The Masai Mara

Well, I've had an insanely busy few days since I last wrote, and lots of tales to tell!

I spent Wednesday morning at the Vetaid office in Nairobi, discussing my progress with Gabriel, and making plans for the upcoming Tanzanian part of my trip. This all took a lot longer than planned, but we were able to get away from Nairobi by about 2pm.

Mike Mike drove us in the white rhino truck, and the journey took nearly three hours...but what a journey it was! Our route took us right through the floor of the Rift Valley, and the views were absolutely amazing. We stopped at a particularly precarious viewpoint over the valley, and the sheer expanse of raw Africa was just stunning. Not long after the stop, I was thrilled to see a troop of babboons crossing the road, followed by a herd of zebras right on the track! I got excited by everything I saw, but my enthusiasm was kept in check by Saitoti who told me to relax, as this was nothing!!

We were about halfway to Narok, when we saw a sheep truck approaching us from the opposite direction. They cram the poor things in so tight, one on top of another, and this particular truck hadn't even bothered to make sure they were at least secure - if not comfortable. Just as it passed us, a sheep jumped/fell out of the moving truck, tumbling about 20 feet down onto the road. We screeched to a halt, beeping to alert the truck driver, and rushed out to the sheep. It was obviously in a lot of pain, panting and terrified, but it didn't seem to have broken any bones. Saitoti had a heated conversation in Swahili with the men from the truck, apparently threatening to sue them for lack of care for their animals, but they seemed sorry, and promised to be more careful in future.

The rest of the journey was relatively uneventful - if you can say that of numerous sightings of monkeys, gazelles, zebras, ostriches and giraffes! We arrived in Narok at about 5pm. It's a great little Maasai town; really busy and vibrant, with loud music playing everywhere, donkeys lugging carts of wood and charcoal, and cattle, sheep and goats aimlessly herding themselves around the narrow streets. There are Maasai dressed in traditional dress everywhere, with huge amounts of beaded and plate jewellery, particularly earrings. Some people dress in just jeans and T-shirts, but a distinctive Maasai sign can be spotted on most people here; from the traditional red shuka (shawl), to stretched earlobes or an absent bottom tooth, and interestingly, nearly everyone in the town carries a staff! I quickly checked into the hotel before going to Saitoti's house for dinner.

Saitoti's Wife, Everley had cooked a delicious beef stew and rice for us, which we all tucked into, whilst watching 'Mind your language' ....until the power cut out. We spent the remainder of dinner looking through all of Saitoti's photos by torchlight, and then got back to the hotel for a relatively early night. Unfortunately, it was a very restless night - my hotel is situated right next to the mosque, and there is quite a proportion of muslims in this area, and the prayer call begins at 4am and continues, to be later accompanied by numerous cockerels for the next few hours!

On Thursday, we left Narok early to head to our first farm of the day. We had 600 sheep and goats to deworm. We left the road a long time before reaching the farm, and drove for about 40 km across plains and savannahs (and I learnt the difference - plains are just flat scrubland, whereas savannahs have some trees and bushes if you were interested!). It was an extremely bumpy ride, so not ideal with a dodgy tummy, in a place where the toilets are the open plains...you can imagine my issues! There were no roads, or even tracks by this point, and it's just a case of driving in the direction of your destination, but I was still amused to hear frantic shouts of 'left' and 'right', as if there was some sort of turning we were about to miss!

We arrived at the 'farm' - it's more of a bramble enclosure. The pastoral farmers are nomadic by nature, so they don't really have a farm base, just numerous enclosures set up along their migration routes. The flock had all set out early that morning, so we went to look at the lambs and kids (which apparently I can't tell the difference between) and climbed a nearby hill while we waited for them to return. Eventually they did, and we set about the long, hard task of deworming them. There are no crushes or races here to make life easy, but luckily we had about ten Maasai adults and children to help, all of whom are extremely skilled animal handlers. Nevertheless it was hard work, and in the blistering midday heat, was very tiring. After we had finished, the children and the flock headed back off to find grazing pastures, and we were shown what I am learning to be the traditional Maasai hospitality, and were invited back for a goat stew.

