Weekending, 21st August 2010

On Sunday it was raining all day so we spent the day at home. I was very surprised to receive a phone call on the afternoon from Lucy to say that she had been at Africmed all day with Rachel who had been ill through the night with sickness and diahreah. We offered Lucy the option of staying here with us instead of going back to Brikama tonight. At around 9 o’clock we received a phone call from Lucy to say she couldn’t find our compound and her phone battery had died on her so she had continued on up to Safari Garden hoping that one of the volunteers could call us. Unfortunately they had all gone out for dinner. Eventually after explaining to one of the staff she managed to borrow their phone to call us. Paul went off to meet up with her on the road whilst I put the kettle on for a cup of tea. She was very tired when she arrived as she had been up since 6 o’clock with Rachel and she wasn’t feeling great herself. She told us that Rachel was in a very bad way and couldn’t stop being sick so they had given her some antibiotics via a drip as well as dehydration salts and quinine for malaria. Lucy settled down for the night on the settee and was surprised at how well she slept.

On Monday we were all woken to heavy rainfall I set the table for breakfast and then we sat and waited for the rain to stop. I had decided to call at Africmed with Lucy to see how Rachel was doing. I took a towel and a clean t-shirt for her to change into and Lucy called into a Bitiko to buy toothpaste and the most hardest toothbrush we’ve ever felt. When we arrived she was still wired up to a drip and was having some more quinine. Unfortunately she was still being sick the quinine wasn’t helping with this as it made her feel queasy. Whilst there Paul phoned me to say he was bringing Bradley for a check-up. He has been a bit off colour since Friday with on and off high temperature, headaches and feeling a bit lethargic. I went in with Bradley the usual blood tests were done for malaria with no parasites showing up in the blood. He was still prescribed a malaria medicine just in case.

On Tuesday Bradley woke up with a rash on his face which then appeared on his chest. I kept a close watch on him thinking it may be a reaction to the quinine. The afternoon was spent at Safari Garden in the pool and Bradley seemed okay not off colour or anything. Paul finished work early so by about 2 o’clock he also came to join us. We had a chat to the new volunteers when they arrived back from their training.

On Wednesday the new volunteers that will be living in the kombo area were moved into their new houses. As usual it wasn’t until gone 5 o’clock before Lynne arrived in our compound. I had agreed to take her shopping to buy some quick essentials which she will need for tonight. We set off calling at Harry’s, MP Trading and Minnas where we bought various pieces of kitchen ware, pillows and bed linen and some food items. We were back home fully laden a good hour later. It was just Lynne’s luck that we had another power cut so she was unable to get things sorted as she wanted to. The electricity has been a problem all month with every evening power cuts. Paul ended up making the bed for her whilst I emptied the food items and then went to warm up our dinner. I had invited Lynne to eat with us tonight to save her the trouble of cooking.

Lamin Lodge

On Thursday we decided to go to Lamin Lodge so we jumped in a taxi to Westfield and then a gelleh to Lamin. We had a thirty minute walk from the road up a sand track passing compounds and bitikos. It didn’t take long before a young local lad latched onto us saying he was going that way so would show us the way. It was a lovely walk I can understand why Mick and Jenny are rebuilding a house here to continue with there NGO bee keeping work. We spotted a few birds on route and received waves from the local women in their fields tending to their crops. We finally arrived at the river side and made our way along a bridge to the lodge. The lodge was completely made out of wood even the floor was uneven planks of wood so not easy to walk on. The lodge was set over three floors with carved booths for sitting at. We decided to go up to the top lookout room and once there ordered ourselves some drinks. Whilst sitting there was a group of monkeys which were getting a bit too interested in our drinks. There was another group on the next table and one of the monkeys suddenly snatched up a bottle of coke and started drinking from the bottle he obviously had a taste for fizzy pop. He then decided to try his luck at our table sitting near Dale and Bradley. Bradley was a bit scarred when we tried to shoo him away as he decided to show his teeth at us. When Dale tried to get rid off him he punched him on his shoulder leaving a couple of red marks. We sat for a while watching a couple of Broad-billed Rollers doing aerobatics in the sky. We then set off walking back a different route managing to get rid of our guide who was patiently waiting for us. We eventually found a tree trunk in a nice forest area to sit and eat our picnic lunch. As we sat we noticed the odd centipede on the trunk then when we looked at the tree it was covered in them. After eating our lunch we headed back to the roadside to pick up a gelleh for home.

Local Internet Tree (more like graffiti)

Lamin Lodge

On the evening we took Dale out for dinner to the Blue Kitchen which is probably our favourite restaurant here as the cost is reasonable and they have a good variety of meat dishes.

