Almost two years into our time in Ecuador, we are still learning and exploring.  This week, we went into the mountains near Baños to investigate an idea for an addition to some Gapper programmes.

Baños is much loved of our Gappers – it arrives in the programme after some hard project work in the Amazon, and offers a break and some serious adrenaline pursuing.  Slowly, the time there has stretched as each group of Gappers tells us they love the place and want more time there.  Our latest idea is make it a good bit longer but include a completely different idea alongside the chill out time in town.

Baños sits in the shadow of Tungurahua, a very active volcano which periodically spits lava and smoke from its caldera.  Our plan is to work with a foundation who are trying to conserve the natural habitat on its slopes.  These forests are home to bears, tapirs, rare frogs, orchids, rare hardwood trees and some incredible views; all of which are under threat.  (Don’t worry, between their land and the scary bit of the volcano are deep valleys so there is no danger of lava flows arriving in the night.)

Part of the 2.5 hour climb up tio the lodge.

The forests are dense with vegetation; among which are rare trees that we are planning to work to preserve, creating nurseries using saplings and reforesting with mixed forest to replicate the natural, virgin forest that dominates these hills.  There are waterfalls and springs that are the very beginnings of the Amazon river – the water in them is going all the way to the Atlantic through the Amazon jungle.  Through the climb up we ate strange fruits, some of which were actually quite nice.  We saw a footprint of a tapir, and his bed; not him though.  We saw orchids clinging to the sides of trees and a spider that had died because he ate a mushroom and it took over his body from the inside (that’s the reddy/yellow looking thing in one of the photos below).

The lodge is simple, but “cool” for want of a better word.  You are up in the hills, cooking is on an open fire and the views are incredible.  This is a unique place and being there is extraordinary – the loss of a few creature comforts is a small price to pay.  There is mobile reception, which is frankly just depressing.

Above the lodge you reach the paramo – from there you can see Tungurahua and the glaciers of Cotopaxi and Chimborazo (the peak of which is the closest point on earth to the sun).  This is Ecuador at its best – a bewildering array of environments, beauty, friendly people, a few splashes of the weird and wonderful and then the chance to chill out in a great little town and have some man made adventures.

I was the lucky one to escape from all the  hype of the Kenyan elections with a bunch of  Vonluteers just over the border to Tanga-Tanzani. See their story….

Jambo Jambo from Camp Tanga in Tanzania. What a crazy couple of weeks it’s been. We’ve invaded here to avoid the Kenyan  presidential elections, so Camp Tanga has gone from three to forty two people. It was quite a remarkable change for Joe, Maria and Alice but they welcomed us with open arms and we are like one big family.

The plastering in the Tanga trust house has temporarily been stopped and we have been involved in various projects.

On the first three days we helped the Mama’s in the village seaweed farm. We were unsure what to expect.However, I was pleasantly surprised. We had to walk out to sea in the morning and tie seaweed to string. Team A beat the record of completing 40 lines in total in two hours. In the afternoon we went to the Mama’s houses and bagged up the dried out seaweed and prepared the lines ready for the next day. When the seaweed is dried it weighed considerably less. The Mama’s only get paid approximately 7p per Kg.In England this is the equivalent to one text message! On average one lady can do 6 lines in a morning, with our help we managed 119 between 4 groups in one morning, this was a massive help to the community and as you can imagine over three days we accumulated  over a month’s income for the Mama’s.

The village livestock has a serious problem with worms which causes the animals to become malnourished and weak. They should be De-wormed quarterly but medicine is too expensive for this to happen. We pioneered a new initiative in Tanga where Camps De-worm the entire village’s livestock every 3 months. We started with cows, some of them didn’t want to co-operate and made it difficult for us to give them medicine! The men showed them who was boss and would not back down, we were victorious.

Next were goats! Unlike the cows the goats were roaming around the village. We had to run around the village catching them bringing them back to give them their medicine. David ‘the goat whisperer’ was on fire, carrying the goats back one by one.Then there was Luke, I’m sure I saw him on his back more than I saw him on his feet.

In the afternoon it was the chicken’s turn to be treated. They were pretty much the same as the goats, just flappier! There were a couple of casualties mainly caused by goats. David took a hoof to the shin and Will got bitten. Whereas Shauni was silly and got blistered from the sun but still managed to work as she has incredible self motivation!

