A couple of weddings, a BIG birthday and fun fun buying and selling a home!

The happy couple with Hever Castle in the background

Once again we've been a little aloof from posting on our blog, we're sorry if you've missed us, however we have been a bit busy what with a couple of weddings, Tim's big birthday and purchasing a new home in Bristol as well as enjoying some fun times with family and friends.

So first things first and that must be the news of the most recent wedding that we enjoyed this weekend as we celebrated with our middle son, Josh, and his new wife Haddy in her home village in Kent.

Josh and Haddy have been seeing each other since their university days so we've journeyed together and seen them grow closer together, they are both very eccentric and share the same sense of humour and fun, although they both have very challenging jobs.

The Walker girls

Our youngest son, Arron, had flown in from Greece where the current boat he is working on was ending a charter and we were also joined at a delightful 'bed and breakfast' by our eldest son, Chris, his wife and our three young grandchildren. Tim's mum and dad also joined us as we prepared for the big day.

After a morning walk, all the boys together, everyone busied themselves with their final preparations, our grandchildren were flower girl and page boys, Arron was a groomsman, and obviously Josh had to pretty himself up as the groom.

Our family!

2.30pm raced around and as we gathered with family and friends in the Holy Trinity church in Crockham Hill Haddy made her entrance with her father, Paul. She looked amazing, as usual, her natural beauty was complimented by her stunning dress and 'yellow converse baseball shoes'!

The Walker Boys all dressed up!

The happy couple departed in a 1911 Rolls Royce towards their photos and wedding breakfast held at the nearby and historic thirteenth century Hever Castle, home of English Queen Anne Boleyn, of King Henry VIII fame. 

Thankfully the sun shone which allowed both Josh and Haddy and also the bridesmaids to travel with the top down on their powerful Ford Galaxie.

Tim with his Grandsons 

After drinks overlooking the lake, where photos were taken whilst dodging a squally shower, we made our way through the Italian Garden to The Guthrie Pavilion where we enjoyed a few glasses of wine, local beer and three course meal before the speeches given by Paul, Josh and his best man Dan Williams, more about him later, and danced the night way.

It was a truly magical day, the weather was kind and as we were about to leave we enjoyed a fantastic firework display over the lake as a send off to our new Mr and Mrs Walker. They are now enjoying a honeymoon in South Africa and then Mauritius where they should see some sunshine and get some much needed rest before the next phase of their adventure.

Fireworks send off the happy couple

Wow, how to top that!

To be honest one can't top a day like that but our summer has been one to remember so we'll quickly update you with the fact that Tim turned 50 in the middle of August, celebrating the day with some family, unfortunately both Chris, his family and Arron couldn't make it, and friends at the village hall in Oving. 

Selfie on Tim's 50th birthday

Once again the weather, which has been a little dull for most of the summer, was kind to us and we enjoyed a game of cricket, drank some beers and had some laughs. 50 not out isn't bad, especially after Tim had his health scare when aged 33, but we hope there's many more birthdays to come.

Dan with his ushers and best men

Earlier in the summer Dan Williams, Josh's best mate and the son of Trefor and Mandy whom we have been staying with since our return from Madagascar in June, got married at his family home. We were part of the busy planning team, working on getting the gardens, buildings (old and new) and other paraphernalia sorted before his big day.

Marquee in the horse field

Dan was getting married to his longish term girlfriend Lucy, they had got engaged whist visiting us in South Africa, and Josh was joint best man, with his other friend, Larne. Once again it was a great day with a huge marquee set up in one of the 'horse fields' and a field full of 'yurts' where the happy couple and some of their guests spent their first married night.

Chris on the Ridgeway

We also spent a weekend chasing our brother-in-law, Chris, around the country as he 'ran' along the 86 mile ancient Ridgeway, which started at 10am at Ivinghoe Beacon and ended 22 1/2 hours later in Avebury with it's prehistoric stone circles. Our friend had lent us his new VW California Ocean which became our base to support Chris on this epic run.

Northampton Half Marathon

The following weekend after and eventful day at the T20 Blast finals in Birmingham, Tim ran his first half marathon, a 13 mile run around Northampton town and surrounding villages and which he completed in a quite respectable 1 hour, 49 minutes and 23 seconds. He ran along with Chris, recovering from his previous adventure, which was great as he set quite a pace with Tim's sister, Vicki, coming home a few minutes later.

In amongst all this excitement we have been trying to finalise the sale of our long term family home in a village that has been home to Maz since her birth. We are buying a house near Bristol which we are going to rent out to Chris and Claire, this will both help them with their rental costs as well as helping us to pay off our mortgage.

