Waiting, waiting...

I find that I spend a large amount of my time here waiting around for people. Why is it guests book horse rides at 7am then don’t bother to turn up until 7.45am? Don’t ask for horses at 7am if you can’t get out of bed and organise yourselves sufficiently to be there on time. They are horses, not cars. They too find it intensely irritating to be stood around for an hour with their tack on. Fortunately, African horses have a larger degree of patience than most but, even so, they have their limits. Another gripe I have is the other lodges on Lewa booking horses for 4pm, then ringing me at 4.15pm to say that their guests changed their mind and no longer want to go riding. No really, we enjoyed getting the horses ready for you, only to untack them again and put them back in their stable!!

I had the most amazing cheetah sighting the other day – my best ever. To paint the picture, I am driving along the track almost at the exit gate of Lewa. I am not in a very good mood because our lorry driver decided the lorry was loaded and ready and left without telling me. Suffice to say, it was not completely loaded (organising everything the polo ponies need for two weeks away in Nairobi is quite a task but that’s another story), so I ended up having to drive up to the local polo club for the second time that day to take all the items that had been forgotten. We finish packing the lorry there before loading the ponies early next morning for the long drive to Nairobi. Anyway, back to the cheetah story. So I am driving along completely not expecting to see anything exciting as I am on a mission and not really looking. As I come round the corner, a cheetah is walking across the track right in front of me. I stop the car and turn the engine off. The cheetah completely ignores the vehicle and just wanders around up and down the track, then sits down next to the car and starts calling to her mate. Her mate did not appear but she was obviously quite upset about losing her as she kept calling and scanning the area. I watched her for about ten minutes before she walked off into the long grass. Naturally, I did not have a camera with me which was a great shame because she was so close and I would have got some brilliant photos.

Went for a lovely sundowner the other evening at the Lewa dam. Such a beautiful evening and sunset. There was some drama when we noticed a crocodile making its way quite quickly across the water. It must have heard the dogs splashing around and was thinking one would make for a good supper! I don’t think the dogs really understood why they were no longer allowed in the water.

Dare I say it, no horse dramas to report this week…….

Why drive when you can fly

Flying is the standard mode of transport for “up country” white Kenyans. Up country is how this area of northern Kenya is generally referred to. Huge areas of farmland which the British took over in the 1920s and much of it remains in their possession today, passed on to later generations that were born in Kenya and have remained here ever since. Most families have a plane as the area is so remote and the roads, whilst much improved, still take too long for most people trying to run a business who will regularly need to get to Nairobi for supplies. It seems to be standard practice to turn up to polo in your plane – a polo pitch makes for a good landing strip! I’m also told that it is considered common courtesy here to always leave your keys in your plane. In the event of an emergency, any pilot can then take your plane, for example, to fly someone to hospital.

The abundance of planes and pilots also turned out to be useful to me just yesterday. As is typical of horses, they choose to get really sick when the owners are away and there is no one around to shoot one when you need it. Fortunately, I was at the polo when I got a call to say my poor sick Simba was getting worse. This was fortuitous because it meant that (a) lots of horsey people around who would be capable of shooting a horse, and (b) they could just fly down to Lewa in about 5 minutes and do it. To back track, Simba has been slowly dying on me from some mystery illness for weeks now. I was hoping she might hang on for a few more days until Will returned from England but that was not to be. Suffice to say, yesterday was quite traumatic not least because trying to shoot a horse and dispose of the body when you have guests arriving in the next half an hour to ride is not the best situation. I really don’t think people who have paid thousands of dollars for a luxury safari holiday want to see a dead horse being carted away in a tractor and trailor. Fortunately, we managed to pull it off and no one commented at dinner about the gun shot! It is a blessed relief that Simba is now at peace and no longer suffering. There is nothing worse than having to look after a dying horse when you know there is nothing you can do to save it.

