Kenya 2009

Well been back a day now slept well last night after take away … but up at 5.30 this morning !!!

I am really missing Kenya and all the friends I made out there and I know everyone else in the 2009 Kenya team is as well … We can’t wait until they come over here and go for the meal it is going to be great

Well 2009 team it is the balloon fiesta from 6th August til the 9th so thinking we should maybe go up there at some point OK people …

Oh yup those who are off on holiday again have a great time

ALSO THE WHOLE TEAM WHAT LIKE TO THANK ALL THE TEACHERS WHO COME AND A HUGE THANKS TO PAUL WHO DID AN AMAZING JOB

Bring on next year I say

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Hi team!
Hope you all slept well last night!
We have had to change the date of the meal at Cosmos to Sept 18th to fit in with our visitors from Kenya – sorry to change it, but I am sure you will have time to re-organise! Time to be confirmed!

Just to say the team have landed safely and are currently in the mini bus on the way home. Expected to arrive at Ashton around 9.45.

After a dusty and bumpy 7.5 hour trip up from Amboseli we have arrived at Mvuli House (its swahili for mahogany) in Nairobi. Once there we unplaited Nash Nash, Kate’s and Amber’s plaits which they had put in at the hotel in Mombassa before we set off on Safari. The 3 of them looked like members of an 80’s chick rock band! – You can see the photos later….
Tonight we are going out for our last big meal before we fly home to you all tomorrow. We have booked a large table for 7:00 tonight at Carnivore – not sure what we would do if we had any veggies with us ‘cos they only serve meat – with a jacket potato…
As I said before the team have been fantastic and are a credit to their families and of course APS. Everyone who has met them and heard about what they have done have been very impressed with them and the work they have done.
Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow evening and a special thank you to Chris Crook for coming to meet us at Heathrow tomorrow on the last day of term!
We will ring around when we are on the M4 – so you don’t have to wait too long for us at school.
Paul x

Its now 10 at night and has been dark for 4 hours…….
I am in my tent writing this and outside is an elephant eating a tree!
The rest of the team are also in their tents, trying to sound happy – infact some of them are not aware of what is going on……
The camp site has a fence around it to keep the animals out – its electric – but this elephant has learnt how to step over the fence (about 4 foot high and electric) and he comes into the camp every night to feed. Apparently he has been doing this for the past 7 years!
And, so you don’t worry, he has never harmed anyone or damaged any tents – so no worries!
And we have still not seen any Rhino or Cheetahs. Maybe tomorrow.

Hope you all enjoy the last 2 days of school – I know I will!

Love from the very dirty team in kenya xx
Ps – cant put any pictures on the blog – this signal is not strong enough – but should be able to do so when we get to Nairobi tomorrow.

An early start again, off at 6 for a game drive around the park, loads of activity.  Hippos wandering around the swamp, elephants chomping on the trees and zebra and wildebeest roaming around always looking about for danger.  The first big predator we saw was a pack of hyena; they hide in the drainage tubes under the road, waiting to attack anything that passes by.  It was us – so they didn’t bother!  After a few hours of animal spotting we stopped at a Masai village where we were treated to a welcoming singsong before seeing around the village.  We went into one of the houses to see how they lived, 2 rooms made of poo and wood, built by the women.  Each house takes 4 weeks to build and is water proofed with a layer of poo on top of a cow hide.  The warriors then showed us how they make fire with 2 pieces of wood and some more poo!  It only took a couple of minutes! Ray Mears would be very excited!  After the village we drove the long way back to our camp site so we could see even more animals – we found a sleeping lion, he was a bit scruffy and obviously was not ready for the camera crew!  Interestingly he had a radio collar on, being tracked by the rangers.
After a late breakfast we lazed around the camp recovering from our early start. We played cards and chilled until it was time for lunch, before heading off to see rhino and cheetah- the only animals we have not seen yet. I will let you know how we get on!

Please respond to this blog entry if you need to contact us urgently – not for general comments please – we are very well and having a fantastic time,
Loads of love and see you on Friday!
xx

Hi all, its been a few days since we last posted anything – this is because we have had no signal out in the bush!
We spent our first 2 days in Tsavo East, saw loins eating a hartybeat, a leopard up a tree, loads of elephants, zebra, gazelle, dik-dik, baboons and other stuff to many to mention. Having a fantastic time, all hot, dirty and smelly, cold showers, dust, dust and more dust…. Most of the crew have decided to leave washing until we get to the hotel on Friday – not sure they will let us in….

We spent the last 2 days in Tsavo West, where we saw even more animals and now have arrived in Amboseli, where there are loads of elepahnts and they are very big!, along with hippo, zebra, gnu, more gazelle, warthog etc etc. We go to bed at 8, cos its dark at 6, and we get up at 6 for an early morning game drive, so plenty of time to relax!… So thats it for now, except to let you know you that you children will smell when they get home- sorry.
Down to one phone now so if you want to contact us urgently – use the next entry on the blog titled – if you need to contact us…And i will check it out at lunchtime tomorrow and on Thursday evening.
Cheers to you all xx
Love from the dirty ‘bakers’ dozen

We left the hotel at 9:00 and drove off through the bush up onto the high plain that is called Tsavo.  We stopped off at a shop after a few hours drive for a leg stretch and to do a spot of shopping.  We entered the Tsavo East Game Park (about the size of Wales) and we saw Giraffe, Elephants, Lions (loads of Lions) Warthogs, Gazelle, Antalope, Zebra, Dic Dic and Hartebeast. So we saw loads on our first day! We reached our camp site at 2:00, and spent a happy hour looking like real idiots trying to put out tents up.  Eventually we achieved the impossible, then we headed off to the nearest town (Voi) to collect fuel and veg.  On our way back we saw a pride of lions munching on Jack – sorry a dead hartebeast. Back at camp we did the blog and then got ready for dinner before retiring to the camp fire for a good old fashioned sing song and off to bed for an early rise.