Only 6 sleeps to go...

Only 6 sleeps to go untill it'll be time for me to get on a plane and head back to my beloved Ireland...

Am I ready to leave?
No

3 months - it seemed like a life time at the out set and now its like I blinked and its over... I mean seriously I had porchiou (this is spelled wrong!)for the first timet tonight - a staple Ugandan dish and I'm only having it now so can you imagine everything else I've missed and will miss. But fear not I'll be back...

Floods in Bwaise

Well we woke up this morning to blue skies and lathered on the sun cream in expectation of a scorching hot day - Oh boy were we wrong!!!

We arrived at Bwaise as usual but shortly after our arrival the ski turned dark and then the heavens opened with the wind pshing the water in on top of us in the centre. Not only rain but hail stones hit the ground with vigour and our squels of surprise and astonishments could be heard down the street. There was a steady fall for most of the rest of the day, we were lucky that the training room didn't flood more as the neighburing houses were flooded and some people living further down the road had to come up to the doors of the center to get refuge with small childern.

It was an breath taking scene - I've seen rain like that before but never have I seen the localises effect so severe and so sudden. There is a lot to be said for good drainage and its something I won't be so quick to take for granted in the future. What was more was the reation of the locals had it been at home we would have seen locals on the 6 o'clock news and talking to Gerry Ryan about insurance cover and losing valued posessions but here people just waited for the rain to subside and then began to bucket/sweep the water out of their houses using saucpans and brushes. Its not a rare occurence in fact its quite common so people just get on with it, and simple say that living conditions in Uganda are not good...
Well you can see the pictures for yourselves - a picture speaks a thousand words after all...

Well it seems this weekend was all about God and family...

Well it seems this weekend was all about God and family...


On Saturday we spent about 3 hours in church at a double wedding in Jinja... It was quite sweet two brothers were getting married and decided to celebrate the occasion together. It was a Catholic ceremony so on the whole it was pretty familiar apart from some of the more African traditions such as;
• A lot of singing and cheering/screaming from the congregation in general
• For the offertory the two couples stood in the centre isle so the congregation could file by and give their offertory which the couples then presented to the priest
• There was no – “you may now kiss the bride” but instead there was a hug...
But on the other side the brides were dressed in white and the rest of the family were in their Sunday best a lot of which were traditional African dresses. The bride was given away by head of her family to much cheer and applause.

It was a very beautiful and enjoyable ceremony and everybody present seemed to enjoy themselves although energy levels dropped noticeable towards the latter end of the 3 hour ceremony!!!

The Reception was a very traditional affair with the choir in attendance to entertain the crowd (and promote their album!) while the wedding party took some time to prepare themselves. We were also treated to the performance of a traditional dance which our friend jumped up to join in the fun and display her immense talent. The cake, again as is the norm with many Ugandan functions, was served before dinner and not a moment too soon as some of us were on the verge of passing out from hunger!!!


Later as the last of us got our dinner, traditional Ugandan style we ate with our fingers which was an interesting challenge as I am a messy eater at the best of times, but I think I pulled it off quite well... Before heading home we all filed up to give the couples their presents where glasses, flasks, wall clocks and generally any household items are typical gifts. It interesting though that the couples had 6 meeting on the lead up to the wedding to seek assistance from family and friends to fund the wedding celebrations. It is common where a family member is a dress maker he/she will offer to make the dresses, or if someone is a photographer they will offer to provide this service or alternatively where the person does not have a particular skill they will pledge XXX USH to the event so it is really a community project. It was a fantastic day and an exhausting day so I was glad to finally get back to my bed at the respectable hour of 11.30pm – Ugandan wedding tend to wrap up around 10pm without any drunk relatives strutting their moves on the dance floor and this is probable the most obvious difference to Irish wedding...




Sunday found us spending another 2hours in church but this time it was a Born Again Christian service which we had been invited to by one of our students. Hi as his mother is the pastor. At the end of a long busy week and having been listening to the sound of heavy rainfall since the early hours of the morning I was less than enthusiastic to drag myself out of bed and face the flooded streets and taxi conductors. None the less we persevered at our students’ insistence and arrived at the service a little early. The setting was in a barn basically in one of the slum areas of Kampala. The seats were a mixture of armchairs, garden chairs and kitchen chairs. The congregation was quite small with the Pastors family (5 adopted children) making up the choir, and bulk of the attendees although to be fair the weather would not intice anybody out of their homes. We were welcomed warmly and repeatedly and even went onto the alter to introduce ourselves and say where we were from...As the rain continued to fall heavily for the duration of the service we found ourselves hostage to the high flood waters when the time came to leave the church and so we had to take off our shoes and walk through the flood waters to the street which was slightly less flooded...

After the service we were unexpectantly invited back to the Pastors home to have lunch with her and her family. Although the Pastor had appeared a very strict vocal woman during her service in the home she was very calm and sweet, while her husband was rather quiet and reserved.

After a good meal and a few pictures with the family we headed to town to try and get some of the shopping out of the way but I didn’t last long as exhaustion was setting in once again and so we bought some chocolate and headed for home and enjoyed a cat nap in the afternoon...

It was a great weekend but sadly my time is drawing near to its end and now I’m starting my last week with the beautiful people of Ugandan in particular the ladies in Bwaise and the students of Masoli as well as all the staff of UDYEL.

