictures that didn't make it to the blog due to time, space and shockingly bad t'interweb connections.

Not to mention, this useless "blog editor" that Google has.

Update from Amterdam airport.

These characters, were spotted, buying food at a well known burger joint. Words fail me, can't really say much more!

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.

Missed flight in Amsterdam, group will arrive back in manchester approxiamtely at 10.15 - 10.30pm see you this evening

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:

Chubb’s backside

- 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

The best bits of the trip:

- 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.

Small Ones, Tall Ones and Cooked Ones

Well this is the second from last full day in Kenya, it does seem like ages ago since we started this trek through Kenya, but enough of that this is not the blog entry for the review.

Today we were off to a couple of sanctuaries the first for orphaned elephants the second for Giraffes. On route to the elephant sanctuary we once again had the delights of the Nairobi traffic, now either we are getting used to it or the traffic wasn’t as bad. Gabrielle took us on a short sightseeing tour pointing out the highlights and the low lights of Nairobi.

We passed by the slums of Nairobi, the ones comic relief visited, yes it was big, yes it looked poor with ramshackle corrugated iron buildings, but it wasn’t until you actually thought of the number of people living in such a small area did it really sink in; how can a million individuals live in such a small area with nothing, especially when surrounded by the trappings of modern society?

Anyway, we arrived at the elephant orphanage. Now this place is only open for 1 hour every day, but what an hour it was to be. After standing in a queue for a short period of time we were eventually let in and led down to an area that had a small mud pond, some water barrels and 8 giant babies bottles.

After a short wait there was a collective ahhh from the assembled mass as 8 baby, (and I use that term loosely as some of this group was up to 2 years old), elephants came running down the hill towards the bottles and within inches of us.

Now if you’re a regular reader of the blog you may remember that I stated that the number of pictures taken of the elephants at The Ark was a record, well I’m pleased to say we must have achieved a world record with the babies.

Milk consumed the baby elephants started to play, somebody described this as a giant version of tumble tots, there was pushing and shoving climbing and splashing it was a joy to behold.

Once these little blighters had had their chance to play they went off to graze and out came the bigger kids. No less charming for their size, although still small, their antics were just as charming and adorable.

With the hour rapidly coming to an end, we then had to make our way on to the next venue, the giraffe sanctuary.

Now something I have noticed about the sanctuaries and other venues is that they are not overly commercialised, whereas in the UK every opportunity to sell you extra bits and bobs is taken, it is the complete opposite in Kenya.

Having said that the giraffes were superb, it was one of the few places I have come across that you can actually feed the animals, a unique experience for a lot of us. We are pleased to announce that Chubbs entered into a meaningful relationship with Helen whilst we were at the sanctuary, although they did decide that tongues were not appropriate on a first date.

I should explain that Helen was one of the giraffes and Chubbs put a pellet of food between his lips, we all agree that Chubbs needs to improve his chat up process.

After leaving the giraffes we then moved off to a shopping mall for a quick snack. The mall was quite new and security was amazing. You initially have to get past the guards at the gate, whilst you are in the complex there is more security guards walking around with big sticks and just in case there are two guards with AK47’s.

The evening fast approached and the gauntlet was thrown down, Ian was to take on all comers at the Carnivore restaurant that night. There was lots of banter and jeering as bets were placed, the two major challengers for the title were Chubbs and Alex although Roger was an outsider in this event.

The tension was building as we once again got held up in the Nairobi traffic, but only 10 minutes late we arrived at the restaurant. After being shown to our seats, drinks served and the soup consumed the main event started.

Ian led off with some chicken lamb and beef and was matched by the challengers. The turkey and more lamb and beef was soon to follow, it was a close fight but we were soon to lose some of

the lower placed people when the crocodile and ostrich balls arrived (N.B. these were balls of ostrich meat not the actual ....... ).

We were now down to just a few competitors now, Ian, Tom, Chubbs, Alex, James and Roger; we lost James at the Camel and ox testicles and shortly after it was down to Ian and Roger. Ian had take a walk to help but after sitting down a receiving another helping of beef, lamb and pork he was to fail and we were able to crown the outsider Roger as the Carnivore champion leaving Ian downheartedly munch his way through his cheesecake dessert.