We went back to the Trust house but this time we weren’t plastering but leveled and created a playground for the children. This involved the boys setting out on excavating an epic tree root which was great to release all your anger. Meanwhile, whilst the boys were dripping with sweat and working hard, the girls taught the locals, helping them with reading and writing English.

Once all the roots were dug up, the next step was starting to build a fence surrounding the Trust house in order to keep the animals out of the playground. We started to dig holes 6ft apart and 2ft deep, this was very muddy work. We spent 3 days building the fence, even though we had depleted numbers as some were having a great time in Zanzibar and 15 people had travelled back home. Not to worry too much, there are new recruits in camp, in the form of 7 new English gappers.

However it hasn’t been all work and no play! On the first weekend we arrived in Tanzania we went to the local night club. It’s safe to say a few too many tequilas were consumed! Ali P woke up on Sammy’s bus as she fell asleep on the way home and nobody thought to wake her up! We have visited the Tanga International Conference Center (TICC) and enjoyed a swim in the sea, We went to a local hotel for a cool down in the pool and jumped off the pontoon at The Yacht Club. This was all very lovely and then BAM the storm hit!! I got up at half 2 in the morning on Saturday night to check out what the commotion was outside, it turns out the small dome tents were flooding and people were rescuing their stuff. The Dutchees were sat in two inches of water with their little light not knowing what to do. We went around all of the tents and tried to put everyone’s stuff into a dry place. By three o’clock the rescue was finished and we were all laughing hysterically about the whole situation. Sunday was operation clean up we re-waterproofed the tents and dried out our stuff. Everyone pulled together to help each other and by Sunday evening everybody had somewhere dry to sleep.

We are heading back to Kenya tomorrow. We are going to miss the incredible view, the projects and all of the people we are leaving behind. However, we will be celebrating two birthdays, Shauni’s and Kate’s!

We hope you enjoyed reading what we’ve been up to.

Harlie, Will, Shauni  ,Abbie, Lauren, Holly, David and Annabella xoxoxo J

Peter Kalenga just led the Hillcrest Preparatory School for a 4 day outdoor adventure at Camp Tsavo and came back smiling ear to ear…and of course had to share his trip with us….

After driving for 6hrs along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway, the Hillcrest Preparatory School bus emerged in the middle of the Tsavo wilderness and drove along the semi arid, thorn bush vegetation composed of acacias and camiphora trees. As usual red clouds were formed as the bus disappeared deeper into Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary. The team looked perpplexed but excited about not knowing what to expect at the next stop after saying goodbye to their usual modern environment. ”That red bumpy road was nice!” One of the kids commented.

The group of 18 students (Age 10&11) and 3 teachers were out for their 4 day school trip to Camp Tsavo. They have hardly had any adventurous trips before and you could tell from their first approach that they were all really excited jumping up and down, screaming and shouting with joy.

That evening the team set off for their bushcraft skills course and a game drive. On our way, I was pleasantly surprised to see how enthusiastic the students were and fascinated by stories about animal behaviour and how the African bush men survived in the bush. It was a real pleasure to watch them fully participate in the footprint and spoor identification with questions flowing like a stream.

We believe Service Learning is crucial for young people to shape principals and create a strong responsible and moral foundation. To the Hillcrest students, it was a really worthy and rewarding trip. The feeling of humanity got in to them after arriving at Sasenyi primary school. They were shocked by the huge number of pupils squeezed in one classroom and the scarcity of learning facilities. They even felt sorrier for the kids who lacked so much compared to themselves and yet they were still happy to be in school. The background of the Sasenyi kids criss-crossed their minds and they started to compare their life back at home which is full of privileges.

This really gave them the moral boost to work tirelessly at classroom plastering and moving rocks ready for a new classroom foundation. That evening they had a great reflection of what they have experienced during the day around the camp fire…

Mt Kasigau hike certainly got everyone’s attention the next day. No one believed these young students would manage to ascend 1640 meters on the daunting paths of Kasigau at that age of 10 and 11. And if you thought they won’t make it then you were wrong. The team left early Friday morning for the hike and by 4pm everyone was back playing football. It took them 3hours up and 2½hrs down!

Congratulations to Hillcrest Prep students for setting a new record of being the first youngest group ever to climb Mt Kasigau! During the hike the team showed determination and accepted the challenge. They held on to one another at their own pace as they slowly maneuvered up the last peak to enjoy great views and celebrate their victory. On their way down the steepest areas turned to a skiing zone “bottoms down”! They all sled using their “bottoms” happily singing songs of motivation. I could not help but feel proud of myself having taken such a young determined group up and down safely.

