motorbike adventure

had the absolute best day today (: sam and i needed to run a few errands and pick up a load of washing we'd taken to the diani laundromat (the humid air in muhaka had made my clothes smell like damp and after tsavo everything was somewhat stained red) so we ordered some motorbikes for the morning (our chosen form of transportation given there were only two of us). i was so excited to jump on board and my dude was pretty funny - so evidently showing off the mzungu girl riding behind him to the mates we passed.

we'd traveled along the road to diani dozens of times before but it was a totally new experience to feel actually immersed in the landscape as opposed to being safe and comfortable in our big safari bus that so evidently doesn't belong.. the acrid smell of plastic and rubbish piles being burned.. groups of young children playing barefoot in the dirt, some carefully carrying babies propped up on their hips.. random goats trotting around makeshift corrugated-iron stores or grazing by the road.. local women in brightly-coloured sarongs and scarfs haggling for fruits or tyre-rubber flip-flops carefully lined up on shop-front tarps.. all the while feeling the wind whipping through my hair and the sun kissing my shoulders (:

we made a quick stop at the bank and the supermarket where i bought a few books, then went onwards to a restaurant called leonardo's that apparently had amazing ice-cream.. it was the first time we'd gone out without being chaperoned or directed or surrounded by the group and sam and i were both quite keen to enjoy our morning together (: we spent a good two hours there just chatting and laughing.. camp life can be a bit full on because you're constantly surrounded by a big group of people and it was incredible to see how much i'd needed some time to myself - it felt like i was just hanging out with a mate back in sydney.

by the end of the morning we were both too full to grab an ice-cream so we jumped back on the motorbikes and headed to the laundromat. our drivers were a little annoyed with us for making them wait so long as we hadn't realised they only really worked as a shuttle bus would from point a to point b as opposed to like a taxi you could rent out for a set amount of time. we sorted it out though and on the way back to kaya they finally gave into out pleas to go faster and i had the time of my life!! (don't worry maman, it wasn't too stupidly fast and we slowed down once we reached the dirt track). we arrived just in time for lunch, excitedly gushing about our morning's adventure to whoever cared (and didn't care) to listen.

in the afternoon a group of us went to work coating nursery plants with insecticide but many people, not hugely motivated by this prospect, stayed around camp to sunbathe or sleep. sam and i dragged mattresses and pillows out of my tent and into the dappled sunlight and i curled up with my first book - a murder/crime thriller by one of my favourite authors. i can't remember the last time i'd spent the afternoon reading and i realised how much i've missed it.. here, under a light-filtering kenyan canopy of treetop leaves, i was plunged into the streets of new york and into the mind of a brilliant killer and even more brilliant detective.. i gorged myself on the book, consuming it like a sun-sweetened peach, and i loved every second.

after dinner jasmine (who had by now given up on her con-rows) decided she needed to escape from kaya and go somewhere because she was getting so restless. being the amazing girl that she is, she ordered up a taxi and a small group of us got a free ride to leonardo's and back where this time we did get ice-cream (: it was a totally spur-of-the-moment idea and sam and i were happy as anything to be heading back so soon after such a nice time there this morning.. all 9 of us got 3 scoops of home-made ice-cream in a cup - i had white chocolate, lemon sorbet and disarano (they just happened to have it as a flavor.. amazing..) it was so heavenly. joe bought a cigar which we passed around the table.. (i still think they smell like mouldy feet!!) to be sharing desserts, drinks and banter with the group of people i'm pretty much closest to on camp was the perfect end to a very enjoyable day (:

more bag-sorting

more of the same the following day.. i don't any of us were particularly thrilled at the prospect of a full bag-sorting day but we went to work regardless. as people slowly wandered off back to camp, our elaborate bag-emptying method became a display of sam's face-planting skills as he relentlessly dove into the dirt trying to catch them.. it probably wasn't the most efficient system but at least it kept us entertained enough to continue (:

after lunch i decided to walk back to muhaka in order to use the power to sort through photos and generally catch up on my writing - it's been really difficult keeping up due to the generator at tsavo and kaya only being on for a few hours each night (at which point we've either used it to watch movies or i've wanted to spend time with everyone). unlimited power is such a luxury. i must say i wasn't exactly sad to give up an afternoon of plastic bags and i really enjoyed looking back at the photos from tsavo (: unfortunately an hour or so later the power cut out because a tree fell onto the power-lines right by the school.. it's a miracle no-one was injured by the 30,000 volts sparking on the ground!!