JA at the Borderline

This whole episode has been quite stressful but hopefully we are nearing the end now as we are busy planning our next trips back to Africa which will include a revisit to work with our friends in Uganda as well as a trip to Burundi to work with our great and long term friend Simon, which we are really looking forward to.

And that, other than having an incredible evening in London watching our favourite singer songwriter, Joseph Arthur, who was playing a one off gig at the Borderline in Soho, is that.

enjoying special times with special people

This last month has certainly been one of our most relaxed and exciting for a long period of time. What we hear you cry, 'weren't you on sabbatical for most of 2015 and your current work and lifestyles enables you to both travel around the world together which must be exciting and to visit new places sounds relaxing and exciting to me', well some of that is true but even though we have worked and travelled together since we left our 'normal'/'regular' lives way back in September 2008 we have really enjoyed spending some downtime together.

sunsets over Quainton Hill

After arriving back from our near on six month working trip to South Africa, Uganda and Madagascar we have been staying with our great friends Trefor and Mandy who have made us feel very welcome at their amazing home in rural Buckinghamshire. This is once again providing us a wonderful base to catch up with friends and family from a very central location.

Notts beat Surrey at Lords

Whilst we were in Madagascar we made the huge decision to put our family home on the market. We have owned that home in the beautiful village of Whitchurch since we were married in 1988, our boys grew up in that home, in fact Maz' Dad grew up in that home too as it was built as a farmworker's cottage for Maz' grandparents in 1939. Our current tenants were keen to purchase the home from us which has enabled us to buy a house in Bristol which, once it's been renovated, will provide a home for our eldest son and his young family. All of this had been a bit of a challenge to undertake from afar but we are excited for the future now we are home for a short while.

Josh and Dan celebrate their upcoming weddings!

You may be aware I (Tim) am celebrating my 50th birthday this year, August 13th to be precise, so we have been trying to do some special things, such as trekking with mountain gorillas when we were in Uganda, and during the last month we have undertaken some further exciting days so if you'd like to find out where and when then please continue to read on.

Josh and Honi

I joined our middle son Josh, who is getting married in September, and his best friend Dan on a day out at the One Day Cricket final at Lords in early July. It was a great day where we (my Dad, brother-in-law and nephew included) saw Alex Hales play a wonderful innings to set up a win for Nottinghamshire against Surrey at the home of cricket.


The following day we had the chance to catch up with lots of our family with two events with both sides of our family, the main event was the celebration of Maz' Dad's 80th birthday which had been held back since early June to coincide with our return. It was wonderful to spend time with some of our favourite people who we really miss when we are away.

Pixies turn back time

The following week we travelled back to London to spend three days in Notting Hill, sleeping at our nephew and niece (in-law) home allowing us to walk to Hyde Park where we enjoyed two afternoons and evenings watching and listening to some of the bands who were performing at the British Summertime event under clear blue skies. We had booked the tickets with the desire to see one of Maz' favourite bands 'Elbow', however I wanted to see the 'Pixies' after following their music for years and missing the chance to see them in Cape Town earlier in the year.

The Killers keep us entertained

The crowds were huge on both days with 'Kings of Leon' headlining on the Thursday, however 'The Killers' were the biggest draw on Saturday and rocked the night away with their hits 'Mr Brightside' and 'Human' to name a couple of their sing-along tunes that got the whole crowd of over 60,000 dancing.

Benjamin Booker

I was somewhat surprised to find one of my new favourite artists 'Benjamin Booker' playing on an outside stage, I had no idea he was going to be there so we really enjoyed him as he played songs from his new album 'Witness' as well as some from his first album. We also enjoyed listening to another newish band called 'Sloes', go find them on Spotify as they are both big recommendations from me!

Sloes

We spent a wonderful day with our son, Josh, and his fiancee, Haddy, on the Sunday at their new home in London, before returning back to our base with Trefor and Mandy, completing some small jobs for them before our friends from Holland joined us on the Thursday.

English summers evening with our Dutch friends

Eveline and her boyfriend Bart had spent 10 months and five months respectively with us in South Africa back in 2010/11 where they interned as students from the HAN in Nijmegen. Eveline was studying Social Work and she helped Maz in the children's unit at the Village of Hope, Bart was studying Sports Management and was a key member of our daily sports outreach team who worked with the children in the local townships.

enjoying a traditional English Indian meal

The reason that these two very dear friends had joined Eveline's father, Henk, on a trip to England in mid July was to attend the Formula One Grand Prix at Silverstone. It was the first time I had attended since 2008, and being my 22 Grand Prix I was full of excitement and expectation. It was however Maz' first Grand Prix weekend experience and one that she assures me that she really enjoyed.

Lewis wins!

