Rounding up!

So here we are back in the UK to beautiful autumn weather! It has been good to have the blog and nearly 1000 photographs to remind us of the adventure and to reassure us that it wasn't a dream! You can see a selection of them here:http://www.panoramio.com/user/793436

To round up our adventure then...
On Thursday, we went with Anselme to Nairobi to do a few errands - despatching Elizabeth's samples and trying to pick up bits and pieces to bring back. We found it really hard to find things that would mean as much here as they looked in Kenya!

Anselme had investigated the timetable of a lecturer at Tangaza theological college in Nairobi - Fr Rinaldo Ronzani. He is writing a series of books about the sacraments/ pastoral liturgy so his work was of great interest to Kathryn who is working on Christian Initiation for an essay an hopes to explore it more deeply over coming months (years!) and is involved in pastoral liturgy at home. There was only time for a short conversation but it was nonetheless valuable - and he was kind enough to give her a book from the series.

Into Nairobi for the errands and resistance to going into the Catholic bookshop next to the Basilica crumbled. Space and weight were fortunately constraining factors!

We had a quiet afternoon - mainly concerned with getting everything back into the rucksacks to carry home! We didn't have that much more than we brought - but then had the bags full when we arrived... With a lot of huffing and puffing we got everything in before heading for prayer and supper and a video: "Animals are beautiful people" about animal behaviour in Southern Africa.

Friday dawned and the realisation that the end of our visit was in sight... Another quick trip to Nairobi to pick up flowers for the Sisters who had been so very hospitable and kind - interesting to note that it is probably easier to buy Kenyan flowers in the UK than in Kenya! We went for lunch to the Formation House before heading for the airport with Anselme.

The rest is just journey home - the flight to Dubai - the long night when we must have been the only two people to be unable to sleep there because we were too cold! Happily, the Emirates airline offers a meal to people with long stop-overs so at 6am we availed ourselves of croissants and rolls - though could have had noodles and stew had we been able to face it at that time of day!

Keith was at the airport to meet us and the journey to Eastleigh was uneventful... though tiredness kicked in pretty quickly after the washing and evening meal had been sorted out! Still, a bit of a rest and Bilbo will be ready to look forward to his next big journey - to the Holy Land on 20 October! Watch this space!

We are back!

After a 24 hour journey, we are back in the UK!
This was written on Saturday but then washing and tea - and looking at the nearly 1000 photos we took overtook us! (Not to mention the small matter of sleep after over 36 hours constantly on the go!)

There will be another update and some work on the photos over the next few days - so do call back!

Nairobi and Naivasha

On Tuesday, we had a quieter day - which meant not going too far from "home".
In the morning, we went with Sr Marcelle to the very swish Yaya shopping centre... very European. It was interesting to see it and to see how quiet it was compared to other parts of Nairobi.

We went on to the Karen Blixen house. Karen Blixen was a Danish woman who fell in love with Africa in the early part of the 20th century. She wrote of her experiences and they were later made into a film "Out of Africa" -which we watched later in the evening and enjoyed seeing the places we had visited (including Maasai Mara) that day.

We also visited Swedo House and found the whole area a little like parts of Hampshire! (Large houses hidden behind high walls and hedges....though the plants were African, of course!)

One very interesting place was Kazuri - which means little beautiful thing. It is a place where women from the slums come and make beads which are made into beautiful jewellry and pottery. We also spent half-an-hour in the stillness of Mwangaza Jesuit Spirituality Centre which overlooks the Ngong Hills. This is a stunning place - absolute silence is insisted upon when there are retreats and the whole place acts as a haven of peace and tranquility where you can find the presence of God in the quiet in order to serve him in the hustle and bustle of life outside. We have some photos - but for some reason they - and others from the day - came out dark so will have to wait until we are home.