upon my return to kaya i saw the others had devised a bag-boredom-busting method of their own: instead of just grouping the useable bags, they'd arranged them in the shape of an elephant using a cup for it's eye and socks for it's tusks! so clever..

another chilled out evening around the tents. due to the power-lines being down we had no running water in camp and two of the workers had to fill big jerry cans at the village pump and pour them into the water-tank so we could shower.. the shower block is pretty excellent - you're basically outdoors in little cubicles (2 for girls, 2 for boys) separated only by woven palm fronds and a curtain at the entrance (that is pretty much useless due to the wind). we went about it with good humor as i definitely wouldn't call them private - not only can you pretty much see the girl showering next to you but the people walking by the shower block can easily see everything if a sudden gust of wind blows the curtain back.. funny times..

arrival camp kaya

sunday morning saw us reluctantly packing up our belongings and piling into the truck that was to take us back to muhaka.. the new monthers who had joined us at tsavo stayed behind for another week and the rest of us commenced the journey home. it's weird that you can grow accustomed to a place so fast.. i already missed the red earth, the fireplace, the comfy huts, the big model lion in the courtyard.. drive was standard - bumpy and long. our bags were then taken to our next camp and us kids dropped off at forty thieves for the day. it was weird.. it kind of felt like we'd just gotten back from a holiday and were in that post-holiday gloomy slump, whilst still actually being on holidays?? the weather was unfortunately shit and by the end of the afternoon we were all pretty keen to head off and explore the primate conservation camp we'd be staying at for the week..

camp kaya is located a 15-20min walk from muhaka down a pot-hole-ridden dirt track, bordering on the sacred forest or 'kaya' of the community. as we passed through the gate and saw a whole bunch of tents set up i was fairly excited - i love camping. the usual ensued - orientation, time to settle in.. then one of the best dinners we've had on trip thus far and an early night.

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after breakfast we were taken for a walk through the forest by the elder who'd spoken to us before tree planting all those weeks ago.. it was breathtakingly beautiful - a tangle of vines, ferns and bushes.. majestic trees reaching up into the canopy. i've always liked trees and i felt a so at peace being so close to these ones, almost sensing the years and years of history in the place, the countless villagers who had walked on the forest floor collecting wood or medicine, the prayers whispered at the sacred shrine during times of need.. everything so green and lush.

on our way out we stopped by a local hut where a woman was weaving roofing tiles out of dried palm fronds. i showed interest in her work and she invited me to sit by her and try it myself.. it looked so simple but i evidently lacked the practice and she smiled as my clumsy foreign hands fumbled the knots i tied..

after lunch it was time to work in the tree nursery. the ground was covered with dirt-filled bags (for tree planting) and our job was to sort out the good from the bad. it was dull work but we gave it our best shot, collecting torn bags and emptying them.. eventually we just began throwing them at chris who, seated on the dirt pile, would punch the bags mid-air to make them explode. there were hundreds to sort through and by the time work was done for the day we'd discovered a very angry scorpion, two poisonous millipedes, an ant's nest squirming with larvae and a wide assortment of spiders who seemed displeased by the disturbance to their homes..

we then walked back to muhaka to pick up some of our gear we'd left behind. i was glad to be reunited with my warm clothes [i sorely wish i'd had them at tsavo] and i spent the remainder of the evening snug in my flannel shirt. when the four girls returned from their day trip to mombasa (jasmine's camera broke and she went to buy a new one) they all sported new hairstyles, the most drastic change being jasmine's braids and con-rows - amazing.

