Expected arrival time at home

Good Morning!
We landed safely at Heathrow and are now making our way back to sunny Cleveland.
We expect to be at 40th Middlesbrough HQ at 14:30. We will be in contact when we are approximately 1.5 hours away.

See you all soon,
Paul.

Last few hours in Kenya!

Well here we are relaxing in yet another tent.. After the recent fire at Jomo Kenyetta Airport the waiting area is now a pretty impressive tent outside.

But sitting in the pouring rain would be far better than the old airport building which is rather crispy at the moment..

 

As we are aware no photos have been posted on any of the rest days we thought we would make up for it now.

 

Each day a different group went to one of 4 activities, One group went to Hell...'s gate, another to Crater Gate Game Sanctuary, another to climb Mount Longonot and the last on a boat ride on Lake Naivasha.

A group with Red Okra war paint, as done in a Masai village at the end of Hells Gate Gorge

The view over Green Crater Lake

Descent down Mount Longonot, only 9000ft of climbing!?!

A charming inhabitant of Lake Naivasha

 

 

 



Soggy Scouts!

It's that time again folks with another thrilling edition of the Kenya blog! 

Today has been another fun filled day in Naivasha with the whole expedition going on various jaunts around the area to see some of what Kenya has to offer.

Today was no exception as it saw my team making up for a poor activity on an earlier date with no less than two safari's in one day!, it was a busy day indeed.

The day started with a trip to the green crater lake (although not so green anymore) to see the sights and to proceed with a vehicle safari, with the lake not offering much more than a nice view we headed off to track Kenyan wildlife, and we weren't disappointed as the giraffes had come out to play, and they do make an impressive sight when stood twenty feet away from the car.

And if giraffes weren't enough there were a lot of zebras, impala, warthogs, Buffalo etc which provided a host of photographic opportunity's. The day was off to a great start!

But then came the second activity of the day, the boat safari was a nice little trip in terms of what we saw, but it could have been done in half the time as some of the minor points of interests were quite far apart, so if the attention span of explorers wasn't bad enough we were being flanked by two opposing storm fronts which were about to meet over the lake, which meant some saturated explorers arrived back at Crayfish , which made seeing hippo's a lot more eventful.

After that it was time for some food to tide some of us over until dinner, and despite it arriving an hour late with some of the meat still looking fresh of the carcass it helped us feel a little better after a very wet boat trip.

And with dinner now over as well the evening has entered full swing with the pool tournament now in the finals making for some tense and exciting moments

With everyone now relaxing we all eagerly  anticipate the activites that await tomorrow 

This is Alex Fenton signing off and we will see you all very soon.

Twigga on left, no right, no everywhere!

Day 2 of the relaxation period meant a trip to Green Crater Lake. Initially we had meant to be horse riding, but everyone said it was boring. So after getting up, I learnt I would be going with the afternoon group, leaving the morning free for SWIMMING! Luckily the sun was out in full leaving a toasty morning. After that I had the first hot shower in over three weeks which was AMAZINGGGG....

Soon it was time to set off. We drove for about 40 mins down what appeared to be a dry riverbed, until we reached the entrance. After paying we had a good opportunity to buy some gifts and see the lake up close, before going for a short drive to a viewpoint. We may or may not have taken the wrong path and subsequently went part way to see a sanctuary, though what it was protecting we aren't sure. Luckily the detour was a good idea because we got to see many zebras. Seriously, I've seen so many it's like seeing sheep in the British countryside. A few snaps later and we turned around to take the proper route. The viewpoint in the end was excellent. There was the lake, some mountains surrounding it, a small view of grassland where there were some buffaloes. Then on the other side we could see some more mountains, and a great view of the valley and pouring rain, but we didn't get wet! 

As we were leaving we had a great view of some Dik Dik, which we learnt yesterday live for life in pairs, and a group of giraffes (twigga), one of which walked in front if us, and another that walked right behind us, creating opportunity for astounding pictures. 

All in all today has been very relaxing and entertaining for me. Goodnight.