Full of more protein that is possibly good for you we ended the meal with a group photo outside the restaurant causing a traffic jam in the car park before returning to our quarters for the night.

Aberdare and The Ark

We were due at Aberdare Country Club for lunch, so when Peter suggested a visit to a coffee plantation the coffee drinkers of the party were instantly happy (or it could have been the caffeine buzz).

What we actually went to see was the local University of Technology which also includes courses on tourism as well as it’s own coffee plantation, that’s one up on Stockport College I think.

Despite the initial reluctance of some of the party the 2 mile hike across the campus to the coffee plants started. On route Peter informed us that on the particular ground we were trekking across was the site of this year’s founder’s day rally, with 7000 camping and 40,000 visiting. I bet your now thinking that there was green grass as far as the eye could see with copious toilets and water points, okay maybe you weren’t thinking that, it was as best as I can describe scrubland, this was Greenfield camping at its ultimate.

The tour around the plants and drying frames was quite interesting until the phrase we need to go back up to the main buildings floated across the drying coffee beans. For those of us who are less fit, a sense of panic started to fill us followed by Ann saying, “I don’t do hills!” but panic not Gabrielle to the rescue, at the request of Peter, he had driven down the dirt track to provide us with a lift back.

Now a quick description of the coach is required. It has 20 normal seats, and then 7 fold away seats; these foldaway seats are less than comfy, not only do they lean back further than they should, they also slope backwards at about a 45 degree angle.

The quick description will now become obvious; we are 22 in number so we normally fill all of the good seats plus 2 of the foldaway seats. We had picked up Ruth and Peter from the BP centre making the group 24, no problems so far. When we arrived and walked down to the coffee plantation we collected a further 5 people and at the coffee drying frames we picked up a further security guard.

So with a party size of 30 and only enough seats for 27 (not forgetting all of the bags on the roof and the day bags in the bus) this was going to be tight. It was at this point we decided to go native, so up onto the roof went several people including Chubbs, Paul and Carl, not forgetting one of the University team in full business suit.

I am told it was a great view from the top of the bus and everything went well, albeit a bit bouncy. However, when the track run out and we turned onto the main road things got more interesting, those on top were wondering how fast was this bus going to go whilst those inside were trying to work out what activity this could go under on the insurance claim!!

You will all be pleased to know there were no problems as we were only on the main road for a couple of hundred yards before we stopped at the other campus and the coffee testing lab. I won’t bore you with the details of what we learnt there but Roy is offering a lecture tour for any groups or individuals that are interested.

So now fully educated in the art of coffee growing, roasting and tasting we set off for Aberdare Country Club and lunch.

The country club is located, as many things seem to be in Kenya, at the end of a bumpy dirt track. However, when we got there it was stunning with immaculate gardens and various wild animals roaming the grounds.

We had yet another 3 course lunch which was possibly the best yet, any weight we may have lost at Harambee has since been put back on. Lunch over we were loaded onto a bus for the 45 minute drive to the Ark.

Fifteen minutes of the drive was taken getting to the park gates, and you guessed it most of it was on a bumpy dirt track but this time we were told it was a Kenyan massage and it was free of charge. Continuing into the park, our free massage continuing, we were introduced to a tree which within local folklore has magical properties, apparently if you walk around it 7 times you change sex and under certain circumstances if you pointed at the tree you finger would fall off, strangely no of the blokes decided to have a quick comfort break at this tree!

We saw our first view of our accommodation through the trees; guess what it looks like an Ark!!

On arrival we were given a quick briefing on the evening activities which included the phrase we lock the doors at 6.30, very reassuring!

The accommodation was very good but could not surpass the feeling that went through you when as you sat looking out over the water hole a group of three elephants came wandering towards the water. There is a chance that more photos got took of those three elephants than what was taken in all of the previous 2 days.

There was during the evening a steady procession of various animals including wort hogs, water hogs, antelope, water buffalo, hyenas and water bucks. It was not until 2.00am that the highlight occurred for those of us that didn't sleep through the buzzer to warn us there were one of the “Big Five” at the watering hole.