Every day is a school dog

As everyday is a school day this is what I learned today;

1 - I learned how to prepare grasshoppers to be fried
A local delicacy here in Uganda is fried grasshopper - which I had the pleasure of trying last weekend with Denis... Note if your going to try this at home remember to chew the head really well or else it can cause constipation!
So how to prepare a grasshopper - first remove one from the potato sack of live grasshoppers then remove the legs, wings, tail and antenna (basicly just pull the off, and then throw the still squirming insect into the pot to be fried up laterA ... I walked away from the scene with grasshopper scum and guts under my finer nails not an effective beauty tip!!!

A big thank you to all my teachers in Bwaise who were basicly rolling around laughing at my attempts to de-leg the grasshopper and speak Ugandian...

2 - I learned a traditional African dance
As I arrived at the Masoli centre today the drama group were busy learning a new tribal dance and my attempt to slide in unnoticed and observe the activities were quickly cancelled out as I was invited to join in by both the students and masters. My rhythm is unfortunetly non existent but again there was lots of laughter...

So it seems that although I didn't impress my mentors with natural ability in any of these fields I may have a future in comedy...

Than God everyday is a school day...

Kampala - ya have to love it (",)

First of all let me apologise for the delay in up-dating my blog I know some people have been waiting with bated breaths by the internet!!!;

Kampala has grown on me more and more every day that I’ve been here. When we first arrived I never imagined that I could actually get my bearings in this huge city with its massive and varied population. But today I can get in a taxi (the Ugandian version of a dala dala – all be it more comfortable and less crowded!!!), or on a boda boda (a motorbike taxi – by far my favourite mode of transport) or walk to wherever I need to be.
The people of Uganda are very warm and welcoming – it takes a little longer to be accepted into their world as compared to the Tanzanians but it’s well worth the wait, and really the difference could easily be attributed to the difference between small towns like Moshi compared to big cities like Kampala as opposed to Tanzania hospitality versus that of their near neighbours in Uganda.
Ugandians are fun loving, outgoing people with a lot of enthusiasm for life. It seems no matter how difficult the situation there is always room for humour and this is what I love and respect most about them.

I am pleased to say the organisation we’ve been working with here has blown me away entirely. UYDEL – Ugandan Youth Development Link works with youths between 10 and 24 who have been affected by child trafficking, child labour, child abuse, drug and alcohol abuse and commercial sex workers. The organisation identifies at risk youths in conjunction with community leaders and local police officers and provides these youths with vocational skills to enable them to be rehabilitated into useful members of society. UYDEL works on every aspect of this process from one to one counselling with the youth, group counselling or BCC (behaviour change communication), resettling the youths back with their family or suitable guardian, educating the community about their experiences and the rehabilitation process they have completed, providing the youth with vocational skills such as hairdressing, catering, electronics, carpentry, welding, motor cycle repairs, tailoring so that the youth can support him or herself once back in the community. UYDEL also provide the youths with start up kits so they are in a position to start working once they have completed their training. The only thing that has impressed me more than the organisation is the people working in the organisation who are hard working, intelligent and dedicated to the work of UYDEL.
Besides the work Uganda has a lot to offer the first trip we took out of Kampala was to Jinja, the second biggest city in Uganda but could not be compared in any way to Kampala. Jinja is located on the banks of the Nile and is a popular place location to go and try out white water rafting... Yes people I got myself a life jacket, helmet and paddle and took to the water!!! We were part of a group of 9 that entered the water as the wild crew – but dispite our guides best efforts we never managed to capsize, however Julie and I did manage to fall out of the raft!!! Dispite having a slightly dull group and only an average guide and dodgy weather we still had a blast and I would go again in the morning (“,)

The knee knocking, hand shaking, nerve racking experience that really boosted the trip was a 44m bungee jump into the Nile below... Surprisingly enough an activity I previously had no intention of doing having heard stories of eye balls popping out and backs being sprained, whip lash and a list of unpleasant ailments but for some reason the allure of bungee jumping over the Nile was a opportunity I couldn’t turn my back on and oh boy am I glad I didn’t. As I was being tied into the leg straps my guide, Jack, explained that if I just jump straight out I’ll miss the water but if I dive straight down I’ll go straight into the water before the cord rebounds to pull me out again. I was clear that I wanted to just touch the water with my finger tips and so I stood up at the edge poised and ready to jump straight out and try and fly like a bird... but somehow my brain didn’t relay the instructions correctly and so I actually dove straight down like a child diving into a pool!!! My brain obviously registered what had had happened when I was at about 20m as I began screaming uncontrollable and then hit the water unexpectantly... Luckily I must have been in a good diving position as I didn’t come out with the black eye which Jack said was a risk of diving straight down if you adapt a poor position! Getting out of the raft back onto solid ground all I wanted to do was run back up and jump again... It is definitely in my top three best things I have done while in Africa, maybe even ever... I loved it loved it loved and would go again right now not to mention recommend it to everyone(“,)
We ended off our visit to Jinja with a speedy boda ride to the source of the Nile. A beautiful setting, where we got some nice pictures but not a whole lot to do unless you want to buy souvenirs from the many vendors...
And one final treasure we found in Jinja was a little cafe with a garden seating area and the best veggie burgers any of us had had in some time – a great way to end our excursion to Jinja: with good food...

