Spiders and Baboons

Am only now just being able to update this blog from when I first arrived in Zimbabwe - better late than never.
Life is different here - will let the pics tell the story ...

My elephant sized beetle I picked up and threw outside!

A giant centipede - one of millions that are everywhere you walk!

A GIANT spider as big as a horse which I had to kill before it crawled into bed with me! 

Claude (pronounced Cloud) one of my special boys - is 15 yrs old but the size of about a 10 yr old

The beautiful African Tulip Tree (I think - they call it something else)

Frogs eggs by the dam - I destroyed as many as I could LOL

This I am learning to do! I can carry some small things without dropping them - just have to do the big pots of water!

My iron, but I usually get someone else to do it for me - not quite experienced enough yet to tackle this one!

The children with Paula the present Administrator

Just love this picture of Kuku - gorgeous boy

This is Linda seeing her home for the last time - they kicked her out and she turned up at my door at 8.00 one night after walking all day and nothing to eat for 2 days - looked bedragged and dirty and tired and very sad - she is now very happy

Some of my kids after making walk up this rock face - fun times

My darling little Moses - 2 years old - miss him greatly

View from my back door - it is very dry, but  when it rains this will be planted

Pouring the water after winding it up from deep in the weell

Our well

Everyone develops good muscles from winding up the water and tipping it into the buckets to carry back to the orphanage

Carrying our water back to the orphanage from the well

My bath, I can just fit in it if my knees are up to my chin!

Triplets - their mum and grandmother came to the orphanage looking for help as they were an unexpected surprise! They are 2 months old

Taking the kids to school in the back of the Nissan each morning

This is what you do when you don't have a pair of shoes

A pep talk from the Pathfinder leader - Claude couldn't stay the first night as he had to have a blood test at 5.00 am the next morning and was a little upset

Ploughing our fields as the tractor is broken

Yep I'm transport for the pathfinders as well in the "beast" which rattles and bangs - first trip their gear and a few sitting on top, next trip the rest of the children

Maasai Land ...

I had the most wonderful time with the Maasai people for the last 2 days and nights - their homes may not be what I am used to but the welcome and friendliness of the people made it worthwhile - and actually a bed made of sticks and cow hide is actually quite comfortable! Enjoy the photos. I will miss these people and all those in Kenya I have grown to love. I leave tomorrow (Monday night) for Zimbabwe and am sure the venture will continue in a totally different way. But I will look forward to returning to once again spend time with my Kenyan friends.

The "pick up" I had to travel almost an hour and a half in - lucky I got to sit in the front, although with 4 of us squashed in there was a little "tight". It was a rather worn and battered vehicle - I could see light around the door so wasn't sure if it was shut properly but it didn't fly open so that was a bonus.

Part of the road - a creek crossing - remember this photo when you see the last picture of my mode of transport for the return trip!

Solomon and I - this is his family's village and he invited me to come to stay with them.

The house I would be sleeping in - made of sticks and cow dung. And notice the height of the house and the height of me! Plus there are no windows (see picture below)

The kitchen where all cooking is done and light and warms are given (plus LOTS of smoke)

My little shadow Elizabeth and Namnyat (me) - that is my new Maasai name - and I have even been offered a spot to build my house, right next to the central cow corral.

The "gate" to the corral where all the houses are as well as the animals pens - as they need to keep them inside the Bomar as there are wild animals such as leopards and hyenas who would easily kill the cattle, sheep and goats. Tiny baby goats are kept inside the houses in their own special room, at night.

The goats coming home, the women come out with cups and grab one and milk them as they go past. Very efficient way of getting your goats milk.

Goats penned for the night.

There are no toilets so I was up before daybreak to use wherever I could find inside the "fence" as I wasn't venturing outside to see if leopards or hyena were about!

The cows came in a bit after dark as because it is so dry they need to be taken further for food each day. They are right in the centre of the Bomar with the houses on the outside of their fence.

My shadow and I at the cattle troughs where they baptised over 60 people earlier this year

The garden started by my friend Vanessa - is growing really well - but they need to expand it to better feed the whole community. Maasai don't traditionally keep gardens but they are doing wonderfully with this one.

My first night sleeping with my little shadow. Notice the cow dung walls.

