For our final holiday on our African adventure we returned to the beach. We had long agreed that this was our plan but couldn't quite agree on which beach. So we went to three different ones, with Matthew remaining in his swimming trunks as we flew and drove between them to save time getting back into the pool. Bliss.
We started with a few days in Lamu with Granny with some Dhow trips, snorkeling and jumping into the sea from the pier and lots of time in a pool. Very chilled, much more comfortable than an empty house in Nairobi and a great way to end Granny's trip. Then 24 hours in Watamu, partly because the flights worked that way but also because we love the diving there and Jamie wanted to repeat his Zanzibar experience. And finally a week with friends in a house in Kilifi, where the kids sailed and windsurfed and swam and generally got wet and we read, relaxed, soaked up the sun and recharged our batteries ready for the final chaos of moving continents and picking up the lives we left just over 2 years ago. Together it looked like this......
A very special trip. Anne Saturday, 19 April 2014Too busy to blog
It's been a pretty busy few months with packing, winding up Nairobi jobs, spending time with friends we have made in the last 2 years whilst trying to keep life as normal for the kids as possible. So we have had kids parties, sleep overs, sports fixtures, school trips, a school show to fit in too. And my blogging has slipped a bit.
All our kids have birthdays in the first few months of the year. Matthew's came twice a when his godmother's gift arrived a few weeks late - post is a bit random here.  Jamie and his friends celebrating being a pre teen with a massive game of football and a nerf gun war in the garden before heading out go karting and back for chocolate cake. The whole day was lots of fun and left a flock of happy boys and a huge windfall (or ballfall) of green mangos from our tree. Katie and I cooked up a vat of chutney and, with help from a friend, I found a great Thai green mango salad recipe which has featured at most of the meals we've hosted for friends and work colleagues as we start our goodbyes over the last few weeks.
 Anne Thursday, 3 April 2014Fire starting in Samburu
We are filling our last few weeks with trips and fun and spending time with friends whilst our gear slowly makes its way back to the UK via various routes. This weekend Tim and Jamie headed off to Rwanda and Uganda in search of gorillas and my mum and I took katie and Matthew to Samburu in Northern Kenya. Photos will follow just as soon as I'm reunited with the computer and smart card reader in London. But I thought I'd put the words down now.
Northern Kenya is pretty arid and the landscape was different from anywhere else we have yet been, with Mount Kenya looming in the distance. There are animals that you only find in this part of the world - the reticulated giraffe, Samburu Oryx, a blue breasted guinea fowl, a white bellied Zebra (Grevey's) and an antelope called a gerenuk that has a long neck and stands straight on its hind legs to reach the bits of bush that are too high for other antelope and too low for the giraffe. Plus loads of elephants. The rains are due properly any moment - the first and so far only rain fall came last Tuesday so there is some green around but the river is really low and there isn't much food about for the animals. So they are more clustered by the river and easier to find. And, with the help of our Samburu guides we found loads, particularly lions with some very cute cubs. We are all pleased that our careful tallies confirmed we had seen more lions (19) than ground squirrels (18). We stayed at a lovely spot called elephant watch, linked to Save The ElephantsIt is right next to the river, with just 6 guest tents, great food (although my kids were not impressed by a liberal use of coriander) and lovely picnics out in the bush. We had an early evening walk up a hill to watch the sun go down with a cold beer/soda and Samburu warriors making fire with 2 sticks, a little sand (for friction) and elephant dung. My two fire starters tried their hand without success. But the Samburu experts soon had a large fire roaring as we sat and watched the stars (and our hostess and I chatted about the pros and cons of various schools and the challenges of finding a good work/life balance - some things are pretty universal whatever your job). We were the last to stay before the camp closes for the rains so along with a couple of Americans we had it pretty much to ourselves, with a BBC film crew pitched just along the river. BBC2 viewers can learn all about the camp and the wildlife in a 12 part series later this year. Suspect their pics will be better than mine, even if the wait is longer. We popped into the elephant research centre where they track elephants across Africa to spot and record poaching levels, elephant behaviour etc. we heard about how bees are being used to keep elephants away from crops and so reduce the levels of human/wildlife conflict. Matthew and I were both impressed by the google earth app that does the tracking and by the totally trashed safari truck giving a very clear example of the strength of elephants. Sadly, poachers across the river had killed an elephant the day before we arrived. They had been scared off before they could get their ivory haul and had not been tempted to return for it - had they done so they would have been caught. Poaching levels of both elephants and rhinos are still at crisis level here and unless demand can be curbed it is hard to see how the crisis will be resolved - the greatest current demand for horn is apparently as a hangover cure in Vietnam. Bonkers. After a lovely few days and a slightly accelerated drive to the airstrip when we spotted our plane coming into land half an hour sooner than advertised (and confirmed that morning), we came back to Nairobi to compare wildlife notes with Tim and James. They had seen some of the world's 400 or so remaining mountain gorillas and had good dad and lad bonding time. All in all some pretty special final safaris for this African adventure. Anne Wednesday, 2 April 2014Worlds apart, Facebook style
As part of getting ready to return to London I've accepted a Facebook friend request to join a local mum's group. I thought it might be a good way of reconnecting, finding out about nannies and life in the neighbourhood we are returning to. I joined a similar group here and whilst most of the posts have little relevance to me, it has been a useful source of information on events and the sort of things that pre-occupy mums here (and pretty much everywhere) like ill children, reliable childcare, where to get specific things, problems at school etc. All very familiar stuff. And most of the time it is easy to feel that our Nairobi world is pretty similar to our London world albeit with better weather, a different group of friends and much more wildlife - our cat brought us a snake the other day rather than a more traditional mouse offering!