Breakfast at the Ark was an early affair with a member of the hotel staff walking around with a small xylophone to wake us up, Martins first question on hearing it was “does this come with a snooze button?” followed by suggestions by Tom and Chubbs on how that would happen.

Breakfast consumed we were all piled back into a bus and driven back to Aberdare Country Club to meet up with our bus and our onward trip to Nairobi via the BP Centre to pick up some items some of the group had ordered from the Scout Shop.

On arrival we found out that we were famous again, this time not only getting a write up in one of the national papers but also a picture in another, Linnet Clough is an International press phenomenon.

The journey to Nairobi was fairly uneventful, however, on arrival in Nairobi it was something else. The traffic was unbelievable, at one round about designed for 3 lanes there were 5 lanes of traffic including lorries, motorbikes and a couple of blokes with a cart that appeared to be the remnants of an old car.

There is at some street corners modern street art that look remarkably like traffic lights, they change colour the same as ours and even stop on a red light but the people in cars etc seem to have little time to appreciate their beauty in an urban environment.

Wildebeest, once again down a dirt track, is how camping should be. The tents are really good with virtually everything you could wish for comfy beds off the floor en-suite, and to make us feel at home complete with rain.

FIFA’s response

FIFA has after careful consideration issued the following statement in response to Team Tom International’s statement.

FIFA takes all allegations of potential bribery very seriously and as such we have looked closely at the match referee Ian Haskell.

We have not found any evidence of any pies or pasties, however we did find evidence of Pizzas and burgers; however, we believe was from his halftime snack.

It has been decided not to continue the investigation as we believe further investigation of Ian Haskell would be an unsavoury and un-necessary experience.

With regards to the penalty incident we too have looked at the television footage. We have employed at great expense the best visual inspector know to us in this field of investigation, Mr B Hegerty. Mr Hegerty believes he now fully understands the situation and issued the following comment:

“I fully appreciate the difficulty of this decision placed on the referee, but I can confirm that the ball did hit Mr Tyler’s hand and that this was potentially deliberate. The decision was made more difficult due to the fact that I believe Mr Tyler was waving frantically at the bench requesting medical assistance and oxygen. I believe by a wee hare the penalty was valid.”

The investigation did highlight a serious incident missed by the referee whilst he was possibly distracted by the thought of his half time snacks. This incident involved the mid-fielder Mr Martin Burke and his deliberate attempt to disable the Kenyan keeper.

However, in the interest of international harmony we have decided not to pursue the incident.

In summary we appreciate the spirit of gamesmanship shown by both teams, but we believe on this occasion the youth won out.

BP Centre - Days 2 and 3

So the day began wit

h a very sensible 9.00am start, a very welcome change from the early starts to the day we have been having.

On arrival to the BP centre we met up with Peter and the rest of his team, the first most pleasant thing we were able to do, following Peter presenting an update on the finances for the kitchen/cafe project, was our ability to tell them that not only could we fully finance the kitchen/cafe but we could also finance the completion of the toilets, replace broken windows, purchase 32 chairs for the conference room, decorate the museum and purchase a reasonable tool kit for the centre.

The next task was to purchase the various supplies for the projects, not as easy as you might expect in Kenya. It is not the same as popping down to B&Q, you go to o

ne shop to buy the toilet bowls and another for the toilet seats and systems. About 3 hours later and after visiting at least 6 different shops most of the supplies were purchased and returned to the centre for further work to start.

Whilst we were away getting supplies we were able to start on BP’s clock tower, yep, something we didn’t know either. Whilst BP was here in Nyrei

he designed and had built a clock tower in the town, the clock for which came from a firm in Croydon which is still in business, sadly the clock has some parts missing so is not operational but that’s another project for someone.

Over the two days and led by Ian we have managed to tidy the area around the clock tower and repaint the railings tidying up the clock tower and making it more pre

sentable.

Part of the last two days has included quite a lot of presentations and visits to the centre by various dignitaries. What we have realised is that we are unique, although we already knew that, in the fact that although over the years the BP centre has received various donations never have they had a group both donate money and turn up and carry out work.

Due to this we have had a mention in a national daily newspaper and today were visited by the town mayor who interrupted a council meeting to attend. Our presence alone seems to have been a massive boost to the centre.

