Last stop, Amboseli

Our final safari destination was Amboseli National Park. It started with a daunting day-long drive from Lake Nakuru leaving at 7:30am, through Nairobi, and finally arriving at Amboseli in the late afternoon.

Amboseli is renowned for elephants, and we expected to see heaps. When we finally arrived, our guide explained that numbers were down because of the drought the previous year. After missing out on the genuine flamingo experience, once we heard this we were prepared to be disappointed. But we couldn't have been more wrong.

Within minutes of arriving, we were confronted by a mass migration of elephants. There are around 250 in total, and they crossed the tracks mere metres from our van. Having spotted 1 elephant there, 5 elephants here in Masai Mara, this was an unbelievable experience and probably the highlight of the whole safari.

The Sopa Lodge was swarming with really playful monkeys. Our first evening, we watched a couple of monkeys wrestling each other and this other one below casually kicking back and enjoying the action.

The next day we headed out for another game drive. We saw heaps of elephants, zebras, hippos, gazelles, warthogs, hyenas, and various cool-looking birds.

After lunch, everyone was pretty worn out and we retired to the lodge. The monkeys provided more entertainment, this time hurling themselves from the tops of trees and grabbing the lowest branch on the way down, which would bend down and slingshot them back into the air. Really fun to watch.

Amboseli provides great views of Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa. We were told not to leave without getting a photo of an elephant in front of it, but throughout our stay the peak was submerged in cloud cover and eluded us. But as luck would have it, once we'd left and were on our way home, the clouds lifted and we passed a few rogue elephants. We got our shot!

With our safari finally complete, we headed back to Nairobi for 1 more night in a resort before departing. I left for home, and Liz headed for Paris!

Overall, Amboseli was the highlight of the safari for me. The experience with 250 elephants was breathtaking. And while it didn't seem that there was much new at the time, that was because it was the last park we visited. The only animals we didn't see at Amboseli were lions, and the volume of most animals were more than the other parks.

Chris

Naivasha and Lake Nakuru

It was going to be a long (6 hour) drive to Lake Nakuru, so we opted to break up the journey and stop at Lake Naivasha to visit some hippos and do some bird watching.

We set off on a tiny boat and almost immediately ran into water hippos, who were clearly cooling down. They were submerged in the water, except their eyes!

A few hours later, we arrived at Lake Nakuru to see the flamingos. Unfortunately, due to the drought in Kenya, the flamingo numbers were down and there were not as many flamingos and we were expecting to see. They are the pink birds in the distance...

 

However, we definitely caught a good glimpse of a few white rhinos, including a baby rhino.

and there were a ton of baboons all around our hotel and the rooms.








We wrapped up the day with a beautiful sunset...

  

On Safari at the Masai Mara

On Sunday, 31st Jan, we began part 2 of our African adventure - we started our safari.

1st stop: Masai Mara National Park (in the west of Kenya, bordering Tanzania)

Departing Nairobi, we set off on a 6 hour drive to the Masai Mara. We arrived at our lodge, Mara Sopa Lodge, located inside the National Park. The lodge was so African in everyway and simply stunning. We enjoyed our 1st hot shower in ages and a nice mosquito net surrounded our bed. At sun set, we set off on our 1st safari.

We immediately spotted gazelles and zebras. The gazelles and the impallas are so graceful. And the zebra is just so funky looking against the wilderness backdrop. We immediately came upon a lion, resting in the shade.

 

There were impalas and gazelles everywhere; and we also came across a herd of giraffes just chillin' out!

   

The next morning, we were up at 4.30am to do a Balloon Safari over the Masai Mara. A few dramas with the balloon company later, we were gently floating above the national park and spotting more lions, zebras, warthogs, elephants and a ton of giraffes. The view from above was simply breathtaking, and definitely allowed for a very different view of the Masai Mara, as compared to the ground view. 