Chloe

Hells Gate

Hello Internet. First full day in Crayfish Resort. Breakfast was a feeding frenzy as everyone rediscovered civilised food. I then proceeded to spend all of the free time in the pool and getting mildly sunburnt until the voyage to hells gate. 10 minute drive later we met our guide and Safaried the day away seeing millions of zebras, impalas and gazelles. Reaching the rangers ranch we left peg leg (mike) in the bus while the rest of us scrambled down the gorge. After passing many warning signs saying DANGER FLASH FLOODING the ominous sound of thunder unsettled the whole team causing the guide to quicken his pace. After discovering pride rock, we casually walked to the devils bedroom where we all got wet...because it rained! At the devils bedroom there was a school trip in front of us invoking the usual tribal chant of  PHOTO PHOTO LOOK MZUNGU ! As the rain came down on the plains of Africa we made the executive decision to leave the gorge rapidly unfortunately missing the final part of the walk. On the cold, damp, wet drive back through the park we were all morally broken and disheartened at the lack of animals.....OMG A GIRAFFE! Actually there were about ten, as many feet from the car as there were giraffes. On return to crayfish we eagerly awaited the second opportunity of the day to stuff our faces. Paul insisted that I do the blog and here I am....Oh no I'm trapped in an endless cycle. Help. 

I hope everyone has as much fun as I did at hells gate

Mickey (Milkey) McGough

Grrrrr Kenyan roads

Hi mzungos

So, after a long and bumpy drive in which we managed to see zebras and giraffe and even some more mazungu's, we arrived safely (well to a certain extent) at the rest locationy place thing. YEEEEY!!!!! After a quick look in our room (and managing to get my stuff everywhere! No seriously, everywhere) we all decided that it was time to take over the pool and perfect the art of mass water bombing. I don't thing the Germans were verry impressed. Ahhh well I think we deserve a bit of a break. Not really looking forward to seeing you soon,

Lizzy A

Playing frisbe at Crayfish Camp.

It’s finished!!!

After 2 years, several training weekends, 4000+ miles travelled and 19 days of solid work, the classroom is finally complete. Everyone is feeling incredibly relieved and very proud of themselves, and so they should. And so rightly, after a few hours of cleaning up, it was time to party, Kenyan style. Provided with song, dance, lots of food (including a plentiful helping of cake), the school threw us a goodbye party to remember. When asked to provide some entertainment of our own, nobody shied at the opportunity to teach some more of our favoured songs to the Kenyan Scouts and Guides. We built a campfire fit for Commondale and comfortably out sang the distant rumbles of thunder (yes, again…). Anxious as we are for the 165km journey to Naivasha tomorrow, we will all appreciate a final sleep in Marigat, hopefully undisturbed by lightning, or the other, more annoying disturbance – cockerels at 4am.

You stay classy Cleveland.

Brad McHugh

Latest Photos..........virtually complete classroom!

And kitchen complete to targeted level (up to ringbeam height). All that's now left is a few final painting jobs for tomorrow morning and the inevitable tidying!

 

 

Jaimy here. IT'S FINISHED!!! The team put in a huge effort mixing what seemed like a million tonnes of cement which was used to level the classroom floor and make the veranda. The spare was used to complete the kitchen as far as we can (most of the brick laying done). All that needs doing now is tidying up around site and a small amount of tittervating. 

Just before tea the blazers came back from the tailors and many photos were taken including a class of kenya 2013 with John Don as head teacher. 

We hosted a very nice traditional English dinner with pork, mash and veg for some of the locals that have helped us from the start and during our visit. People like Father Peter, Rafael (the head teacher) and Vincent and Mark our local builders. There was then many speaches and exchanging of gifts (mainly kneckers) and a big BRAVO for all their hard work making this trip possible and ensuring that the classroom was finished. 

The mood around camp tonight is very up beat and we're all looking forward to the grand opening of the classroom and the relaxation period. Whoop!! 

Oh look a flamingo.. and another one.. and another...

Rest day finally!! Time for team 5 to have a break, plus Alex C, minus Adam who jumped ship two days before.

The day started with the discovery of a flock of lesser spotted Japanese tourists in their natural habitat on top of a safari jeep, with strange appenditures attached to their hands and faces. After the distraction of that sighting we saw just a few flamingos, sorry a few thousand flamingos. Which at least to my surprise were a lot smaller than I thought they would be, and not that pink.

After this Karen came into her own with an outstanding display of off road driving to deliver us all safely to the hot springs. A quick conversion into Chef Karen and we all got to tuck into a lovely soft boiled egg cooked to perfection in the springs.

A bumpy ride back, whilst stopping to take pictures of various animals from mongoose to warthog and dik-dik to little squirrel things we arrived at the spa resort only to spot 3 more L. Spotted Japanese tourists running across the car park in just towels, this strange behaviour was noted and laughed at by all of us.