This evening we invited Peter and his team to join us at the hotel for a almost farewell meal, tomorrow we head of to Aberdare National Park via The Country Club and staying at the Ark, a hotel in the middle of the park beside a watering hole. The reason for the almost far

ewell meal is that we are meeting up with Peter to visit a coffee plantation in the morning.

Just as a warning, we are unsure what the internet access will be over the next couple of days so please bear with us.

First Day at BP Centre

BP Centre – Day 1 Tears and Tantrums

Our first day at the BP centre in Nyrei started at a very reasonable time of 9.00am, this was following a superb breakfast outside on the terrace at Outspan; but more about the hotel later.

We were greeted at the centre by our contacts in the local Kenyan Boy Scouts, Peter and Charles,

Ruth our third contact was to join us later in the day. The bags of various clothes, football kits and stationary were unloaded and sorted into sizes,

the reason being the donations were to be split over several orphanages and charities and they needed to be able to know where to send what items.

Having sorted these and put aside a pile of toy

s,

teddies and clothes for 0 – 3 year olds were given a tour of the BP centre which included a vision of

what they would like the centre to be, including additional toilets, conference room and museum.

What was obvious was that a lot of the jobs had started but had stopped part way through, the

reason was very simple they had run out of money. The kitchen/cafe that we were part funding was well on the way to completion although the initial £1500 we had sent them was all but used up getting it to a state of being water tight and plastered inside.

The next part of the day was one that personally I was a little uncertain of, a visit to an orphanage for children from 0 – 3 years old that were HIV positive.

The New Life Orphanage was only a short drive away from the centre, so loaded with gifts we set off. The outside was not as I would have expected, high walls topped with electric fence and huge steel gates. On the inside however it was something totally different, not the run down

tatty building I was expecting but a modern clean single story building.

Some of the toddlers were outside playing already and some of our group instantly went off to play with them, Roy was the first to make a child cry but we could understand that we do it frequently once he starts telling us a tale!!

The rest of headed into the building for a short talk by the centres administrator and a tour. He

explained that most of the children that they had in the orphanage came either from hospitals or were found abandoned in of all places toilets.

The process for them being able to take a child in and find new parents for is not an easy one but luckily these were a persistent group of individuals and some of the most caring individuals that I had come across. Their views on losing a child to illness was I must admit at first glance quite matter of fact, but on thinking about is a kind and loving one.

The tour over, there were kids to cuddle, feed and play with. The gifts were received with utmost gratitude and joy which I believe touched many. However, the visit had to come to an end the little ones needed their sleep and quite a lot of heart strings needed some serious TLC.

I believe that the visit to the orphanage touched us all in many different ways but rightly or wrongly we had little time to dwell on it at that moment as we had a group of Scouts that were waiting to play us at football back at the centre.utmost gratitude and joy which I believe touched many. However, the visit had to come to an end the little ones needed their sleep and quite a lot of heart strings needed some serious TLC.

On return to the centre there was a gathering of Peters scouts already in football kits awaiting the big game Tom’s International Squad versus Kenya, there follows now a statement by the management of Team Tom International.

Press Release from Team Tom International Relations.

This is a statement from our recent international fixture gained from interviews with participating players and staff.

First of all we would like to apologise for playing an under strength team due to not being able to gain international clearance for a number of our first team players. However, with a threadbare team we were able to put in a polished performance against all the odds.

A complaint has been lodged by us with FIFA due to allegations that the referee Ian Haskell had been bribed with 4 pies and 2 pasties whish lead to two fine goals being disallowed for our team,

one by our new striker Roger Wilkson and also a fine goal by keeper Alex ‘the cat’ Haskell, not forgetting the a dubious penalty being given, that has since been proven by television replays, that was definitely being ball to hand.

We realise that the complaint will not change the outcome of the match nor would we want to deprive the Kenyan FC of their LC to BP 2011 trophy, but we needed to go public with our views to prevent this disgrace happening again.

However on a lighter note, which means we won’t be mentioning referee Ian Haskell again, having lost only 3-2 including the dubious penalty Team Tom regulars Chubbs and Tom got two fantastic goals, one a sweetly struck shot by Chubbs and the second a cleverly placed header by team manager/captain/owner Tom Hornsby.