“The mountain was awesome!” Miss Kartins said.

“Peter, we have now become strong and responsible, we have confidence and proud of ourselves.“said several of the students as they departed across the red soils of Tsavo…

Peter Kalenga

On the 24th of January, the Aussie Gap team moved from Camp Muhaka to Tsavo. When we arrived we were warmly welcomed by the staff here and presented with lunch. We were then given a brief overview of the camp and its projects. These included making elephant dung paper, the tree nursery, sanctuary maintenance, Sasenyi School, wildlife monitoring, the bush adventure and lastly the safari. While listening to all of these I could tell that everyone was excited and looking forward to our time here.

On our first official day here at Camp Tsavo we made elephant dung paper. Although this may sound bizarre and even a bit gross, it was actually quite interesting and fun. We were showed how to make this by some staff members who also explained to us how important this paper was to the local community. We smashed the poo, mixed it with glue and panned it. We then left it to dry and some of us even added some flowers to it. Overall this was a different, yet interesting and worthwhile experience. We also got to spend the afternoon working in the tree nursery, where we filled some plastic bags with soil ready for planting, cementing the bottle well, removing aloe vera plants and chilli picking. Overall these projects were relaxing, yet eventful.

During our stay here we also had the opportunity of working at Sasenyi Primary School. During this time we did demolished an old school building, in preparation for the building of a new one, cementing the walls of a newly built room, and some of us even had the privilege of being inside the classrooms with the children supervising and teaching. Our time here was precious, as we all felt the work here was helpful and it was also amazing being able to talk to the headmaster about the school and also experience some time with the children.

We also got a chance to visit Imani Womens Group and were surprised to see how women have worked together to improve their living standards as well as tackle their daily challenges. We visited the local community and worked in their farms by helping them harvest green grams and cowpeas. In the afternoon we made bracelets and necklaces from locally purchased beads. It was amazing since everyone came back to the camp with a souvenir of a bracelets and necklaces.

One of the projects we also got to take part in was sanctuary maintenance, which involved filling in the pot holes and ditches in a road on this ranch. Although this work was found a bit hard, it was worthwhile. We also got to take part in wildlife monitoring, whereby we had the exciting task of spotting animals and listening to the staff tell us interesting facts about them.

We also got to experience a bush adventure during our last week here at Tsavo. We got to go on a game drive where we left the buses and looked at the many different footprints. We were also taught how to identify the footprints which was very fascinating. In the afternoon we were divided into three groups and had a competition in building huts. We then got to try and use a bow and arrow and shoot the target, which ended up being harder than it looked. Then we were shown how to light a fire without using a lighter or matches.

On our last full day here at Tsavo, we spent on safari. We got to explore Tsavo’s East National Park where we saw giraffes, baboons, different type of antelopes, zebras, buffalos and many elephants. From living in Australia where you can only see these animals on TV or in a zoo, to seeing these beautiful animals in their natural environment was fantastic and presented us with some amazing photo opportunities.

 Our time here at Camp Tsavo and been a brilliant one. We have been able to experience Africa in a way that normal tourists couldn’t. From being able to see beautiful creatures while just driving into Voi, to the amazing staff, our experience here is unforgettable and unlike any other.

We work with so amazing people across all the villages and places where our camps are based, from the rainforests of South America to our community forest conservation projects in Africa. Through our projects, we often meet and get to know outstanding talent and dedicated individuals who over time have become part of the Camps family. Many of you have met and worked with these people through your travels and I am sure you will agree with me that they are heroes in their own right. A few months ago, we featured Benson Gitari, the artist and now meet Mzee Sururu, the old man of Kaya Muhaka Sacred Forest…

I am Mzee Sururu Kasim Lagiza, Aged 60 years and a local Farmer. I was born in Muhaka village and attended my school in 1967 up to Class 7. Due to a lack of funds my parents could not take me further with my education although I was so bright. My aim was to become a Pilot and that was my dream, but then there was no one to help me achieve this. I had to work in Farms in order to support my family as I was the elder son. I worked for ten Years in different Farms as a “Shamba Boy” then I got an idea of starting my own Farm. Due to my effort, a cooperative was formed called Muhaka Diani Farmers Cooperative Society (MDCS) and I was appointed as a Secretary to record all the sales done in each day. This was a challenge to me since my Education level was not good. However, I did so well that the Cooperative sponsored me to attend various courses at District and National level.

