An Adventure in Africa

How did it all start?  Well, I suppose it all began with our honeymoon in Kenya in 1991.  I remember arriving in Nairobi one June morning to quite a culture shock. First time out of Europe and never having experienced such a confusion of people, noise, smells and colour (not to mention poverty).  However, within a couple of days we had left the city and headed for the bush.  An early morning drive in Tsavo introduced us to the exhilaration of seeing a cheetah hunting gazelle – well, from that moment, we were hooked!  We repeated the safari experience a few years ago when we had a fantastic trip with Steenbok Safaris ( www.steenboksafaris.com ).

Strangely enough we weren’t to return to Africa for another ten years.  A friend was working for a project near Malindi on the Kenyan coast.  We decided to pay her a visit and fell in love with the place. It’s called Turtle Bay, Watamu ( www.turtlebay.co.ke).  We stayed at the Turtle Bay Beach Club and it will shortly become our home as we have been back there every year and our affection for the people and affinity for wildlife has deepened each time.

Our curiosity for nature led us to follow a Rangers Course in South Africa last year.  This was a fascinating experience and strengthened our respect for the African bush.  In fact, we are itching to get over to Africa and hone our newly qualified skills. The Rangers Course was not only educational but the best laugh we have had in years. We made some great friends there and are still in regular touch with them. In fact, you may be interested to know that they are setting up a website called  www.imagesfromafrica.com

   So what do we hope to achieve? Primarily we want to learn.   Our knowledge of Africa and her people is just a drop in the ocean and we crave more.  Education is vital, not only to us but for Africans it may be one of the few opportunities they have to become independent and to free themselves of the poverty trap. We would like to try to make ourselves useful to a couple of educational projects on the coast, in particular the Assets project ()which is concerned with offering a bursary scheme to the children of the Arabuku Sokoke forest.  In fact, we have just heard the wonderful news that a student we have been involved with has beaten the odds and passed her final exams. She hopes to go on to become a nurse and that’s so encouraging.

We also hope to spend some time travelling to Tanzania and Uganda, driving through national reserves such as Tsavo, Maasai Mara, the Serengeti and Arusha, then on to Lake Victoria.  Agy loves his fishing so I’m sure he won’t waste an opportunity to catch a nile perch for dinner while we’re there.  We’re in the process of getting a converted minibus and will enjoy taking friends and family out on safari while we’re out there so watch this space!