The trip back to Pembroke

Our final day in Kilifi was very relaxed, with us quickly heading into Kilifi for lunch, and then going to the beach. This particular beach is a private beach heading out to sea. Tristan is good family friend with the family who live there, and they kindly let us spend the afternoon there. However, this is no ordinary beach. The only way onto this beach is through a man made tunnel from the house, down to the beach. Fortunately, they had some bodyboards, and the waves picked up, so we went for a bit of a surf which was great. The only danger with this beach is that there are no other beaches for miles around, so if you get caught by the tide and swept along the shoreline, you can get into a bit of trouble, as i found out!
The final evening consisted of a quick creek swim with james, before we rushed off to backpackers to watch some of the england game. To get there, we got a piki (motorbike), and rushed off. I was told the previous night that the rugby would be on, but typically, it wasn't! so we hopped back on the piki to go back home, via getting some choma!
The next morning was an early one, having to wake up at 3:30 to catch our flight back to nairobi from mombasa. The contrast between the train and plane couldn't be more stark. The flight took us 45 mins, and because I had pre booked my seat, I had extra legroom, with no seat in front of me! Safe to say, it was a pleasant journey. As soon as we arrived, we got a taxi from the airport to Junction, which is one of the largest malls in Nairobi, and is situated near Karen, which is the nicer part of Nairobi. Here, there was a Subway, which was a huge treat, and the largest Nakumat (supermarket) I had ever seen.
We had planned to get the school bus back to Pembroke from Karen in Nairobi, so we left about 30 mins to get there. However, we hadn't predicted the Nairobi traffic, and because we took a mutatu, and not a piki, it took us far longer than expected. We had also been told that they wouldn't wait for us, as the children needed to be back for evening chapel. So not only did we not know the exact location of the bus, but also we were stuck in a jam. Fortunately, we caught the school bus coming out of the drive having already left.
It's a lot quieter at Pembroke with George having left, however, it's nice to be back in a strange way. My bed has never felt more comfortable having slept of the floor all week with a broken mosi net!

Big game against Turi today at home.

See y'all later peeps

H

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Kilifi half term

For half term, we're staying a Tristan's aunts house, in the kilifi plantation. Upon arriving at the plantation, we found out that before entering the plantation, one has to get out of the car and dip their feet in spit with wool and disinfectant. This is to reduce the likelyhood of foot and month entering the plantation. I would put a lot of money on not very many people actually dunking their feet, as I never do (rebel). Tristan's other aunt and uncle live 200m away, where they have their own school. This is also very convenient as they have a jetty onto the creek, where one can just!p in and go swimming. We have done this numerous time during sundowners, which is magical with the sun setting behind the palm trees. Theres also no one around you for miles. The only people you'll see is local fishermen on their wooden canoes.
The last couple of nights, we've headed into backpackers lodge for a couple of drinks. Here, there are about 20 other backpackers, who we all met yesterday at lunch with tom Haynes (Etonian who has a house out here). James and George had no idea he was out here, but we bumped into him at backpackers on Wednesday night, following a frustrating 2-0 loss to baryn Munich. We've been watching the arsenal games at this local bar in kilifi which is great fun, as arsenal is so passionately following in Kenya. There must have been at least 70 locals are n this bar watching the footy. George is a huge fan, and expresses his feelings about the game for everyone to see, which many found to be very amusing!
So anyway, we had lunch with tom yesterday, at his mansion by the beach. I've never been to such an amazing house, especially in Kenya. It had an infinity pool, hundreds of high palm trees and blinding white sand and baby blue sea to top it all off. Words can't express how nice it was. Following lunch, he then invited everyone to go out on his speed boat and another guys boat, to do some waterskiing, followed by sundowners on the boats. We found a small, deserted beach and chilled there, whilst the pros had a go waterskiing. They were incredible. 3 of them are instrusters, so its kinda understandable, but wow. After waterskiing, we tied the two boats together and had a party in the middle of the estuary. One of the most magical things about the kilifi estuary,is the plankton at night. as soon as it gets dark, you're able to see the glow in the dark plankton. They only become glow in the dark when you move the water. So when you jump in and have a swim, everything around you lights up. Its like being in avatar. This same thing happens on backpackers beach. When you walk along the wet sand, the sand around your feet glows up. Its great fun to run along the beach! Entertainment for hours on end!
Sadly, George left this morning to go back to gilgil and wee his family, before heading off to SA for 2 months. A great loss. Nonetheless, the party goes on!