Unfortunately the balmy weather we had been blessed with the weekend before had left us and we endured a freezing Friday and Saturday at free practice and qualifying and although race day was slightly warmer it wasn't the summer party atmosphere that I had been wanting. That said the result went according to our wishes with Lewis Hamilton taking a well earned win with all mayhem breaking loose behind him as the Ferraris of both Kimi and Seb suffered late problems with their tyres.

beautiful france with family

If you've never been to a Grand Prix then you will never understand the real appeal of the event, that being the incredible speed that these ultra machines reach, especially through the tight and twisty sections such as Maggots and Beckett's sections of what is a super fast circuit. The governing body takes steps to slow the cars down each year with restrictions on engine size or body style but year after year the amazing engineers find ways to make the cars go faster and the technology developed in this sport is then used in the cars we drive on our daily runs to school or to the shops.

happy sunflowers

The Dutch guys left us early on the Monday morning and by the Tuesday morning we were making our way, with my Mum and Dad, Sister and Brother-in-Law and Niece around the M25 towards Gatwick airport and a week in France.

evening sun over our french house

Flying into Toulouse airport we picked up our hire car for the week and travelled north west into the Midi-Pyrenees to stay in a wonderful 12th century house owned by Haddy's family. The home is stunning, set in rolling countryside with fields of smiling sunflowers who seemed happy to welcome us back to spend another week chilling out, walking, running and swimming in what was slightly inclement weather for the time of year.

lazy days playing games!

It was my parents first time to the house and therefore that part of France, they were very impressed with the 'frenchness' of the area, the little hill top towns are such unspoilt and still maintain that sleepy feel.

more sunsets!

We are now down in Bristol with the Grandchildren, we've visited the home we have had an offer accepted on and are feeling truly blessed to be able to enjoy this time together.

reasons to be thankful

I've just arrived back from a short jog around a 2 mile loop in my home town of Aylesbury in England, nothing too unusual about that, other than the fact that this was the first real exercise that I have been able to do since slipping a disc in my lower back way back in March.

Having been sporty as a youth and continuing that into my early 40's with weekly outings onto the football or cricket pitches I had somewhat lost some 'shape' during the years we spent at the project we set up in Grabouw, however last year, encouraged by my crazy sister and brother in law, I started to jog and found that to be a source of focus and even peace.

So after arriving back in England yesterday morning from a six month stint sharing with some of the most vulnerable people on the planet I was keen to get to 'test' the back, not going for any sort of pace but wanting to know if things felt right both with my body and also inside my head!

The route wasn't as scenic as the apple orchards and vineyards surrounded by majestic mountains like South Africa, or as hot and humid like I'd experienced on the east coast of tropical Madagascar when I last ran there in October last year, but as my less than fit legs got the hang of moving slightly quicker than a sloth, which had become their norm, I experienced things that I had become so accustomed to that I had missed them up until this point.

I don't want this to become such a protracted post that you stop reading and leave to do something much more productive with your time, but if you will forgive me I am going to take the next few paragraphs to get these thoughts out of my head and onto this virtual page.

Turning right past the papershop, not literally a shop made out of paper but one which sells the daily newspapers that I used to deliver on my 'round' during my teenage years, I ran over the railway bridge and looked down as a train passed underneath making it's slow, steady and regular way along the well worn tracks towards London. Delivering commuters towards their place of work without a hitch, other than when some light snow blocks the line in the short English winter, every 20 minutes or so day in day out and although it's quite expensive it provides a regular service where one can travel in relative comfort.

I past the old pub, now an Indian restaurant, and opposite a car hire dealer and thought of the opportunity that I could have of hiring a brand new car for a day or two to travel freely around the wide network of tarred roads, clearly signed, dare I say well maintained, sharing the road with the majority of other people obeying to laws set up for the safety and smooth passage to anywhere on this Island Kingdom.

Turning right again the local police station sat with officers at the ready to protect my freedom with fully equipped vehicles designed to keep the peace and curtail any unwanted menace from causing my path to be blocked.

Onward towards a couple of nursing homes providing care for the elderly, again at a cost, but with the basic amenities for those too frail to live on their own. As my heartbeat increased so did the housing estates with tightly packed homes all with running mains water and a stable electricity supply, most I would imagine with access to the world wide web enabling the family to connect to the 'global village'.

The two schools I attended came and went as my pace steadied and although I was out way too early to see the hundreds of children who would be making their way, probably dropped off by mum in the family's second car, to school, I was reminded of the wonderful if somewhat basic education that I received in those buildings many moons before. Teachers with a good understanding of teaching, enough books and materials for each of my fellow classmates and knowing how things have moved on since I was there classrooms now fitted with interactive whiteboards to make learning an even more exciting experience.

