imani women's group

i am so happy here (:

for the past 2 days we've been working with the imani women's group. we drove out thursday morning and during the 40 mins of dirt track to the main road saw five lions!! it is apparently really rare to see one lion, let alone 5, on the ranch so it was a pretty exciting start to our day. upon arrival, the chairwoman of the group welcomed us and told us about their role and involvement in the community. imani is in a very harsh semi-arid area and water, food, poverty, hiv/aids and teen pregnancies are all prevalent issues. the women's group was formed so that the mamas of imani could unite together to organise projects and educate the locals in order to improve health and quality of life.

[something i found quite interesting, albeit shocking, is the way in which hiv is spread along the mombasa highway. it's pretty much the main line of access for shipments to travel around the country and therefore used by hundreds and hundreds of semi trailers. these semi trailers inevitably pass through imani whilst on the job and at night there can be up to 200 of them parked alongside the road where the villages are. a huge number of these truck drivers are hiv positive and they pick up local girls and women at imani, often offer them a sum of money, and spend the night with them. these women then take the money to buy food for their families and spread the virus to their husbands and so on and so forth..]

anyway. after our talk we were split up into groups to help with various projects - plastering the walls of a guest house, painting the community hall, building a cement base for a water tank and smoothing long slats of wood for construction. i got delegated the painting task (the boys got asked to do the 'manly' tasks.. -_-) i had so much fun with jasmine and we both got really into it, trying to make the job look as good as possible. we basically had to first cover up the dark patches of cement/plaster with a white undercoat and then coat the entire inside wall surface of the hall with a yellow colour. [i forgot to mention - we've been joined by a handful of new people who are here for the next 2 months] vitza, one of our newcomers, is massively tall and thus got delegated all the high spaces on the walls. i think we were getting a big high off the paint fumes because we were giggling so much..

unfortunately before the job could be finished on friday we ran out of paint so i went to help the cementers instead. they had dug a hole and started filling it up with concrete and rocks to make a solid structure the water tank could sit on, safe from shifts in the sand due to rain or wind erosion. it was glorious playing with the goopy cement again (: i also went around to the tree-shapers and for some reason was allowed to play with machetes.. still high off paint fumes..

all in all i was impressed by how much work we were able to do in two days, having a big group of people makes such a difference.. and the thankyou speech we received from the women was so touching and humbling. it's so much more rewarding when you know why it is you're doing the work and when the people you're working for show so much gratitude.. there are some really strong hearts and spirits in this small kenyan town.

on both nights a small group of us has gone to lie out under the stars or by the fire and just chill for a few hours. it's a nice change to have more than one area to hang out in, it's more intimate.. there are people here i'm really enjoying spending time with (sam is a legend, jasmine is amazing - there, shout out complete). after just over a month so many friendships have formed and i'm in such a happy place. i'm liking the vibes amongst us and the fact that a few people have really surprised me after getting to know them better (: i love it here. i like the space and the openness and the wilderness surrounding us, the red earth, the thatched huts.. i'd be glad to spend another month at camp tsavo if i could (:

'bush adventure'

today was our 'bush adventure' day.. the drive out was quite slow and dull as the camp kenya dudes kept stopping the truck to identify birds and animals (and i must say that a rogue antelope is so much less impressive after the game drive yesterday) and after a while we pulled up at a dried-up waterhole. there we were asked to identify two sets of tracks which was pretty cool (giraffe and zebra) and then had a look as some elephant tracks also. from there i think we spent at least an hour standing around listening and although our guide is lovely and meant well, many of us got quite bored after hearing about the tracks and faeces of every animal to ever wander through this waterhole haha (ok slight exaggeration but honestly, 20mins talking about a dead termite mound is a lot).

i wasn't particularly looking forward to the rest of the day after that and just tried to drink in as much of the landscape as possible during the remainder of our drive. we finally pulled up at this rocky hill in the middle of nowhere and were told to climb to the top. the view all around was breathtaking - just flat savannah and a few mountains in the distance. there we split into two group - my group was to make fire, the other to build shelters. now the day was designed to teach us 'survival skills' in case we get lost in the bush, however we were given pre-selected sticks to rub together and the others were handed a pile of thatched roof 'tiles', long polished sticks and a whole spool of rope.. which i felt was a little counter-productive.. but anyway..

fire-making began and i think it took an hour and a half to get a spark. it was quite tedious work.. you put some gravel and dried grass between two pieces of wood and rub one of them to create friction. even our guides who tried to help out found it took a long time and some of the boys got blisters on their palms from spinning the friction stick haha

after lunch we had a brief talk about two beneficial plants in the area - aloe vera and this weird twig the kenyans chew on instead of brushing their teeth. then it was swap-over time and our turn to build a shelter.. we had to pull down the first group's and come up with a design of our own. i love building cubby houses and, ignoring the fact that so much of our building material had been supplied, i had a blast. we made a basic eeyore house using rocks to hold up our frame and long grass to fill in the gaps in the walls. 5 of us could squash into it and it was surprisingly cool inside! (:

and that pretty much summarizes the day. i wouldn't say it was very informative but building a cubby on a random rock hill in the heart of kenya was brilliant :D back at camp we experienced our new showers - the builder was either really short or just didn't think girls would mind seeing each other nude because the walls separating the cubicles only reach as high as my chest. we're all taking it with good humor, it's quite funny..