Special mention has to go to Steve Tyler and Carl Hornsby for coming out of retirement and playing a strong game proving that 1940’s football can survive in the modern game. We would like to wish Steve Tyler a speedy recovery in his oxygen tent at Nyrei hospital.

We are still waiting a response from FIFA on this statement and will bring it to you as and when we receive it.

Renewal of Promise at BP's Grave

We arrived at Outspan a little later than we expected, so it was a case of dump your bags in the rooms and back to the coach for the short journey to the BP centre and the graveyard.

We were greeted by two local representatives of the local Kenyan Boy Scouts who were to be our contacts during the work at the centre.

The sun was just beginning to set as we entered

the grave yard and made our way to the graveside of Baden Powell and his wife Olave, entering through the small white picket gate in the hedge surrounding the grave we were all aware that something special was about to occur.

With the light fading quickly Roy started the small service reminding us of some of the words written by Baden Powell in the 1920’s that were as true now as they were when they were written. It was following these words that Roy asked Ann, Anne and Eleanor to step forward and placed a wreath on behalf of the guides and re-new their Guide promise.

Paul Hegerty then stepped forward to lay a wreath on behalf of the Scouts and Roy asked us to re-new our Scout promise. As the light finally left the sky Roy finished the short but unforgettable service with another short reading, this was followed by an unplanned and

Following this and the

photographs it was time to travel back to Outspan and explore the rooms, hotel and have dinner.

To our knowledge we are the first but possibly not the last to have held our St Georges Day promise renewal on the 23^rd April at the graveside, it was certainly a first for the Kenyan Boys Scout Leaders that were with us that evening.

A summary of the renewal of our promises at the graveside of our founder .............. Special.

Nakuru Safari, Thompson Falls & Equator

At 5.20am it was like the starting gates at Ascot, doors were flung open and people raced to breakfast, at least I think they were racing to breakfast maybe there was another reason, well it was only one night.

After what was quite a pleasant breakfast alfresco, we sat and watched the night turn to early morning. Food consumed we loaded our bags and bodies into the bus ready for the

6.30am opening of the park. We were possibly the first people into th

e park, well we would have if there wasn’t a 10 minute delay whilst they sorted out the quicker pre-paid entrance tickets.

Then we were off, the first one to spot an animal was asked to buy the coffees, this deterred no one and within minutes there was the cry of zebra, missed it. A few seconds later there was another cry of zebra, missed it again. This wasn’t going to be quite as easy as being at Chester zoo.

With the early morning mist still lingering across the park we continued on, then we came across

the animals in their herds, water buffalo were all over the place. These were closely followed by water buck and Gibbons.

As we progressed through the park in the distance we viewed Flamingos on the lake and soon came across a Hyena. Buffalo and water buck came along quite frequently followed by Impalas and then the cry went out that had us all craning our necks (no pun intended), Giraffe, and sure enough hidden in the bushes was our first giraffe, good spot Anne.

Could we top this? yes. A short while later Paul Hegerty was heard to shout “Rhino” and trotting along in the distance was a solitary Black Rhino. Now I could go on listing the animals we saw throughout the morning but it would mean nothing to most, however, whilst watching the flamingos and pelicans by the lakeside another less frequent but none the less important cry went out, “where’s the toilets?” so everybody back on the bus and in search of toilets we went.

As you can imagine after 2.5 hours driving round the bladders were a bit on the full side, but would the animals stop appearing? No, so it was a stop start ride over bumpy tracks that did little for the bladder but the animals were nice!

Toilets were found at a superb viewing point, or so we found out following a trip to the facilities. Carl and Steve were first in, Steve to the left Carl to the right. Within seconds the sounds of gagging were coming from the right trap. I must confess that I could not understand the problems Carl was having keeping his breakfast down, on exiting the left cubicle all was revealed, Carl was in the loo that was the hole in the ground! After several days, weeks, months or even years in the baking sun the aroma was literally stomach turning, you’ll not be surprised that a queue quickly formed at the left hand loo. The women however were made of sterner stuff, they went to they’re toilet took one look and crossed their legs until we left the park!!