They had built some "bathing" houses - my bucket of cold water ready to use. Was a 12 minute walk to here where there is a tap with water, across a rocky, dry, desert landscape with just a few tracks but you really can't see any buildings until you are almost there! Plenty of animals around - donkeys, goats, cows, and then the wild ones but unfortunatley (or fortunately) I didn't see any while I was walking.

Notice behind here the bed and then the "window" - that small area of light. The roof is quite black because of the smoke and my eyes took a while to adjust but it was OK.

Ladies in Church - dressed absolutely beautifully in their best clothes and necklaces. The colours are amazing.

Sitting waiting for lunch

Outside the church

Well in these areas on Sunday there is no transport so here I got for a 45 minute ride on the rocky, gravelly, dusty, dirt road - was fun really. Now I think I have used all modes of public transport in Kenya! After we got back to town I got a Matatu to Nairobi - the crowded ones! What a way to end a wonderful time.

And of course we had to bring a cat home - tied up - in a bag - then in a box - tied again! Hope it enjoyed the ride as well.

Trains - Planes - Automobiles - Tuk Tuks

Well the train trip to Mombassa turned out to be one of the more "interesting" and TIA (this is Africa) of my times here - 25 hours after leaving our home we finally arrived at Watamu - 2 hours from Mombassa where we were staying. Taxi - train - taxi - plane - taxi - matatu - tuk tuk. I have now been on all modes of transort EXCEPT the motorbike and not sure if I am game enough for that - although I could have to do that to get back on Sunday. Why would I want to come home after experiencing all this FUN. Got to swim for the first time in a lovely bay and then a pool, the thin air is doing me good I think - and saw some awesome countryside - so much like Australia, the red dirt and cactus of the outback - how can I be homesick? Saw many different villages and people and ways of living as well as Mombassa - by the way, don't bother planning a trip there - the two rubbish dumps in the middle of town really don't do anything for those who can smell at all! Found a quiet beach far from everything the last night we were there - was absolutely beautiful - enjoy the pics, they will tell the story (sorry some are sideways and don't have time to change them now). And yes, saw my first snake - right next to the car - a big cobra - reared up at us. Amazing!

Yep a big cobra rearing up at us right next to the car. I was even excited and not scared!

Beach Babe - last beach we stayed at - was beautiful

At the train station - I think I was upper class!

Naa didn't even look in here!

Joy and I in our compartment ready to travel - excited as teenage girls on their first trip!

Got off the train after the 11 hour stop and had to have a look around. As you can see, the seat needs a few repairs

All Aboard - Boarding the train for the first time

All aboard again - BACK to Nairobi

And ... the train loo



Waiting - will this train ever move again???

I know you aren't supposed to do this but hey who could resist - had to watch all the animals, gazelle, wildebeest, zebra, etc - sooooo much fun

The slum areas right beside the train tracks



Tuk Tuk ride - reminiscing of our time in the tuk tuks in Thailand together

This hartebeest wasn't impressed I was walking in his territory and was snorting at me

Like a true Maasai (note the shuka over my shoulder) - looking towards Mount Kilimanjaro (I saw it behind the clouds)

My shuka was a great accessory as it was rather chilly in the early morning on the mountain

Elephants had passed before us

camping for the night - just in case it rained as we didn't want to put up the tent flys

Yep I went in the cave - then looked down and noticed all the animal footprints and realised lions and leopards LOVE caves - so I didn't go where it was so dark I couldn't see!

Slum areas beside the train tracks coming into Nairobi

Tuk Tuk stuck in the sand - I think we were a little too heavy!

More slum areas coming into Nairobi

ditto - notice the "shops" right beside the tracks

A very old part of Mombassa town - historical area - very narrow alley ways

And yes you have high level and low level toilets!

Could this be the Aussie outback?

Walking the beach - beautiful - but heaps of weed

Sunset looking out over the beach from our verandah - Tiki Beach

Will we make the bridge?

One of the two rubbish dumps in Mombassa - the smell from BOTH was totally disgusting!

Gorgeous little girl in the back alleys

Stop for lunch beside the road

Mangoes - $3.50 for the whole container full

Monkeys always turn up everywhere

This is how you carry your water on a motor bike and this is where you dump the gravel/dirt to fix the road, and leave it here for 6 months until you get more money to go ahead and fix it - fun trying to navigate through this - with vehicles coming in the opposite direction

In an old ruins of Gede - an ancient town mainly from the Arabians and Somalis - Muslim - in the early 1300's

Star fish I found - I even picked it up!

Sunset view from my window at Watamu