Hello everyone,

I am sorry that it has taken so long before I posted my first blog,also that I have not added captions to pictures as internet very slow

The cat and dog rescue centre in South Africa was great, apart from walking some of the 170 plus dogs they had I became a handyman doing odd jobs and painting some of the kennels, the official handyman Patrick was glad of my help and company especially when he went out in his truck to pick up and drop off bits and pieces at charity shops the centre had. It also meant that I got to see parts of the country that I would not had seen. I also went out in the mobile clinic with Gladwell to pick up and drop off dogs and cats in the local townships which were very interesting and eye opening.

The township next to the centre is called Massepulemelle and has about 30000 residents living in all kinds of shacks made from corrugated sheets to brick built houses. It is more or less a self contained village with shops, schools, drinking dens and much more but very poor. Everyone was very friendly but having said that I would not have gone in on my own especially after dark. I walked past it about 4 times a day with no problem for 2 weeks; unfortunately I cannot say the same for 2 British lads who got robbed the first time they passed it.

At the weekends some of the group in the house I was living in would go into Cape Town and stay in a backpackers for a night or I would hire a car and drive over the mountains exploring the countryside which was outstanding.

In the 4 weeks it only rained twice and each day it was hot or very hot

After leaving South Africa I went to Nairobi in Kenya for the start of a 7 day safari. I did not like Nairobi that much as it was much polluted and noisy with the matutus (taxi vans) continually blasting there horns to attract attention. And as for the driving there seemed to be only one rule, get wherever you are going as fast and how you want. Red lights and lanes were ignored, having said that I did not see any accidents or many damaged vehicles.

The safari was brilliant we travelled into Tanzania through the Serengeti to Ngorongoro. The Serengeti went on for mile after mile without seeing other people and lots of wildlife as the pictures show. Ngorongoro is a volcanic crater which has over 30000 animals in it. We stayed in tents in campsites which had no fences so all the animals were free to come in, which they did. I got up in the night to us the toilet and saw all these eyes looking at me in the light of my head torch. One of the group saw 3 elephants walking past our tents. Another ignored the rule no food or toilet bags in the tents and was visited by a bush pig in the middle of the night which gnawed its way in and stole the food much to the terror of the occupants.

It was fascinating to see the Massi Mara people who wear the traditional clothing and live in very remote areas miles away from civilisation. Most walked around with spears including young children. Apparently they live on fresh milk and meat and drink the blood of animals. Whilst they are living a simple life a lot had mobile phones.

I am now in Kenya on a community project near to the base of Mount Kenya. It takes me 30 minutes to walk along a dirt road to the project which is a group of about 30 local people who started 4 years ago planting trees to replace trees cut down by both local people and commercial loggers. They have now bought a piece of land and are in the process of building and education centre so that they can re-educate the local community not to cut down trees to make house but to use the soil(which is free) to make bricks to build the houses. But first of all they have to have a building made from bricks to show what can be done. That’s where I come in; each member of the group gives up one day a week to work at the project (most are farmers) and together with us volunteers good progress is being made. I was amazed how easy it is to make a brick from the soil with a bit of added cement. It doesn’t sound much but in 2 days we made 50 large bricks….before you laugh.. The soil had to be dug out and wheel barrowed about a quarter of a mile and in the heat you cannot work to fast.

My next stop is Sri Lanka where I will and post some more pictures.

Bye for now.

John