Apart from this trip to Jinja our time has mainly been taken up with the inter house competition in Masoli. This had a bit of a Harry Potter feel to it where all the students were divided up into four houses the green tigers, blue zebras, yellow lions and my own team the red leopards... Points were awarded to each house based on results of sports including netball, football and volley ball but each house also had to prepare a presentation on the role of youths in the prevention of child trafficking. The Harry Potter feel was further enhanced when my team unfortunately were deducted points for playing someone who was not on the red team and another team was awarded additional points on the bases that they were the most disciplined and dedicated where other teams had failed to be. At the end of the two week long games prizes were awarded to individuals on the basis of their performance and trophies were awarded to the overall winners of each sport. The overall winning team, in this case the Green Tigers, were awarded a football strip which was to be held in trust by their house master. The games sparked a lot of rivalry between teams but by and large was all taken in good spirit, all the same I’m glad I won’t have to deal with any competition this summer in camp as emotions do run high, and where there is a winner there is also a loser!!!

I must admit the most memorable and heart warming visit we’ve had the entire time here in Africa has been to visit Denis’ family and friends in his home village just outside Masoki. I don’t believe I have ever been welcomed so warmly anywhere, we were brought in and given freshly squeezed juice and biscuits but more than that we were given a guided tour of the neighbourhood. In that we were guided around the local area and given its history but more than that we were introduced to the people of the area and given their stories. I don’t think I known people to open the doors to their hearts and share the contents so easily, with love and honesty and humour, the good times the hard times and all the times in between. It was an absolute pleasure and I sincerely hope I can return to visit them again some day soon. The funny thing was that all day people thanked us for coming to visit when it was us who were grateful not only for the refreshments and delicious food but the warmth and meaning behind every kindness they showed us.

The most recent excursion we have had was to Entebble where we had to say a sad farewell to Julie as she boarded a plane back to Dublin which will later take her home to the States. On the up side she is a lot more vocally patriotic now after having spent three months living with me – God Bless America!!! – so I’m sure she’ll be welcomed home with open arms...
Before we said our sad good byes though we spent a lovely day in the botanical gardens where Julie whipped off her top to do a spot of sun bathing, and received some questionable looks from the locals in the process. Eunice one of our newest and dearest friends here in Kamapala accompanied us for the day and kept our spirits high and our minds off Julies eminent departure with interesting stories about life in Uganda and romance and the like. We also met Denis later for dinner and more laughter and debates over the best soda’s etc...
We do miss you Julie if you are reading this...

Kampala, Uganda

Well it was back to the bus station to find our way to Kampala, but on this occasion the kind Mr Bertin came with us and needless to say we were in and out in 5 mins and didn’t pay Mzungu prises!!! We were also pleasantly surprised that we actually arrived in Kampala ahead of our estimated arrival time: wonders will never cease...
Believe it or not but the countryside of Uganda reminded me of home, green fields that seemed to go on forever, marked out by stone walls and ditches lining the road, it was a little surreal but very enjoyable.

As we were early our dear friend Denis was not yet there to pick us up but the bus conductors were genuinely really helpful and let us use their phone to call Denis and let him know we had arrived a far cry from the nightmare that was Dar Es Salamn. Denis arrived a couple of mins later and like a true gentleman helped carry our bags to the white jeep where his friend was waiting to drive us to our hostel. We had finally arrived in Uganda, Kampala and were again reunited with our good friend Denis. We were grining like Cheshire cats as we drove through Kampala and the boys pointed out the various places of interest such as McKerere University (the biggest and best university in East Africa) and the many slums... We arrived at our hostel a short time later and were gob smacked to find Denis had organised a triple room with 3 double beds, a full size mirror, wardrobes, desks and tables and lets not forget the hot showers with actual pressure just down the hall... Oh and facilities where we could get to hand washing our clothes – life was good, no life was great (”,)
We arranged with Denis to meet early the next morning to go and visit UYDEL the NGO that we were going to be working with and we couldn’t wait to get stuck into a new project – after nearly 2 weeks of being idle we were more than ready to start working...

UYDEL – Ugandian Youth Developement Link is a really well organised NGO dealing with youths between 10 and 24 who have been involved in Commercial Sex Work, child trafficking, chil labour drug and substance abuse. The organisation focuses on given these young people vocational skills such as hairdressing, catering skills, mechanic’s, capentry, engineering in order to empower them to be able to support themselves and become productive members of society, while also providing them with councilling and BCC (Behaviour Change Communication). In many cases UYDEL also resettle the kids with their families and speak to community leaders to facilitate a positive response from the community when they return rehabilitated especially in the case of CSW’s.

Kigali

Well we stayed in the St Famille hostel as recommended by Mr. Bertin. It was very basic, owned by the nuns and well felt like a convent to be honest but there was hot water so we decided to stay... To be fare it was also in a great location and it was really cheap.

Rwanda is the land of a thousand hills... It is green and hilly and gorgeous but it has a harsh history...