See you all later

H

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The train and kilifi

Half term started on froday  for us, with the illustrious book day taking place. This is a day when everyone (including the teachers) dresses up as their favourite book character. As many of you know, I'm not much of a book conesiour, so I opted in being harry potter. It was a fun day, with lots of activities, including blowing up things in the science lab with Hetty and raikes, but we were all looking forward to getting our taxi out of pembroke and get into Nairobi for the train!
It was a bit of a stressful taxi journey getting to the station, with traffic and hail getting involved, but we managed to get there in time for the 7pm train to Mombasa. However, i t turned out that the train was delayed for 4 hours, so we eventually got going at 11pm. The train itself is an old colonial sleeper train, and hasn't been refurbished since it was built. Therefore, it was inevitable that things might not work. We were warned beforehand that the train often breaks down with multiple delays, but fortunately the train only stopped twice, due to trains ahead of it breaking down. The amazing thing about this though, was that you could hop out when it stops and walk along the line, and meet new people. We had only scary moment when Tristan thought he saw the train drover hop back in his seat when we were outside, so we thought we might be left behind, and so ran as fast as possible to our door! Fortunately it was a false alarm!
The train itself was very comfortable indeed, with 4 man compartments. We also got supper and breakfast included in the price, which we found to not be quite to the same standard as Pembroke! Nonetheless, we scoffed it down. We eventually arrived into Mombasa at 4 pm the next day.. As soon as we got into Mombasa, it felt as if you were in a different country all together, with mosques, Arabic writing, burkas, and other very Muslim concepts. I certainly didn't think I was in Kenya! However, its the most amazing city, being the second largest in Kenya.
We finally arrived in kilifi at 8pm having taken a taxi, and had to immediately pitch our tents for the following week. Sadly, mine was broken, so am staying in to comfort of inside! Its a beautiful house in the kilifi plantation, with a pool and campfire. We're staying in the granny's house next to the aunts house (on the same premises).