I now passed under the railway bridge, on the home run back to my parents home where we enjoyed our first night in real comfort for near on four months. As I turned right again I saw the entrance to the swimming pool and fitness center, home to the paralympics, and thought of the lessons that I had taken as I reluctantly learnt to swim in the 50 meter pool years before.

The local hospital, fully equipped to serve those suffering from major back injury, is staffed by the people who near on 17 years before had saved my life from the multiple pulmonary embolisms which were treated with medication readily available for such unseen circumstances.

Now I was sweating, long gone was the fitness I'd built up over the later part and early part of this year, and there was some spots of rain in the air so although I nearly stopped at the local cooperative store to grab a energy drink I resisted this strange notion knowing I would have been bombarded by shelves full of exotic produce gathered from around the globe. I passed with somewhat of a slight twinkle in my eye with the knowledge that I hadn't been drawn in by the bright lights and colourful advertising.

I was nearly home, still going abet at a much slower pace, and came upon the road works that have been started near the 'papershop', evidence of huge machines operated by men in hard hats and hi viz jackets making repairs to afford smoother passage for the newer cars with lower emissions that even smelt quite pleasant in comparison to the heavy diesel that I had become used to in Antananarivo.

So why all these ramblings, strange thoughts and random paragraphs?

Well just to say that I am thankful to have access to all of the above and think of those that we know and love who don't which makes their lives so much more of a challenge that I can ever know.

'They' (not entity sure who the 'they' are) say that the world is getting smaller and smarter and richer and more productive but I personally know many thousands of people who will never even understand the sights and sounds, the smells and those thoughts that flooded my mind as I ran this morning, let alone experience the benefits that come with living in a first world nation with all of its faults.

In my mind are the railway lines once bringing life and people and goods together in Madagascar but now are left overgrown. Of the police on the street corners or setting up a roadblock looking for a bribe or the school with no windows and doors let alone books and materials, of the poorly educated teachers working for a pittance or less! Of the families drawing water from their hand pump well living together in a tin shack or bamboo hut, with little or no access to medication for the child impacted by the ravages of HIV, TB, Malaria, Typhoid or even Bubonic Plague. Of the street stalls selling their meager locally produced slightly misshapen and oddly coloured and susceptible to inconsistent weather patterns which threaten their production, either devastating cyclones and too much rain or droughts and heat which scorch and destroy.

And I suppose you might say that's life, that's the way it is, and with all that in mind I am still sitting here thinking to myself 'is it'?.......

......and maybe that's for me to square in my head so thanks for reading.

time in Toamasina

tim and the minister of education

once again it's been a busy couple of weeks since we last provided an update, first of all we want to share a photo that was taken of me (tim) as we signed an agreement with the minister of education that we weren't able to share that on our last post, which can be found here for more info about that!

we have flown back from Toamasina to the capital Antananarivo via the somewhat fragile national airline, Air Madagascar, saying that most of our experiences, with the exception of the extortionate fares, have been great and this last flight actually took off 30 minutes early. All the passengers had checked in, via a written boarding card system, so what was the point waiting around! 

traditional transport around toamasina

I can't tell you how amazing it is to be back in with a relatively stable internet connection and whilst we had a wonderful time in Toamasina the humidity and pace of life is a bit tiresome. 

as we explained in the last post we were spending around 20 days in a place that has become very familiar to us since our first visit in 2014. in fact this was our fourth visit and we have now spent over six months in Toamasina over the last couple of years.

haja, theo, kimberly and hany from HELPMadagascar

we had various opportunities to share the Emerging Leaders programmes with a huge number of people who we were training up to become trainers. our first engagement was with the teachers who work in the schools run by our friends Cho and Deborah from 'Love 'n Care' ministries, both in and around the east coast port. it was a joy to be able to invest in the teachers, many of whom have become good friends over the years.

our trained teachers from Love'nCare

the training was run over three days where we delivered a train the trainer of the new children's leadership programme called 'LEAD NOW' with the near on 40 teachers. 

planning to share the LEAD NOW modules

we started by looking at various methods of teaching, focusing on a more creative style which helps to engage the children in the LEAD NOW short lessons with games, repetition and actions. the general method used here is the standard 'teach at the children' with the teacher at the front of the class writing up on a blackboard for the children to learn by rote rather than interactive open sharing and discussion.

feedback from the teachers

we helped the teachers explore the wonderful material, with them join in and having fun with the games and actions that are used in the programme. all of them had already attended the adult version which we had been sharing whilst we were on our recent trips to South Africa and Uganda as well as previous visits to Madagascar. its important that the teachers are actually living out the basic leadership principles in their own lives before trying to 'model' anything to the children they teach.