I joined Cooperative College of Kenya where I learnt different courses at different times of the year I did ABM 1&2(Administration Book Keeping and Management (1975-1976) .The knowledge that I gained from these courses helped me to work and communicate effectively. I managed to organise and coordinate seminars with other Farmers within the community. The dream to become a Pilot was completely lost and my interest was now in plants. I loved nature more than anything.

In 1986 Conservation became my pinnacle carrier, and no person could change my mind. I started to fight against the Kaya Muhaka destruction from the Charcoal burners and Local house builders. The Kaya forest community Elders appointed me to lead them in keeping records. I was chosen as the Chief Elder to lead the Kaya Sacred forest early February 1999. On my work as an Elder I tried to involve many community members to understand the great impact of Kaya forest to the world. I am glad most of them understood how precious that forest is in terms of our tradition and this helped to with stand the pressure except a few. Due to poverty some people didn’t want to listen; they thought I wanted to ruin their life. Despite all challenges I stood firm; I knew that it would take time for people to understand the whole concept of sustainability, due to the diverse needs of the Kaya forest globally but I said to myself, ”it must start somewhere”.

In 2007 Camp Kenya came in to save the situation. Mr Simon the Director at Camp Kenya came and introduced himself to us. He wanted to work with my group to help in conserving the sacred Kaya Forest. Camps opened our hope by supporting in funding our various ongoing projects as well as volunteers coming to us and that’s where my English also improved!

When I met with Dipesh things became much better. He brought a new idea of eco-friendly briquettes, education about moringa Plant, chilli planting which I count it as a promising project and use of recycled bottles for construction. I‘m happy meeting new friends from different countries. I work with all volunteers hand in hand on our projects. These projects includes indigenous tree nursery rearing and planting, Casuarinas planting, jatropha cultivation and harvesting. Through Camp Kenya, a permanent Camp for the community has been constructed, a borehole was completed and three buffer zones for Moringa plant, Indigenous trees and casuarinas trees were expanded. I’m happy to work with Camps and my community has accepted this organisation.

A change is what I need in my community so that people may value the Kaya Muhaka forest not only for future generation but also for global climate change. My future plans is to plant more indigenous trees within Kaya forest especially the degraded areas, plant more casuarinas trees as a substitute for building materials.

I will also continue to encourage people to become Eco-friendly towards biodiversity. Conservation is crucial to our life, we need it.

Mzee Sururu (and thanks also to Peter Kalenga for compiling this)

Our two month and three month Camp Kenya Gap year volunteers have just finished their first week in Camp Makongeni after spending their first two weeks at Camp Tsavo. Gladys, our Camp Manager at Makongeni, Jackson Reid and others have sent a short blog on what they have been up to in Makongeni and more importantly the story of a mother’s life that’s about to change…

The last four days have been epic. In that time we have started the main structure of a house for a local mother in the community. After a long time of struggle Maimuna Hamadi Redano now has something to smile about. Maimuna is the lady whom we are building a new traditional house for. Maimuna is a single mother after her husband died and left her with 7 children and no were to called home.

She used rent a single room for herself and her children in the village which she could not manage to pay the rent every month and at the same time providing for the children. She doesn’t have any source of income and even she tried to start a business in the village, she didn’t have enough capital to keep it going. After the business was unsuccessful, she moved to her aunt’s house where she stayed for 1 year. It was becoming a big burden to her aunt who told her she could no longer manage. The Makongeni village Chairman choses her as the first priority for the house building program and now the volunteers are doing an amazing job building her house for her. In 2 weeks time Maimuna and her children will have their own place to call home…

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The group have also already immersed themselves into the the Baraka Women’s Mangrove conservation project…

Also we have reinforced the walls of a local pond which the local mothers rely on for an income. This includes planting hundreds of mangroves trees which help increase the local fish population. We can’t stress the amount of fulfillment and joy we have experienced here in Makongeni.

Today being Friday, we have enjoyed the comfort of a fire and the sweet taste of beer to bring our group even closer together. With the addition of simple games such as limbo and musical statues we have truly formed a bond that will last longer than our trip here in Kenya.

Not to mention the food is fantastic!

The results of laborious conservation work never show immediately. So many volunteers have worked hours digging away at trenches on Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary and probably wondering what’s the point. If only you could see the waterholes filled, I am sure you will know just how much it was all worth. Steve Mwasi, our Wildlife Program [...]