H

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SO MUCH TO TELL

Woah, didn't see you there. How you all doing?
The last couple of days have been hectic. Lets start with Friday night. Friday night was burns night, which meant scottish reeling (of course). This took place in the club, and for some bizarre reason, Lelia (a teacher) had the impression I knew all the dances, and what to do. How wrong she was. It was a great night, and two other gaps from a primary school near nakuru came along. They were both scottish, and in classic scottish style, got absolutely trollied..deary me. And as this is of a PG content, I will refrain from mention what happened to one of them....more than chunder. Lovely chaps though.
Then to Saturday. After a long day doing activities and games, I was asked to go camping with the year 4s down in the Forestry. Here, we played loads of outdoor gaems, like German Spotlight and 40/40in. The BBQs here are incredible and include steak and amazing garlic bread (no idea how they do it). Following the BBQ, we told "scary" stories around the camp fire, some of which were rather twisted for 9 year olds! Probably the bestr bit was when the kids went off to sleep, and some other teacher came down and we drank around the fire with some tunes. The gang included Paddy, Jimbo, Super, Natasha, Vicky and her friend, and Katie Aung. What a team.
Sunday was just as eventful, with me having to wake up early (hanging), and hop on the bus to Greensteds for swimming training. I thought I was asked to come out of irony, as I myself am appalling at swimming! Nonetheless, I went along and shouted my lungs out. Sadly no records were broken, but it was a good session. Greensteds in a school 40 mins from Pembroke, and has a 25m pool with 6 lanes, whereas pembroke only has a 20m pool with 4 lanes. Thats why we went there for training...  We got back for lunch, and after lunch, I went for a walk up sundowner rock with the kids for the afternoon activities. This was surprisingly tiring in the heat, especially when you're carrying 20 glass bottles of soda on your back. However, it was a lovely walk with Tills, Rachael, Fred and Billy. In the evening, Jack Chat decided to take George, James and myself to a restaurant in Gilgil called Frecies. Here, I had a lovely steak and chips, with a soda on the side. This was especially nice, as supper at school was Pembroke pasta (leftovers from the previous week). It was also a great opportunity to get a feeling of Gilgil in the evening.
Nothing exciting happened of Monday, which was a bit of a null day to be honest. However, last night we decided to head out to gilgil yet again and go for some njama choma (meat). We went for 2kg of goat, and 2kg of beef. It was such a cool place, where they cut up your meat on your table, and you pick chuncks of meat off the chopping board, with a side order of chips. It was extremely chewy, and juicy. The amazing thing about njama choma is the price attacted to it. our whole bill came to 350 shillings each (about 2.75 in the UK), and this is for a meal with chips, and a drink. Not bad hey? This is why we're hoping to head back there tonight as it wwill be the last time George can have it, as he's leaving Kenya in 2 weeks (sad face).
We played Greensteds and Hillcrest in a traingular tournament, and easily won, of course.

Only two days till half term and the coast!

H

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Naivasha Trip - Exeat (Day Three)

Hi All,

The third of the three days was our trip to Mount Longonot. We set off at 6am at sun rise, as to not drive in the dark. We were all very excited to get up there and conquer the mighty beast that is Mt. Long. However, we didn't have any idea what to expect of the day...how long it would take, how tough it would be, and therefore, what we should take. We had a bit of a blunder, as we thought we'd be done by lunch time, and therefore didn't bring any food. Jodie was our saviour, as she has fortunately brought some passion fruit and a couple of sweets. This also meant that we didn't bring nearly enough water. Both james and tristian thought it would be clever to bring NO water at all! Tristian didn't even have a backpack...genius! I think we had 6 litres of water between the 6 of us...not nearly enough for a 5 hour hike in 35 degree heat, and not a cloud in sight!
Climbing Mt Longonot is a three stage process. Firstly, you need to get up to the rim of the crater, which takes about an hour, and is extremely steep, and tiring with only sand under foot. Once you've got to the top, you can them walk the circumference of the mountain, which is 8km, and took us 4/5 hours. This is because there is another assent, to the summit of the mountain, as seen in the pictures. To give you some context, we had ran out of water before we got half way around the rim of the mountain! Fortunately, we came accross this asian coulpe, who noticed we were struggling, and they kindly gave George a 2 litre bottle of water - life savers..literally. Fortunately, none of us fainted, even though george did have a quick nap for a minute mid-assent!
I'd definitely say this was my greatest physical achievement so far in my life...much more challenging than the cycle ride.It was an amazing thing to do...worth the 30 dollars entry fee!
After our climb, we quickly rushed back to Pembroke, but had a bit of a sticky moment. Between Naivasha and Gilgil, there is an old toll gate, which is patrolled by police occasionally. In Kenya, they are very strict on seatbelts, and because there was 6 of us. we had 4 in the back. As we approached the gate, we tried to look an innocent as possible, but having passed the gate, we were waved over by a policemen. If you are caught, and white, they immedieately think money. Fortunately though, he was waving at a truck behing! If we were caught, it would have been 5,00 pounds fine, and imprisonment for the driver (george). We were very lucky!

I'll try and post daily from now on. Been particularly bad this week!