Our last visit of the day was to the Giraffe Centre where giraffes come to feed. It is part of a conservation programme but is a huge attraction as the giraffes will eat from people's hands... and in one instance took a piece of food from a woman's mouth. This didn't appeal to us but Lizzie was brave and fed one - a picture of that did take well and is on the photo website.

After tea, we watched "Out of Africa".... really lovely now we have seen the places!

Today, we had thought of going to Nakuru followed by Lake Naivasha tomorrow. As Lake Nakuru is mainly a game drive and not really a lake visit, we decided to miss the flamingoes and other great things there and go to Naivasha only. This was interesting as we had to go on matatus! The one from Nairobi to Naivasha was like the shuttle to Nanyuki last week. However, at Naivasha we were swamped with offers of help to find taxis - peanuts - food - drink - hot sausages - pretty much ... you name it! We were the only white people there so did stick out but everyone else got hassled too. We just said no! The matatu from Naivasha to our chosen destination "Fisherman's Camp" was ... well, interesting! Very loud music - very full - and we shared part of the journey with a tyre and bit of car!

After a light lunch at the Fish Eagle hotel, we set off for a walk along the lake shore... Problem - we couldn't find it! We found odd bits but mainly we found papyrus! For a geographer wanting to look at the lake this was very frustrating. After a bit, we decided to bite the bullet and pay an extortionate amount for a boat trip. This was good as it gave Lizzie chance to see the lake and marvel at how the sampling was done - but also a chance for both of us to see some of the wildlife... fish eagles - cormorants - pelicans - hippos (a tad closer than we had expected!) - storks - ibis and others we didn't know the names of.

Coming back, our matatu was slowed down a bit by several packages! Very big packages that took up several seats and which got piled high on them! We hoped that the ones piled up behind the driver didn't fall over and knock him out! The fear of this didn't seem to stop him going very fast and braking hard! From Naivasha to Nairobi wasn't too bad - along the Rift Valley again - though there was an accident involving 3/4 lorries on the uphill bit that caused problems.

We were quite pleased to have coped with the matatus - many visitors don't use them as they don't have a good reputation but they were OK - and very cheap! However, it was really nice to see Anselme waiting for us at the terminus. The stop (or stage as it is called here) is in a part of Nairobi that is considered dangerous (and we did see a thief being caught as we walked along!). We survived - but it's a bit sad that it is very near a part of Nairobi called Eastleigh!

Tomorrow is our last day and we are accepting that we will not get done things we really wanted to :-( Lizzie won't see lake Nakuru - or Bogoria and others in the Rift Valley and Kathryn probably won't get to Kware... there might be an hour or so but it is probably too short notice now... Where did all that time go?!

A few more photos from today will be going online - and then it will be a pause while we travel back to the UK. We leave here on the 17.15 flight so will need to leave Msola (the House) at around 1.30/2pm. We arrive in Dubai at 23.15 and leave again at 09.50 on Saturday morning, arriving in Heathrow at 14.15... all being well! The flights for all of us coming out were fine so we should be OK... And then - watch this space for photo updates!

Mount Kenya!

Today we got back from our trip to Mount Kenya!
This was very tiring but also very exciting as Kathryn and I trekked up to 4200m and Elizabeth got even higher - about 4800! The pictures are very big files so we will put more of them up when we get home and can reduce the size a bit. You can find a selection here: http://www.panoramio.com/user/793436

We started in the car park at the Basilica in Nairobi where we had arranged to meet our guide Nicholas. He took us to the matatu stage where we were to find a shuttle for Nanyuki where our adventure was to start. We were very glad he was there to help as it was hectic with crowds of people and lots of drivers asking us if we wanted to go with them!
The one Nicholas chose took us safely to Nanyuki where we found a comfortable hotel (Ibis) in which to have supper and to spend the night.

To give us a bit of acclimatisation - and to satisfy Lizzie's geographer's interest - we popped just down the road to the Equator! There were people showing how water flows down a hole in opposite directions in the different hemispheres (20m either side of the Equator!) and straight down on the Equator itself.

