The Adventure Begins

Jambo! Well the adventure has finally begun! The flight was fine and Esther was very good, managing to sleep about 5 hours in total, including the take off! We’re staying at an AIM guesthouse called Mayfield. It’s a lovely place to stay, as you can see from the photos, and we are very well looked after.

Esther is a big hit with everyone, and certainly helps to make friends and start conversations. We’ve had two days of orientation packed with lots of useful stuff, including a two hour Swahili lesson! We can speak a few words, but we’ll be getting plenty of practice and opportunities when we get to Tanzania.

We were supposed to head to Mavuno today. However things in Africa take time, and we’ll hopefully be able to head there tomorrow. It’s a long drive, around 8 hours but no doubt we’ll have a story or two from it! So instead we’ve had a chilled day and have visited the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage! Esther got to see and touch her first baby elephant. Take a look at the videos attached. We also saw some warthogs today. Other wildlife we've seen include about eight giraffes about an hour after landing in Nairobi. They were in the distance as we drove away from the airport.

Baby Elephants Arriving:

Esther meets her first baby elephant:

Hitesh – It’s been good to have a day off and chill out today. It’s given me a bit of time to take in what’s happening and just to ponder a bit. Things at home have been so busy preparing for the trip, and as soon as we arrived, we were being orientated. It’s great to finally be here. The people are very friendly and welcoming, and have made us feel at home. It’s taking a bit of time to get used to the heat and altitude. Nairobi is 1600m above sea level, which can catch you by surprise when lugging up heavy backpacks up the stairs! It’s good to be going to Mavuno tomorrow, although there could be a small possibility we could be here in Nairobi for another night. I hope we are of use to Mavuno and are able to use our skills to help the project.

Lucy – I still can’t believe we’re actually here! It’s amazing! They’ve had a fair amount of rain recently so everything is so lush and colourful, and the people so welcoming… it really does feel such a privilege to be here! I am amazed that God has enabled this to happen – provision of all the money we needed and the timing of the trip has been perfect.

Am really excited about going to Mavuno tomorrow (mixed with a bit of apprehension as we don’t really know what to expect)! I get the impression that children will feature quite highly as I think the 2 other families out there (the Helsbys and a new family who have just arrived) have over 10 kids between them!

Am also really pleased out how well Esther is doing and her interest and excitement in all she sees is very cool! Right best be off…dinner soon! J

Esther – I like this Frica place, cos I is having lots of fun playing and exploring. I have made lots of friends, and I got to see a hefalump today. They has got funny noses.