Our next mission was to try and speak to a farmer who has been particularly severely affected by the recent drought, having lost over half of his cattle herd. We arrived at the place where the cattle were last seen, and found that they had migrated on. I'll be sure to remember this next time I'm moaning about not being able to find a farm in the UK - at least they stay in one place!! We were instead greeted by about thirty half dressed children, all filthy and covered in flies, but very excited to see me. They all flocked around me, pawing at me, and pulling on my clothes, watch, camera and anything else they could get their hands on. As I looked around, I realized that the horrendous stench that we had smelt as we approached the farm was dozens and dozens of rotting cattle carcasses. For those of you who have seen the Lion King, it was a bit like the scene that Simba finds when he crosses out of the pride land - it really was horrible to see the devastation of the drought. It was a shame to not be able to speak to the farmer, but hopefully he was somewhere with more pasture for his remaining animals.

From there we went to visit Saitoti's mum in a nearby village. She was absolutely lovely, and invited us in for (yet another!) delicious stew. She also insisted on dressing me in her full traditional Maasai dress, including about eighteen necklaces and beads and a headdress! It was great fun, and I was really honoured to be allowed to try it all on, as this is something usually strictly reserved for the Maasai.

By now we were a long way from Narok, and so settled in for the long drive home. I love just driving through all the plains, keeping an eye out for wildlife, watching all the pastoral farmers tending to their animals and seeing the Maasai going about their daily business.

We arrived home tired, covered in dust from the day's work, and in my case sunburnt, and just had time for a quick change before another one of Everley's delicious dinners - this time Dengu (lentil stew) and chapattis - my favourite! No powercut tonight, but hundreds more photos from Saitoti and Everley's childhoods - they were really interesting to look through.

Today, we went to another Maasai farm, this time to deworm cattle. It wasn't as hard work as yesterday as there were only 200 or so, and we had more adults helping us. It is amazing to watch how they handle their cattle. They catch them by the ears, and have a strange leather strap that somehow catches the back leg of the cows; I watched for a long time but still didn't quite figure out how it worked every time, it is obviously a carefully honed skill! The Maasai at this farm were all a lot more fierce looking, probably courtesy of the spears, bows and knives that they carried. We made short work of the deworming, and I managed to take lots of photos and video. The Maasai are generally very unwilling to be photographed, as they think that the photos will be sold, and that tourists will make money out of them, but on this farm they were very grateful for the help, and were more willing than most to pose for the camera. I was also able to interview on of the herdsmen, though they don't speak English, or even Swahili, so Saitoti translated from Maasai for us. It was a really interesting insight into the life of a Maasai pastoralist.

We were then invited to join a few of the herdsmen on a nearby hillside, to receive some roasted goat, that had been slaughtered that morning and roasted over an open fire on the hillside. This was to show appreciation for the work that we had done on the farm, and it was fun eating in the sun up on the hillside. Goat is a tough, musky tasting meat, that isn't my favourite at the best of times, and ripping shreds of tough meat from the skin and bones that it was extremely firmly attached to, whilst surrounded by the knives that had been used to slaughter it was.... 'a new experience'; as I responded when asked if I liked it!

After taking our fill of roast goat, we headed off over the plains back to Narok, where we had to see a clinical case of Trypanosomiasis in a cow - like sleeping sickness in people. Then that was us done for the day, shattered and well in need of an early night.

Today's additions to the African wildlife tally include a warthog with three little wartlets, a huge herd of giraffes, right by the farm, mongooses playing in the scrub and many impalas who kept running in front of the truck. I wonder what we'll spot tomorrow on our Masai Mara trip?!