given it's the 1-monther's last night, we asked the guards to help us make a fire and a bunch of us relaxed outside. once it died down a little and the generator was turned off, a blanket of stars appeared overhead.. it was so peaceful and such good vibes all over again, i really am quite happy out here in the wild (: i'm looking forward to the rest of our time here at camp tsavo

tsavo east game drive

tuesday morning sees us waking up early for breakfast before piling into the big safari truck for the drive to tsavo east and our first game drive (: we're all so excited to be off.. and then we realise how damn cold it is with the early morning wind howling through the open vehicle for a good hour and a half. [before leaving muhaka i asked our camp leader what temperature it'd be in tsavo and he told me to leave all my cold weather clothes behind because it's so much hotter.. thus far, as soon as the sun is low/down, it is the total opposite.. so angry..] after shivering for a while i decide to crouch down on the floor of the truck and go to sleep with my head on the seat - such a good decision. then before i know it, we've arrived..

we drive through the park gates and not even a minute later a herd of elephants crosses the road right in front of us. i pull out my camera to take some snaps and it's just so awkward to maneuver in the truck!! there are people's heads cramming in everywhere to try and get a closer look and i'm all of a sudden terrified at what this will mean for the rest of the drive.. there's a second, much smaller vehicle with us carrying jane, miranda, campbell and jasmine which has an open roof and pretty much a 360˚ view of the surroundings and i know i need to jump in it. it's against the law to leave your vehicle whilst inside the reserve but thankfully our guide makes an exception and that's just what i do.

from then on i'm literally in heaven. the five of us are standing up on the seats, 3/4 of our bodies out the top of the roof, wind whipping our hair back and savannah all around. because our open-sided jeep is so much smaller than the truck we can move much faster and more quietly around, stopping whenever one of us asks to take a picture. i just can't stop smiling.. i'm like a kid at christmas with my camera and new lenses, there's just so much to look at. we were so lucky with our safari and saw a group of lions up quite close, dozing and yawning in the shade.. i really do love big cats. even rolling around apathetically they look so majestic.. we even see a lion couple on their 'honeymoon' banging! the male only lasts 4 seconds, it's pretty funny.

there are giraffe with their little goofy heads sticking up out of bushes, antelope grazing around the place, warthogs trotting around with their big mowhawk-like manes.. there are so many elephants and they're all quite red in colour (which i gather is from mud/dirt).. we also get quite close to a group of zebras who all cross the road ahead of us and we spend a good 15 mins watching a family of baboons climbing on a big tree [one of the babies is awful and looks like a retarded old man gollum/dobby hybrid.. i'm sure you'll be able to tell which one in the snaps].

and ahh it's just big, flat plains stretching out to the foot of mountains in the distance..  typical 'african' flat trees.. red, red dirt and thorny bushes.. a lush, green waterhole filled with birds and a few flamingo.. within a few hours we see so many different areas of the park and it's just a joy to spot the animals as we go. there isn't really much point in me recounting any more as the photos will show you better than i could ever describe, but it really was a magical day and i think we were all pleasantly surprised by how much wildlife we saw..

drive to tsavo

monday morning is struggle street. i think our late nights out have just accumulated all of a sudden and many of us are feeling so seedily tired and sick.. waking up early, getting our bags ready to go and piling into the bus is a mission and once seated we just plug in our ipods, hope for sleep and pray our stomachs settle down over the kilometers of bumpy road ahead.. unfortunately for me, sleep won't come.. instead i watch the road fly past and the landscape gradually changing.. the earth darkens in colour, the green vegetation becomes duller in color and transforms mostly into sparse, dry shrubs and the skeletons of trees.. small village settlements appear then vanish again in the rear-view mirror.. it's all a bit foggy and every so often i succumb to the waves of nausea close my eyes, feeling my brain rattle inside my skull.

