The David Sheldrick Elephant Sanctuary

One of the highlights had to be the elephant sanctuary as they were absolutely beautiful and did act like children (as in elephant terms they were) as they were playful, mischievious and naughty! There were elephants there that were between 3 months old to 5 year old. It was sad to hear about the horror stories which decribed the way that they elephants had ended up there - many often were traumatised by seeing their mothers being killed and as the saying goes - elephants never forget! Well, they do eventually but they do remember things for many many years so often young elephants find it hard to adjust to go back into the wild depending on the trauma they may have suffered before being lucky enough to be taken to the orphanage. It was interesting to hear how they were looked after and each elephant had their own worker who was like their surrogate mother and when they first arrive in the centre they sleep with the elephants for the first 3 months.

They also had a rhino there that had been there a long time who they could not release into the wild again as he was blind.

Their 2011 newsletter describes many of the rescue stories that put the elephants there.

Nakuru National Park

The next day we went on a game drive through Nakuru national park. Nakuru Lake is one of the alkaline lakes in Africa which has a large amount of algae which attracts its many flamingos. I saw many other animals whilst I was there including: lions, rhinos, several types of monkeys, water buffalo, water buck, warthogs, zebras and many other types of birds including sea eagles, herons, pelicans, and marabou storks (that are very ugly!).

The view from what is known as Baboon cliff was amazing and the baboons did live up to their repuations and did get into the minibuses and try to take bags etc from it - quite intimidating as they are not small animals!

Day 5 - Kakamega to Kisumu 53km

This felt like a long journey despite being nearly half that of other days. The most striking part of this day were the contrasts in wealth seen on the way into Kisumu centre. We stopped about 10km before the centre to re-group so that we could cycle in together for the last 10km. It was probably the most scary of places I cycled through and at one point we passed a demonstration where men were marching, banging drums, throwing stones and waving machetes! I later found out that the President of Kenya was expected in the town the day after for a conference and it was a political protest of some kind. We cycled to our hotel for the evening which had spectacular views of Lake Victoria which covers 70,000 square kilometres and is the major geographical feature of this part of the continent.

After having a short celebration for completing the cycle ride I went down to the Lake to go on a boat trip to see if we could see some hippos. We barted a price and managed to go out and have a tour of the small bay we were near to. I was delighted when I got to see a family of hippos and some of the life around the lake. There were lots of children playing in the Lake whilst their mothers were washing and men were bathing in the Lake. It was strange to see how some were washing in the Lake, collecting their drinking water from it and others were sunbathing next to it as part of the large hotel complexes that sat on the Lake shores.

That night at the hotel there was a huge thunderstorm which caused a lot of disruption as the electric would go off and after the power cuts on the second night at Thompson Falls we knew they could last for a longtime! However we were given candles and moved inside so all was well in the end. It has been quite an emotional day for many of the women as they had completed the cycle challenge we had all come to do and there were some very touching personal testimonies from some of the organisers as well as the women taking part as to what made them take part in the challenge and their journey to get there.

Day 4 - Eldoret - Kakamenga 92km

Today was a longer ride but compared to the day before the hills were slightly less relentluss in that because they were undulating with every uphill came a downhill! We rode through some of the poorest areas I saw but also some of the friendliest. Children as like the previous days would shout "how are you" constantly and as soon as you answered them "fine, how are you?" they would roar with laughter. They also shouted Jambo and appreciated our efforts to wave and say hello to them. As a rule the Kenyan's who would line the roads as they walked to work would be very sombre looking and at times you did not know whether to say hello (Jambo) to them or not. However, once you had 9 times out of 10 their whole expression would change they would give you a great smile and say hello back. The children were so friendly - out of all the villages and towns we cycled through I only heard 1-2 derogotory comments referring to white people. There had been one village on the second day where a mam had pushed one of the women off her bike and they had to sent the ground crew in the vans to park at either end of the village to escort us through due to the possible trouble.

Here though they were so friendly and welcoming it was amazing. We stopped at lunch in a local pasteurs garden who was obviously quite well off for his village and he was very friendly, introduced himself and told me a little bit about himself. He was a pasteur, but also had a PhD and was a very well educated person. He strongly believed in education for children and told me that he intended on sending all of his 11 children (ages 21-1) to school and further education if he could afford it.

One thing that I noticed whilst cycling through so many villages that very young children were always looked after slightly older children - they were rarely with their parents. It was only babies that I saw with their mothers.

Day 3 - Kabarnet to Eldoret - 87km

This was the most challenging day of the ride. It involved crossing the Kerio Valley and climbing the Elgeyo escarpment. It started with a transfer from Lake Baringo to Kabernet and it started with a fantastic 18km downhill stretch which was really quite steep and basically meant free-wheeling for nearly the whole 18km! Then we cycled another 10km across the valley floor which had a really strange geomorphological gullies. The temperature was extremely hot here as it was over 35C. Then we started our climb up the escarpment. They had set a bronze silver and gold challenge for people to see what they wanted to do. However the heat of that day meant that several did not do any and most stopped at bronze! I was please to go on to the silver challenge but felt like it would go on forever at times! It was also embarrassing that at times people who were walking alongside the road seemed to be walking faster than I could cycle uphill! It was a great sense of achievement that I achieved the silver challenge. The views once at the top of the escarpment were amazing.

We stayed in Eldoret which is famous for the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)'s High Altitude Training Center for Kenyan and international athletes. My legs were aching but it was satisfying to know that I had completed more of the uphill challenge that I thought I would have been able to. That night we stayed at a pleasant hotel however it was yet another challenge trying to get a shower when hardly any water came out when it was switched on - did I forget to mention that it was cold too?

