Kenya....done!

Hello again, or since I have been in Maasai land for the last few days - 'Sopa'! So since my last post, I have again been very busy. On Saturday, we had planned to spend the day in the Masai Mara Game Reserve, but on Friday night, Saitoti got a call from a farmer near the Mara, who had a suspected case of a respiratory disease called CBPP (contagious bovine pleuropneumonia) in one of his cows. The herdsmen had done a post mortem, which is fairly conclusive in this disease, (from the huge volumes of pleural fluid) and wanted us to come out to do emergency vaccinations on Saturday to protect the rest of the herd. So our weekend lie in was off, and we headed out early to the farm, on the outskirts of the Masai Mara. The process was fairly similar to the previous days' deworming, although this time we were vaccinating and deworming. We had only expected it to take an hour or so, as it was a fairly small herd, but apparently, the word had spread that 'the doctors' were around, and herds started to appear from every direction, all wanting the vaccination! Not long before our patience ran out, we finally got to the end of them, and headed off to the game reserve. The journey there was only about 20km or so, but there was a noticeable difference in our surroundings. It was much greener, and instead of seeing a few zebras and gazelles here and there, we started seeing them in their hundreds, all together across the plains. It really built up the anticipation for the park!

We stopped for a quick lunch in the nearby village; eating at a very local café. Everyone was speaking maasai, but I could still tell that everyone was talking about me...even if you think you're being discreet by speaking in a different language, when you stare and point, it's still pretty obvious! We then drove to the entrance gate to try our luck at convincing them that I was a (admittedly albino) resident. We didn't quite succeed, but Saitoti's negotiations did manage to get us a much reduced price from the usual $80 or so. While we were waiting at the gate, we were approached by a number of women, in full Maasai dress, all with suspiciously English names, trying to sell their various wares. They asked over and over if we wanted a photo with them, which would have been great, since most of the Maasai I have seen have been in their work clothes, not their full dress...but my previous experience of the Maasai reaction to being photographed made me very suspicious, and I maintained that I didn't want a photo. They would probably have then charged me a ridiculous price for the privilege!

When we got into the park, the first thing that we saw was a herd of cattle - there are supposed to be no animals but wildlife inside the park, but obviously the drought had driven them in desperation to the green pastures of the Masai Mara. Shortly afterwards, we spotted a herd of buffalo - this was the first new spot of the day...to be quickly followed by bush bucks, eland, taupes and impala plus hundreds of thousands of zebras, Thompsons and Grants gazelles. It was quite spectacular! I had sworn that I'd never get bored of seeing zebras, but there were so so many that I quickly started to get used to them. We saw some more banded mongooses, lots of warthogs, a pair of crested cranes, which are really beautiful, and also a couple of secretary birds, but the whole time we were keeping our eyes peeled for any of the big five. Saitoti has the most amazing eyes for spotting wildlife...and anything else for that matter. In the past few days, he managed to identify a distant cloud of dust as his dad's truck, and a tiny dot up a hill, that I couldn't even see, as his friend - it's really quite incredible...and a great asset whilst on a game drive! He pointed to a cluster of trees in the distance...well, I thought they were trees, but as we got closer, I realized that the trees had trunks....and not the usual kind! We had come across our first herd of elephants. The track that we were on took us right up to where they were ambling about, eating and spraying themselves in mud. We were only a few feet away from them - they stopped to look at us, and then just carried on with what they were doing. There must have been about 15 of them, all different ages, and it was just mesmerizing to sit and watch them. Not long after that, we came across a herd of giraffes, at very close range, and then a couple of jackals playing in the grasslands. I loved the driving around, looking out for wildlife...specifically scouring the grassland plains for lions or hyenas. Every time we came across a large group of grazing animals, or an ostrich or other bird, Saitoti asked ' do you want to take a shot at it?'. Obviously he meant a shot OF it, but it still made me chuckle every time! Just as we were heading towards the exit, resigned to not seeing any big cats, we suddenly happened upon two cheetahs sunning themselves under a bush. I was so excited - it was amazing to see them in the wild, and even Saitoti, who has been to the park many times and never seen one, was excited. We sat and watched them for a while, no longer disappointed to have not found a lion. Eventually, we dragged ourselves away, and drove back towards the gate, leaving happy. As we headed out of the park, and into the surrounding plains, the sun was starting to set, and it was almost surreal watching the gazelles and zebras darting about against the most amazing sunset while I listened to the Lion King soundtrack!!

The journey back was long and bumpy, interrupted only by the sighting of three hyenas hunting along the side of the road at dusk.

The next morning, we went to Saitoti's office for the last time, and I filmed a very long, but very interesting interview with him, on a number of subjects, from his Maasai childhood and school days, to the pastoral farming systems and his hopes for this project. After visiting a few of the Maasai 'curio' shops - small shacks selling lots of beaded Maasai jewellery and carvings and the like, we set off back towards Nairobi. On the way back we bought some corn-on-the-cobs from one of the roadside vendors - toasted over an open fire on the side of the road.