But the other week I was really struck by 2 posts on these 2 sites and by some of the very real differences in our worlds. On my London net a mum of 3 was seeking advice about driving from London to Verbier to go skiing with her children. She had at least a dozen comments from people locally offering advice based on their experiences. In Nairobi on the same day a mum was asking whether she should be suspicious about a woman and her three kids that she had dragged out from the middle of the traffic apparently trying to kill themselves because life was so hopeless. She too had a dozen or so posts saying this was an established scam with agreed descriptions of the con woman. It may have been a con but the woman was still taking 3 kids into unpredictable and bonkers traffic in a country where annual road deaths are at least double that in the UK (for a smaller population and much lower rates of car ownership). It felt very different to the anxieties of driving across Europe for a skiing holiday. I will try and hold on to that when I'm inevitably struggling with aspects of our privileged London life in the coming months. Anne Sunday, 9 March 2014International Women
For International Women's day, I thought I'd blog again about some of the women I've met here and their stories. This has been my third IWD in Kenya so my third blog on the subject and I continue to be amazed by the stories I hear about the pivotal role many women play in supporting huge extended families.
I find it tough enough looking after my three kids and that's with a very hands on dad, a good income, lots of help and a strong (if distant just now) family network. But our nanny looks after our kids in the day so she can support her own four kids through school and college. She's also the person her sisters and mum turn to when they need her - she has just taken a 6 hour bus journey to see her mum and find out exactly how she hurt herself in a fall and what treatment she needs because she can't get this over the phone as there is no one who can really understand what the doctor is saying and she needs to speak to them face to face. And she will almost certainly look after her nephews and nieces if anything happens to their parents. That is a very real possibility given the levels of HIV here, very high road traffic mortality, the poor medical coverage beyond Nairobi (and its prohibitive costs) and the lack of basic public health information - I recently gave toothbrushes and paste to a young mum I know who had no idea sugar damaged teeth and had just taken her 5 year old to have a rotten tooth pulled. The ability to support an extended family in this way relies on having and being able work. And that is very fragile. I heard yesterday from a friend about a young woman who is currently having cancer treatment. She is unmarried but looks after 2 of her nephews and nieces whose parents are dead. Without my friend's support (intervening with doctors and helping with the bills) the cancer treatment would not have started till September, her chances of recovery would have been much reduced and there would be no one else to take on the orphaned children. Of course it isn't just healthcare that threatens the reliance of so many on one worker. Our imminent departure is hugely stressful for those we employ, particularly the women who will be competing in an already crowded market for domestic staff to find new work. We are doing all we can to help but there are no guarantees. The demographics here, with 70% of people under 40 means that a million new jobs are needed every year to keep unemployment levels static. At the moment the figure for new jobs is only a tenth of that. And I suspect women are not the winners - I hope it isn't as bad for them here as the reports suggest it is in the UK, where the latest House of Commons library research suggests women have been hit four times harder than men by tax and benefit changes. As I suspected when I blogged on IWD last year, I haven't done very much to support women here. A short email exchange at work highlighted that for me. A friend pinged round her plans for yesterday and the weekend in support of IWD to challenge and inspire others about what they could do. She was attending an event to encourage women in policing, only working on issues to do with women and girls on Friday, doing a walk to support a scheme that promotes strong female role models, talking to all the women she mentors etc. I'd bought a scarf made by a Somali woman to raise money for a women's refuge, contributed a lemon cake to a bake sale for the same cause and donated a bag of clothes. And I had lunch plans with two of my favourite women here. I'm not often a lady who lunches but this was in part a goodbye so we made an exception and lunched with giraffe. Anne Moshi Monsters
Tim is still really enjoying his running and so 10 days ago we set off in convoy with some friends to drive to Tanzania for the kilimanjaro marathon. Dads were entered for the half marathon and mums and kids were planning to join the 5 km family run. Thanks to worse than usual Friday afternoon traffic (so bad it made the news headlines and was attributed to a trial of new traffic lights in Nairobi) Tim ended up with a car full of kids, leading the way, and I jumped in an adult only car straight from work. It was a very straightforward drive to the border and a pretty easy border crossing albeit with plenty of form filling and passport stamping. A novel experience for our kids who thus far have only driven across European borders. You have to leave your car log book at the check point, to try and reduce trade in stolen cars I think. Our experience of African bureaucracy didn't fill us with huge confidence but it was all fine and the log book was retrieved quickly on our way back through on Sunday.
