Kenya Adventure - Day 7

We thought we would head out a little earlier this morning so instead of having our morning wake-up cup of tea at 5:30 a.m. we changed it to 5:00 a.m, - not a problem, I think we have both been awake at that time each morning anyway. Folks keep asking us, what are you doing tomorrow? Where are you going next? etc. you know the sort of questions and our standard reply is - don’t know, please as Peter he is the boss man. Pete is being kept on his toes that is for sure, well he is our guide, he has all the plane tickets, vouchers and documentation and I believe the itinerary of what is planned. Alan and I honestly have no idea what is happening the next day, we don’t even know what day it is today. Well I know now as I have just looked to the top of my screen to see it is Sunday.

On our way back to camp last night we had a little problem, our driver, Simon tried to be a bit clever. There are some people in this world who think they know how to drive a 4x4 but really have only a basic concept (I know a few personally!!!) Alan and Pete do not fit into this category, both have been 4x4 driving for over 40 years, they used to go out together in their Suzuki’s and I have heard so many stories over the years of the adventures and mishaps related to these odd boxes on wheels. Just for the fun of it - here is a photo of Alan’s and Peter’s Suzukis taken just outside Alan’s flat in Mombassa before I met him!! Alan always had a mustard coloured Suzuki so his in the front one and Pete’s is the green one behind. Right, sorry, went off on a tangent there :)

Our driver decided to be clever and failed miserably, getting us stuck in the mud in the dark on a rather unstable section of the road. We ended up getting out the vehicle incase he flipped it over - what a piece of junk this Range Rover we are using is, it may be light but it does not have the power etc. of the Land Cruiser - the general consensus now is that even if given a Range Rover it would not see the light of day in the driveway!!!! Right, where was I - ah walking up the hill in the dark while Simon (the driver) contemplated his next move and us all looking on saying - ‘we told you what to do, learn to listen’. In the end, after about 20 minutes he eventually got the piece of metal on wheels called a 4x4 out of it’s predicament, and reversed down the hill were we then followed on foot and go it. A little more reversing, take the track to the right which was not wet or deep rigged due to other inadequate 4z4 drivers gunning the power to plow through the mud leaving more destruction behind them than was necessary which is what we see all the time, or going so slowly that they make a big hole just in the place they shouldn’t - you have to learn to read the land, the type of mud/sand not use one standard driving practice for all situations. Yep that is a problem with everything isn’t it, we like standardisation, give it a name and a process and it can be handled - what rubbish, not possible, nature has far to many variables for that to work and there is no way we can (although I think some like to believe we should) control nature, she will have the last laugh every time. OK, back in the vehicle, with Simon, now rather embarrassed, we head back to camp, the bugs having a field day, heck they did not need to move we drove into them fast enough for them to bounce off our faces. For obvious reasons we did not talk much, I have had my bug allowance already :) We should have kept our eyes closed too!!! Alan got hit in the eye by a kamikaze bug, his eye was OK to begin with but after his shower later at night the irritation started and has become progressively worse. It now feels like grit rubbing they eye each time the eye ball moves. Mo has had a look to see if she can see anything but can’t see a problem so off in search of a doctor, one of the big tourist camps will have a doctor around. The first one we visited - no, second one we visited ‘Samburu Lodge’ did so on we go in and get this sorted. Now it is funny how things sort themselves out and I am so sorry Alan arrange our trip to Samburu Lodge this way, we really could have just popped in for a regular cup of coffee anytime were were here. Samburu Logde is where we spent the third and fourth nights of our honeymoon and as this is a then and now story a visit had to be paid. As Alan saw the doctor I nipped into the shop, found a shots glass, paid for that, took a few photos and got that out the way then we all met up again. The dr. can’t see any issue with Alan’s eye which is great in one way but there is certainly something there, he has some ointment to put and we will give it 24 hours to see how it goes before the next decision. Now the sensible thing to do would be to return to our beautiful camp but no, we went on another game viewing drive (Alan kept his eyes closed all the time - forget photography) our first stop being down by the river for breakfast, we are all starving now . Breakfast was lots of bacon, sausages, hard boiled eggs, pancakes, toast, fruit salad, tea and coffee - cooked to perfection. Mo put the cream in Alan’s eye and we did out best not to fuss, oh how Alan hates folks fussing but at the same time trying to be considerate. It is always so hard to see a precious one suffering, you can’t do anything about it to make it better but you so want to - another lesson to be learnt I think - this is not your battle!!! I know, and those who know me, know how I feel about being constantly asked, how are you, I will do that for you, let me take this, no you sit there I will get it etc. etc. etc. you end up feeling the invalid and have no sense of control of yourself anymore grrrrrrrrrr - pet hate, but I also appreciate how hard it is for those who love (or maybe even like me haha) to watch me struggle with something or flinch in pain and not help. Alan and I have an understanding, if you need help just ask, if not I am there in the background but you are in control. Back at the camp, lunch time - more food :)

Alan decided to return to our room and rest, Pete and Mo returned to their room to don’t know what and I returned to the camp office to sort out my blog and the craft blog I am helping with. I spent three hours in the office doing the craft blog first with an Internet speed of about 5 bps adding one card to the challenge, deleting some description text, scheduling the post so it publishes tomorrow at noon GMT and also preparing the winners post from this weeks competition - three hours just to do that. At least I have Internet access, all be it slower than a tortoise standing still. Alas no time to do my blog and not enough umph to get the photos uploaded anyway.

4 p.m. came around and the three of us headed out again for another drive, I did not go back to the room to check on Alan because if he was sleeping the last thing I wanted to do was wake him up and if he was awake I know he will also be making the most of some quite ‘me time’ - yep we have been very sociable for a whole seven days now!!!!! We drove for all of about 7 minutes when we saw a rainbow, oh how beautiful but we know what it means too - rain coming our way. Time to take the pictures and head back. We just about made it to camp before the heavens opened, a minute earlier and we would have been under cover, safe and dry, and boy did they open. I love Africa rain, it is what I call ‘proper rain’, big drops that hit the ground so hard they bounce a foot or so into the air before returning to land one final time - am I peeved it is raining not in the least - it is beautiful. I couldn’t get back to Alan to check on him because of the rain, I can’t afford to slip and it a bit of an up hill, down hill hike so have to put my trust in the gods that Alan is fine. Not a lot more to today - rain stopped, I went back to our room, Alan is the same, no worse but no better. We sat and chatted then decided to join everybody for dinner (back up plan - I would return to the main lodge and have our dinner brought to us) and put Alan on Ibuprofen to try to numb the gravel in his eye feeling a bit. By the end of the evening Alan eye was opening a bit more and the watering subsiding so hopefully this is a good sign - I will let you know.

Now I have an issue - trying to multi task and be normal I have decided not to carry the cameras back to our room but leave them safely in the main lodge - they are more than safe there in may ways, probably safer than me carrying them around. I have taken out my memory cards with of all todays pics to transfer to my laptop and do what I normally do with them). So, after dinner, thinking it was a good time to sort the images I looked for the memory cards and I have no idea where I have put them. I know the plan was third pocked down in my camera jacket on the right hand side which I am living in but they are not there. I have gone through every pocket of my jacket 3 times and no joy. I can’t have lost them but maybe I have and it is my own fault and before I start getting really cross with myself I am going to sign off with just one more thing said - if I find the cards you will know as this blog post will have pics, if I don’t well!!!!! (I do have more memory cards with me so have only lost todays photography and that is not the end of the world, not worth getting upset about - it is a move on from the moment situation) Time to vanish, tis 5 a.m. and my cup of morning tea has arrived :)