Bijilo Nature Park

On Wednesday we had a school trip to Bijilo Nature Park, we were picked up from school at 10 o’clock by a West African Tours coach. The children were seated three to a seat and some were driven down by staff transport. Once at the park the manager gave us a talk about all the different animals which lived within the park grounds. Whilst he was talking a couple of Red Colubus Monkey’s were sat in a tree picking berries. We grouped the children into their year group lines and then the youngest set off walking with the guide. We soon saw a large group of Vervet Monkey’s sat in the nearby trees and on the ground. Another guide who was with some tourists was busy feeding them nuts he asked if I wanted some I remarked the signs say not to feed them so he quickly moved away. Some of the younger children were quite scared of the monkey’s however the older children decided to give them some bread. As we got further into the park some of the younger children were getting tired no wonder having to also carry their back packs these should have been left on the bus. The decision was made to take them back whilst we carried on with the older children. Our guide took us along a path which ran parallel with the beach and then he took us down a track onto the beach. The children sat and ate some of their food, I was busy telling them to pick up all their rubbish so as not to leave it on the beach they just don’t understand the problems this causes. We set off walking back to the beginning via a different route. The other teachers were sat waiting at the entrance whilst the children had been placed back on the bus which was quite hot. We set off for home arriving back just before 1 o’clock and time for me to leave to pick Abigail and Bradley up from school. I have been picking Abigail up at the same time as since completing their exams they havn’t been doing any work at all whilst the teachers sit writing their reports.

On Thursday Lynn had been asked by Pete if she would hold a barbeque at the compound for his two Yorkshire friends and her sister who were here visiting. We were all asked to bring our own food for the barbeque, Lynn and I also made, rice, pasta, coleslaw and salad dishes. It was only supposed to be a small event however throughout the day other volunteers phoned up to see if they could come. The first to arrive was Mick and Jenny with Teo and Mia who quickly went off to play with Abigail and Bradley. For Paul it was his Rhino training night so he would be in late so Mick set about digging holes to put the beer in to keep cool. Pete then arrived and set the barbeque going to start cooking a selection of food, prawns, fish, sausages, burgers and chicken. It soon became apparent that we would possibly run out of accompanying dishes of pasta, rice and salad as most volunteers currently have family visiting so the numbers had suddenly doubled. Once the food was cooked it just disappeared and others had to wait for the next batch to cook. As predicted the other dishes ran out although there were plenty of prawns to keep everyone going. At 10 o’clock Abigail and Bradley were getting tired so I quickly put them to bed, thirty minutes later I decided to join them. I was so glad not to have clearing up to do as Lynn had asked me if I would have the food in my house, which I declined to do. It was 12 o’clock before the party finally ended with Lynn, Paul and her sister left to clear most of the mess up after everyone.