Following the group looking at the stunning views and Carl’s breakfast settling we set off again, there were 2 more hours of viewing animals which were just as stunning as the previous including the small herd of white rhino.

As we were heading for the exit we were stopped for a routine check by the National Park staff, after several minutes of conversation we followed them to the exit and after quite some time and our tickets checked we were allowed to leave the park.

The next part of the journey started following a visit to a local supermarket for lunch, so there we were winding through the back streets of Nakuru passing sandwiches down the bus heading for Thompson Falls.

Thompson Falls was a bit under-whelming , with a small charge of 200ks per person Sarah was promptly given all the cameras and sent off to take pictures for us, obviously there’s Scottish blood running through us. Following Eleanor, Andy, Sarah and Paul’s camel ride at the falls we then loaded the coach up with us all and headed off to the equator.

What can I tell you about the equator, it was raining!! So two brave souls stuck their heads out of the bus window took a couple of photo’s of the equator sign and we were off to Outspan.

The trip continues - Lion Hill

Ok so back to the tale, we left you with us leaving the safe house at Kisii and giving gifts to a few children on the way back to the hotel. Following a pleasant evening at the hotel and Brendon dreaming of a hot shower (water and electric had a habit of not being available at Hotel Nyoake) just for a change we had an early start for our journey to Lion Hill.

It was a long slow journey to Nakuru passing through the tea growing area of Kenya, tea

plants/bushes or whatever you call them, as far

as the eye could see.

I should take time out here to describe the roads in Kenya, they range from very good to very bad (that goes for the driving as well!). As a road passes through a village or town there are speed bumps and these are not the nice gentle type, at one of them when we had slowed down to go over we were passed by a 40ft lorry with a container on the back, as it went over the bump the container left the body of the lorry by about 3” or more.

In other parts the roads are so poor it is necessary to go onto the grass/dirt verge to avoid the 6” potholes and at other parts you need to go on the other side of the road and hope you have your timing right for the traffic coming the other way, we have seen some close shaves but luckily Gabrielle, our driver, seems to have it sorted.

On arriving at Nakuru we stopped at a hotel serving “clean food”, Gabrielle’s description not ours, and I must say it was a very good three course meal.

Following a quick tour round the town of

Nakuru we headed off to Lion Hill, Ali had wetted our pallet with a stunning description of Lion Hill from her guide book, what an excellent stop over it was to be. Turning off the main road the sense of anticipation was growing throughout the bus, w

ill the hotel match the stunning review Ali had given us?

As we left the tarmac road onto the dirt road there were a few worried looks around the bus, but no worries the guide book extolled the virtues of the hotel as being excellent, and then we approached the end of the “road”. In front of us were the gates into Nakuru National Park where, the following day, we were to start our safari, on the right was a shop selling wood carvings and on the left Lion Hill.

To say that there was a bus full of confused, confounded and basically gob smacked individuals would have been a

n understatement; this was not the Lion Hill that Ali had described. It was however the Lion Hill we were staying at. After a short stunned silence the bus erupted into laughter and various comments that may not be suitable for the blog entry. The cry went out “it’s only for one night” followed by a sigh of relieve.

How can I describe the place we were staying Butlins circa 1950 springs to mind, but I’m not sure if that would have been fair to Butlins. On the up side at least half the rooms had toilet seats which was better than we expected, most of the showers were hot (a relief for Brendon) but this

time most people were complaining it was too hot (you can’t please them!!).

The rooms were basic with a bed, small table, toilet and shower. Following the allocation of the rooms Tom was heard to cry “Result I can sit on the toilet and have a d***and a shower at the same time”, and he was right the shower heads were only a foot away from being over the toilet, how’s that for personal hygiene.

Following a short walk and visit to the wood carving shop we all prepared for dinner. At 7.30pm we all made our way to the lean to that was the venue for our meal, it was not necessarily the best meal of the trip, but since we had had a very good 3 course meal before it didn’t really matter.

Reverend Hegerty was on hand following the meal to calm our souls with a little reading entitled “The good things about our trip so far” , it was uplifting at a time of need and the final good thing of our trip so far? “It’s only for one night”

Most days when we have indicated that we needed an early start there were , as you would expect, a few comments about their only being one 6.00 in a day etc. however, when we asked everybody to be ready for breakfast by 5.30am it was met with a sigh of relief, even less time to be spent in the room.