The next morning, Nicholas met us and introduced us to Chris who was to be our cook. This all felt very strange as Kathryn and Lizzie are used to cooking for themselves! But we were very glad that he came along as he prepared some great meals even though we were too tired to finish them!

The first day was a 9km hike to Old Moses Camp. This was where we noticed the higher altitude. Things that looked easy to walk seemed much more difficult! But the camp itself was comfortable - very simple but everything we needed.

The next morning, we set off at 7a.m. It was magical as the sun was just risen and the silence over the mountainside was awesome. The trek itself was 14km and was one of those walks that is a very different measurement on the map from what you walk in real life! There were some very steep climbs and drops and Nicholas (who was also carrying the big rucksack) was very patient and helped Kathryn learn how to deal with some of the steep bits...

To give you an idea it went down to one breath-one step!! But she got there! And "there" was Shipton's Camp - at 4200m (about 13,800ft). This was much colder and like most people, we all went to bed at about 8.30pm - partly to recover from the walk - and partly to get warm!

Unlike most other people, we did not get up at 2am! They were getting up at that time to go up to Point Lenana - one of the more accessible peaks of Mount Kenya - to see the sunrise. As the point of our expedition was not to do the peak but to photograph flowers and plants, we could stay in bed a little longer - though Elizabeth got up at 5am and went with Nicholas to look at some of the lakes and tarns she had read about. She has some stunning shots - on her camera! we'll put some up soon. (As I am writing this, she is busy preparing her Lake Challa samples for posting to the UK tomorrow... they have been drying at Msola - the convent where we are staying)

After another enormous breakfast - eaten under the majestic peak - we started to descend.

This was nearly as hard as going up! At the top, things were slippery because of ice - but then got very slippery because of rain and mountain streams! We were soaked... well, OK the humans were soaked!

The bear was very sensible and stayed tucked inside a rucksack... though still got a wet head when...

it started to rain...
and rain...
and rain...

It was incredible. Being high on the mountain, we could see it coming - and knew that the rain had been bad this year as our hoped for descent route - Chogoria - had been closed because of rain. But seeing it coming was no help when we still had miles to go before getting back to Old Moses Camp. The first spell happened near the end of Mackinders Valley where Chris had set up a stove and prepared noodles and beans under an overhang. It was a bit surreal eating warm food as the rain clouds danced in slow circles before our eyes.

The second spell came when we were in wide-open ground. We were soon all soaked to the skin (well, trousers and feet wise) despite having good gear. And if we'd realised how essential a guide was on our ascent - we realised even more as the mist and cloud swirled around and any paths disappeared under water and mud. Happily, with Nicholas picking out paths and helping us to jump over rushing streams and some of the worst boggy bits, we arrived safely - if plastered with mud and cold and wet. Chris - who had gone on ahead - had a cup of tea ready for us which was most welcome - followed by steaming hot soup.

Our final day, saw us coming down the mountain - a 9km descent back to the Gate. This wasn't too bad - though still slippery from the rain. We saw fairly fresh tracks of elephant and buffalo (Elizabeth saw a leopard print on the way up!) - and a troop of baboons crossed the path at about the same time as we did - but were a bit camera-shy.

A quick stop in Nanyuki and then back to Nairobi where we made enquiries about going to Lakes Nakuru and Naivasha. This was bit more expensive than we can afford so we're thinking about options.
Tomorrow, we are going with Sr Marcelle to a women's cooperative where they make beads and pottery - to the Karen Blixen museum see the house made famous in Out of Africa and a giraffe centre - and possibly the Mwangaza Jesuit spirituality centre where we can find some peace and silence in the midst of it all!

Hopefully, we will get to the other lakes - and take up some of the offers of hospitality that we have received - and have a couple of conversations relating to Kathryn's studies ... and all before heading back on Friday!

Enjoy the selection of photos - here is a reminder of the link: http://www.panoramio.com/user/793436