Celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary at Leleshwa

1997

 It seems as though we have been together forever, at the same time our wedding in Shimba fourteen years ago feels as though it could have been yesterday! 

To celebrate Jon booked us a photographic workshop at a safari camp, Leleshwa; a small camp in the Siana Conservancy, close to the Masai Mara - after twenty years of African holidays we thought it high time that we actually learned to take a decent photograph!

2011

Sherry arrived back in Nairobi from Barcelona late on 8th September and so a somewhat frenetic evening was spent trying to ensure that we had all the necessary stuff packed for safari and that the feline and canine boys being left behind were well catered for.  As it happened some bits and pieces were left in Nairobi when they were needed in the Mara...typical last minute packing errors!

05h15 on 9th September was heralded by the hideous and incessant screeching of the mobile phone alarm call.  To say that we bounded out of bed with excitement would be pushing the facts but within an hour we were trying to persuade Wally that his butt was not a pre-requisite to starting the vehicle and getting on the road. He has mastered the sad, deprived and bewildered look that guarantees that when you leave you feel guilty as hell.

Through the windscreen - Wildebeest Crossing

The drive down, about four hours, was uneventful.  All of our previous complaints about Kenyan roads had to be put to bed, at least for part of the journey...the road from Maai Mahiu to Narok was a dream come true, smooth and quiet.  It proves that you can have good roads here!  Just after Narok the road took a turn for the worse although nowhere near as bad as we had expected.....then we caught up with the repair crew.  Oh Dear.  Suffice to say, the last hour of the journey was spent weaving across the road in an attempt to stay on the slim slivers of tarmac that have survived.  This is not so much of a road with pot holes as a group of holes pretending to be a road.  At Mwisho wa Lami (official end of tarmac) aka Ngoswani; David, our guide was patiently waiting for our arrival, greetings over, we were informed to follow him and hang back a bit due to dust!  He did say he would go slowly......Michael Schumacher would have struggled to keep up!

Lounge tent at Leleshwa

Arrived at camp eventually, we are sure that the promised 20 minute drive took longer but maybe that was because we were reluctant to spend more time in the air than on the ground (we could hear David and Samwel (the spotter) laughing at our snail-like progress.  Arrival included much needed hot towels and cold drinks.  Although we had parked, apparently at the camp, there was no immediate sign of any buildings, temporary or permanent in the vicinity.  Brandy, a German Shepherd was an unexpected component of the welcoming party, later in our stay she even joined us for a morning game drive:-)

Scops Owl - a tiny little thing about 15cms high

A few moments later we rounded yet another Leleshwa bush and were delighted to see rather well furnished lounge and mess tents, complete with Mike and Gary, our hosts.  The camp is small, just seven tents and the only other guests were out on safari so we were able to enjoy the luxury of camp all to ourselves.  Our first new species to cross off the list being the African Scops Owl, a pair of these adorable birds live permanently in camp.  Mike, our host and photographic trainer, pulled out all the stops and upgraded us to a suite tent for our anniversary.  The tent was at the furthermost point of the camp, surrounded by pure African bush - OMG it was huge!

Leleshwa Suite Tent

At last Jon could enjoy a bed that allowed him to stretch out and still be on the bed!  In an emergency, or at a party, the bed could easily accommodate five!  To top it all off a bottle of champagne was waiting on ice (rapidly melting) - you couldn't ask for better.

Our first afternoon started with the theory of photography.   What did we take away - photography is art, its about composition and the 5 "Fs"!   Mike did a remarkable job of keeping us both under control for most of our stay.

Side-striped Jackal

Game drives were full day events with breakfast and lunch in the Mara.  The usual suspects were out to welcome us back to the park along with new species, for us, at least including the Side-Striped Jackal and the Steinbock.  Being charged by a highly irate Leopard was a new experience too and not one we are in a hurry to repeat, unless of course an effective barrier and a machete wielding Masai are present.  The migration was in full flow and so, unfortunately, were hoards of tourists in what has been become known as "Rice Rockets", hideous white mini-vans generally occupied by very loud and frequently stupid homo sapiens.  We found refuge down by the Sand River, close to the Tanzanian border.  For reasons that are unfathomable nobody else was there - Yay!

Masai Home

Evening milking time - women and children
do all the work

Flies - no escaping them!

Sherry did the Masai Mara village thingy.  This has always been something we have avoided like the plague as canned "cultural" visits are nothing more than an opportunity to fleece visitors of hefty wads of foreign currency.  Leleshwa is different.  The village you visit is a real Masai community and the experience is sometimes a little too real.   Seeing hundreds of cows, sheep and goats making their way back to the village for milking before being corralled for the night was incredible.  We can't keep four cats and a dog under control.  Humbling really.  Looking at dollar signs, our animals cost more to feed for a day than an entire family lives on for a week, I am sure that this information would be the definitive proof that we are certifiably insane!  Masai homes are small in the extreme, Jon would battle just to get through the door, it is overwhelming to see what they achieve with so little.  Cultural issues are another subject altogether and some of their practices, female circumcision for example, are difficult to accept.  It is a world apart from our own and it was a privilege to be allowed such intimate access into their lives.