After "entertainment" from some Kenyan Uni students Karen and I received a lovely present from one of the lecturers (who was 7ft tall and built like a tank) in the form of a dive bomb splashing a dozing Karen and distracted me. The rest of the team were in stitches at that point. We weren't impressed!

We had a pretty lazy afternoon sleeping, swimming and scoffing our faces full of steak and chips. John and Nick even had  a strawberry milkshake (though they weren't sure what they had ordered).

When we arrived back to site they were playing football against the Marigat sports academy and by the look of it getting totally thrashed, as indicated by their keeper lying down for the majority of the game. A brief game of rugby and we all heading back to the barn.

And now we must go as I believe dinner is about to be served, Parmo and Chips, how very Boro!

Night night from Lotti and the rest of team 5 (plus Alex minus Adam)

A nearly finished classroom (with a blackboard almost complete!)

The roof and the rendering is complete!!!!
We will be completing the verandah and making finishing touches over the next few days.

Dancing on the trusses

Once upon a time, there was a man named Vincent (the Kenyan builder) many tales have been told of his epic truss dancing skill. As I witnessed this 8 wonder of the world, completing the tin sheet roof today with the man who is now know as tall man, Adam. 

Karen delayed tea today after taking a large delivery from the refugee camp, when tea was served Karen decided that hers would be better on her lap. 

Tomorrow the more adventures male members of the expedition will collect their tailored jackets produced by the tailors that we accidentally turned into a sweatshop. Look forward to the spectacle of the male members.   

So the building is going great with the whole roof now complete and half the windows glazed. With 3 building days left, and only the veranda left to lay and the last few windows to glaze, we are ahead of progress. 

Niall 

Putting the final tin sheets onto the window side of the building this afternoon and the rendering on the wall was also completed.  Well done to those who worked so hard on one of the hottest days so far.



A visit to Lake Bogoria, the lake that Attenborough featured in his Africa series. From left to right; Adam Vaslet, Tom Scott and Andy Jarvis.

Cameron here

Greetings from Kenya,

No James with me today as he is busy writing his diary , however he does say a big hello and hopes everyone is ok. Since the last time I updated the blog lots of progress has been made on the classroom. Today half of the roof has been put in place and we are very close to finishing the outside rendering. Yesterday was team 2 on rest day. We went to lake Bogoria for a driving sufari ( not sure on that spelling ) we saw lots of animals. And just for you auntie D I took lots of photos of them and I'm sure James did too. Just a few more days here in Marigat then we are off to crayfish camp. Looking forward to coming home in 11 days time. And don't worry I have bought lots of gifts. Hope everyone is ok at home.

Bye for now,

Cameron

PS my phone has died so will not be able to text when we land in Heathrow.

End of day photograph.

An interesting day at the tailors

Team 1 went on their final rest day today which involved a trip to lake Bogoria to see the flamingos and nature reserve. They were met at the gate to the reserve by a man who walked around the car and said "oh good you have 4x4" this of course filled them with much confidence for the journey ahead. After driving over some fairly bumpy dust tracks the flamingos were found. Once many silly photos of team 1 standing on one leg had been taken the intrepid adventures embarked upon the long 13 km journey to the hot springs. The road became harder to pass with every deviation thanks to the high lake covering the road ( thanks for leaving your TVs on standby) eventually 4 km later of team members watching out the windows for potholes and large rocks the road became impassible without serious 4x4s which the guy on the gate had neglected to mention as he took their money. So disheartened they turned around and headed back to the entrance. The rest of the afternoon was spent at the spa sunning and swimming in the naturally heated pool.

In the last few days on site an idea had been floating around to emulate top gears trip to Vietnam and have suits made from garish African colours to be worn at reunions etc. this was brought to fruition on team 1's way home with a trip to the fabric shop and then a tailors for measuring. So expect some interesting clothing when the gents get home. After an interesting session of shopping team 1 arrived home to find much of the rendering finished and the roof trusses in place! This was apparently due to Vincent being part monkey and swinging from truss to truss like the most elegant of acrobats.

After a tea of goat bone (apparently there was meat in there) some more of the table tennis tournament was completed with some epic matches lasting several minutes! Several hours were spent outside by team members staring at the night sky on which where so many stars it will be an image to remember.

- Jonny Ranulph Bemrose

Roof taking shape!

As every day passes, our building looks more and more like a classroom. 

Today our roof trusts were lifted in to place with thanks to our crane (a.k.a. Adam V.!). Much of the gable end has been rendered. 

Wednesday's progress

The brick work on the classroom has been completed. The windows are now also fitted.

