|
|
Welcome to the TeakDoor.com forums. You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today! If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. |
| |||||||
| Travel the World Travellers Tales Forum Your Holidays and travels in different countries of the world, including Europe, Africa, South America, Iraq and many others. |
 |
| | LinkBack | Thread Tools | Search this Thread | Display Modes |
26-03-2008, 11:04 AM
| #1 (permalink) |
| Fag an bealac!  Last Online: Today 06:39 AM Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: 53 00 N, 8 00 W
Posts: 2,386
  | An African adventure One of my favourite things about TeakDoor is the travel tales, so I thought I would have a bash at it. Four years ago my brother took his family to Kenya on safari and whilst there went off the beaten track and came across small villages with extreme poverty, when he came home he decided he had to do something and we started to look how we could help. with a little research my brother found an Irish priest who lived with a small hill tribe called Pokot. we got in touch with him and learned about what he has done and his plans for the future, we will cover all that through the course of the thread. we have been raising money since then with events and fundraisers in our local area. Anyway myself my brother and 2 others made a trip last halloween to see what we were raising money for, I have to say its the most amazing experience of my life so far. We flew into Nairobi and were met by David(the irish priest) who took us to our hotel, he told us to get a good nights sleep as it was a tough 8 hour drive in the morning to our destination and after a couple of nightcaps thats what we did. We got up around 6.30 had breakfast and loaded up the truck and set on our merry way. It was a misty rainy morning very similar to a shitty morning at home in Ireland, i thought i had taken the wrong clothes with me for the trip but david assured us we didn't, Nairobi is 5000ft above sea level so the mornings are quite damp, we were to climb another 3000ft on our mornings trip. Nairobi is a lot like any other big city but as soon as you get outside the city it is a lot less modern. these first group of pictures were taken from a moving pick-up so excuse the quality the road was very good at this point and had little groups of buildings close to the road   Its pretty green here and there were lots of cattle grazing and crops planted  as we got further the markets started to fill up.  The rain finally stopped, the clouds lifted and we began to see around us a bit better, quite the view, this is around 8000ft above sea level.  when the rain stopped the dust started and we started our decent 
__________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Last edited by Marmite the Dog : 26-03-2008 at 11:19 AM. Reason: sorted bad link out |
|  |
|
26-03-2008, 11:33 AM
| #2 (permalink) |
| Fag an bealac! Last Online: Today 06:39 AM Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: 53 00 N, 8 00 W
Posts: 2,386
| the weather was clearing up now and we decided to stretch our legs at the Equator, which consisted of a few shacks selling trinkets and a sign that read"you are now on the Equator" I thought they would have at least had a starbucks!  a couple of locals up to take a look at the funny looking white men  we chatted to the local women for a bit had a look round and set off again armed to the teeth with wood carvings, treasure boxes and necklaces ready for anything  The road was still pretty good at this point, a few pot holes here and there but not too bad, the land around us turned red and the lush landscapes were replaced by clay and cactus plants. The photos are quite deceptive, the green you see is trees and thorny bushes  we arrived in Eldoret around midday and stopped for a bite to eat and to re-fuel. Eldoret looked very much like a wild west town with shops made from leaning bits of tin together with dirt roads, lots of goats and people around,  we had some lunch in the restaurant at the local hotel(i only call it a restaurant and hotel cause thats what it said on the sign) Don't know what I ate but I know it didn't taste like any meat I have eaten before. |
|
| |
|
26-03-2008, 11:56 AM
| #5 (permalink) |
| Fag an bealac! Last Online: Today 06:39 AM Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: 53 00 N, 8 00 W
Posts: 2,386