game drive 2

saturday morning and time for our last day at tsavo and a final safari.. we set out once again wrapped in blankets, legs a little achey from our climb the day before. it was back to tsavo east, this time on a different truck with benches spanning the sides as opposed to in tight rows. unfortunately we weren't very lucky with the animals.. most people in my truck ended up falling asleep either strewn over the benches or lying on the floor. i for some reason was in a really good mood and sat up on the open side, legs dangling out the window, music in my ears, smiling and just taking in the landscape flying past. it's sad how quickly you can become accustomed to things though - the giraffes and elephants going about their business seem such normal sights now, but regardless it still made me happy watching the majestic beasts wandering about the savannah. i wish there was a way to keep that child-like awe and excitement in life intact forever..

for lunchtime we pulled up at this beautiful lookout called 'crocodile point' where flat plains stretched out around us and splashes of greenery followed the twisting ribbon of water down along the rocks beneath. scattered hippo heads would every so often emerge, only eyes and wiggling ears visible above the surface.. a few crocodiles dozing in the sun.. then it was onwards to a small gorge in the national park where big, smoothed orbs of marbled brown stone flanked a torrent of water. the shapes created by erosion were so beautiful - holes and twists and ridges all polished by the wind and water around.

the drive back out of tsavo east and to camp was once again fairly uneventful.. i think it just goes to show how privileged we were to have such a phenomenal first game drive earlier on!! i'm becoming more and more aware of how much good it's doing me to be outdoors pretty much 24/7.. i feel so vibrant and healthy and alive, trees make me happy, the red dirt makes me happy, even the irritating acacia thorns that get caught everywhere somewhat make me happy.. it's so wild and untamed..

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our last night at tsavo and also tall sam's birthday [we now have 4 sams at camp to make life easier for us: sammy d (old sam), sam thomson (new sam), tall sam and short sam (both girls).. phew..] i think it's now our 6th birthday celebration and we couldn't really give the boys a wild night and not do the same for her.. so the mischief commenced once again. amongst the most memorable moments were sam stubbing her toe and yelling out to everyone she'd been bitten by a rhino for the entire duration of the night -_- and also someone's retarded idea to go steal snacks from the younger group of gappers who were spending the night in tents on the property.. i didn't really know what was going on until a few people showed up carrying pringles, chips, biscuits and the like.. poor things :(

thankfully (and regretfully) no fire extinguishers were set off and the night ended with minimal casualties..

mt. kasigau

friday was meant to be elephant dung paper making but a group of us asked if we could climb Mt. Kasigau instead, the highest peak in the sanctuary. we left at 6:30 and bumped along the 1.5hr drive to the foothills, this time cocooned in our blankets, where we commenced our ascent. the walk started off quite easy, gently sloping upwards in dry scrub and sand.. i was personally pretty excited to do something physical as i felt that since digging the pit toilet nothing had really gotten me to work that hard. after 40min or so we stopped and jane had a migraine and was feeling unwell so her and the "awesome foursome" (miranda, campbell and jasmine) returned to the truck.

we split up into two groups, the faster (which i was in) and the slower, and continued. the climbing got a little steeper and eventually we broke away from the scrubland and plunged into the forest. the path became harder to see and we marched on at a relentless pace.. the air turned cooler and damper, the bushes and trees covered in water that left wet pools against our skin as we'd brush past.. it felt like a scene from the lord of the rings - huge, moss-covered trees tangled up in lianas and carpets of ferns.. each lungful of air so fresh and sweet.

the inclines were soon much tougher and after intense bursts of ascent we'd pause and wait for those behind to catch up, sweat drying on our backs and sending shivers down our spines in the chilly air.. the vegetation grew more wild and at times we had to crawl on all fours to get through brush tunnels or pass over fallen logs and thorny brambles.. despite the ache in my legs i was so content to be so utterly and completely engulfed by the mountain, ipod blaring my own soundtrack to the beautiful visuals all around us. you just reach a point where it's more-so your mind willing your muscles to contract and your body to move forward rather than your legs moving of their own accord.