We stayed in a small walkers' hotel in the foothills of Kilimanjaro, near to Moshi - the town where the run takes place. It reminded Tim and me of places we have stayed in in the Peak District - sparse, old furniture, concrete floors, solid food. But the views were stunning and it was a great place to relax and get ready before the run.  The family run started a bit later than the others so Judy (the other mum) and I set off with the kids about 30 minutes later than the men. 10km from Moshi we found the roads blocked, because of the run, with no alternative route to the start line. We tried to work out a solution with the policeman at the road block (as did the tour guide behind us who had a bus load of Canadians trying to run). But he couldn't help. He just busied himself talking into a radio trying to look important and uninterruptible. I'm pretty sure there was no one at the other end. After a few minutes of this and with no obvious reason why the road should be closed this far out of town we decided we would just drive through - 4x4's have their advantages. The kids were thrilled and ever so slightly anxious. But no chase ensued and we pulled in to the side (with plenty of other vehicles) when we came head to head with the full marathon and its lead runners. Oops. After that we just waved our running numbers at the 4 or 5 other police stops we came to and in return were just waved through. And we got to the start line with plenty of time and a car full of energised, excited kids. And it was very worth it.    Once again, I mainly walked rather than ran but everyone had fun and were proud to have finished. And even the car breaking down on the way back didn't dampen our enthusiasm. But more of that another day. Anne Tuesday, 25 February 2014Travelling lighter
The last few months here are flying by and we've still got a few things planned to make the most of it. But alongside the fun, there's a bit of sorting to do too and the packers have been round to measure up. We came with a forty foot shipping container that we packed our London home into. It was nearly full and we added 240kg of luggage that we brought with us on the plane to keep us going for the 3 or so months it took our home to cross the sea. We get even more luggage space going home as I have a work allowance to add to Tim's. But the aim is to make sure we travel lighter, not least because the idea of unpacking everything is grim.
So there are a few things we won't be taking back. Favourite flip flops - our usual footwear takes a real pounding here and all of us have seem our favourite pairs have been loved to bits. We hope they have been recycled into things like this......  candles - we brought a drawer full of candles with us including a couple of dozen slow burn ones we had at our wedding. They have stood us well through the repeated power cuts, the kids have had fun recycling the wax to make their own candles and the last few will make our garden look pretty through the next few weeks of entertaining as we say our farewells. But the drawer will then be empty and that's one less box to pack. Kitchen stores - we have slowly been eating through the UK treats we bring back with us and that visitors have donated. There are a few more jellies to make, a handful of chocolate chips and enough lunch box snacks to see us through. The European wine has long gone and we will, like friends before us, hand on any remaining spirits from the back of the shelves - who does drink advocat? Hammocks - we had 2 as wedding presents years ago. They were great hanging from the mango trees in our garden here. But they have been riddled with holes by weather, termites and vigorous swinging and have been removed before anyone falls through them. Outgrown toys, clothes and shoes can always find good homes here. The kids continue to grow apace and we have plenty to pass on. I have a box that I fill every month or so for someone who needs it more than us. I've been filling it a bit more regularly the last few weeks and have added a second box full of things that it's better to sell on, giving the money to those who need it. Lotions and potions from the UK have been my other treat when travelling home. We have been running down supplies and know that our ayah and house help will make good use of anything left in the cupboard in April. Legacy of an extreme laundry regime - we have a big pile of sheets, towels and clothes that won't live to fight another day after repeated washing and bleaching in the sun. It halves the lives of our shoes too - not just the adore mentioned flip flops.
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