The centre of Kigalii is very Western, 24 hour shopping markets, cafes with Wi-Fi
modern conveniences, to be honest it didn’t even feel much like Africa but a 30 min walk down the hill and the contrast was stark. The poverty was apparent and it was really the first place where I was always conscious of where I had my bag/ valuables...

As we arrived on the Thursday of Easter weekend everything was closed from Friday to Sunday so we spent quite a bit of time just arsing around. There was a lot of time spent in Bourbon coffee eating, drinking and surfing the web. On Sunday we went to Mass in St Famille church just beside the hostel, it’s a Catholic church filled to the rafters for 3 services in a row each no less than 2 hours long. It was an interesting experience, with some familiarity and some aspects a little alien like the language, the mass baptism in the middle of mass, more singing and clapping than we would be used to but altogether quite enjoyable, or at least it didn’t feel like 2 hours 15mins...

On Monday Bertin picked us up and brought us to the main genocide museum and then a church which was the sight of a mass murder and had since been made into a memorial site. The museum was very well set up with a really informative insight into the history of the genocide: when and how it started and the true atrocities that were carried out during that time. The reality of the horror was palpable in the museum especially as a group of Rwandans’ from outside of Kigali passed through while we were there and a number of the women were visible and audible very upset by the very vivid illustrations of what they and they families had experienced during the genocide.

Some of the most horrifying facts I learned about the genocide were;
People seeking refuge in their churchs were welcomed into the church but then the church leaders invited the perpetrators of the genocide to come and find their victims. In many cases the clergy were witnessed to aid the perpetrators in beating, killing and raping those who had sought refuge.

Another form of torture was where men known to be HIV positive were specifically chosen to rape women and this is one way in which people are continuing to suffer today.

In many cases were told how the victims would be attacked and have a limb chopped off and then they would be left to suffer and then their torturer would return a few hours later and cut off another limb – this slow agonizing approach to torturing their victims was stomach turning. In fact some victims paid their killers to use a bullet, effectively paying to be killed in a more humane manner and still it was not guaranteed.

Those who refused to take part in the bloodshed were made victims and so the blood shed continued.
1million men, women and children were killed in 100 days while the rest of the world did nothing.
There were some brave souls who hide people in their houses but they were few and far between and when caught they suffered the same faiths as those they were trying to protect.

The most impressive part of my visit was to learn that there is no residual hatred between the people of Rwanda - everyone is Rwandan and that is how they are rebuilding their country. But the bloodshed has left a lot of orphans 6 of whom Bertin is supporting through school, along with his own 4 children and 1 grand child.

24hour bus trip from Dar to Kigali

Well the bus journey started out a bit rocky with us having to jump out of Mr Alpa’s taxi, grab our bags and run across the busy road in search of our bus in the hectic bus station in Dar. We found our bus paid the balance for our tickets and proceeded in trying to store our bags under the bus and get to our seats. This was where we first met the man we came to know as Chubs. Chubs appeared behind us at the bus stop informing us that we had to pay an additional 10,000 TnSh per bag that we wanted to store in the boot of the bus... we tried to argue but given the time and our tired state we paid him 25,000TnSh for the three bags and went to get on the bus. We were shown to three seats down the back of the bus, 2 beside each other in the back row and 1 just in front. We settled ourselves in and I was glad to find that everyone seemed to have their own seat, there were no baskets of fruit being passed back and there was no livestock on board so my fears of a 24hr dala ride were alleviated, thankfully...

Our frustration at having had to pay more for our bags were further confounded when we looked at our tickets and saw that we had been charged more than what it said on our receipt – the life of a Mzungu in Africa – people see money signs rather than people... In their defence though a fully qualified teacher here gets paid less than $80/ €50 a month which is what we would spend on average night out at home!
We stopped every 2-3 hours for toilette/ smoke breaks along the journey but we only got out at every other stop. Mostly we dozed or looked out at the changing scenery of Tanzania and tried to ignore Chubs who had made up a make shift bed in the isle of the bus right by us and spent many hours fondling his girlfriend who happened to be sitting beside Julie...

The journey that was supposed to last 24 hours turned into 36 not alone due to the 6hour stay in one bus park due to regulations which prohibit bus drivers to drive between the hours of 11.10 pm and 5.30 am... But despite the discrepancy in the timing and the additional charges the journey was pretty smooth and unexpectedly easy... We also met a number of interesting characters along the way including;
The engineering student from Brundi who was travelling home for the Easter holidays
The business man from the Congo who though Ireland was a great country because there is no war, people have security and a good standard of living basically all the things we take for granted...

And finally the Rwandian professor – our knight in shining armour. We starting talking on the boarder as we crossed over to Rwanda and he gave us the name of a good hostel in Kigali, directed us to the best person to change our money with and explained what the customs officers were doing checking all the bags. He even made arrangements with another passenger to make sure the taxi driver didn’t over charge us to get to the hostel as he was getting out at an earlier stop. He even gave us his contact details and told us to call him if we had any problems, in fact as he was on annual leave he offered to take us to the Genocide museums.

I just wante to let ye know I arivd in Kampala and Denis met us at the
bus station. The hostel is really nice there are three of us in one
room but its really big and we all have like double beds, plus there
is hot water and we were able to get a load of washing done today - mam
would be proud of my new found hand washing skills....

