Moonshine from Palm Trees

---

Well… it may have started with the King and the finest champagne but it ended with home brew poured from a huge yellow drum made from distilled palm trees and dancing in an R&B video stylee! We were heading home – prepared to get tucked up for a night of sweet, sweet slumber. Then, we heard the African beat and just had to get involved. I’m not exactly sure what the party was for, I’m not even sure if there was a reason for the party but we spent a good couple of hours dancing like crazies! I’m starting my blog now (at 2:30) because the music is still loud and there is no way in hell I’ll be sleeping any time soon… just as I typed that last line the music stopped. Spooky! Oh wait… now there are speeches going on. The Nigerians LOVE a good speech! Anyway… tonight!

Tonight all started off quite innocently, the King invited us for dinner at 7. We arrived and were invited into the room where the king was waiting for us. The room was about 100ft long with the king nestled in a massive arm chair at the far end. He was watching TV (which was placed on the opposite wall 100ft away) and he looked to be in his pyjamas, but I can’t be sure!

The King had invited us for dinner but it became quite quickly apparent that we were there to drink and have a choice of two nibbles. The choice of nibbles was chilli gizzards or tiny little meat filled pastries. I had the latter washed down with a glass of Bollinger that seemed to never get empty no matter how many sips I took.

We left the King’s house at around 9 and were invited to the hotel bar for a few drinks. This turned into a bit of a sesh and when the power went out at 11 one of the security team walked us back to our compound. I’m not quite sure why or how but the compound had power and there was a party in full swing at the staff club. The rest of the night was spent dancing like crazy fools and speaking French to the French department.

This morning. Owch. I had to be in the maths department for 7:50 for photos before school started. Getting out of bed was a challenge to say the least but I dragged myself down the road to the staffroom where I was greeted by absolutely nobody. By 8:15 two people had arrived and it wasn’t until 9:30 that we had enough of the department there to take some pictures. I suppose I should have remembered it was Nigerian 7:50!

The department were really sweet and kept asking me to stay longer and when I said I couldn’t, they demanded that I promise to come back in the next couple of years. They presented me with a big brown envelope which said today’s date, “Miss Kate Robinson” and “Farewell Thee.” Inside was enough hand printed and hand woven material for me to have any dress I wanted made. It was a really sweet idea but I might find another use for the material.

After a teeny tiny lunch we went on another Nigerian road trip. We’d been told that the waterfalls in the jungle were amazing and really worth a visit. The four of us and Mr Ilasabe parked up and were instantly mobbed by men with drums singing songs about Oynibos. We managed to escape the crowd and headed into the jungle up are REALLY steep path. As we climbed it just got hotter and hotter and the humidity went through the roof. After 15 minutes climbing we reached the first level of the 7 step waterfall.

The waterfall itself was really pretty but there were hundreds of children and teenagers there. The younger kids were really polite and happy to see us but the older ones just mobbed us! Apparently we were the first white people they had seen who were doing what the people do. Normally white people who come around these parts will remain aloof and surrounded by security. We were just us and they took advantage of the photo opportunity! It was a bit scary to be honest. The people weren’t being dangerous it was just so intimidating and Jade seemed to be very uncomfortable.

We came down from the waterfall about 5 minutes after we arrived as it was just not a nice environment to be in. There was rubbish everywhere and everyone was just peeing in the river (just upstream from where the kids were playing in the water. It was just such a shame. We were really glad to get out of there and head back to our house as we all stank from all the random armpits we had rubbing on us! A cold dribble of a shower has never felt so amazing!

I’m off to pack now and we set off for the UK tomorrow morning. I’m really looking forward to getting home and seeing everyone. It feels like I’ve been away for a long time.

Well that’s me for Friday – My last night in Nigeria!
Can’t wait to see everyone

Kate xxx






myh

---