We have been really fortunate to keep receiving this amazing updates from a little village on the periphery of Tsavo National Park where the SDX Bristol-Imani team have spread the sporting wings across the red soil…keep on running!

And from Cat –Exped leader-come-SDX general dogsbody…

You may have been wondering what we’ve all been up to for the last 4 days… well get comfy because true to form we’ve been keeping busy here at Camp Imani!

Following  the success of Friday the group felt on top of the world after an early morning start to climb Mount Kasigau, the tallest mountain on the horizon standing at 1640m, the same height as Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. The journey there was cool as the clouds sat low and the open topped truck trundled along the dusty red earth roads, but soon we were walking at a healthy pace up through the distinct environmental layers; first red sandy earth scattered with dry shrubs, then over sparkly white, rose, yellow and purple quartz, up through sandy light brown earth and aromatic bushes before the environment changed to that of a green mossy woodland not dissimilar to one back in the UK. Still higher we climbed for the toughest part was yet to come. The ground suddenly steepened to nearly 80 degrees and the trees began to dwarf us. Before we know it we were climbing on all fours and hanging from roots to avoid sliding down the slippery, dark, leafy soil of a mountain top jungle! An unexpected treat, the humid air was a welcome change to the dust and dry of the valley below. Finally the canopy gave way to the summit, where the group reveled in their achievement and took in the panorama of the Taita landscape before having a mountain top picnic. The journey down proved equally challenging and everyone had to work together and look out for each other to avoid slipping on the slimy jungle slopes of Mount Kasigau. Once things eased off the group were on a high and started singing (if you can call it that) anything from Barbie Girl to the Lion King. Perhaps we can blame it on the altitude! 4 hours up and 3 hours down, we returned to camp sore and satisfied –the sign of a good days exertions!

Sunday afforded the group their first R&R day, and after a leisurely breakfast we headed into nearby Voi to do some shopping before relaxing at the nearby Voi Wildlife Lodge for some swimming and sunbathing. The clouds weren’t in our favour but the group was soon detracted by the Athletics World Championships as the locals cheered at the Kenyan hopefuls on the TV. News quickly spread that Usain Bolt was disqualified, much to the disappointment of all who were keen to observe the fastest man on earth in the build up to next Summers’ 2012 Olympics in London. Then to add to that, the football scores rolled in: Arsenal 2 – Manchester United 8. WHAT!!!! Celebrations for some, humiliation for others, the Kenyan’s take their premiership football surprisingly seriously!

Back to camp for a surprise party! Nothing to do with the football scores, it had in fact been Orlando’s 22nd birthday the day the group had landed in Kenya, but with all the traveling and settling into Camp, no-one knew. Orlando, blissfully unaware, was tasked with digging a fire pit, while Mama Mercy snuck past a cake we’d got baked in Voi earlier and Mia and Cat decorated the hall. Improvisation was the key as cunning use was made of the sports cones for party hats and the chalk and scoreboard for a giant card! A tasty dinner was followed by a fiery cake…the paper bow decoration got ignited by the candles and made for quite a spectacular entrance in to the dark hall! Once we’d polished that off we rocked an old skool party by whipping out a homemade limbo stick. The evening was topped off perched on logs and chatting around the fire-pit under the stars to the sound of Raphael’s guitar and singing.

Monday morning saw the group straight back to work. After his easy day previously, Orlando was given the role as group leader and saw the long jump track take shape with the leveling of earth and organizing the team to shift 50 wheelbarrows of sand to fill the newly dug pit. By half 11 it was crying out for a test run and soon both the SDX students and locals were launching themselves into the sand. Some ‘interesting’ techniques surfaced including Gilbert’s ‘Grasshopper’ and Phil’s’ ‘Superman’ but as usual the local kids stole the show with their amazing coordination, athleticism and enthusiasm. The track and pit was so simple, and requires little resources other then a rake and maintenance so we really hope it will become a popular contribution to the areas sporting facilities and opportunities.

The afternoon got off to a slow start as all the school children are on holiday this week, but gradually they came and the SDX students ran sessions in Cricket, Netball, Volleyball and the new long Jump while the tractor ploughed on in the background leveling the football pitch.

Today (Tuesday) started with some of the group going for a morning run before Helen took charge as the leader of the day and had everyone over at the school and ready to start work just after 8:30! A busy morning ensued –the long jump track was fitted with take off and triple-jump markers, the lines re-marked and ruts filled in on the new cricket pitch, Maungu Secondary School netball court was cleared of all the weeds and shrubs that had built up on the court, and the thorny shrubs cleared to make an access path to it. Not a bad morning’s work!

The afternoon began with the introduction of Rounders as a group warm up that got the boys and girls of all ages mixing and cheering one another along. Although it was completely new to them all, the youngsters picked it up extremely quickly and soon got very competitive! This was followed by some hugely successful coaching sessions in netball on the newly cleared court, and in volleyball, long-jump and cricket. We were initially concerned that many of the older boys wouldn’t turn up while the football pitch is being re-made (as football is the main thing here) but were delighted to see large numbers of lads soaking up the volleyball coaching from Orlando, Phil and Raphael.

With all this commitment and enthusiasm from the students, we really hope the teachers and wider community will continue to coach and support all the sporting talent that the SDX group is revealing and developing.  Personally, I am immensely proud of what the group has achieved so far, both through their commitment and enthusiasm for the project work, and with the way both they and the locals are developing as coaches and sportsmen and women.

Let’s keep up the good work!

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