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Camp Tsavo continues to buzz over December with school groups from Australia and Kenya as well as families from the UK. Steve Mwasi and Peter Kai share a brief report on this little melting pot of cultures in the heart of the Tsavo ecosystem…

Camp Tsavo receives volunteers and school group from different all over the world and once the teams arrive they participate on various areas of our ongoing sustainable community and habitat conservation projects in and around Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary. And of course what makes this place one of a kind is that everyone has a chance to spot wildlife on safari in Tsavo East National Park and just about everyday on the sanctuary where the camp is based. This month, Camp Tsavo was the meeting point for two schools from two different continents: Melbourne School from Southern Australia and Brookhouse International School from Nairobi, Kenya…

The first school to arrive was Melbourne from Camp Makongeni, a group composed of 17 pax who worked so hard in some of our youth projects in the Makongeni community in the last two days before they made their way to Camp Tsavo. After briefing, the group relaxed and enjoyed watching the stars in the evening across the beautiful Tsavo sky.

The following day the team got their hand dirty working on Elephant Dung Paper, one of our sustainable income generating projects which benefits the local community and is always a lot of fun. In the afternoon the group headed out to the bush for tracking and monitoring wildlife within the sanctuary.

The next day, we headed off to Buguta Primary School and managed to complete the floor for the new school kitchen which we started during the summer and is now successfully completed and ready for us when school opens in January! The third day was spent at Sasenyi Primary School mixing cement and ballast to lay the foundation floor of a new class which was also started earlier this year.

Brookhouse arrived a day after Melbourne and was a group of 32 pax comprised of 29 students (year 13), 2 teachers and 2 Assessors fully dedicated to Community Service. The main aim of this short trip was to complete the Presidential Service (PS) award training Gold Class (the Kenyan equivalent of the Duke of Edinburgh Award). For any participants to attain the Gold award, one has to complete 4 full days supporting sustainable environmental projects and offer services to less fortunate communities.

In addition to the solid hours of community and environmental service, Brookhouse also had a chance to participate in our basic Bushcraft skills course and of course making some paper from poop which left a lot of students smiling ear to ear. Some of the students even sang and turned the place into a  dancing floor!

On their third day, the group helped digging a drainage system which collects water in one of the most utilized elephant water holes just close to the camp. The ground was sticky and muddy due to the recent rains but this lot found their rhythm and literally stuck with it to the end.

Usually our school groups focus on their own projects and will then socialize together in the evenings around a camp fire or over dinner. It was a real pleasure to see Melbourne and Brookhouse take this one step further and decided on one day to mix project teams…

One group went to Imani Women’s Group to support the women in soil erosion control by planting vetiver grass within Imani camp compound. They also learned to how to make jewellery from beads and learn about the challenges that women face in the community. The second group went to Sasenyi primary school where they got involved in making gabions to secure the school from soil erosion. This was great a combination that has never been done before, the teams worked so well and the rate of motivation between themselves was high which led to great project impact in both teams.

A big congratulations to both schools and a big thank you from all of us at Camp Kenya. It was a real pleasure to work alongside such focused young people and feel so much more confident knowing who our future leaders will be…

Peter Kai and the Camp Makongeni team are on a roll right now…

All eyes are now on Melbourne school from Southern Australia. The 17 pax comprised of 15 boys and 2 Teachers (Year 11 and 12) arrived in Kenya on 3rd December on their first school trip abroad with the aim of supporting sustainable and community development programs through Camp Kenya. Being the first school from Australia to visit Kenya through Camps International, the Makongeni community gave a special warm welcome to the team. Women and Youth groups who work closely with Camp Kenya created a good bond from the first day which made the group feel accepted in the community.

The team seemed to be so excited to participate in every single activity to support the community. In the first four days they have been working hard on the mangrove conservation projects with the Baraka Conservation group, and have been involved in harvesting mangrove seeds and potting for reforestation.

They have also completed reinforcing three fish pond walls and replanted 50 Mangrove seedlings within degraded areas as well as learnt a thing or two about local sustainable fishing methods!

Starting from 8th until 10th they will be working with one of the youth groups on their poultry project. Over the last couple of years, Camp Kenya has been putting a lot of emphasis on assisting youth and women groups with income generating projects. The Makongeni Youth Group are a dynamic and determined group of boys from the area who we have helped set up a small poultry project as well helping them set up a small kerosene business (fuel used for lighting lamps) and more recently thanks to Matt, the group is learning more basic business skills such as book keeping, business development planning and basic business principals.