maz training in the prison

the middle week was spent in the local prison where we ran a train the trainer with 16 of the prisoners, their guards or admin staff who we'd worked with last year. whilst the prison is a tough place to work it was wonderful to catch up with those inmates who are serving longer sentences. we're not sure we have the words to convey the conditions that these men have to endure day in day out. 

in a country with around 50% of the population living below the poverty line, 85% of people living in remote rural villages and only 10% of homes with access to electricity its not hard to imagine the challenges that these inmates live in. with up to 200 men sharing a classroom size dorm and what with the humidity and threat of mosquitoes carrying malaria we think you might get the picture.

working through their Leadership for Life manuals

however there are signs of hope and we were so encouraged by the stories, and not only confirmed by the prisoners, of the improvements that they were making themselves, using the leadership mindsets that we share with them! we are very aware that many of these man have done some very bad things but when all is said and done they are human like all of us and we are seeking to see the potential in all people and call it out of them.

traditional river scene on a walk

following the training the prisoners and guards are going to be sharing the Leadership for Life with the younger inmates who are going to be released so that they can take these amazing principles home with them and apply them to their lives and families.

enjoying working outside in the winter sunshine

our final week was spent running a second train the trainer with teachers, this time 50 of them from 25 different schools and organisations working with young children, vulnerable youth and even prostitutes (which is a huge problem in a desperately poor port town!)

the lovely venue for our second LEAD NOW training

the team from HELPMadagascar, headed up by Kimberly and Colin Radford, true saints and bringers of hope and change each and every day of their lives, incredibly they have lived in Toamasina for near on 20 years, arranged to host us at a local restaurant come wedding venue. we not only ate well but enjoyed sharing the LEAD NOW with these people, some of whom come from remote villages with limited education themselves. 

trained LEAD NOW teachers from 25 schools

this limited education is a going to be a major issue as we share this further, the base level of teachers is very low, however saying that any input into their is going to be of great benefit to them and the children they teach.

korean friends

in the evenings and over the couple of weekends when we weren't working (either teaching or sharing at local churches!) we did enjoy some great times with friends, mostly international, who are doing some incredible work in and around the town and we take our hats off to them for their commitment to the people of this awesome but incredibly needy nation. 

anyone for fresh lobster cooked on the beach
over an open fire/bbq/braai

we had some nice meals, even went on a trip up to find fresh lobsters cooked on open fires on the beach and had a morning walk with our friend robert and found a bar to watch the monaco grand prix.

off for a walk in the countryside with robert

we're gonna miss all our friends but not the weather, although we are already planning to be back in early 2018, God willing!

back in mad Madagascar

(Sorry no photos as yet, not stable enough internet at the moment!)

As I sit here in Toamasina, the coastal port on the east of Madagascar with it's clear blue skies and flat geography, England and the first world seem very very far away. I'm not sure why it feels so far away, it's not for the lack of any 'stuff', we can get the majority of 'stuff' that you can in the stores and restaurants here, even though there aren't any of the multinational food giants such as Walmart or McDonalds here on this island of 25 million people, which is a Godsend really, but it's just the fact that everything just seems to be that little bit harder. 

Maybe it's the humidity that's getting to me, but it could be the traffic, or the pot holes, the slower way of life, known locally here as Mora Mora, not that that's a problem, I like living life at a slower pace or maybe the threat of the malaria carrying mosquitoes, or lack of a stable and fast internet connection, our only contact with 'the outside world'. 

Don't get me wrong we aren't living in the middle of nowhere this is a 'city' of around 250,000, but with the limited infrastructure, access to electricity, water, decent schooling, etc for the majority of our neighbours then we might as well be. 

its funny that even now after spending the majority of my last ten years away from England it's hard for my mind to remove itself from the first world that my body has become used to and from the 'normal' experiences that I had grown up with.

Since our last blog update we have mainly been working in Antananarivo (Tana) with the team of people whom we trained up with the Emerging Leaders 'Leadership for Life' programme when we were last in that crazy of capital cities. 

The team there, mainly from a huge local church of 15,000, and known to us as 'Team Tana', have been using the programme to directly impact over 800 people in the last six months, with indirect impact on 16,000 people given the fact that most people share the leadership principles with another 20 people whom they either live or work with.

We had the opportunity to join six of our Team Tana guys as they got up early on a Saturday morning and travelled around two hours across the city on a local Taxi Be, more of those later, to share the last of the four modules to the ladies who are being cared for by the awesome charity, Iris Ministries in Tana. 