The Last brick

Wazup Mazungus!!! Another really productive day on the site today, we had lots of small but essential jobs to do. Jobs before lunch included preserving wood, fitting windows (which weren’t a pane), sieving sand and finishing the gable end. To finish the gable end some of the taller members of the project, including Adam and I, had to do the brick laying. Even Adam needed a step to finish the last brick which was announced with an ogg  ie oggie oggie across the school. At lunch some of the expedition members went into Marigat to look at buying some traditional Kenyan wear. After this we got on with rendering the top half of the classroom, to start with most of the cement ended up on the floor rather than the wall, but as time progressed we got better and less cement was wasted. Hopefully we should have most of the roof trusses up by tomorrow.

Adam and Rachel

We are all quite excited by the fire at Nairobi airport and hope we can spend more time here!! –

Adam

Nairobi issues - message for parents.

Hello,

We are aware of the issues involving the airport in Nairobi. We currently don't anticipate any major changes to our plans. 

If this changes, we will let you know via our home contact. 

Paul. 

A day in the life of team 1

Hello to all of our families, relatives, friends and colleagues back home. Day 14 of the expedition and morale is as high as ever. We have had a couple of days slow work due to having to wait for the concrete ring beam to set. Today we were back to full production and made fantastic progress on the classroom - we are now ready to start erecting the roof. Considering the amount of manual work we have had to do - building the roof trusses, mixing, forming the steel reinforcement for the ring beam, designing and building scaffolding etc then the progress has been remarkable.

The whole team are now fully focused on completing the job and I'm confident we will do it.

As well as the building work there is the challenge of camping in an environment without the amenities we enjoy at home. Once again the team get on with their day to day living with good humour and companionship.

Team 6 are the last team to have their second rest day period tomorrow - a boat safari on lake Baringo then a visit to a spa hotel to use the swimming pool facilities. After this all six teams have one more rest day. I'll sign off now and look forward to seeing my loved ones in a couple of weeks.

Michael Walsh (Team 1)

Hello everybody, Matthew lynch here from team 1. Today was like any normal building day, getting up at 6:30am to start work at 7am, but for team 1 after work started and we were halfway through our 2nd course we were singing and dancing, at 7 foot high on the scaffolds whilst waiting for a cement mix. Although all fun aside we did do 7 courses on the gable end and put down the wall plates for the roof trusses, so a very good job today done by everyone on the build site.

Matthew lynch

A great building day!!!

Today was a day of hard work. "Boss" Steve (well that's what it said on his hat!) set a challenge for the day. We made it!!!

The first picture shows the classroom almost ready for it's roof. The second photograph is of our secondary project, the kitchen and stores. We'll sleep we'll tonight!!

Paul.

Up up and away

So, another day on the building site, another day closer to finishing our project.

Today we managed to finish off scaffolding mark 2, now up to the point of needing hard hats when underneath. This meant that, after the last of the shuttering came off the concrete ring beam, we were able to start work on the final 5 courses of bricks before the roof timbers go on.

The rest day team seem to have had a fantastic day, both relaxing and wildlife viewing.

Our ping-pong league is proceeding apace, though sadly I'm out of the running.

That's all from Kenya, on target, with more updates to come.

Ben Lewis

John's laying bricks!

Reaching for the skies...

A photo for Karen's Mum...

Rest Day Rory's report on another mini- adventure!

I travelled to lake Baringo on top of my guardian's knee in the back of the car over all the pot holes. It was great fun bouncing around over all the holes. I really think Karen wants to be a rally driver :P  I went on an amazing boat ride on the lake. I saw 3 hippos, 2 crocodiles, a fish eagle who swooped down and got a fish that we threw him, and hundreds of other birds. Then we went with our guide David to the spa hotel just down the road where we all had great fun in the pool and around the resort. Tom loved splashing around in the pool with his hands and a tennis racket, i think his aim was to splash the Lauren and Karen but I'm not sure. On the way back to the resort we went to a snake park and we had a lovely guide there as well who told me all about the different snakes, it was really interesting. I even got to hold a snake with some of my friends, really cool :)

Can't wait for another day out with my friends. Six days to go!

Tutaonana (good bye, see u later)

Rory, the Lion (mascot).

 

A bishop visits...

An Ordinary Day for Extraordinary People

Jambo chappies! Jack York here to give the latest update on the Kenya news!

Today we were told that we were to be treated to a visit by Bishop Morris (of the diocese of Nakuru) as he was coming to Marigat for a meeting with Father Peter and other Catholic leaders. He commended our work and thanked us on behalf of the wider community of Kenyans before getting a photograph taken with many of the Kenya team.