 Some images to finish with.......kwaherini!

Lunch time in the Mara - Leleshwa Style

Jackal puppy - aaaaaaaah!

Up close and personal to an exhausted lion

Nine month update...

It's hard to believe that we have been here for nine months already.  At once it seems as though it was yesterday when we started this crazy adventure, at the same time it seems centuries away when we lived in the regulated and somewhat more predictable world of Hardegg.

One of numerous visitors
to the verandah every day!

Little has happened in the two months since last we wrote.  Wally has grown into a handsome adolescent boy, still all paws which seem to have a mind of their own and contribute to his less than graceful gait.  The cats are steadfastly holding to their territory - inside the house and venture out to play only when the dog is asleep.  Wally on the other hand, is desperate to make friends with and play with the cats and on the rare occasion when they are in the garden barrels towards them at full speed.  The cats engage lightening speed reflexes which propel them up trees or on to the roof of the house leaving the dog confused and frustrated. 

I am afraid you will just have to imagine
his glorious bright red wings

The wild birds have benefited enormously from this turn of events and we are regularly inundated by firefinches, cordon bleus and seedeaters on the verandah.  At the same time a "dole" of doves, up to thirty at a time, now feel safe enough to crowd on the birdtable and distribute the seed all over the lawn.  We are anticipating the we will start a new trend in millet lawns!  More exciting, but less frequent visitors to the garden include the turaco, their colours stunning in flight and the giant African harrier hawk that does a a remarkable job of clearing the skies, trees and bushes of all birdlife, within milliseconds of its arrival.

A business trip to Dar es Salaam for CRAfrica turned into comedy of errors which started at the airport.  We were clearly far too efficient booking our flights two months in advance.  A week prior to departure we were informed that our outbound flight had been rescheduled and would leave 90 minutes later than planned, not too much of a problem we thought.... Our taxi to the airport remarkably got us there in 35 minutes, a journey that can take 2.5 hours!  We strolled casually to the check-in desk to be informed that the flight had closed and was due to leave. 

No precision whatsoever about this airline!

The departure time having been re-rescheduled to the original.  Some warning would have been useful.  Fortunately they were willing to call the gate and ask them to wait for us -  clearly they were not trained by Air France!  A frustrating delay at passport control, obviously the speed at which we arrived at their desk alerted them to the fact that we had plenty of time to spend watching them look at every stamp, at least twice, in our passports made for a mad dash through the re-furbished terminal. We made it to the gate and subsequently boarded - Yay, we made it!  At midday in Nairobi, even in winter, you do not want to be sitting on the apron in a tiny Dash-8, full of less than fragrant passengers, but sit we did, for at least 30 minutes, whilst they unloaded bags and then waited for a passenger who was in no hurry.  

Sunset adding a glow to the jetty

An uneventful flight landed us in Dar to join the somewhat haphazard immigration process.  We have learned to keep our mouths shut when governmental systems are less than efficient.  A British traveller behind us had no such reticence and loudly proclaimed the system as the worst in Africa.  We took several side steps to ensure that everybody could clearly see that although carrying the same passport we had nothing to do with this person who was oblivious to the less than friendly body language of the officials.  Finally we were called to the desk.  Having collected the $100 necessary to enter the country all attempts at friendliness gone, our passports were scrutinized, we were glared upon, fingerprints taken and unceremoniously directed, with a shake of the head, to the baggage area.  The baggage area contained very little baggage, specifically it did not contain our bags.

It was some 15 hours and at least 20 telephone calls after our arrival that our bags eventually arrived at the hotel (02h30).

View from the terrace at the training venue
- it beats your typical business hotel!

 After a tortuous week in Dar we returned home,  again flight changes making for a rushed check-in, the plus being that they also rushed our bags through.

For the first time in about six weeks we are back outside on the verandah enjoying sunshine!  Winter in Nairobi is horrible. Grey, cold, damp...in a word, miserable.  Don't plan a holiday here at this time of year - ever.  Everything is growing like crazy, particularly weeds:-(  Raffi has found some rough ground somewhere that specializes in a weed with superglue properties with a predilection for cat fur.  On our arrival back from Dar we found a very sorry for himself cat, his coat a tangled mess forcing us to remove huge chunks of fur in an attempt tidy him up.  He currently resembles a soft toy that has been subject to a three year old's attempt at hairdressing.

The drought has had disastrous consequences up country, no sooner than the desperately needed rain arrived it caused flash floods adding chaos to mayhem.  The situation has resulted in everyday items disappearing from supermarket shelves, the most prominent of which has been sugar.  For our staff this was a major problem.  Sugar is added in copious quantities to everything, a cup of tea is undrinkable unless it has at least 4-5 teaspoons of sugar added to it!  Helen was certainly more excited by the gift of a couple of hundred sachets of sugar than she was by her salary! 

At the end of the month we return briefly to Vienna, a work driven break but it means we get to see the SHIT team (Stevie, Hazel, Ian and Taylor) for the first time in a very long time and although it will be a fleeting visit we are really looking forward to seeing the kids again - YAHOO!