My time at Nairobi University is now over, and today I am heading to the Masai Mara with Saitoti. We will travel to Narok today, which is where he lives, and then have planned to visit various farms in the Mara over the next few days. The last couple of days at Kabete were really interesting. On Monday, I went out with the ambulatory students. I met up with the group, and then, after waiting around for the clinician (somewhat reminiscent of RVC rotations!) we all piled into the back of a landrover, and set off for the first farm. We had been called to this first case for an inappetant cow, but when we arrived, it was apparent that this was the least of this farm's problems. Being the first Kenyan farm that I visited, I didn't know what to expect, and was quite appalled by the state that the farm was in. There were cows, pigs, sheep, goats, dogs and chickens all rolling around in each others' dung, hundreds of flies all over them, no drainage…absolutely no hygiene standards whatsoever. I was relieved that the students were all equally appalled by it, and told me that this was the worst farm they had ever visited. It was really sad to see animals in such a state, and the farmer wasn't the slightest bit aware of a problem. We soon established that the nutrition was also completely inadequate – they were feeding just beans and broccoli, and nothing else. The farmer was a rich man apparently, with plenty of resources, and so instead of trying to tackle the endless problems on the farm, he was invited to the university to learn about farm management. He eventually agreed to this, and with a shot of multivitamins, we were on our way. Despite that fact that the farm was so filthy, we didn't even wash our boots on the way out, before visiting the second farm. I quizzed the students and the professor about this, and it seems biosecurity is given very little thought on small holdings like this one; interesting compared to the huge importance placed on it at home. The second farm was much smaller – with only two dairy cows! It was a fairly quick case – a cow had been treated by a 'quack' - a non qualified person masquerading as a vet. It seems this is a fairly common practice in Kenya, and they often compromise the health and welfare of the animals that they treat. This cow had been injected in the wrong place, and it had caused a huge painful swelling – the farmer was advised not to use the quack again, and with another shot of multivitamins, we headed back to the university.   When I got back to the hostel, there was a conference going on in the dining room, so I had a quick dinner of ugali and veg and headed up for a very early night!   On Tuesday, I was back in the clinical studies department, but this time to go to the University farm with the theriogenology (reproduction) group. They were doing pregnancy diagnosis, and I was impressed to discover that they PD 8 cows every day for a week.  On the way to the farm, there was some lively conversation half in English, half in Swahili, and it was explained to me with a laugh that one of their group  had  suddenly collapsed and died the previous morning. I wasn't quite sure what they were telling me, as they all seemed so cheery, but it was true, and there was a picture of him with a candle and a remembrance book in the department. I was so shocked, mainly that no one else seemed as stunned as me…he would have been out with us that morning. Perhaps this is the Kenyan way?   After a tour round both sides of the university farm, and an interesting chat with the farm manager about their farming methods, I went back to the University with Saitoti and Mike Mike, our driver. His name isn't even Mike, his initials are just M.M. so everyone calls him Mike Mike! We were in a 4WD truck, but the rains had turned the farm track into a wet muddy slope, and we slid precariously up and down it, wheels spinning, on the edge of a rather steep field. It was quite scary- but apparently this is nothing compared to what we'll find the field- can't wait!   I had organized with one of the students from my ambulatory group yesterday to have a video chat with them, and so met a group of four final year students. We had a really fun chat, although I filmed for 40 minutes…..my arm nearly fell off! It was great hearing their opinions of their course, and their perceptions of veterinary in the UK, and various other issues that we discussed. They all have an awful lot to say, including that women think slower than men and that UK students would struggle in Kenya as they are not innovative enough!! I think there will be a lot of editing for me to do on this one! Afterwards, I shouldn't have been surprised when they asked me to buy them lunch. I did think they were joking at first, but they weren't-so we gave them some money. It makes me feel quite uncomfortable, but it is becoming more and more apparent that this is just the done thing here when it comes to mzungus.   I spent the rest of the afternoon wrapping up at the University; thanking the various heads of departments and the dean who had all made me so welcome at their faculty. We then whizzed back to Chiromo, to meet Kisipan, who we have missed for the last couple of days as he has been teaching, and he insisted on interviewing me about my visit. The boot was truly on the other foot, I don't mind being behind the camera too much – although I do cringe when I have to listen back to my voice, but I am not a good interviewee at all! It was fun though, and Kisipan asked me some interesting questions. It was sad to say bye to him, as he won't be coming to the Masai Mara with us. He has been so helpful, and I have really enjoyed spending time with him.   That evening, I went to meet Terry, one of the first year students at her  'hostel' – the halls of residence. They have a tiny room, and three people sleeping in it. I see why they are so disgruntled now. There was barely room to move, and that was only with two of us in there. If they want to eat cheaply (the mess hall is apparently very expensive for not very inspiring food), they also have to cook in here. It seems crazy! We had a nice chat about our respective courses, and she said she was so pleased to have me here, as it inspired her to continue in her studies. Women are actively discouraged from doing veterinary medicine here, and she is very under confident about her abilities; it was nice to be able to help and advise her in a small way.   I went back to the YMCA for my last night, and was amazed to be offered spaghetti bolognaise for dinner!! Unfortunately though, after I ordered it, the waitress came back and told me that they had run out – they were just teasing me! So I had spaghetti and spinach instead…yum!      Then it was off to pack up for the Masai Mara. I doubt I will be able to blog until the weekend now, but I have no doubt that I will have loads to tell you when I do! Kwa heri for now.