We visited the offices of our new project this morning and it seems
really well organised and really interesting.
Its for youths between 10 and 24 who are from disadvantaged
backgrounds, or are infected or have been affected by HIV/AIDS, also
child soldiers and those involved in the sex industry or have been
abucted/trafficed and then used as sex slaves or in child labour.
The only thing is that they might not peak much english but I'm really
excited about the whole project.
Kampala seems nice a middle ground between Moshi and Kigali which is
nice, and I will get to cook our own meal for the first time since I
left home tonight - I am actually really looking forward to it...
OK time is just abot up so I have to run but will try and update everyone again soon...

Over night Ferry from Zanzibar to Dar

As it came time for us to move on from our air conditioned room in the White Sands Hotel and head for an overnight ferry to Dar Es Salamn, we knew we leaving luxury behind and heading for the unknown. We of course went for the cheap tickets on the ferry – seats but no mattresses... We were pleasantly surprised when we were shown to our deck though, it was air conditioned with a television and reasonable leg room however it soon became clear that the matreses were worth the extra €5... The ferry left the dock at 9.30 – 10am and arrived in Dar at 6am so it was a relatively long night moving between chairs to the bare floor to try and ascertain some form of comfort and at least a little sleep... On arrival at Dar it lived up to its name of being busy, with lots of venders trying to sell you everything from biscuits to taxi’s, but we were lucky in finding Mr. Alpha who would be our guide and taxi driver to the city for the 24 hours that we would stay there. We went to check into the YMCA at about 7am and waited around the cafeteria till 11.30 when our room was finally ready. As I was all stuffed up and basically feeling miserable I slept for about 20 of the 2 hours we spent in the Dar. The girls went to check out buses to Kigali while I slept in the room and when they returned they had already bought the bus tickets for the next morning at 6am and had no desire to spend any longer in Dar than was absolutely necessary. Our evening did improve however as we discovered the Holiday Inn across from the YMCA which was like a little slice of heaven... A completely modern, air conditioned hotel with actual menu’s and fancy dinning room – it was like we had stepped through a vortex into a parallel universe where all the best in Western cuisine had found its way to Tanzania. I had the best tomato and pesto pasta of my life, as well as a cold coca cola and a huge chocolate brownie with ice-cream for dessert. It was pure indulgence and it was wonderful.

The next morning Mr. Alpha picked us up at 5.15am to take us to the bus stop for the next le of our journey...

Zanzibar

Well we decided to splash out on one last flight before we resigned to our faith of spending literally days travelling by bus... But true to form Julie and I along with our other travel buddies almost missed our flight... We were sitting in the lounge sipping our coffee with the screen saying our flight wasn’t due to take off for another half hour when a flight attendant came running up the stairs asking where we were going. We calmly told her Zanzibar and that’s when we realised they had been calling our names over the inter com for about 20 Min's and the plane was just about to start off down the run way... Oops

The flight was delightful – a 40min journey where we got free drinks and cashew nuts – Precision Air all the way.

On arrival in Zanzibar the heat hit us as we got off the plane and we could understand why the locals always shivered when we said we had come from Moshi...
Zanzibar is an island apart – completely different to mainland Tanzania in architecture, rhythm, language and people but it is stunning. We spent a few days in Stone Town and went on a spice tour on the first day and got to taste all their local fruits and spices directly off the tree’s or from the ground – like ginger, cloves, banana’s, grapefruits and much more... We also got to sample some of their home grown coffee beans and curry powders... I also got to taste Zanzibar pizza in the gardens in Stone Town which offered an array of food stalls from fish fresh out of the water and crepe’s with nutella and banana fillings – really cheap and unexpectedly cheap...

Following stone Town we moved North to Kwenda for a few days on the white sandy beaches of Zanzibar. These were easily the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen with the warm water of the Indian oceans lapping up on their shores. Although it was very beautiful and relaxing I did get itchy feet after a day on the beach and went in search of something a little bit more adventurous than sun bathing and found a number of dive centers on the coast... After speaking to a few of the guy’s I settled with the Spanish Dancers to do my 3-4 day open water diving course. Although I’ve never been scared of the water I did find myself unprepared for the experience of breathing under water. I got a bit panicked on the first day with completing some of the really basic skills but once I got out in the open water on the 2nd day and could see the underwater life in all its glory I quickly forgot any concerns I had... day 2 wa therefore far more successful and on day 3 I got to go to Nwemba Island about an hour off the west coast of Zanzibar where I was literally swimming in waters surrounded by hundreds of different types of fish. The one that sticks out in my mind the most was a trigger fish about the size of a football and in no way afraid of us... The final day I sat my exams but as I woke up with a head cold I was not in a position to do any deep dives, as I couldn’t equalise effectively and found myself in a lot of discomfort at only 3metres! My instructor Allan, from the States, was very pleased with me though by the end especially considering my dodgy start... So I’m now fully qualified and can’t wait to go on a dive just for fun without having to complete any tasks like removing my equipment under water and then putting it back on again, taking off my mask and then replacing it and expelling all the water from it etc etc etc... So if anyone is planning any diving trip in the near future let me know what the deal is...

Kessy Brothers Tours
6 Days 5 Nights Kilimanjaro Trek
Kilimanjaro
6 day climb to the summit of the highest mountain n Africa and the tallest free standing mountain in the world was definitely the most physically demanding thing I have ever done.