H

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Naivasha Trip - Exeat (Day Two)

Hi All,

Day two of this epic exeat adventure entailed a more relaxing day. Having previously visited Simba Lodge with his brother, George recommended we visit it, and spend the day there. At Simba Lodge, there's a swimming pool, which was the main attraction, as our shower was both a shower and a long drop combined! So we chilled at Simba all morning to mid afternoon.. Just before we left, we went to explore the lodge and the lake, to find both zebra and giraffe less than 10m away from us. was utterly surreal.
Following Simba, we headed down to Lake Oserian, which is the sister lake to naivasha, and much smaller. We were recommended to take a boat safari here, rather than Naivasha, by someone at Fishermans, due to a greater concentration of wildlife. And how right he was. we set off in this feeble looking boat, to find 100s of hippos, giraffe, flamingos, and thousands of different birds - african eagles, pelicans, etc etc. It was an amazing way to top off such a relaxing day. And , of course, we headed down to Carnellys for supper (huge pizza was involved).

Amazingly, this was a relatively trouble free day, especially as we had an early night to prepare for the 5am wake up the next morning to climb Mt. Longonot...

H

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Naivasha Trip - Exeat (Day One)

Hi All,

Hope you all had a great weekend, because I know I did! All the gaps and I headed off to Naivasha for the first exeat on Friday morning. Naivasha is a town between Gilgil (where the school is), and Nairobi. It is most famous for its lake, which was the main attraction for us. We stayed at Fisherman's camp, which was recommended to us, for 2000 shillings for two nights (about 18 pounds), in two man Bandas. These are huts with just two beds and a sink, and I had the honour of sharing my banda with George himself.
When we arrived, we immediately decided to go to Hells Gate, which is a 20 minute drive away from the camp. Hells Gate is a national park, which allows you to bicycle through the park alongside the animals them self. We started at Elsa Gate, and ended up at the Gorge, about 8km away. It's the most amazing experience to cycle with the animals, as you feel much more connected with them, and very much vulnerable! During our cycle (both to the gorge and back), we encountered zebra, warthog, impala, dik dik, heartibeast, giraffe, and buffalo. The most terrifying was the buffalo, by far, as at one point James and I decided to stop 5m away from a bull, and take an "arty picture". However, inevitably, the buffalo got agitated and started advanciong towards us. At this point, we both jumped on our bikes and sprinted away. However, James forgot his lens cap (classic jimbo), so had to go back! It was an amazing experience, which I'd highly recommend. I wasn't expecting to see so much wildlife.

At the gorge itself, we had no idea what to expect, so initially decided on not taking a guide, but when we got down there, we immediately realised we needed one! It took us approximately 1 and a half hours, and is a tight gorge, with hot springs coming down the side, due to the volcanic activity going on (JMS would have loved it). We were fortunate enough to be in the gorge when they open up the flood gate, so saw the water flood down the gorge. It was a boiling hot day, so was nice to have waterfalls coming down from the side as well. As we didn't really know what to expect, I wacked on the walking boots (thanks mimi and papa!0, whilst James foolishly wore his espadrilles. He soon realised what a mistake this was as he slipped and slipped across the rocks! I think the most surreal part of the gorge was the beauty of the surrounding, and how the rock has been shaped. At the end of the gorge walk, we them saw the cutest monkeys, who are 100% tame, so we were able to get within a metre close to them! so cool.

We had a couple of mishaps during this day. The first being jimbo wearing his espidrilles, and the second being George's inner tube exploding, and therefore preventing him from riding back home! Fortunately, one of the guides at the gorge lent him one, but this was stuck in gear one for the 8km back! And finally, being classic gap year students, we totally forgot food for the day, so were living on a couple of biscuits and water for the day!
It was an amazing first day, topped off with a huge trip to carnellys, which is the sister camp to fishermans. Here, the serve the most amazing food, especially when all you'd eaten that day was a slice of toast, and a couple of biscuits!

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