Part 1: Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda

This is what Part 1 of my epic holiday looked like:

I'm now back in Nairobi, enjoying a hotel room and a double bed before starting all over again tomorrow!  Even though I booked this as one tour, it's really four tours back to back, so tomorrow will be a new leader and mostly new people too.  Seven of us are staying together for Part 2!

 I didn't anticipate this would be a relaxing adventure, and it certainly isn't.  Getting up at 4:30am, taking down the tents, followed by a 10 hour bus ride only to do it all over again!   And then there was the gastro.....oh my goodness, I am still traumatised by the memory of it!  There is never a convenient time for gastro, but being on an overland camping trip has to be one of the worst timings ever.  Aside from those few days of absolute misery, I have really enjoyed the adventure so far.  It's especially nice when we stay more than one night in the one place, and get a chance to relax or go for some optional activities.  Every group has its whingers, but on the whole it has been super fun to hang out with a great group of fellow travelers. Here are some highlights:

Masai Mara, Kenya
One of our first stops was the Masai Mara National Park.  It looked exactly how I expected....huge open grasslands and random herds of zebra and buffalo.  It was so easy to get caught up in the animal spotting, and comparing photos to see who got the perfect shot!

The animal watching begins.....

 

Afternoon light 

 We also visited a Masai village.  It was quite touristy but a great insight into their culture.

The man who jumps the highest wins the girl!

Mums with their bubs

Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda
Still suffering the effects of gastro, I braved the water and went spotting animals in the Queen Elizabeth National Park.  Many of the animals were the same as we had seen in Kenya, but it was exciting to see them in a different environment.  They were pretty placid too, so we could get super close!

Roadside stop for lunch

Our poor truck got a bit bogged :(

Uganda is so green....it makes spotting elephants hard

Feeling ill but pushing through!

Fishing village on the shores of the lake

Mumma elephant didn't want us to get too close

I love this photo...they look so sweet!

Totally captured a hippo yawn...woot!

Sunset in Queen Elizabeth National Park

My little home :)

Genocide Memorial, Rwanda
It seems wrong to call this a highlight, but I feel really privileged to have been able to visit.  The stories are so heartbreaking.  One that really touched me was about a gunman going into a classroom and telling the students to split into Hutus on one side and Tutsis on the other, in order that he could kill the Tutsi students.  The students refused, saying they were all Rwandans.  Wow, what courage! An estimated 1 million Tutsis were killed during the genocide.

The city of Kigali, Rwanda's capital

Some of the many mass graves

"Never Again" - that says it all

The wall of names.  In many cases whole families were
killed, leaving no one left to even record the names of the dead.

Gorilla Trek, Rwanda
Three nights in Rwanda, and we even got to stay in a dormitory!  It was soooo nice to not have to set up the tent, and sleeping in a real bed was amazing.  Rwanda is such a clean country.  Plastic bags are illegal and they even search all vehicles and luggage at the border!  Our main reason for visiting Rwanda was to see the mountain gorillas.  They are wild in the sense that they are free to roam, but each gorilla family is monitored closely so they are always comfortable with human visitors!  It was so special to get a glimpse into their world and see the little ones playing.

Beautiful fabric at the local market

White water rafting, Uganda
Rafting was an optional activity but I'm so glad I spent the money to do it.  Jinja is known as the adventure capital of Uganda so it would be a shame to not try something.  It was so fun and I'm really keen to go rafting again sometime soon!  We got to go down grade 5 rapids (grade 6 is the hardest) and only capsized once.  In fact, the hardest part was paddling through the still water between rapids....methinks I need to build up some arm muscles! I also went on a boat cruise up the Nile to where it begins in Lake Victoria.  It's amazing to think that that water flows all the way to Egypt.

Hanging out on the equator

First rapid: We've got this!

Grade 5 rapid: I'm the one in the back screaming!

We survived!

Enjoying some peaceful water 

This one didn't end well!

Doing it like pros now......haha

So hard but so fun :)

A little island where Lake Victoria flows into the River Nile

So tomorrow another adventure begins as we travel through Tanzania.   I'm so excited to see more of the country I currently call home :)  God bless!

A pic of the team.....

The end of an epic year of teaching

Today was officially the last day of school for this year.  It has really been an epic year!  Just ending this year and saying goodbyes has made me realise how hard it will be a year from now when I will be saying farewell to some people for more than just a few months.  Only three other people from our teacher group are returning after the holidays, so there will be some sad goodbyes tomorrow.  The transition between finishing and leaving has not been nearly long enough.  Tomorrow I set off on a rather epic adventure, starting with a 6 hour bus ride to Nairobi followed by a looooong 63 day journey to Cape Town.  

I was directing the drama production again this semester, so was busy with that up until yesterday when the kids had their final day.  They did a great job remembering their lines, and the play itself presented a really positive message.  It was called "Trouble at Sea" and followed the stories of Noah, Jonah and Paul, and how they overcame the "storms" through trusting in God.  I think I am done with directing drama productions though.  It's a lot of extra work so twice is enough methinks!

In amongst drama production, report writing and organising for my travel, we have also been frantically packing to move our school to a new campus.  It's really exciting that the school is growing and as a result has a big new property!   The new school is only partially built, but the rent on the current building is up soon so everything needed to be moved into a few rooms on the new campus.  Thankfully I had some willing helpers in my class who packed everything...including themselves!

As soon as the kids left on Thursday we began moving all the resources and furniture over to the new school.  It was a crazy amount of stuff but with lots of people it went really smoothly.  Today was more moving before finally I could start to think about packing my own stuff to leave tomorrow!

I have to say that one of the highlights of this year as been the absolutely amazing students I've been blessed with.  I'm so excited to have the same class again next year.  Last week was a full week of exams and they all put in so much effort.  After the last exam on Friday we went to Uhuru for samosas and soda, and took a great group pic.

Here are some final photos showing some highlights from this year.  Next stop Nairobi.  God's blessings on your week!

Dissecting a goat heart was a definite highlight....

These wooden blocks were super popular whenever there
was a moment of free time.  My camera is overloaded with
this gal's building creations because one can't wreck it
before having a photo taken!

The kids developed a tradition of making a pretend person
whenever anyone was away so they wouldn't be missed

Mr Francis trying Vegemite...haha!

Mr Francis was responsible for blowing
the whistle for the start of class.
It became a thing for me to play tricks.....
this was the most epic: frozen whistle!

The view from just outside the current campus.  I will never get tired of this mountain!