We arrived back in Nairobi, and I checked back into the YMCA, and then headed out to the Maasai market with Madeleine and Matilda. The market was buzzing with tourists and traders, and we decided to have a wander round all the stalls before we started to barter for anything. Everyone was calling at us 'sister sister' and 'come and have a chat with momma" and 'I give you good price' ...I'm not sure what exactly they were hoping to give me a good price on! Eventually we got down to the serious shopping, and the bartering banter was flowing well. One guy amused me by asking where I was from, and when I told him England, he said, with recognition " ah-yes, Wales?". No...England! And one guy wanted to trade his artwork for my watch! It's a funny thing - a few people have asked if they can have my watch - it's only a cheap rubber one, but it seems popular! One woman, also commented that she liked my necklace, quickly followed by " can I have it?"! It was all very friendly though, and we had a lot of fun trying to get a 'rafiki' price - for our purchases. It was really hot day, and we were all pretty exhausted by the time we had spent up!

We headed back to the YMCA for a final Kenyan meal of beans and rice, and an early night for me. Unfortunately the early night was in vain, as there was a group of Asian school kids who ran up and down the corridors, shouting, banging on peoples doors and screaming, literally all night. I got about an hour's sleep, but set off early to tie things up at the Vetaid office before my flight to Kilimanjaro. I interviewed Gabriel, which again was really interesting, to hear about his background and his work with Vetaid and various other organizations. I then had to say bye to everyone, including Saitoti, to go and catch my flight. It was really sad to say goodbye, I've had so much fun in Kenya, and have got on really well with everyone, and was starting to feel a little apprehensive about the Tanzanian part of the trip, again not knowing what to expect, and if I will get quite so lucky with the people I spend all my time with.

George, one of the Vetaid drivers drove me to the airport. I say airport, I mean row of tin sheds. I got increasingly nervous as we drove down the airport drive, past rundown barns and sheds, all with airline signs hanging on them, wondering which one would be my terminal. Luckily, mine was the nicest of the lot; from the outside it looked like a large tin barn, but inside it was a bit better. The checking in process was different to say the least. There is a 15kg luggage limit, including hand luggage - my hand luggage alone weighs about 9kg with all the equipment! I tried to convince the guy that my backpack only weighed 15kg, but they were having none of it. He did give me a hefty discount off the 100KSH (about £1) per kg charge though, when I complained that I wouldn't have enough money left for a cup of chai....I know how they value their chai here! Myself and the other passenger - (yup - just the two of us!) were then taken through security - i.e. past an armed guard, and into the departure lounge (the tarmac of the airfield) and spotted our plane - a tiny little ten seater. We watched our luggage get loaded into the luggage compartment underneath the plane, and then (about half an hour late) were escorted onto the tiny aircraft. It was quite a nerve-racking experience, but the pilot assured us (no need for a PA system on this flight) that we would be flying below the clouds, so it shouldn't be too bumpy. It was a really nice flight actually, a lot less bumpy than I expected, and the views were amazing, especially as we came in to land, right next to Mt. Kilimanjaro. We jumped off the plane, went to baggage collection (collected our bags straight off the plane!) and headed through security into Tanzania.

Paul, the recent graduate that will be accompanying me for the Tanzanian part of my trip, and Hamidu our driver met me at the airport, holding up a small, upside down Vetaid sign that I couldn't read, so we looked at each other curiously for a few minutes before I figured out what the sign said. They were both so smiley and very welcoming, and I felt sure straight away that I was going to have as good a time in Tanzania as I had in Kenya. We drove to Moshi, a nearby town to get some lunch, and some cash and chatted all the way. I was very pleased to find that the Tanzanian chappatis are just as good as the Kenyan ones, and they have beans here too!! We set off on our very very long drive to Morogoro, where the Vet School is. The scenery is noticeably different here; it is so green, and there were hills and mountains surrounding us for most of the way. It's a really beautiful country, and much hotter than Kenya, well at the moment at least!

We arrived in Morogoro after midnight, tired from our ten hour journey, and too late to get any dinner, so I was thankful for the few roast cashew nuts we had bought en route. The town was still bustling and lively despite the time, with open fires everywhere, and music still playing. We checked into our hotel, and went straight to bed, ready for a very early meeting with the dean of the Sokoine University of Agriculture.

I have only been here a day so far, and most of that has been driving, but here are a few of my initial observations of Tanzania. Rather than the Kenyan 'Biverley', my name is now pronounced 'Buverley'; they don't shake hands anywhere near as much here, they have hundreds of speedbumps - a fact I was all too aware of whilst trying to sleep on the long drive, and the mosquitoes are really out in force, at all times of day!

I think I am going to have a fairly busy schedule over the next few days at Sokoine University, and am hoping to go to Zanzibar over the weekend, although this is starting to look less feasible, what with the extortionate mzungu ferry price, and the logistics of getting there. Hopefully I will be able to blog again soon anyway, with Tanzanian tales a plenty!