We wrapped up our balloon adventure with a champagne breakfast in the Masai Mara. Yep, a nice breakfast  right in the middle of the game park. I do appreciate that a herd of animals could have come upon us and had a nice breakfast of their own. But still, the experience was sensational!

Lastly, we wrapped up with a visit to a Masai village. They gave us a tour of their home, which is made of sticks and cow dung (yep, cow dung!). The men hunt and protect and the women build the homes. Very interesting experience walking through a home made entirely of cow dung.

  

Next stop: Lake Nakuru National Park.

~liz

Sad Good Byes to Olives School

On the 29th Jan, we said good bye to the kids and teachers at Olives Rehabilitation Center School, and fellow GVI volunteers.

Chris & I had spent the previous night helping out at Tumaini Orphanage. The previous evening was hanging out with the kids at the orphanage and the morning was spent peeling a ton of potatoes and carrots. The 5am start at Tumaini had us exhausted,  so we only started teaching our classes at 2pm on our final day.

When we got to Olives school, we had a quiz in Science class. Everyone who got a correct answer got a pencil, or a sharpener or stickers. It was good motivation for the kids, and we managed to ensure that all the kids got a prize. In our final English class, we taught the kids about public speaking - and then said our goodbye speeches. Then about 10 of the kids volunteered to come up and practice their public speaking. Each made a very touching speech....

 

Lydia said "Thank you for all your teaching and god bless you"
Jonathan said "I tell Mr Chris and Madam Liz bye bye. I don't know if I will see them again. But, I tell them god bless."
Lucy said "I didnt't know a lot of Maths, but Mr. Chris helped me with Maths. And Madam Liz taught me how to write a letter"

All the speeches were incredibly touching, and got us very emotional. It was particularly hard saying good bye to Mary, who was visibly upset. It really did feel like we were leaving a bit part of our lives behind.

That night, all the volunteers headed out to La Marina for dinner by the river, watching sunset. Hopefully we will see you all again! But, either way we have made friendships that will last a lifetime.

Now, onto the next phase of our Kenyan adventure. We are off to experience the wildlife on safari at the Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Amboseli National Park.

~lizelle

Thank you, Emma

We asked Paul (Chris's brother) for some kiddie books to share with the kids in Kenya. Paul gave us a few of Emma (his 3 year old daughter's) books.

 

Today I had Library class with the kids. Obviously, there is no library here - so I had to take a few books in. Library class usually involves kids fighting over about 20 used, ruined and torn books to read and look at the pictures. Today, I was able to take in some relatively new books that previous volunteers had bought, plus Emma's books in.

 

The kids loved 'em! They loved the colours and the feel of the new books. I did a lesson with them about looking after their books. They won't stay new forever, but it was certainly good to not fight over torn books.

~liz

Olives Rehabilitation Center

In spite of the name, Olives Rehabilitation Center is actually a school. I think the name derives from the idea that it provides education to children who have otherwise missed out until now. There are many thousands of children in Bombolulu who currently have no access to an education, either because there are far too many schools to service the area or for financial reasons.

Olives was started by a local pastor named Stephen, who we've come to know really well since arriving. He is an inspiring man, and has undergone a lot of hardship throughout his life to get to where he is today. Spending time in Bombolulu slum, children began coming to him in increasing numbers wanting to pray for a school so they could get an education. He has since dedicated his life to Olives, and giving these kids an opportunity.

The classrooms at Olives have no lighting. We normally work with the doors open, unless there is excessive noise outside. It is amazing how your eyes adjust, and working in relative darkness quickly becomes a non-issue. Materials are sparse. There is 1 desk for each 3 kids, and although it is squashy it works. In most subjects, there is 1 textbook per table, although some have much less. We mostly find ourselves using the blackboard and not using the textbooks (except to plan our lessons).