Katchikali Sacred Crocodile Pool

On Friday we went off to Katchikali sacred crocodile pool to see Charlie. We paid our entrance fee and first looked around the museum area. Bradley made a little friend who followed him around banging on the drums I was expecting the attendant to come and tell us off as it said no touching. We then made our way to the pool side where there was a smallish crocodile up on the side. Dale managed to stroke him whilst we took some photos. There were a lot more crocodiles there than last year you could see them submerged in the pool. We walked on further with one of the guides telling us not to get too close to a large female crocodile which was up on the bank side. Most of the paths were flooded so we were unable to walk all the way around however our guide took us a different way to see the large elephant tree. As we passed we spotted a large monitor lizard trying to catch some rays and a couple of large blue kingfishers sat in a tree. Bradley’s little friend was still with us as we left the pool to head out to Cape Point beach. Paul was taking us via the fields so I managed to send the little boy back to the pool to his mother. This way proved to be a bad idea as we soon hit pools of water so finally gave up and turned around to go back via the road. Once at Cape Point we walked along the beach and then back to Bakau where we picked up a gelleh to return home. Dale was due to leave for the airport at 2 o’clock so we said our goodbyes and Paul jumped in the taxi with him to take him to the airport. We have really enjoyed Dale being here he has even managed to get up and eat breakfast with us everyday. Paul carried on to coach his scout rugby group however they didn’t turn up so he was back home by 4 o’ clock feeling a bit down now that Dale had gone home.

Kingfisher

Mick & Jenny's

On Saturday afternoon Mick and Jenny had invited us over for lunch. We made our way to Bakau by gelleh and then walked to Cape Point as they are currently house sitting for a friend. I had made a carrot cake to give them, luckily it travelled well it was still in one piece and not melting. The house was lovely and very private within its own compound. Abigail and Bradley were soon playing hide and seek with Teo and Mia. This then turned into a water fight with a hose pipe as they all stripped off to their underwear. As for the adults we sat on the terrace drinking julbrew and chatting. Jenny prepared a lovely lunch of beef with eggs, salad and fried potatoes, followed by the carrot cake. The rest of the afternoon we sat drinking and talking, they are such a lovely couple and so easy to get on with. We thought it best to make tracks for home as Mick is travelling back home tonight for a month to sort out a few things and it was gone 6.30pm.

Weekending, 14th August 2010

Abuko Nature Reserve

On Friday we decided to make an early morning trip to Abuko Nature Reserve. We arrived just before 9 o’clock so were hoping to see plenty of birdlife around the lookout lodge. Unfortunately all we saw were a group of swifts darting over the water. We moved on to the next look out hive only to find a huge tree had fallen onto it damaging the roof and surrounding fence. We headed out for the last hive on the way we spotted a Red Colubus Monkey high up in the trees. At the hive there was not a single bird in sight so very disappointing. Bradley and I made our way back to try to spot the monkey again, we suddenly heard a loud screeching sound from some birds so followed them trying to get a good view as they were high up in a tree. It was when they took flight to the next tree that I saw there wing tips which where a bright red and realised it was a group of Turacco’s. Luckily Paul and Dale caught up with us so managed to get a short glance at them. We continued on letting Dale go in front this was the best position to spot any monitor lizards on the path sunning them selves. Dale managed to spot quite a few monitors which scurried off for cover in the vegetation. As we continued on we could here a rustling so we stopped to watch and suddenly saw a group of colubus monkeys in the surrounding trees. One of which suddenly ran out at Dale making him jump as it cut across his path. It then came back sitting up ahead on the path before running back to the group. Before we arrived at the centre we managed to see quite a few of these monkeys one of which was happy to sit and watch us watching it and was very vocal. At the centre we looked in on the animals Hyenas, Baboons etc before we then continued on. We headed back to the first look out post to eat a tapalapa sandwich hoping to see some more wildlife before making our way to the exit. Once at the exit we crossed the road to get a gelleh back to Serrekunda as Dale wanted to look for some material to have another couple of trouser pants made. At the market we looked around a few shops before he finally agreed on a fish pattern and then a rather loud red hut and African men design. With me bartering a price we finally agreed on 20 and 25 dalasi per metre. Hot and tired we headed back home.

Red-Colubus Monkeys

New Volunteer Welcome Meeting - One Year Today!

On Saturday Paul made his way to Safari Garden as he is helping to mentor the new group of volunteers which arrived on Thursday, I can’t believe we have been here for one year today it has gone so quick. We decided to spend the morning around the pool so followed behind making a quick call at the tailors to leave Dale’s trouser material. When we arrived they were all still sat chatting to the new volunteers so I quickly introduced myself before they left with Paul, Max, Rachel, Phil and Lucy. They were taking them off to Serrekunda to orientate them to some landmarks. We relaxed around the pool. A couple of hours later Paul returned with some of the volunteers some of the others had gone onto Bakau market. We made our way home for lunch as we would be returning to Safari Garden for the welcome meeting and meal with the new volunteers later this evening.

We were back at Safari Garden for 7 o’clock, Nuha and Alhadji were there from the office however no one else arrived, a very poor show of office staff which was blamed on Ramadan. On speaking to Tessa she told me that Lucy was in her room ill. I went to see how she was and found her lying on the bed she has been feeling a bit off colour for a while. She spent most off the evening lying down dozing. The evening was going well until the power went off, the generator kicked into action and then died so the evening was spent with a limited supply of candles and torches. We ate a lovely meal and then Dale took the children back to put them to bed so we could get to know everyone. We were all enjoying the evening until the heavens opened up and it started raining heavily this broke the party up and everyone decided to head for their beds.