as we reached the final stretch, the path was just ridiculous.. the incline was so steep we needed to grab onto tree trunks to hoist ourselves up, the ground a black, muddy sludge pit smothered in damp, rotting leaves that'd slip and slide as soon as you put your feet down. i was a little concerned for the camera in my backpack and my fucked up ankle but managed and had a blast at the same time. i've never been on a bush-walk like this and we all thought it was pretty funny (:

nothing can compare to the feeling of reaching a mountain's peak. 3.5hrs later, my legs were shaking slightly from the effort of the climb, my heart hammering, and joe, sam and i (the first three to the top) collapsed into a big, smelly, sweaty victory hug. it was so cold and windy up there but the view was spectacular.. just flat, orange-red plains stretching literally as far as the eye could see. the roads were red veins on the earth's surface, wriggling out to the horizon and we watched patches of cloud-shadow move over the savannah. here also our awful sandwiches tasted like five star meals (:

the others eventually all made it to the summit and we then began our descent. going down the slippery slope of death was interesting.. sam's tactic was to just slide down on his ass and hope a tree would slow him down along the way. it looked like a lot of fun but unfortunately my camera on my back made that impossible.. instead i tried to use the trees and roots as foot and handholds and slowly work my way down. the descent really brought out just how steep some of the slopes were and once we reached the truck, i felt such a tremendous sense of accomplishment (: the four girls had a sort of mental/emotional breakdown at being in the truck alone all day and missing out on the climb and started hysterically crying once they saw us return.. quite confusing and strange..

on the drive home, the silhouette of kasigau growing fainter and fainter was now not just a random mountain but more of a friendly shape.. i've never been more hungry for dinner and passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.

day of nothing

thursday morning was hilarious. there were belongings strewn all over camp and people stumbling around trying to find them.. we were to return to sasenyi school to finish the concreting but a handful of us stayed back at camp, me included. it might seem silly but i hadn't really yet taken a day off and on wednesday, despite really wanting to work, there were just too many people and only one wheelbarrow to mix cement in so i got pretty bored.

instead sam and i watched movies and chilled out, and when the others got back in time for lunch it was clear we hadn't missed out on much at all. the afternoon was meant to be wildlife monitoring but once again many of us were bored of being on the truck for hours and stayed back at camp instead.. turns out that once again they didn't see much.

i guess you might think it's silly that i opted to stay at camp but i love the grounds so much and i was really pleased with my day. i've realised i quite miss having the freedom to do what i like without people directing us on where to go, what to do, when to sleep (we eventually get ushered away from the campfire by the night guards), etc. sometimes it's nice to veg out and relax (:

first early night in a while.

matt + chris's bday

wednesday night was probably one of the biggest we've had thus far. it was matt's birthday (and twix's!!) and chris's birthday on thursday so the general opinion was to give them one to remember (: i was a big speeding ball of energy, sprinting around the place, talking to everyone.. i just wanted to make sure i remembered the funnier points of the night so here goes:

* josh climbed up the pole holding up the gazebo by the fireplace
* small sam spent most of the night walking around in her thong
* sammy d, sam and josh broke into the private villa on the property to try and find alcohol, ended up jumping on the bed and stealing abdulla, this weird wooden doll carving thing
* josh had a long stick he put in the fire and kept trying to torch the camp
* sam and sammy d were in boxers most of the time
* josh told one of people here (unnamed) he was a fucking weirdo (awkward)
* sammy d and jasmine walked in on campbell and olly in the room, stole pringles,, ran a muck, refused to leave
* miranda also walked in on olly + campbell and jane + matt and had a shouting fit, telling them to get out of her room
* a rumor started that eustace (our camp manager) was here and people freaked
* lucy told someone she hoped they'd get shot in the foot, so everyone ended up thinking someone had been shot in the foot
* the police, armed with massive rifles, rocked up thinking something had happened because the girls were screaming really loud
* miranda and sammy d set off a fire extinguisher
* sammy d and sam went on a food-hunting mission, found a box of milo cereal, literally tore it open and were down on all fours chowing down like ravenous beasts
* after most people had gone to bed and a few of us were still awake, i spent at least an hour entertaining myself by walking around the fire because i had so much energy but didn't know what to do

hopefully that'll count as a birthday to remember..