So with varying degrees of enthusiasm people made their way to their rooms with the thought in their minds “it’s only for one night!”

3rd and 4th Day at Harambee

Ok so the 3rd and 4th days both started early again so we could get as much of the concreting done in the cooler temperatures.

The third day saw us finish the final part outside of the building and then progressing on to the path down through the veg patch.

Spirits were high despite the task ahead of the concrete mixers. We did get some support in the afternoon of the third day in the form of Gerrard a local labourer. Gerrard worked with us for most of the afternoon of the third day, and how much money did he ask for? 200 Kenyan shillings (less than £2!!!)

We invited him back then next day to help us and even though we had finished by 2.00pm we couldn't get rid of him!!! Every time we looked round he was there, in the end we made him an honourary member of our team and presented him with his t-shirt and a weeks salary of 1000 KS.

The last afternoon at Harambee was a memorable one for us all with many joyous, thought provoking and emotional moments.

One of the first moments was when following our decision to purchase some chickens for the boys the coach promptly arrived, the boot was opened 22 chickens were sat there looking at us!!!

Following the re homing of the chickens and Brendon's rapid build of a chicken shed door (monitored closely by Gerrard) we presented the kids with sets of football kits and goody bags, the smiles on their faces were heart warning to the point of tears for some.

They responded by singing to us a thank you song plus a song written by one of the lads who wants to become a rapper, lumps and tears were in many of our eyes and throats.

Of course we responded with a deep and meaningful song that reflected the intelligence, dignity and seriousness of the visit ..................... Singing in the rain!!

Just before we left we passed on one more gift to Harambee, a £500 donation specifically to be spent on sponsoring the eldest boys who leave the safe house following education and skills training and move into their own home, we saw 7 leave whilst we there. They are given the basic necessities mattress, bowl, lamp, fuel, rice and cooking pot and their rent is paid for for 3 months (approx £12).

After leaving the safe house for the last time we all walked back through the village to the hotel and on route we stopped to gift some goody bags to a few children who each morning and night had stood at the roadside and waved to us, another lump in the throat when the confusion turned into joy on their faces.

Well that brings you all up to date for the first few days, to follow is the trip to Lion Hill and the safari through Nakuru National Park, but that's tomorrows installment.

Sorry this hasn’t been updated, internet connections are a bit thin on the ground over here!

7am start, nice and early to get going before to heat kicks in. Got down to the safe house and got going with the concreting, had to mix it by hand because we don't have a cement mixer. Also the materials came on the lorry and just got dumped outside, had to use wheelbarrows to transport the stuff up to the site, amazed at how strong some of the kids are. Got nearly all of the front concreted so not too much to do tomorrow, fingers crossed

All is well with us all, early nights and early starts, Boys at Harambee are a delight and have enjoyed balloon modeling with Andy, escorting Tom and Chubbs on a trip to the market to get fruit, they are like little security guards!

Hotel is very comfortable with the electric and water pleasing themselves if and when they want to work, cold showers are quite common.

Tom is suffering quite happily with IBE.

Ali is chief treasurer and we are on budget

Roy tells worse stories than Brendan

Martin has burnt both shoulders and arms

Alex has 1 burnt arm, because he had it hanging out of the coach window.

Rodo's electric skills are in great demand, with pictures coming of great wiring. The correct colours denoting live neutral & earth appear to be an optional extra!

Crusty has done manual, pictures to follow......

James managed to go a whole day without falling asleep

Paul has settled in great, we just cannot understand him! we love him really

We will mention the others later in the week.

In true Manchester style, we’ve kept the local beer economy up and running, Tusker lager is rather tasty.

Chubbs has literally just broken a lawn chair, fat get.

We had to go out and buy a ladder, so that Rodo can reach the places he needs to put lights up, & we could reach the ceiling, to paint & extra brushes so the kids could help paint, and a saw, because the one we had just didn’t seem up to the strenuous work seeing as it had no teeth.

Luckily enough, Martin has not tried smuggling budgies of any kind, although we are sure it will happen eventually.

Saw a goat being slaughtered, not particularly nice.