[in this heat the consequences of little sleep and alcohol aren't great so 3 nights in a row was overdoing it (; balance is the key.. i just am awful at staying home when others are out having fun so we shall see..]

the countryside around us looks more and more desolate until we turn off the main road and onto a dirt track that delves deeper and deeper into the wilderness.. i actually feel like i'm in africa now with the landscape this barren, the flat-topped trees and the earth so beautifully red (which wasn't so much the case at diani beach). then all of a sudden we pull up at a gate decorated in skulls, bones and branches with a big sign - "Karibu Sana Camp Tsavo" (welcome very much to camp tsavo). i've got a huge grin on my face - this place is amazing. there are little circular huts with red earthen walls and palm-thatched roofs dotted around camp, each bordered and linked by stone footpaths that are in turn bordered by desert succulents and shrubs. it's spacious and open with little thatched gazebos to relax in and a communal dining area and other than these buildings there is nothing man-made in sight for 80,000 acres. amazing.

even the inside of the huts are gorgeous - the bunk beds are more spacious than in muhaka with mosquito nets very elegantly draped over them, the netted windows going all the way around the buildings adorned with loose curtains that blow gently back and forth in the breeze.. the air here isn't as damp and humid which is much appreciated.

we have a brief orientation talk, run through our itinerary and are then left to settle in and chill out before dinner. [turns out we're not actually in tsavo national park but in a corridor of privately-owned protected land that bridges tsavo east and tsavo west.] a few of us head out to the fire-pit gazebo with jerry's guitar and i lie back on a bench, cushioned by pillows, watching a gecko play on the thatched roof and the shadows gradually creeping in all around us whilst his flamenco strumming floats on the breeze. i am so content and at peace out here, i absolutely love it already.

dinner is pretty standard and we then head back to make a fire (where i nearly get stabbed by acacia thorns and a scorpion simultaneously!).. and that's how we end the night.. flame-licked wood crackling and sending up sparks whilst in a big snuggle pile on pillows.. welcome very much to camp tsavo.

weekend

friday night has us arriving at forty thieves where chaos unleashes once more.. we meet some nice locals and spend the evening wallowing barefoot on the shoreline, swapping stories, embarrassingly dancing on the small dance-floor until the room is swimming and we spin, spin, spin on the beach and all falls down. time for an adventure! i'm scared but brave and the world is lifted and mellow once more.. music giggles in waves..home is sand and breeze that kisses salt upon your lips. welcome to the jungle by the beach where sea sounds gorgeous..

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saturday.. hot, humid day with grey cloud cover. the divers are diving and everyone there is sick because the tiny boat moves uppp downnn upppp downnn on the choppy water. tom gets hypothermia, miranda cries, half of them throw up. meanwhile at thieves it's not sunny enough for sun-baking and not warm enough for a swim. brief drizzle coming and going without much drive.. sam, jasmine and i go for a walk up 'mugger's highway' just because and find a hidden clearing to crawl into. we can see the road, the road can't see us. we're hidden animals in the bushes. we giggle. it's pretty funny. back to the beach, back to the bushes.. fairly undecided and not fussed.. time is killed.. we head back to camp.

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we're going out to a nice restaurant for dinner. peering into the girl's bathroom you can see a row of us leaning into the tiny mirrors attempting to put on makeup whilst strategically angling our head torches for light (totally my idea haha).. i borrow jane's dress - it's blue-green (which looks nice against a tan), very backless and a good mix of elegant and beach-casual.. finally a dress i feel ok wearing (: it's nice seeing everyone looking so pretty and the boys scrubbed up.. 'the cave' is an incredible place - an underground cave, as its name suggests, carved out of the rocky ground. the walls are un-smoothed stone surfaces, there are very elegant tables set up and candles everywhere, light glowing upon the rock faces and reflected off the dishes.

the menu is unfortunately very expensive and sam and i order an octopus and shrimp salad to share. we wait. a long time. then the meal finally arrives and we literally each have two shrimps and 4 pieces of octopus each.. very disappointing.. but at least every bite is delicious (: we then wait again for those wanting desserts to order and eat.. then most people want to head home instead of staying out so that's what we do.

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sunday morning and we're back at forty thieves. this time there's patches of sun on and off. i sun-bake on the floating platform for a while.. go back to shore, get an unbelievable cheese and bacon beef burger.. nothing much happens today but it's nice being out of muhaka and by the sea regardless (: i crack and head for the internet cafe again and it's the first proper conversation i have with anouk and twix without simultaneously trying to upload photos (: it really made my day.. the scuba divers return after completing their open water PADI and order the famous forty thieves' giant pizza.. it was literally the size of the table, pretty impressive!!

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after dinner we meet up with our local friends again at forty thieves. i just can't get enough of the sandy floor in the place - ordering drinks with sand between your toes is brilliant. our mate gwili tells us he can catch crabs and we all run hysterically to the beach - within a minute or two he's got one. someone puts a durry in the crab's claw and he refuses to let go of it, it's apparently the funniest thing we've ever seen in our lives.. i get pulled to the nonexistent dance floor and we whip our hair back and forth as though the club were at full capacity and crazy-wild.

we head out for a spin and the night is a blur of flashes and snippets cut out and pasted haphazardly upon the inside of my skull.. i'm whooping out the sunroof with my hair whipped behind me, speed and adrenaline. jane tries to climb the rugby posts, slips, falls, laughs. jasmine tackles ellie, pulling off clothes and rolling on the wet sand. everyone is smiling. skinny dippers run in and out again. i'm laughing like a crazy person, spin like a tornado with arms outstretched until dizzy wins and i fall.. and all tumble into the taxi. bed.