sasenyi primary school

tuesday and wednesday were spent at sasenyi primary school (about 1.5hrs drive from camp). it was fairly daunting arriving in our big truck and seeing a sea of kids and teenagers staring at us like we were alien apparitions.. we were greeted by the head teacher and walked around the campus in order to learn a little more about the place (700 students to 11 teachers!!) we were then split up in to groups in order to complete the various tasks assigned to us. one group's job was to transfer a huge pile of stones from one end of the school to the other so that another group could build an erosion barrier - the school toilet was in risk of being destroyed due to it's foundations crumbling and the barriers are meant to stop the flow of water rushing downhill right next to it. the group i was in was to build a foundation for a huge 1000L water tank, a few people went to teach in classrooms and a few were to assist the teachers in forging birth certificates for the kids.

[the kenyan government has passed a new law that states it is illegal for children to be without a birth certificate. as levels of illiteracy are huge and many families can't afford them, the school has decided to fill out birth certificates for as many of it's students as possible]

we got stuck straight into it. with the water tank foundation, there luckily already was a hole dug out for it so we filled it with stones and dirt, then had to start mixing concrete. sam and i made lap after lap carrying big jerry-cans of water from the other tank to our worksite and the group collectively hand-mixed wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of sand, water and cement mix. i don't know how the locals do it, fetching water from such long distances and carrying it all back. running water is definitely something we take for granted. those jerry-cans were really awkward to carry, most of them had holes and i kept spilling water out of mine -_-

i think there were more people in our group than there was work to be done so after a while i went for a wander to see how the others were getting along. miranda and jasmine had asked to teach a class of kids probably aged 7-10ish as their teacher was sick. when i walked in they had drawn a person on the board and were trying to teach the kids how to write body parts in english.. this gorgeous little girl went up to try her luck and spelled 'bnah' instead of 'hand'. i've gotta say i did suppress a giggle (:

when lunch came around it was time for our amazing packed lunches.. the joy.. camp kenya is very cute with what they try to give us but they really are quite awful. you basically get a sandwich with 3 bread layers (it's very sweet, doughy and weird tasting), butter caked over everything and then random cheese bits or the odd slice of strange meat-like slices.. then a banana and a boiled egg. so pretty much most of your meal is just weird-tasting crust and butter. yummy!!! but here, watching the school children line up for their daily bowl of boiled beans (for some the only meal of the day), my sandwich tasted phenomenal.

after lunch was more of the same.. i joined the rock-movers for a while and ended up burying chris in stones. jerry and tim taught an older grade's maths class which turned into an hour of singing the BODMAS song (brackets of division multiplication addition subtraction) whilst the kids banged out a rhythm on their desks. miranda and jasmine's class became a big shakira rave (i haven't met a single kid/teenager here who isn't obsessed with the waka waka world cup song) and i still can't fathom how powerful their voices were as the sounds resonated throughout the school.

wednesday brought more of the same.. the kids were more used to our strange-looking caucasian selves and during their class breaks we had dozens and dozens of them congregated around us whilst we mixed concrete, curious faces peeking timidly around dusty uniforms. some of the younger ones decided they wanted to help and took turns pulling wheelbarrows of stones whilst the boys pushed. it was really nice being around kids who weren't trying to sell us something or take things off us, they just genuinely seemed to like the company and be intrigued with what was going on.

sammy d, matt, olly and quant had a maths class for the afternoon and when i wandered in they had given up on social studies and written the lyrics to the fresh prince of bel air on the board instead. the next hour or so was hilarity.. 50-odd kenyan kids trying to rap along to will smith blaring out of d's speakers.. i was in stitches on the floor. after we deemed the singing had reached it's pinnacle i suggested we teach them the macarena and we ended up being joined by another two classes and the atmosphere in the room was mental!! then we tried playing a few other tracks and i think we all expected this to turn into a big dance party but it ended up being the five of us and sam dancing and the kids just watching us, caught between confusion and amusement.. sam and matt dancing to 'we no speak americano' whilst quant and d jumped up on desks was a definite highlight of the day :)