It’s a privilege to have Melbourne School with us. They have an insatiable appetite for work, so much interest in our country and people and we hope they have found a second home in Kenya. They are still around for a week so more updates coming from Camp Tsavo…

(Report by Peter Kai)

Our Expedition Coordinators just got back from Camp Uganda smiling ear to ear, full of wonderful stories and updates about all the people, projects and rhinos that we made friends with not so long ago. Big thanks to Stef and family for leading this year’s recce into Uganda. In addition to all the relationships we developed during our first expedition, we have a lot of new and very very exciting projects and places coming up (but it’s a secret…):

As we went to the airport at Entebbe to collect the Teachers for this year’s Teacher recce it seemed like we had hardly been away, it was so exciting to be back and see what had happened since we left only 3 months ago.  What little jewels would the Pearl of Africa hold for us this time?

Well it certainly had rained, everywhere was more green and wild than ever, huge thunderous clouds brewed all around and then emptied in a magnificent downpour, the roads quickly turning to rivers of orange then just as quickly as it had started, the sun reclaimed the water and the sky shone blue again.

On our return back to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, it was great to catch up with Angie and hear all what has been happening.   Peace, who organized all of our activities, a fun and lively lady with a wonderful sense of humour had just had a little baby boy, so we sent huge congratulations to her from us all.  We also managed a quick hello to Grace one of our amazing Camp Assistants.

On the Rhino side of things, Bella who we see here is just starting to be courted by the dominant male Taleo, so perhaps a new calf to look forward to in the next couple of years.  There are a couple of expectant Rhino’s on the Sanctuary one due to give birth in May 2013 and the other in December 2013.

After leaving Ziwa we headed back to Hairy Lemon Island and it was a pleasure to be back in the new canoe and whisked across the Nile River once again into the calm of the small bay and step onto the Island again.  The Island was looking beautiful as ever, the lawn manicured and the new toilet block very safari chic!  Dinner was delightful, the home cooked bread rolls and fresh soup went down a treat, bringing back memories of all the wonderful home-cooked meals Grace and Assad cooked for us.  Fresh Ugandan Coffee brewing on the stove wafted through on the breeze.

Visiting Chirindi Primary School the next morning was very exciting, it was pouring with rain as we arrived and as we got nearer to the Classroom that our 2012 Team built we could hear the children making a lively din! Stepping out of the rain and into the Classroom the atmosphere was electric as all the children screamed and danced with pleasure on our return, chaos reigned for a few moments before calm being restored by Patrick and quickly the Children settled down at their desks in their dry, airy Class.

Since we left in August the school has erected some more temporary Classrooms behind the one we built and also cleared the vegetation from all around so that the children now have a football pitch. Also the makeshift toilet block has been repaired and the walls heightened and a corrugated iron roof put on.

Inside the Classroom a bamboo partition has been put in the middle of the Class so that 2 separate classes can be taught at once, the school growing rapidly with over 250 students enrolled.  There were many little faces that we recognised and they took pride in signing the Hokey Cokey for us, it was delightful. I guess we picked the perfect day to go in the rain and really see what a difference can be made to the children’s lives by putting up a simple classroom for them so that they can continue their studies in the dry.

Our last stop on the trip was up to Mt Elgon and visiting Rose at Roses Last Chance Campsite.  Rose was eagerly waiting to see us as well as Olivia and Africa, the small children that she cares for.

Again freshly brewed Uganda Coffee and homemade mandazi (doughnuts) were prepared for our arrival and we sat under the shade of the Guava tree enjoying the feast.

Many of the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) Staff came in and greeted us. Lorna came for dinner one evening, having us all spellbound with tales of the vigorous training regime that all the UWA Rangers must go through to qualify as Mountain Rangers.

We had arrived in Budadiri in peak coffee picking season and everywhere there were tarpaulins laid out with the beans drying on the ground.  A bumper harvest of kidney beans was hanging up drying on the verandas of all the local houses and shops.

As we descended down the mountain and headed back to Entebbe past the vast shores of Lake Victoria, once again sad to be leaving but brimming with many new ideas for new projects for the coming years.

And so we left Uganda, happy to have been involved in such a successful project in 2012 and keen to return to our friends and colleagues in 2013 and embrace many new projects.

TUGENDE!!!   Let’s go………..