Tsavo

Tsavo. Where to begin. An incredible change in scenery. From green lush bountiful trees to dry, brown desert with only the huts we slept in and leafless trees as shelter from the sun. We were driven by truck again and also used the safari jeep due to everyone coming (1, 2 and 3 monthers). The camp was 30 minutes from the closest road, and soon became apparent that we were in literally in the wild again. As soon as we stepped out, we were greeted by the manager of the camp, Sammy. He was so welcoming and made me even more excited than I already was for the weeks ahead. He outlined our itinerary and where everything was on site. Then we were showed to our rooms and begin our adventure in Tsavo. 

On our first safari, the first point of interest we came to was a week old carcase of a giraffe

One of the native monkeys in Tsavo

Elephants at a watering hole

Survival day. We were taken to a remote rock away from the dry plantation, and were taught how to survive if we ever got lost in the wilderness. We obviously wouldn't be celebrating!

Making a fire was so difficult. We used two bits of wood, and One of our guards showing us how its done

Every day in Tsavo, we were given pack lunches containing boiled eggs. We challenged Jerry to mix his with ketchup, salt and pepper in his mouth. He took the challenge like a man and smashed it in the face

Our shelter that we made. Homely right?

First sighting of Lions. We were doing a local game drive and saw them about 5 minutes away from our camp, thats how close we were to the wildlife

Cattle being herded 

For two days we were sent to the Imani Womens group, an organisation situated on the edge of the sanctuary set up to generate income for the women involved. It provides emotional, educational and financial support for women in immense poverty and lagging behind in development issues. We had four projects we worked on will we were there, making a base for a large water tower to be placed so they could collect water, painting the community hall, plastering 2 bedrooms which they were planning on renting out and fencing the area around the compound. 

Sam getting the wrong idea about the plaster

We had to use machetes to cut the branches into fence poles and place them round the compound

Sam, Alex and I with Imani womens group on the day we left. They were incredible women and what they were doing for their community was truly inspiring. It made me angry that people back home do nothing and still recieve money from the government while these women were working longer  and as hard as us in 30+ degree heat without water to help the whole community

After the Imani women's group, outside our camp, there was a patch that had been eroded by the rain and an antelope had got stuck in it, the rains had then filled up the hole. The elephants then came to drink, not realising the antelope was in the pool and trampled it. We were tasked with fill the whole up with dead trees and vegetation so it made it harder for animals to get stuck in the hole

Celebration after the hole was filled

Sunset rock, the Cranleigh lads

Our group spent three days at the local school teaching, building and helping the teachers sort out paper work. This is the blackboard outside the teachers lounge which showed the amount of money they received each year to keep the school running. It totalled at 107,970 chillings per year, just £691.65. The school had 6 classrooms with at least 60 children in each

The schools kitchen built by Camp Kenya the previous year

After teaching, we brought our iPods and showed them a little english music... and they loved it

Break time 

The teachers lounge/common room

End of another incredible day, another incredible sunset

While we were doing our survival day, we started talking about the mountain/ very large hill we could see in the distance and asked if we could climb it if we had a spare day. Found out we did after being at the school. The hill took 6 hours to climb, but was a lot of fun. The first part of the trek was through open unsheltered hillside, and the second part was through dense forest like in this photo

Group shot at the top

2nd Safari in Tsavo

Love this photo, taken as we were driving back to the entrance on the last part of the safari. The elephants cover themselves in dusk to stop themselves getting sunburn and block the sun