My busy weekend

Hello again! I have been very busy since my last blog, so I hope you're sitting comfortably!

So on Friday, I was back at Kabete campus, this time at the clinical studies department. I had some really interesting chats with some of the professors there, including one lady who spent 3 months at Hawkshead in 1973, which was fascinating to talk to her about, and also the chairman of clinical studies. I then went on to join in with the students in their clinics. They have a system that is vaguely similar to our clinical rotations, although it is a bit more of a free for all, and only lasts for 3 months. The first group I joined were doing radiology - we had about 4 cases to radiograph, all of which were varying sizes of German Shepherd which got a bit confusing, especially since they were all in the 'radiography room' at the same time! I chatted to the students, all of whom were very interested to hear about England, and the RVC, and a few of them have plans to come to the UK either to study or work. I then was ushered in to a dark room demonstration...I think you need to come to Kenya to appreciate the true meaning of the name 'dark room'! So for those of you who are not up on your dark rooms, in the UK, we use a red light, so that you can see what you're doing when you go to develop the films, whilst not exposing, and ruining the X ray film. In Kenya, they depend on carrots. I was herded into this very small, pitch dark room with about 20 students, and couldn't see a thing. I could hear the clinician explaining to the students about processing x-rays, and could hear the dipping of film (they develop manually here) but no one else seemed to be too uncomfortable with the situation. Pressed up against I don't know who or what, I just stood stock still, and wondered how on earth they managed to not develop each other!

In the afternoon, I joined a surgery group - doing a lumpectomy on a young puppy. The clinician was doing the op, with one student scrubbed in, and maybe 20 or so students crammed round the operating table to watch. It was a good opportunity to chat to the students, and the banter between the surgeon and the students was good fun. About halfway through the op, the dog woke up, and lifted its head and looked around the room - interestingly though, this is not a cause for concern in Kenya, and the students just patted it until the surgery was over.

That night, I went out into town with three of the first year students. We went to a burger bar at the top of a big shopping centre, (via the escalator - which they used for the first time ever.... I have never taught someone to ride an escalator before!). I have never heard such loud music in my life...and I like loud music, but to say we had gone out to chat, it probably wasn't the most ideal of choices! The windows were vibrating, and you couldn't even hear to shout at each other, so between the noise, and the slight language barrier, some interesting misunderstandings resulted!

We had a nice time though, and they asked me lots of questions about the course in general, and gave me a very honest insight into their education.... And their problems with funding, accommodation, the timetable etc. Seems all students complain as much as we do! They also tried to teach me a few words of Swahili, and were delighted with my anglicized pronunciations!

Something I have found here, is that if you eat out with Kenyans, generally, everyone assumes that the rich 'muzungu' - 'white person' will pay...no questions asked! It caught me a little off guard at first, but now I just have to think about how many people I invite out to dinner!!

On Saturday, Kisipan, Saitoti and I had planned to go to the animal orphanage and Nairobi National Park. Saitoti wentback to his home in Narok, near the Masai mara on Friday night, so was going to meet us there at lunchtime, so Kisipan and I set out at 10 o clock, African Time (11.15) to catch a matatu - these are the taxi come buses that take over the roads in Nairobi. They all have loud African music blaring, and are crammed full, with people hanging out the doors, and jumping on and off whenever they reach their destination, regardless of whether the matatu may be moving! It seems to be some kind of national secret as to where they are going -but so far, every matatu I have been on has miraculously taken me to the right place! They are really good fun though, and a nice way to see the city - we passed flocks of huge marabou storks nesting in the treetops, donkeys grazing in the centre of the roads, more cattle, and general busy Kenyan life.

The animal orphanage itself was somewhat of a disappointment. I had to pay $15 US to get in (compared to the 100 Kenyan Shillings (about £1) for residents - a custom that I was soon to find out applies in nearly all tourist attractions). When we got in, we basically found lots of young, orphaned African animals cooped up in small, very uninspiring cages. Seeing a beautiful, fully grown leopard, pacing up and down a clay yard is quite a heart wrenching sight. We spent as little time there as possible, although I did get to play with a young cheetah, Wendy, that had been orphaned as a tiny cub.