Day 2 - Nyahururu - Nakuru 57km

This day already seemed better just because I knew I didn't have to cycle as far! I ached justed a little but after the first couple of km I was fine. Today the weather was sunny and warm yet due to the altitude was not too hot. Yesterday we were supposed to have ridden through a lucious countryside that was filled with fields of crops, however this was more what I saw today. There were a lot more trees and it did seem more lucious than the day before I passed at least 2 signs for universities but saw no building that could represent a university like those we have in the UK. I passed lots of tea and coffee plantations which made the landscape look extremely green. We stopped to see one and listened to the process in which they are involved in here. There was not much processing going on which is where the profit is added - they gerenally exported the raw beans or leaves. Some coffee is produced but mostly for local comsumption. I bought 2 packets of ground coffee whilst I was there and then for the rest of the trip everything in my bag stunk of coffee! We then had to take the buses to the evening stop at Lake Baringo at the Soi Safari Lodge. Many of the local boys and girls had been down to the Lake and had to walk past the entrance of the hotel - the younger children were amazingly friendly, however the older ones were becoming very consious that they did not want their photos taken and would complain. Yet all of the them asked "Can I have a pen for school please?" this was the most widely asked for thing by children whilst I was there - they very rarely asked for money. Me and my new friend Jo decided to go on a boat trip to see if we could see any rhinos! The two local boys that took us out were very polite. 'Jeff' as one of them called himself must only have been about 14. The most noticebale thing was his teeth - they were very brown and discoloured however part way through the trip he stopped his 'tour talk' to answer his mobile phone!!! We saw several of his friends out fishing. The hotel itself was ok but I think since I had arrived my expectations were lowering themselves in order to cope with the quality of some of the places we stayed - it was here that I had to remove a cockroach from our room (or rather I got Jo to do it!) before we could sleep.

Day 1 - Nyeri to Nyahururu 98km

This day was by far the hardest. I was very much focused on the cycling and getting it done as our guide had toldest it was going to be one of our toughest rides. Nyeri is one of the largest towns in the Central Highlands and the gateway to Aberdale National Park. The landscape was quite bleak at times and very dry and arid looking. The earth was a rusty brown and remained the same throughout the 100km I cycled. At points there were views of Mount Kenya. We stopped today for lunch in the grounds of a local church which had a school attached to it (on the same land). It was striking how lovely the church was as it was made of stone and was essentially an attractive and well-made building, whereas the school building was like most others I had past and made of wood and corrigated iron. The school children came to greet us and sang to us. We gave them some of the items we had brought with us such as pens, pencils, colouring books, and small play equipment. At first glance they looked smart with their school uniforms on but on closer inspection you could see the torn, and tatty state they were in with many wearing really inappropriate footwear - several wore wellies that had no toes in the them. It was a shame in a way that my focus was on the cycling that day rather than the people and landscape around me.

Cycle Kenya Challenge!

Despite my nerves and worry about my cycling challenge - I survived and actually completed it! I decided to take part in such a challenge as it is for such a good cause in that all money raised goes to 3 cancer charities, but also because it is something that has affected my own family (as it has many others). It was the first time I had been on a long-haul flight so that in itself was the first leg of my challenge. I flew to Heathrow at some ridulously early time before I met up with the other woman who were taking part. In total there were just over 90 of us! Some appeared to be in groups and others were like me and taking part on their own. The travelling was ok and I was worried that my luggage would be over the allowed limit however - whilst packing it seemed that nearly half of my luggage was made up of medicines, toiletries and antibacterial wipes! All of which were names as 'essential items' from the kit list I was given. I had some kind of pill or potion (I even had to take sterile needles) for nearly every eventuality!

After landing in Nairobi, due to it being a capital city I was still expecting to see a lot of wealth and generally a 'normal' urban landscape that really could have been compared to most large cities. However I was not prepared for the timewarp that I had suddenly entered. In the airport it was across between the small Greek airports I had experienced in the past that had very few facilities and literally had one small building that did everything that separated you from the landing strip and your tourist destination. However, here the building seemed relatively large, yet decorated and equipped as if it was in the 1960/1970's with its style of signs, colour scheme and possibly original furnishings. The oddest thing was having to weave around and try not to stand on various muslim men who were sleeping in the airport's corridors, under the bench seats, and many more were sleeping in the 'prayer room'.

Once outside, we had to give out lugguage to the 'ground crew' who effortlessly pulled it up onto the top of the buses, covered it loosely with some plastic sheeting and tied it on. We travelled out of Nairobi, again I was expected to see a busy metropolis of activity, however it was fairly quiet and had more signs of deprivation than I had imagined for the capital city. We transferred to our first hotel in Nyeri and got our bikes set up - I had taken my own seat as I you can't be too careful if you are going to spend 5 days on a bike!

That evening we went on a short warm up ride to Baden Powell's grave. I was never a girl guide so it probably did not have the impact it might have done on others - the only thing I kept thinking of was how big the hill was that we had just cycled down that I would have to cycle back up it on the way back! I would start my cycle ride in earnest in the morning....

Year 11 Coursework Revisions Sessions

Miss Brooker's Year 11 Geography Class were hard at work today completing their coursework on the River Browney. This work is 25% of their GCSE. Help sessions will also be taking place tomorrow and next Tuesday and Wednesday in school from 10am till 3pm.