Day 1: Macahme camp
After breakfast in the hostel with your picnic lunch boxes drive to Machame gate (alt. 1800m), the drive takes 30-40mins. Start the hike through the rainforest for about 5 to 6 hours to reach Machame camp(alt. 3000m) for dinner and overnight.
On day 1 we were picked up from the hostel at 9am and went to Kessy Brothers office to pick up our guides and cook . We also met a fourth person who was going to be climbing with us, a young guy from England who was on his gap year and doing some volunteer work in Moshi. We took off from the office and headed for the mountain stopping to pick up our packed lunch and to buy some supplies for the final push to the summit of the mountain.
After getting to the entrance of the Kilimanjaro national park, paying the fee’s and using the last western toilettes we would see for the foreseeable future we started our hike, day packs on our backs and poles in hand. The porters had our rug sacks, tents, food, table and chairs on their backs/ heads!!! We hiked for 6 hours through the rainforest on the first day, stopping about halfway to have our crisp burger packed lunch which two of our party quickly threw back up! Our young English friend was one and he also felt dizzy which was quite worrying considering it was day one and altitude wasn’t even a factor yet... We trudged along in the rain for the final hour or so and were very glad to finally arrive at our campsite. With our tents already erected and hot drinks being prepared in the mesh tent we quickly changed out of the wet clothes and sat down to some warm tea and a 3 course dinner. We had survived our first day, only 5 to go...


Day2: Shira/Camp
After breakfast with your packed lunch start ascend to shira camp which takes 3 to 4 hours. This is the day when you end the forest just 10 to 15 mins from machame hut thereafter you walk in the Moorland. If sky is clear you have a clear view of mount Meru, Kibo peak and also the village down the mountain. Dinner and overnight at Shira camp (alt 3840m).



Day 2 we got up ate a 3 course breakfast of porridge, fruit, eggs and toast along with tea/ coffee... We left camp 30mins late at 8.30 and started our second days hike. Day 2 was more of a rock climbing experience. It was a shorter day by half but required hands and feet at the ready to pull ourselves up over rocks, along ridges and around caves. It was a lot more demanding and enjoyable than day 1. I was behind Joe our head guide for most of the day so i could follow his footsteps but he has very long legs so it was often easier said than done.
On arrival to camp our young English friend was still struggling and went straight to the tent to lie down and sleep. We had some hot tea and lunch at the camp and rested for about 2 hours before Joe came along to ask us if we were ready to go on an acclimatization walk... 3 of us got up and headed off for an hour long stroll over to the nearby rescue team camp, took in the views and then mossied back to camp for dinner. Again a 3 course meal with plenty of good food, Joe came in after to give us our nightly briefing for the next day and then we went to our beds in preparation for the next day.

Day 3: Baranco Camp
After breakfast with your picnic lunch start the ascend to Baranco camp which takes 5 to 6 hours, but in this day its important to have an acclimitization walk, then you have to hike to Lava tower (alt. 4600m) then down to Baranco camp (alt. 3940m) for dinner and over night.Day 3 was a steady incline through alpine dessert for about 6-7 hours. The acclimitization walk was built into the track today, but we were more than a little peeved by the hike down the mountain in order to go back up and then down again to camp. It was the first day where I literally thought we would not make it to camp. Going down was actually more difficult than going up. Our English friend lagged quite a ways behind feeling sick and requiring more breaks so the group was split and Joe took us on while our second guide Paul stayed behind. This was the first evening where Joe expressed his concerns to us about the English boy and asked us to speak to him and see how he was doing. We had asked him if he thought we could make it and he said he was 98% sure we would but he was concerned for Big A(English boy). A s I was sharing the tent with him I chatted to Big A later that night, and was more than a little concerned by the fact that he didn’t seem to understand how dangerous the altitude sickness could be, and that his nausea, dizziness, tiredness etc were all symptoms of altitude sickness which is caused by the brain not getting enough oxygen... He was still persistent in wanting to keep climbing though so all i could advise him was to let the guides know exactly how he was feeling and take their advise.

Day 4: Barafu Camp
After breakfast start the ascend through the Alpine desert to Barafu camp. You will have hot lunch short break thereafter take some walk to at least 200m higher. Dinner and overnight at Barafu camp (alt.4600).Day 4 – The Breakfast Wall – so called because people usually lose their breakfast while climbing it... This was basically a vertical rock climb for a solid 2 hours... We had all been worried about it since the day before when Joe told us about it but when it came to it, it was actually quite enjoyable. We all made it to the top and were very happy with ourselves. We took some time to sit relax and enjoy the views, safe in the knowledge that the worst for today was already behind us – Oh boy were we wrong...
After the breakfast wall we had a further 5 hours of hiking to go 2.5 hours to our lunch venue, and then a further 2.5 after this to camp. And this was no easy walk in the park, we were hiking up and down and crossing streams and hiking up again. By the time we were getting to our lunch venue we met a few of the porters leaving camp to head back to Big A because Paul had called for some assistance to help him get to the camp. This was obviously very worrying. We ate lunch and waited for him to arrive and when he did he wasn’t in good shape. He was taken into another mesh tent which had heat and medical personnel. It turned out he was suffering from hypothermia, fluid in the lungs and exhaustion and had to be stretchered off the mountain immediately. We went in to see him and wish him good luck and although he was obviously not in good shape, it was clear he was in good hands and he would be alright.
We on the other hand had to continue to our next camp up and down, up and down over the mountain. Big A wasn’t far from our thoughts on this hike but we had to keep going.
Day 4 finished at approximately 9pm that night giving us approx 2 hours sleep before we had to get up at 11pm and start day 5.