After the orphanage, we went on the Safari Walk - this lived up to expectations much more. The walk borders the Nairobi National Park, and so without having to pay the $50 park entrance fee, you can see a lot of the wild animals in the park, plus some more that they have in huge enclosures. The whole place is miles of boardwalk, through wetland areas, forest and plains, with informative signs about all the animals you may see. Highlights for me were seeing a troop of baboons heading down from the park, and, of course, the rhino!

After an extortionately priced lunch, we jumped back in a matatu, and headed back to the city for a cup of chai. Note that there is no mention of Saitoti yet - he met us back at the YMCA at 6pm!

That night I'd planned to go for dinner with Madeleine and Matilda, the two Swedish girls I met, and some of the Kenyan guys from the globe tree programme ( a Swedish programme helping Kenya's street children) joined us; Boyd, Jackson and Cliff. They were all really fun guys, and we walked into town joking about the pace of Kenyan walking (they stroll so slowly it's almost painful - ironic for the fastest nation on earth!) and their lack of any concept of time or distance. A long time later, just as we were starting to wonder if we were even still in Kenya, we arrived at Hunters, a bar/grill on the other side of Nairobi. They had a bizarre mix of music - a hybrid of African music, with Ace of Base, Celine Dion, Venga boys and even the Macarena - which we all danced at the table - classy! We all spent the entire meal laughing hysterically at the boys, who love to sing and dance, and have no inhibitions whatsoever - a combination that resulted in them standing up and dancing in the middle of the bar. They are all so charismatic, and we all had a really fun night. I had my first Tusker beer - and loved it...I'm going to have to try and find somewhere that sells it back home!

We walked home, and the boys kept us very safe walking back through Nairobi - "don't fear...nothing will happen with Cliff and Jackson here"! Everyone here is very aware that muzungus are a target for crime, especially at night, and take their responsibility as our hosts very seriously.

Today, Saitoti and I took a trip into Kabete to go to the Christian Union - unfortunately, after a matatu ride and an hour's walk around the campus, we found out that for the only time this year, the CU had gone to visit Nairobi - typical! So we headed back into Nairobi, and went to the National Museum. I'm not much of a museum goer, but it really was fascinating - learning all about the tribes, and the rituals and way of life, and lots about African animals too. There is a snake park there too, so I went to learn which snakes I should most avoid when out in the field, and Saitoti horrified me with all sorts of snake related tales! We then took a walk round Uhuru Park in the centre of Nairobi, and Saitoti told me all about the Maasai way of farming and living. It was so interesting hearing about his childhood, and how the Maasai live, I can't wait to get out to the Masai Mara, and see for myself.

I'm now back in the hostel and am getting everything ready for a day with the ambulatory students tomorrow, which I am looking forward to. I've got a really busy week planned, but will try and blog again soon. Kwa Heri (Bye!)

Week one nearly over!

Hey all, so I've had chance to settle in a little bit more now, and can get online using Dr. Kisipan's dongle, so I will be able to blog for the next week at least! I'm starting to get used to the diet of rice or ugali (an African maize based thick bland gloop that they eat with everything), and beans with the occasional pieces of rock thrown in for good measure - keeps you on your toes when you eat! I've also developed a bit of a love for chapattis - nothing like the Indian chapattis we get in England - they're like thick fried pancakes-lovely! And of course the chai - as Kisipan asks me every day "how do we start our day?" and the answer is "Chai!" Though the same answer would apply almost regardless of the question - they love the stuff! The weather's turned now, and it's been really nice and hot - went for a swim in the YMCA pool yesterday, there were huge eagles circling and swooping overhead the whole time - it was amazing!

On the university front, we've had a very productive time - I've spent hours at the university, meeting lecturers, students, technicians, the dean, and easily lose count of how many hands I shake each day! I'm so used to being introduced as 'Dr. Bev, Royal Veterinary' that I've almost starting saying it myself!! It's great meeting people; everyone is so welcoming and supportive of the project, and all have lots of ideas and suggestions. I've been shown round Chiromo, the preclinical campus, and all their facilities, and have met some of the first year students - who I'm going out for dinner with tonight. Yesterday and today I've been at Kabete, the clinical campus out of town, and have seen the pathology, microbiology and parasitology departments, and today have met and been filming some students in their clinical rotations, both in radiology and surgery.