We know Caroline, the founder of the Malagasy expression of the charity started by Heidi Baker in Mozambique, very well and it was great to meet up with the young lady in charge of social development, Melanie, again. Our team did a great job, sharing the principles in effective and understandable ways with the ladies, who were mainly illiterate, on what was the second two groups that they had already worked with.

The main reason for this latest visit to Madagascar is to introduce the new Emerging Leaders children's programme, called LEAD NOW, which has been piloted in both Kenya and England with amazing results. During our time here we will train up local teachers, around 130 from various schools in both Tana and here in Toamasina, who will then be delivering the LEAD NOW programme to the children they teach in government and private (don't even think of Eton or Harrow!) schools with a view to 'rolling it out' throughout this vast and needy nation.

We have had such favour during our time here in Madagascar, this is our fourth visit, after initially coming out for a short two week visit whilst we were still based in South Africa in 2014. Not only have we already met up with our European Union Diplomat friend for a couple of lovely evening meals, as well as being invited to a 'european film night' as his guest in Tana but we were also hosted for a meeting with the Minister of Education whom we also signed an agreement with allowing us to train up the teachers in the LEAD NOW programme.

This was all exciting stuff, I even had to make a speech in front of quite a crowd, including local and national reporters from both the written press and TV stations. All this bodes very well for our continued work here and by the end of this week we will have already shared the LEAD NOW training with over 50 teachers.

Next week we also have the opportunity to return to work in the local prison here in Toamasina, where we will not only be training up the prisoners but also the guards who were worked with last year in the adult programme, Leadership for Life. We are very excited to have the chance to invest in some of the 'lifers' who have been very keen to pass on the programme to those who they share their 'space' and lives with.

We have really enjoyed our time back here, meeting up with our Teams, sharing meals and other fun times with them. we have even had a bit more freedom to venture out into the streets around where we stay (in Tana). As is our desire we don't want to experience any place as 'just a tourist' and so we have been walking out to have local Malagasy coffee on the streets, buying our fruit and veg (which we have always done during our time in Toamasina but Tana it just seemed a little more challenging), taking our lives in our hands as we joined the throngs of people who travel by Taxi Be (think South African Taxi or large but very old minibuses in the UK with around 25 people sitting on one another in a vehicle that should only take 15 people, they place planks of wood between the seats as more and more people load up) and loving the fact that we have the opportunity to hail a local 'private' taxi which is an old style Renault, Citroen or Peugeot not seen on the streets of England since I was about 10, think Renault4 or Citroen2CV.

Time is once again rushing away with us, we are staying in Toamasina for another couple of weeks, once again hosted by our good friends Cho and Deborah, and then on to Tana for 10 days before flying back into the normality of England.

We do hope to be able to provide a further update with photos and stories of our next month with you before we leave and you can always be sure of a FaceBook or Instagram update in between times.

gorillas in the mist

mountain passes, no problem for our rally driving guide!

after our busy time in South Africa and then a short burst in Uganda we made the most of some down time and ventured out on a 'road trip' which would take in some of the most stunning scenery in middle eastern Africa and allow us to experience something quite special in wildlife terms, that of being able to spend an hour with a family of mountain gorillas.

we had been planning this trip for quite some time and it was to be part of my (Tim's) elongated 50th birthday celebrations, which shouldn't actually take place until the date in August should we make it that far! Joining myself and Maz on the 'road trip' was our good friend and fellow ex-Village of Hopeer (is that a word?), Emma Podmore, who we'd joined in Kampala to share our Leadership principles to the team that she is now serving with at 'Revelation Life'.

our trip started in Kampala, the somewhat haphazard capital of a 'landlocked' country termed 'the pearl of africa' by former British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill. I say haphazard in the way that the whole city is spread out along the northern shores of the mighty Lake Victoria, sitting atop many hills which provide challenges in both road infrastructure and suitable building plots. I could expand but that maybe a topic for another blog or poem at some later date.

we followed the road east out of the crazy Kampala traffic, another haphazard feature which could extend into further ramblings, towards our first point of call, the evocative 'equator', the centre of our world, a line spanning around 25,000 miles, passing through 11 countries, ten bodies of water (including oceans, seas and lakes!) and water was the feature that we will most remember about our first crossing of this 'line', yes it was pouring down. we bailed into the local 'cafe', obviously some kind of tourist mecca by the looks of the prices on the menu, and had brunch of Rolex and chapati chips with an avocado dip, watching the skies drop what would seem their whole contents onto this little part of africa we were inhabiting at that moment. I thought the equator was going to be hot and sunny!

just chilling

back into the vehicle, which was to be our home for most of the trip and turned out to be an incredibly versatile beast, suitably drenched but fed and watered and continued onward eastwards towards Mbarara and lunch. 