Day 5: Barafu + Summit midnight/ Mweka camp
After a cup of tea / coffee with some bites around midnight start ascends to the summit which takes 5-6 hours. Pole pole (slowly slowly) is highly recommended. At the time around sunrise you will be at the summit Uhuru Peak (5895m). After a short break for summit celebrations descend to Barafu camp for lunch, short break then procede to Mweka camp (alt. 3000m) for dinner and overnight.Day 5 – left camp at 12 midnight for a night time hike to the summit, wrapped up in about 6 layers of clothes in preparation for the snow capped mountain – hot water in our drinking bottles to avoid having frozen water bottles at the top. Sweets and biscuits in our pockets to eat as we climbed to the summit to keep our sugar levels up, hats, scarves, balaclava’s, gloves all present and correct, poles in hands, head lamps on and away we went... Climbing over rocks, up gravel paths, through snowy patches, trying to avoid stopping as this would allow our body temperature to drop... Julie was quite dizzy though and needed to stop more frequently in order to regain her balance and as I was freezing every time we stopped Joe decided it was time to split the group again, so Amanda and I went ahead with Joe while Mattiss stayed with Julie and they were then free to stop as required. It was a long gruelling 8 hour hike to the summit but we made it. I think one of the things that helped was thinking I could see a tent in the distance where we would be able to go in and have a cup of tea and warm up. Unfortunetly everytime we seemed to be getting closer to these elusive tents they disappeared...We did make it to the summit for sun rise though and it was pretty spectacular, sitting above the clouds, it was like being in an aeroplane but we were on land – incredible.

Unfortunately after hiking to the summit we then had to turn around and hike right back down again which was no joke... We basically ended up skiing down the gravel mountain top, Joe in the middle with Julie and I on either side literally skiing down the mountain. It was a hell of a lot quicker but we did have a few dodgy moments and there was one point when I just had to walk away from Joe and say “no – I’m too tired!!!” He of course came along again a few mins later with Julie on one arm and we continued on down the mountain... it took us 2 hours to come down the path it had taken 8 hours to climb – we were greeted by many congratulations at camp and some juice which really hit the spot... And then we went to sleep for about 1.5 hours before we were called for lunch and thereafter had to hike a further 6 hours down to our next camp site – which again I literally thought we’d never see. It was easily the most physically challenging thing I have ever done but I did do it and while I’m not volunteering to do it again I definitely don’t regret doing it.
Day 6: Mweka gate/ Moshi
After breakfast start the descend through the rainforest to Mweka gate which takes 2 to 3 hours. There you will catch a waiting car ready to drive you back to the hostel in Moshi.
The final day was a relatively easy hike down but I did find it more difficult because my boots were not very comfortable and I did get more blisters on this day than the rest of the trip... All I could do was console my feet by thinking of the long walks I’ll be taking on the beaches of Zanzibar next week... I eventually stopped trying to keep up with Joe and just hung back with Mattiss talking about mushrooms, safari’s, and spotting the animals in the rainforest as we walked through...
Aside: On the fourth day we passed one part of the mountain which had the most perfect flat stones for skipping across water and it reminded me of being at Granny’s when we were small and skipping the slate on the canal...
I have the certificate and the photographs and a few more stories from the mountain that I’ll share with whoever wants when I get home. I am now quite accomplished in using the African toilets and finding good alternatives when toilets are not available!!!


End of Trek – I now think I might be able to run a marathon (with a little bit of training of course!!!)

Climbing Killimanjaro TOMORROW

OK, so we went to pick out our equipment yesterday for the big climb so I basicly took everything they offered and then some!!! But yes the nerves are starting to kick in as I am going climbing the highest free standing mountain in the world in less than 24 hours with virtually no prior preparation...
Yes I may have been temporarily insane when I decided to pay to put myself through inevitable torture and it will be a miracle if I actually make it to the summit and then get back down the mountain in one piece but on the up-side I will have a porter to carry my bags and apparently the food is supposed to be really good so there's the silver lining...
AAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Ok people you can most definitely start praying and lighting candles for us and God willing I'll be back on the blog next Wednesday with a detailed account of how my entire body is in agony but it was worth it... (I Hope!!!)
Love Maura

Only 3 sleeps left to Killi...

Safari

Safari
So the entire safari was soooo amazing I don’t think I can put it in words so I’m going to let some of my pictures do the talking...
Day 1 we left our hostel at 9.00 and headed for Lake Manyara about a 4 hour drive away. We were pretty comfy in our safari jeep though, 3 Canadians, our guide Simbo, our cook Omari, Julie and I. We got to our campsite at about 1 o’clock had a huge lunch and headed out for our first game drive around Lake Manyara. Omari stayed behind to get started on dinner.
The following are just a few of the things we saw;

The baboons in Lake Manyara busy with their daily cleaning...