| We stocked up in Eldoret and split into 2 trucks as this was the difficult part of the journey and the end of terra firma.  the dirt track cut its way through the bush and brought us to this dryed up river bed  David told us this was pretty dangerous and that flash floods happen regular and have torn down the bridge and swept trucks away  the bridge got washed away a couple of years ago and was never repaired, looks like it could have been a pretty prosporous area at some point, quite a lot of dwellings around the bridge  After we crossed the river the roads got really bad and we were basically driving over a mountain, our trusty steed  The road was pretty much like this for the next 3 hours, rough rocks and dirt  after being tossed about a pickup for a few hours we came over the crest of the mountain and were faced with a view i don't think i will ever forget, in the distance we could see our destination, barpello village on the edge of the Rift Valley, photo's and video really don't do it justice.  next part tomorrow when we have a look at Pokot life............................. |
|
| |
|
26-03-2008, 08:04 PM
| #7 (permalink) |
| Fag an bealac! Last Online: Today 06:39 AM Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: 53 00 N, 8 00 W
Posts: 2,386
| After a night of scary jungle noises we got up for our first look around Barpello, this is the view that greeted us  the hi tech piece of equipment on the left is a solar oven, a wooden box with 2 sheets of glass on top, stick you dinner in there in the morning and it slow cooks all day  Our first visit for the day was to Barpello primary school, a Government run school with 303 students fro the age of 5 to 15(late starters). This place is very run down and in need of some attention This is the old kitchen that blew down in a storm  this is a makeshift kitchen to feed all the students when food is available  Primary school can be pretty exausting   there were 3 main buildings that made up the school housing 7 classrooms and a staff room, the wind was lifting the tin roof and making a lot of noise    There have been less than 30 white people to have ever visited this area because it is so isolated, we were quite the attraction(freakshow)  |
|
| |
|
26-03-2008, 09:27 PM
| #9 (permalink) |
| Fag an bealac! Last Online: Today 06:39 AM Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: 53 00 N, 8 00 W
Posts: 2,386
| As this is the jungle some of the kids have to travel a long way to come to school, so a lot of the kids board. 25 boys sleep and cook for themselves in this small room  A tiny suitcase for the term  Teachers in the staff room  Our visit was big news for the Kids and they had lined up some entertainment that they had been practicing for a couple of weeks. we all gathered round some of the parents   Some didn't like to come too close  the kids came out and showed us a traditional dance, it was similar to a haka. they wore bells on their ankles, stamped their feet and chanted, amazing thing to see. the guy in the white led them   This lasted for about 45 minutes, then it was our turn to entertain them. we had a guitar, violin, tin whistle and a bodhran and played them some irish jigs and reels, they hadn't seen instruments like these before so they were wide eyed at the sight of them. I noticed these 2 kids trying to sneak up for a look, I found out later that they were painted up like this because someone in their family was or had been sick  these kids were very well mannered and keen to learn, something you don't see where I am from that often. they don't have much, well anything really but thats the way they have always been so don't know any different. their smiles were very infectious  well I got my eyes opened that morning  we waved good bye and pushed on........................... |
|
| |
|
28-03-2008, 09:08 PM
| #18 (permalink) |
| Fag an bealac! Last Online: Today 06:39 AM Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: 53 00 N, 8 00 W
Posts: 2,386
| thanks for your comments back to the story After the primary School we went to visit the medical centre, I didn't really like taking photo's inside as there were sick babies and upset mothers. David started the medical programme 9 years ago and has been very successful. when he started infant mortality was 2 in 10 babies survived, today 8 out of 10 are surviving, and amazing achivement i'm sure you will agree. With more babies surviving now it creates the problem of their population growing at a much higher rate with a lot more mouths to feed. this is where patients have to stay overnight  This is the kitchen  Pretty basic stuff |
|
| |
|
28-03-2008, 09:18 PM
| #19 (permalink) |
| Fag an bealac! Last Online: Today 06:39 AM Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: 53 00 N, 8 00 W
Posts: 2,386
| our next stop was the nursery school the tiny tots seemed a little scared of the white devils   they warmed to us after we gave them some tennis balls   we then got a few renditions of nursery rhymes  they then showed us their writing skills  lovely little kids |
|
| |