we'd all taken up our comfy positions in the MPV, Maz and Emma in the middle row and myself laying across the backseats trying to protect my back, but what with the frequent potholes and the Ugandan national roads authorities wonderful decision to place 'rumble strips' across the road when entering and exiting any 'built up' area it was hard to get comfortable. That coupled with our driver and guide trying to emulate Lewis Hamilton at certain points, later he would resemble Colin McRae at his rallying best as we swopped around the mountain passes but well get there soon, or soonish as we still have someway to go on what would prove to be one hell of a journey to our first nights destination.

after a quick stop for lunch we gathered ourselves now entering into what is known as 'little switzerland', the roads got narrower, the hills higher and greener and people were waving from their roadside stalls and still onwards and upwards towards the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, yes it is as remote and serene as it sounds, however the mountain passes were now dirt roads and Richard (aka Lewis Hamilton) was now entering into his Colin McRae rally stage with gusto. He wasn't reckless but with the sides of the road dropping away to far off tea plantations that looked like a patchwork quilt stretching out into the valley's below I wasn't too comfortable with the speed of our traverse and after over 8 hours travel I think I had good reason to worry, both for him and us!

we entered the national park and were greeted by sounds of the rainforest, we were now at near on 7,000ft, the air was still, sweet, pure and a tad chilly compared to the heat of the 'day in day out' thunderstorms that we had experienced in Kampala which now seemed like a world away.

it was a tad cold at 7,000ft

our accommodation for the next two nights was at a hotel run by an NGO called bakiga lodge to act as a sustainable income generator for their fresh water programme which secured local springs for human consumption, what a great idea! the fixed tents and cabins were wonderful, with views across the lush green cultivated valleys covered in swirling wispy mist to the snow capped peaks of volcanoes in Virunga National Park in DR Congo!

falling asleep with blankets pulled up high to fight of the colder temperatures and the sounds of the wild close at hand had us dreaming of what the morning might bring, rain during the night woke us briefly and before dawn we were up, showered and ready to rumble into the jungle and to find our distant, or not so distant, relatives who had napped just across the valley.

there are only around 880 mountain gorillas left in the world and all of them inhabit the mountain ranges in Rwanda, DR Congo and thankfully for us Uganda, as that is where we had arranged to have our rendezvous with our tight knit family. only a few family groups have been introduced to humans, some for us 'tourists' to enjoy, others for research purposes. that said less that 80 people per day are able to venture into their precious domain and today some crazy intrepid explorers from england were to be three of those blessed people.

a policeman came too!

after a briefing from our guide, John, we were somewhat surprised to be joined with another ranger with a gun and a policeman who also had a gun, they were to be our protection, not as we thought from a rampaging king kong who had 'smelt the blood of an englishman' trespassing in his backyard but from the somewhat less seen but slightly more dangerous forest elephant who had made Bwindi their home after us humans had cut off their path back to the swaths of savannah which we would visit later on in the trip.

trackers had been up and out before us to find the groups of gorillas and due to the issues with my back we had been promised that we would be part of a group of 'tourists' who would be led towards the nearest group. great news I thought, however upon entering the forest we quickly found traces of huge fresh droppings, broken down trees and other mess which meant that we were now following a herd of elephants, who had inadvertently driven our family of gorillas deeper into the forest!

in total there were eight of us in our group, us three from England and five Norwegian medical students who were taking the weekend off from their time serving at a hospital in Kampala. they were great fun to be with and we were grateful of their company.

we trekked and trekked, uphill and down dale, the trees were quite sparse on the ground but created an almost unbroken canopy above us, the path was clear, due to our huge grey friends who were travelling before us. after around an hour we reached the spot where the gorillas had been sleeping the night before but after some radio contact was made with the early morning trackers we found that they were much, much, much further on so once again we trekked and trekked. it was quite fun really and apart from my back ache we were all having a wonderful time.

mama and baba walked between myself and Maz

'apparently' Maz and Emma spotted the herd of elephants off in the distance, moving away to the right, we then moved on left towards our bounty which were become ever more elusive. i'm not sure that the girls really did see the elephants but i certainly did hear the ranger behind me cock her gun (yes they let ladies have the power in Uganda!) in readiness for use and that was enough for me to think that they might have.

give me a break!

we finally made contact with our trackers and after cutting our way into some very deep undergrowth were given a final briefing by John, this was it we were given the go ahead to approach the family! the first sighted was a huge silver back, aged around 35 and previous head of the group, he was chillaxing on his back in the dappled sunlight, he didn't seem to mind one bit that we were all standing gawping at him and apparently the middle digit on his left hand was in a permanent state of full extension and we were assured that he wasn't giving us the 'middle figure' gesture that perhaps could have been his prerogative.