In this photo Daniel is on the left and Sarah on the right or at least their elephant cousins of the same age!!!


A papa baboon just taking a rest... kinda reminds me of Grandad sitting by the fire in the old house...


The Hippo’s hanging out in the pool for the day as they do everyday – thats my kinda life...



Day 2/3 – We set off from our campsite at about 9.30 and head for the Serengeti...
I should point out at this stage that breakfast was like a 3 course meal – you all know I love my food and I could find no fault with any of the food on safari...

This is just as proof that I am in Tanzania and not completely burnt to a crisp yet!!!


Our first view of Ngoragora crater – breathtaking...


Fact there are no giraffe’s in Ngoragora as there is no vegetation for them.

Hyena – in the grass just taking it easy – they scavangers and generally live off the left overs of other hunters...

Ya the lions in the Serengeti were kinda dirty...



Pride Rock and yes Simbo did play the circle of life from the Lion King!!!




The Blue Balled monkey was a crowd pleasure...

The Leopard – only 3 in 10 safari’s get to see the leopard so we were very lucky(“,)


No its not just floating shite – its a crocodile...

One of the baboons who spent Monday afternoon trying to steal supplies from the kitchen in the Serengeti campsite...


On our way from the Serengeti to the Ngoragora campsite we actually saw a part of the wildebeast migration - literally thousands of them as far as the eye could see in both directions...


The view from our campsite on the edge of the Ngoragora Crater... Spectacular
So Ngoragora is basically a closed ecosystem the animals can leave if they want but they generally don’t and who could blame them. It is a myth that elephants come here to die.

Sunrise at the Ngoragora crater just before we were the first to drive down into the crater








This is how close we were, but they had just eaten so we were safe enough...

One of this guys cousins spent the previous night outside our tent along with several wild boar... It was an interesting night but not a restful one!!!


The elephants definitely won my heart on this safari.
In fact did you know that elephants;
1. Are the 4th most intelligent animal after the human, dolphin and gorilla
2. The can recognise their own reflection
3. The can recognise their family by their ears
4. They have a sensor between their ears and eyes wich allows them to communicate with each other at huge distances on a frequency we can’t hear
5. They can play football
And the list goes on... I love them


The hippo’s lake in Ngoragora... Spectacular


Our last view of Ngoragora and the start of our homeward journey marking the end of our safari, but it is a trip I will never forget...

PS I had linked all the phot's up with the comments but unfortunetly things didn't quite work out but I hope this at least gives you an idea of what I'm doing...

Well had a bit of a reality check in school today when we learned that at least a couple of our kids are HIV positive, 4 - 6 year olds who get though how to wash themselves properly in a classroom and have probable not even heard of HIV.
Its a scary reality...

Well we got a little brave yesterday and decided to get the dala dala home on our own yesterday... It was also the first ride where we had to stand which was alright except it made it difficult for us to see out the window to make sure we wee going in the right direction. So we realised after about 20mins on the dala dala that we were going a completely different route to normal. We were driving down back alley's between houses and down dead end when the dala dala got stuck in a hole so we all had to get out so the driver could get out of the hole!!! Unfortunetly the driver didn't wait for us to get back on before he took off again, well actually Julie managed to get back on but was kicked off again and then the dala dala took off So there we were in the middle of a neightbourhood we didn't know and no idea how to get out of it. We didn't of course admit this to one of the girls who had come with us to the school, because she was paniced enough as it was... We had seen a familar site about 10mins before the break down, on an actual road, so we headed back to there and about an hour and a few mins later we were sitting pretty exhausted in the coffee shop... On the up side we weren't charged for the dala, and we were only half an hour later back to town than we usually would be!

Before we actually mad it to the coffee shop though we did have a near miss with a runaway wheel which had gotten away from its owner who was wheeling it down the road. And don't be mistaken this was a massive tractor wheel which ended up dimolishing a wooden bench which happened to get in its way - luckily though nobody was sitting on the bench at the time so nobody was injuried...

After this dramatic day we retired to the hostel, showered and relaxed for the evening with a game of scrabble and some random conversations about how German people have a reputation for steeling all the Swedish signs abouit reindeer!!! And all was well with the world untill we started locking down our tent for the night and a snake skin rolled out of Julie's window cover. I'll be honest this gave me more of a scare than being lost in the middle of nowhere with no idea how to get home... I have been quoted as saying - I'm Irish I don't deal with snakes...

We did sleep in the tent though and as I'm here to tell the tail I think we're safe enough but I'll keep ye up-dated if there are any actual sightings...

As for today we have just gotten back into town after another 1.5 hour walk home - but today it was by choice. Myself and Julie have decided it might be wise to actually do a little bit of training for Killi so we are going to try walking home from school everyday. We were a little unprepared for the 36degree celcius temperatures today so we may end up a little red in the face, arms and legs but hopefully we'll survive and tomorrow we'll be better!!!

I tried uploading some photo's but I don't think it has worked so I'll try again later in the week...

Only 3 more sleeps till we go on Safari...

Hope everyone is well at home - let me know,

Love Maura

Picture 1 = View from our tent!
Picture 2 = Me with the kids from the Maasai village
Picture 3 = The Kids in the Maasai village trying on their new clothes!!!