A few observations from my first few days in Kenya- the Kenyans are the most honest, and often blunt people that I've ever met - it's quite refreshing...there are no airs or graces - they are so straightforward that it can often seem rude, but this is just a part of their culture. They are also extremely friendly and welcoming, the most common Swahili word I've heard being 'karibu' - 'welcome'. When I say 'hello' it sounds like 'how are you' in a Kenyan accent, so the response is invariably 'well, thank you'!! And then there's Kenyan time, which means within a couple of hours either side of an agreed time (literally!)- although this could be in part due to the atrocious traffic here - I have never seen anything like it, the whole city becomes a carpark at rush hours, and the pollution is really bad.

That's all from me for now, I'm sure I'll have lots to talk about after the weekend, as we have planned a trip to the animal orphanage, Nairobi National Park, the National Museum, and the University Christian Union....gonna be a busy one!

First day in Nairobi

Hi all,

So this is my first blog post from Africa. I landed in Nairobi after a very speedy non-eventful flight and was met at the airport by Alexander, one of the Vetaid logistics team. We drove through Nairobi, past herds of cattle and goats...on the verges of dual carriageways, and past lots of Kenyans working on the side of the roads. I got to the YMCA, which is right next to the main Nairobi university campus, and, absolutely shattered, went for a sleep before meeting Gabriel to chat about our plans. In the afternoon I met Gabriel, Dr. Kisipan - a lecturer at the university, who is coordinating all of my work at Nairobi University, and Dr. Saitoti, a vet who graduated from Nairobi a couple of years ago, and who will be accompanying me for the Kenyan part of the project. Everyone is extremely friendly and helpful, and we spent a good couple of hours chatting about our plans, and discussing some of the fundamental differences between UK and African ways of life, over an African beef stew. After our chat, Dr. Kisipan, Dr. Saitoti and I went into town to get a sim card and some cash - and encountered a few technical hitches. My bank card didn't work - apparently the overly helpful HSBC had blocked my card despite me forewarning them of my trip, and the android phone, which I was depending on for e-mail and phone contact is being more than a little difficult, so I may not be in quite as much contact as I'd hoped if we don't get it working! After trawling round what seemed like most of the banks in Nairobi trying to get cash out, we gave up and went for a cup of Chai - the Kenyan version of tea...basically a very sweet cup of hot milk, that you dunk a teabag and plenty of sugar in! Delicious! After meeting some of the first year students briefly, I ate a quick dinner of rice and vegetables, in the pitch black YMCA dining room, courtesy of the powercut, and then had an early night! I woke up to find hundreds of dead winged termites tha had come under the door in the night - in the heavy rainstorms, very strange! Today I have spent the day at the preclinical campus, and have met a number of lecturers and technicians, who I have interviewed, and had some very interesting off camera chats too! I also attended a histology lecture with the first year students - very strange being at lectures again, especially lectures on the structure of collagen! On the walk to the University with Saitoti, we came across two huge (about 4 ft high) birds - I think they were marabu storks - very impressive, and just wandering around in the city - I was amazed! We spotted some vervet monkeys over another cup of the much loved chai at the university- its amazing seeing wildlife like this on the universty campus! It has been raining hard for most of the afternoon - and everyone is very excited about it after the ten year drought....so I mustn't moan! I am off to do some more interviews now, before heading over to the clinical campus tomorrow. Hopefully will be able to post again soon.

Planning planning planning

So - this is the first post on my African development awareness adventure blog - 2 weeks and counting until I land in Nairobi, ready to head to the University to meet some students and staff for the first series of videos.

To put you in the loop, this trip forms part of the RVC's development awareness initiative, to enhance the appreciation of international development by exploring and contrasting issues related to livestock and health in both East Africa and the UK. This is to assist RVC and East African veterinary students identify with their counterparts and the common professional interests and values that exist. On this trip, I will be working with students and graduates at both Nairobi and Sokoine universities, and also with the charity Vetaid, vets and farmers out in the pastoral communties of Kenya and Tanzania. We will be collecting and editing video material for use both back in the classroom and for educating frontline staff in developing communities. We will also take the opportunity to collect video material to promote an exchange programme between the UK and East African vet schools.

We are currently in the midst of planning; from organising flights and learning how to use the equipment, to planning exactly where I'm going to go, who I'm going to meet, and what I'm going to do! So much to do, and so little time!