the leader, a huge silverback

the guides led us further off the beaten track and we soon came upon a couple of younger silverbacks who were slightly more interested in our 'happening upon them', but with a few calls (or should I say grunts) from the rangers they were put at ease. we were then introduced to a couple of mums and their babies, one of around three years the other a smaller four month old who was so cute. we spent ages just watching these females who seemed so a peace with us being there.

it's hard to describe the feelings that you have in this special space and time, I suppose 'magical' would be one word that summed it all up, another would be 'honoured'. to actually be sat right next to one of the worlds largest and most endangered mammals was something I will never forget. just the size of these creatures was inspiring, as was their care for young and each other. it truly was an amazing experience and I'm glad that I had the chance to make that happen.

with my bad back, you've got to be kidding!

soon our hour long time with our new found friends was at an end, we'd taken endless photos, a few videos, especially of a mother and baby literally brushing past Maz' leg as she (the gorilla not Maz) moved between our group. now it was time to move on and head back to base, a task easier said than done.

as we said our goodbyes to these gentle giants the midday rains came, at first it wasn't too bad, hacking our way through thick vegetation, long gone were the helpful elephants, but it soon dawned on us that this was going to be a long slow return to base and a wet one at that. even the young Norwegians seemed to tire but after a lunch break, planned but not expected we made base by about 2.15pm some five and a half hours after setting off and over three hours later than any other of the groups who had ventured to see the other families.....so much for joining the short walk group!

wow what a day.

hold still elephant we want a photo! 

early to bed and early to rise as we jumped into our trusty vehicle and made a long and winding journey zig zagging along dirt roads through tea plantations, coffee groves, small settlements high up in the mountains and seemingly miles from anywhere on towards the Queen Elizabeth National Park and hopefully sightings of tree climbing lions, who apparently frequent these savannah plains.

open sesame 

it was around noon when we reached the park gate, to the left was a road leading towards the DR Congo border, we turned right and found to our surprise the the roof of our vehicle opened up which allowed all three of us extended views across the open plains dotted with huge fig trees, a favourite haunt for the lions.

the queen elizabeth savannah

without going into further detail we didn't find the lion (well not yet!) but we did see herds of Kob, (a east african antelope that we'd never seen on previous safaris), a herd of elephants and numerous birds. the park was stunning and spread over a vast distance. 

unfortunately time didn't allow us to 'just sit' and observe the amazing vistas that were presenting themselves to us as we were 'rushing' towards a boat trip between the two smallish lakes that border the park. 

arriving at the pontoon we headed away from lake George to the larger lake Edward in search for hippo, crocodile and elephant. ever the eagle eye Maz pointed out a distant spotted hyena which the boat sped towards not wanting to disappoint the huge group of tourists who had joined us on this short cruise. we seemed to have returned to the world of man all to soon and our time with the mountain gorillas seemed very very far away.

tree climbing lion, minus his tree!

Richard, remember him, our guide, formula one rally champion, had something playing on his mind when we arrived back at shore, we were on the quest to find the tree climbing lion and that would take us further north east to the mighty and impressive rwenzori mountains. He certainly didn't disappoint not only did we find the breeding grounds of the beautiful Kob but also two male lions sitting dozing in the late afternoon sun after what must have been a delightful meal of same said Kob.

tricky jungle conditions!

we ended this long and eventful day at our final stop over at another wonderful lodge, Enganzi, which overlooked the Queen Elizabeth park and rwenzori mountains, the sunset was amazing but with another early start to end our adventure we were soon off to bed.

ahead of us was the long journey back to Kampala but we had a couple of exciting excursions along the way, firstly a gentle walk through the forests of Kyambura Gorge where we had arranged to trek chimpanzees. 

end of a happy trip

although the sightings of our nearest human primate were more limited than those we had had with the gorillas earlier in the trip, basically one lazy male high up in the tree canopy, the walk through the forest was incredible. once again it was another unspoilt part of africa and we felt so far away from civilization as the birds called their pretty songs and beautiful butterflies fluttered about us as we made our way over simple bridges and out back into the tea plantations that surround this forest.

we made it.....

now the chase was on to beat the sun and make it to the equator before sunset, this we managed with minutes to spare and with perfect conditions as we straddled the northern and southern hemispheres it was a perfect end to an awesome and once in a lifetime road trip.

thanks for the memories Uganda, we hope to see you again soon.

P.S Richard our guide was delightful, he certainly added to the trip and all in all his driving was fantastic and he only wanted to ensure that we got the most out of our time in this most amazing of places. I would highly recommend the tour company who we booked with and would be glad forward details for anyone interested.