Advertisement
Okay guys I realise its been a while and Im sorry about that, however a hectic schedule and limited internet time has meant I have not been able to update at all since my last blog- o I will try and make this one as detailed as possible without writing an essay!! My last 2 weeks in Australia were so much fun and I was very sad to leave the Coyer family! I spent just around 5 days in Cairns where me and Mick booked a scuba dive session on the great barrier reef, beiong my first time I was a little scared but ended up absoloutely loving it (we also had time to do some snorkelling which was equally enjoyable)!! The weather was fantastic during my time in Cairns and I enjoyed relaxing by the lagoon in they city, while making many friends at the hostel I stayed at. On the day before I returned back to brisbane I enjoyed a half day session of white water rafting on the Tully River, again I had great fun and even got invited out to dinner that night! So my last week was spent relaxing with the Coyers and doing some washing in preparation for the flight to SA. We had a meal out at teh local steak house and enjoyed some champagne and chocolates with a roast dinner on the night before I left. A big Thank you must go to Mick, Fi, and the kids in Brisbane for making my time in Australia so much fun and all the laughs we had!! So my flight to South Africa was around 14 hours and I managed to get a good night sleep again even though there was daylight for the whole flight because of travelling through time zones, I also sneaked a couple of films in and enjoyed the new James Bond film before we landed in Johannesburg.
I had an overnight stay in a lovely little B'and'B called the 'Lazy Grape' around 10km's from the airport and flew to Hoedspruit the next morning where my friend Danny Peel met me at the small domestic airport. I was surpised to find out that because he was still working I had to pretend to be his tracker while on game drives, therefore I had my own uniform and tried my best to convince guests that I knew what I was on about!! So for the first week we had at least one game drive a day either in the afternoon or evening where we took guests into a game reserve called 'Klaserie'. This is where they take all their guests on either walking or driving tours to spot the game around- while Im not trained in tracking I did manage to find us a group of wildebeast, and the guests seemed impressed- well at least I think they did!! During the second week we planned to camp in Kruger National Park, and had planned everything down to the last detail perfectly, enough petrol, food, and supplies to last us the week, howevere what we didn't know was that Danny's car did not meet safety standards for the park (he has a land rover that has a canopy and the windows are none existent). So after driving for around an hour and a half we reached Krugar park only to learn that we weren't allowed in due to the Land Rover being an 'Open Vehicle'. We decided it was a waste of money to rent a car and so decided to drive back to the lodge and work out a plan of action. So a little dejected but not defeated we found a lovely campsite around 20 km's from our lodge the same day and ended up staying tehre for three days. We enjoyed relaxing and fishing for most of our stay and were very pleased that two dogs took a liking to us and guarded our tent at night, so although we didn't get to see any game like we had planned it was still a great time away from Danny's work and great to spend some time catching up!! Throughout my stay I was amazed each day by the different wildlife we saw and managed to see every animal that is known in South Africa apart from a Leopard, we even saw a snake which is rare in the African bush and there was talk that we had a Mozambique spitting cobra taking residence in the room next to ours because its skin was found!!!! So my first experience of Africa was absoloutely brilliant and it was great to see my friend again after an 18 month absence, next stop was back to Johannesburg for an overnight stay in the Lazy Grape again, then onto Kenya!!
Great flight to Nairobi as I was able to recover from a full on two weeeks in SA, but that relaxed feeling soon changed when I had to wait for one and a half hours to get a VISA and pass through customs at the airport!! After a nightmare start I was greeted by Tim Griffin's brother Alan who drove me back to their home to stay for the night and rest up before the fun started again. In the afternoon I was picked up by Pamoja's main man in Kenya- Daniel Mathuva, he organised a phone for me to ensure I could contact home and also be available for anyone who needed to speak to me in Kenya, he then drove me to an area known as 'Kware' meaning quarry because of the stone that is mined in the area, and dropped me off at the orphanage there where I would stay for 4 days. The orphanage was a great experience for me to see the amazing work Pamoja is doing and how it is affecting childrens lives, there are 20 children staying there and they all greeted me by shaking my hand after they arrived back from school. During most of my stay I was helping to build an extension to one of the building which was needed to house more staff, however I did manage to take a tour round the childrens school and visit a street boys club at a church- Daniel meets with around 10 street boys each week and discusses the bible with them as he try's to help them through the tough reality of living on the streets. Highlights of my stay at Kware care centre would have to be the children crowding round my iPod to watch a film, while they went mad taking pictures/videos of everything in sight on my camera, also 5 of the children offered help with my washing, I at first declined and said it was alright but didn't realise this would disappoint them, and the smiles soon returned to their faces when I accepted their help!! So overall my stay in Kware was a very different experince to what I am use to (especially the toilets) but none the less very enjoyable. It was then time to travel to a place called Tala, around 60 km's from Nairobi where I am now staying with Pamoja workers Robert and Rose. This is my first full day in Tala and it started with a 4 hour church service which I must say was hard to keep concentration, however it was very enjoyable to experience my first church service here in Kenya.
Anyway Im running out of things to say so I think its a good place to stop and thank everyone for their constant support and thoughts, with just a little under 3 weeks till Im back in the UK Im looking forward to seeing you all but beforehand I have a schedule to complete as I look to help the work Pamoja are doing. Much love Matt xxxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.073s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 6; qc: 43; dbt: 0.0361s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Greeny
non-member comment
You lucky boy!
Bully, what can i say, that all sounds so awesome, i am very jelous! I particularly found the part about you 'pretending' to be a backup to peely hillarious as i can imagine you giving some cock and bull story about the african bush!! Mate i wish i was there to hear it!! haha. Glad that you are enjoying an awesome time in Kenya and that you are being exposed to a totally different culture, it really is mind blowing isn't it. Alls i can say is enjoy every day because they will last with you forever. I still think about the friends i made in South Africa all the time. Anyway mate, take care and i cant wait to welcome you home. Much love, Greeny xx