A Trip to Town – and back to Barnabas

We went into town with Joe and Jacob, and visited Bertina at the Lwanga Communications office – and even got a picture of her this time.

We had a long chat, well overdue, before Joe picked us again and we went to Pizza Inn for lunch. We then went round to the railway station to book our tickets back from Nairobi. It’s sadly rather decrepit (both the station and the railway, which is why it takes so long – the buses are much faster and reliable, but the railway is an experience!)

In the afternoon, Meld and I went up to Barnabas school again. The children were outside playing, and the headteacher lined them all up under a huge mango tree.

Meld found another girl called Imelda! (in uniform)

Teachers discussing problem children!

The school caters particularly for the poorer children, and has a great ambience, but seeing a few desks, broken plastic chairs, etc, their funding issues are apparent.

 

Nguuni Nature Sanctuary

Today we went to Nguuni Nature Sanctuary near Bamburi, the trip we’d postponed because of rain yesterday.

It had rained heavily overnight, but we were optimistic.

There were pretty little flowers.

But the overnight rain had made the path treacherous.

Imelda was regretting her choice of flip flops 🙁

The reward was a close encounter with twiga (giraffes). On the basis that you can’t have too many giraffe pictures (Katherine, Wendy) here we go. Sadly the rain returned and the distant giraffes were a bit shrouded in mist.

A little wagtail – one of the few birds braving the rain.

Waterbuck

Sitting by the lake

with this view

Hello ducky

The lake house

Nick felt the need for a crown of thorns

A little hedgehog on the path.

Visiting the Family

We had a quiet morning at home, during which Shariff found the puppies of one of the dogs, and moved them close to the house.(Meld then bought dog food for the mum – an expensive luxury!)

Late morning we went next door to visit the school where Meld will help, and met the headteacher Mr Muli.

After an exciting trip to Tusky’s for food shopping and lunch with Joe, we visited Joe’s brother Samuel’s house in Shanzu. Joe’s niece Mary holds great-niece Gloria (they are 1st cousins once removed – the two brothers, their children and grandchildren were all around!)

Selina Bahati, the wife of another brother (Martin) makes bags to sell. Maggy loved the change to model them!

Martin models a “man bag”

Maggy with two more ladies’s bags.

The laptop bag is awesome (this is mine!) modelled by Jacob. (About £7 each)

 

 

If you fancy a bag, place your orders!

Walking back to the house, the sun hd set and the stars were emerging.

At 13 months, Gloria wants to be a photographer!

We made it!

Whether you consider our flight from London to Addis Ababa “good” probably depends on your ability to cat-nap. 8 hour flight; drinks served after 1 hour (over Germany), dinner after 3 (over Greece), lights on for breakfast 90 minutes before an early arrival (over Sudan). I was fine, but Meld felt deprived of sleep. As we did the last stint over Ethiopia, the sun rose to our East, out towards the Red Sea.

Bole airport at Addis was OK: bus between terminals gave us any chance to see our transport up close.

The airport was clean if not exciting, and a chance to catch up on sleep. Our next flight was not too late. We flew over Ethiopia, which looked interesting through the clouds, then alongside Lake Turkana.

Then on past Nairobi to Kilimanjaro –but we were on the wrong side to see the great mountain. From there to Mombasa where Joe and Jacob met us and drove us to our home for the next 3 months, Joe’s house at Majaoni. After lunch Joe’s brother Martin and friend Lucky took us for a walk to view the creek.

Newly-built fish pond, with mangrove planted for reinforcement.

The mangrove nursery.

A little crab with a big claw.

A panorama over the creek.

Sun sets over the mangroves

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Back at the house.

 

View a Map of our Route

The journey begins

It always seems to take longer and be more stressful to pack than it shOuld be, but we were on the road almost on time, stop to say farewell to mum, Martin and RosIe and Mary, and another to leave flowers with Eveline and Desmond, then…. M25 🙁 Mary stayed calm at the controls as we crawled along.  and so to Heathrow.

Check in Meant a long wait, but all bags accepted and we can have a coffee,  go through security, buy some duty free, and head to the gate. Now on board, it’s a 767, so we get window and aisle, so both happy.

See you in Addis Ababa!