 

The kids have a long day. Grades 4 and above start at 6:30am and leave after 4pm. But there is not a lot to do at home for many of them, so they would probably hang around in the school grounds anyway. One of the keys to teaching the kids is knowing how to engage them and snap them out of their drowsiness.

Where possible, we treat the kids to working outside under the shade of a big tree. Library/reading class is when this normally happens, and it is as much a break for us as the kids. It gets seriously hot inside the classroom! I can be quite animated when teaching maths, and often I'm pouring with sweat by the time the class ends.

We'll do more of this later, but here are a few profiles of kids in our grade 5 class:

Victor: We were warned about Victor when we arrived. He can be a bit disruptive, but he can also be the key to a successful class. He gets really animated, and is the deepest and most insightful kid in our class. He also has a great sense of humour, and is very smart. The flipside is that he's been known to bring lighters to school and use them in class, and when he doesn't want to work he can be tough to manage.

Captain: He is the smartest kid in class, and he works really hard. He always wants to answer questions too. The other day, we were teaching new words in English class, and then separately we got them to write a letter. He used nearly every word he'd previously learned in his letter. He just loves to learn!

Mary: She is the girl we talked about earlier, who got a new dress and a new smile to go along with it! She doesn't find learning easy, but she works very hard. Liz and I always look for opportunities to throw easy questions her way, because she tries really hard and is very eager to please.

So, week 2 is now over. We've decided to stay in town and check into a nice hotel for the weekend, and relax in front of the pool. Work is extremely rewarding but exhausting, and we need to recharge for another week.

Chris

A day in Bombolulu

Its been one of "those" days -- really quite a profound day. We started the morning at school - we had 3 classes to teach: Maths, English and Creative Arts (art/ music/ drama etc). Pretty straight forward, as we had planned for all classes.

As it turned out, our class started school at 6.30am (yes, thats right!) and when we got in (8.00 am) the kids were still writing notes from the previous class. Our 40 minute Maths class got reduced down to 10 minutes.






Background information:

Our school is located in a slum area, called Bombolulu. The kids get one meal at school - and that is most likely their only meal. They wear the same clothes everyday - usually without any washing (ever!). Uniforms are periodically donated by a local company, and the new kids simply wear what they have.

Yesterday, one of the girls in our class refused to partcipate in a class activity as her dress was torn. At home, thats not a big deal. Here, it is a big deal as that is the only dress she has. We spoke to the headmaster about getting her a proper uniform - which he kindly organized on our behalf. This morning, she came to school with a big smile on her face. She had a crisp new uniform, and she finally fit in.


At lunch time, we tried Ugali (Kenyan meal made from corn flour), which is totally tasteless. Think: a big blobby cake of rice with no salt or taste. We ate that with cooked cabbage. I never enjoyed cabbage so much!

After lunch, we decided to visit the home of one of kids from Grade 6. Last week, his mother got talking to us and invited us over. We went to a very basic home. The family had 3 kids in our school and a mother who was struggling to feed them. They hadn't eaten in a few days. The father was away with work and had not been heard from for months. Luckily, we took over some food, drink and some money - which we left for them. We sat with them for a while, looking over photos and talking about their past life. When we were saying our goodbyes at the front door, there was a man standing there waiting to cut off their electricity as the bills had not been paid. Just so sad....

The last event was "debate class" at school. Class is a bit of an ambitious description - it basically involved the the whole school sitting under the tree for the debate. The school had just started a debate class to help the kids express themselves. There is really a big disparity between the social position of men and women in Kenya. The debate topic was "Father is better than Mother". Yep - that really was the topic! I couldn't believe it at first. The boys were debating for the topic and the girls were debating against the topic. It was so funny to watch the kids argueing their topic. They said things like "father is the head of the house, so he is better", and the girls said "the mother gives birth, so she is better". It really was hilarious getting an insight into how the social structure works here. In the end, the girls won. A little bit of social justice done!

Now, am off to dinner. It's been a strange and sad, but good day.

~liz