In preparation for his visit, the locals were to sacrifice a goat in his honour (for his lunch) and those of us who were on site before breakfast were invited to watch it's demise...

...Moving on, for the rest of the day, team 2 were on rest day and team 5 on catering while those on site continued to build the kitchen, constructed roof trusses and dug a pit by the doors of the half-built classroom in which the veranda is to be put up. During the afternoon, group 4 were given free time in which to relax ... or wash cars.

The Kenyan sun is melting us as we experience some of the hottest and driest weather we've had on our trip so far, but we're certainly not going to complain after the storms that we've come through!

We're looking forward to seeing you all in a few weeks and hope you are all happy and well.

Tutaonana!

Jack Y

P.S. Thank you for the comment father. Just to let you know that I am able to get up early and work in the hot sun of Kenya without having to be dragged from my tent!

Hello from the Harris cousins!!

Hi everyone. 

We are now a week through the building project and we are positively flying! We have completed the walls of the classroom up to the ring beam and are starting to construct the roof trusses.

JAMES' DAY

Team One, consisting of Mike W, Max, Jonny, Rachel S, Jaimy, Matthew and I, were treated to their second rest day. Cameron will have his turn tomorrow.

The second rest day was a trip to Lake Baringo, where we took a boat ride around the lake in the search of the native wildlife. We were not disappointed...

Our guides bought four fish stuffed with balsa wood from a Masi fisherman paddling on the lake in his rickety wooden boat; we thankfully were in more stable metal vessel. The guide threw two of the fish - one at a time - into lake near the boat. This attracted a white headed eagle to swoop from their tree and pluck the fish from the surface, providing a stunning photo opportunity.

He used the other two fish in a similar way to attract one of the 1500 crocodiles to a mere three feet from the boat. It was scary and exhilarating at the same time!!

The boat ride was concluded with a trip to 'Love Island' which is inhabited by one man, his five wives and their twenty seven children.

The only thing a bit disappointing was that we didn't see any Hippos, but we've got out fingers crossed for the relaxation period.

After the boat ride we drove to a hotel to use their pool and their washing facilities, as well as to have a lovely steak, which our camp diet has been lacking massively.

Only in Kenya would an ostrich wander on to the poolside of a hotel swimming pool. Jaimy 'Attenborough' Jackson tried to get a photo up close, but he scared the birds away.

With clean hair and feeling refreshed we returned to camp.

If you haven't guessed I'm having a fantastic time in Kenya, and my best wishes go to all my family and friends.

TTFN, and over to Cameron...

CAMERON'S DAY

With the now normal wake up of 7am. Work resumed, by filtering sand and mixing batches for the ring beams. This continued until we where Invited to the Kenyan flag break. Everything was in sync.(much more impressive than our flag break). This marked the start of the school day for the children and breakfast us. No matter what was on offer everyone had it. As food is a scare resource much like water. The work was similar for the rest of the day. Soon everyone will be back to brick laying. But we have to make the ring beam completed first. As for the rest of the trip everyone Is clean and happy. With the occasional sickness, started off by me with a incident on the bus. I am fine now and so is the rest of the team.   (Yes I have had several washes and washes my clothes Mam and Dad). Only  19 days.  until we are back in the Uk. Say hello to everyone back home and hope everyone is ok.

Bye for now, missing friends and family.

Cameron

PS: James was not in that photo. :)

Tutwanana from the Harris cousins. See you all soon! 

Today's builders!

This is a group shot of some of our team on the building site today. Mark and Vincent are our two local expert builders. 

Karen says "Sorry Mum". She's not in the photo as she was taking it!! 

Eggs, timber and showers (Thursday).

Today was uncharted territory for all of us, even Steve, as we began work on the ring beam. It was slow going to start with until local builders Mark and Vincent showed people a few tricks. After that work went quickly and the ring beam was finished by the end of the day. However, we weren't on the building site today as it was our turn on catering duty. This meant an early start and hard work but also plenty of entertainment courtesy of Phil's counting (60 eggs to make egg mayo for 40 people), Tom ripping his shorts by chopping wood while dancing to One Direction and, finally, Tom (again) showering himself by emptying the washing up water. All in all, a long day but a productive and entertaining one for everyone.

Andy Jarvis

Rest Day

Hello,

Since every team have now experienced their first rest day, I thought I would blog a picture of Team 6, the last team to visit, enjoying themselves in the naturally heated pool.

Paul.