Anyway, on to brighter things. Our polo ponies looked so good at polo yesterday – all sleek, shiny and super fit. Very rewarding to see that. They are off to Nairobi for two weeks tomorrow so they probably won’t look quite so great when I next see them after two tough polo tournaments and a very long lorry journey home. But at least they set off looking good…

What else have I been up to other than working? Not that riding horses each day really constitutes work but I am paid to do it so technically it is. Well, managed to explore the Isiolo valley on a game drive and picnic lunch with friends. This is an area of Lewa that I had not been to before and it’s even more remote with really bad roads but the scenery and game is beyond words. Just beautiful. Also managed a night away at another lodge on Lewa which was fun. Wilderness is nice but quite rustic and African in its charm. Kifaru lodge is very 5 star. When you open the door to your room, it is very much like stepping into a 5 star hotel room. Zero African charm but amazingly plush. Cool that I get to stay at these places for free. Also watched “Out of Africa” the other day which is such a good film, not least for showcasing the amazing beauty and diversity of Kenya.

Incidentally, as I am writing this monkeys are playing in the trees above. One of whom as just pooped about two feet away from me. Would not be happy if that had landed on my laptop! Am going off monkeys fast. Everytime I open the windows in my room, they get in and trash the place. Last time, emptying an entire bottle of orange squash over a cream rug. I think a monkey cull is required - they are getting out of control.

Prince William to run the Lewa Marathon?

Rumours were rife that Prince William would be running the Lewa Marathon. He has been to Lewa several times, security for the marathon was super tight (far more so than in previous years) and everyone was talking about it. As I was in charge of running water station 2, I was all ready to hand him some water. Sadly it did turn out to be just a rumour! No sign of him on the day which was rather a disappointment.

However, the marathon was really fun to be a part of although I must admit that I really wished that I was running – may be next year. It was an early start (5am) to get out to our water station spot and get set up for 6.30am. It was very cool watching the helicopters flying around, clearing any dangerous animals out of the way before the race could commence. And then the anticipation of waiting for the first elite runners to come through. The winning marathon time was 2 hours 18 minutes which might be slow by marathon standards but if you saw the never ending hills and the rough terrain, you would understand why. Frankly, I would struggle to complete the half marathon here in that time!

Once the elite runners have come through, the rest of the field seemed to arrive all at once. Complete chaos at this point and I managed to miss seeing most of the people I knew running because I was far too busy pouring water and lucozade into cups and simultaneously radioing in the numbers of the first 10 male and female runners. I was glad to have an early water station when I discovered that my responsibilities also included monitoring the health and welfare of all runners. At 5km (3 miles), you would hope that no one is ready to collapse whereas the later water stations could frequently be heard via the radio calling for transport and assistance for exhausted and injured runners. The rest of the morning was very much a waiting game. Those foolish enough to embark on the full marathon basically do the route twice and by the time they get back round to us are very spaced out, apart from the front two men who were basically sprinting neck and neck. After that, there was a lot of waiting around for the last runners (I use that term loosely as many of them were walking) before we could pack up.

Well, I thought for a moment that my next blog post might be entitled “RIP Simba and Finn”. Fortunately, both horses seem to have pulled through for now. Old age and arthritis are starting to get the better of Finn but as he is again managing to canter out of his stable each morning, albeit with very stiff knees, I figure he can enjoy his retirement a little longer. He has good days and bad days and I guess eventually every day will become a bad day and it will be time to say goodbye. Simba’s illness is something of a mystery. I think she has some sort of respiratory infection and her weight loss was quite something to behold. However, after numerous antibiotics she is starting to show a little improvement and has regained some of her appetite. She is being cosseted with five small meals a day and rugged up at night. Early days yet but I think she is slowly regaining strength and weight. She always used to be a very bad tempered mare so I will only truly know that she is better when she tries to bite or kick. Right now, she is very sweet natured so I take that as a sign that she is not really herself.

Stop press – Champagne is now weaned!! I decided that since Santa at two months younger sailed through his weaning, it was really time for Champagne to grow up and stop being such a drama queen. To be fair, she has coped very well. We took her mum away one evening (down to the farm) and Champagne spent most of the night calling for her. However, the next day she went out with the herd and by the evening she was fine. In fact, I think her mum is more unhappy with her new surroundings than Champagne is about life without mum and milk.

Well, we now have two cheetahs in residence near our airstrip which is very cool. Not everyone can say they have watched cheetah hunting whilst out horse riding! They didn’t make a kill (I think the horses may have distracted them a little) but they spent ages patiently eyeing up a herd of Grant’s Gazelle.

I had so much fun the other day playing polo - just practising with stick and ball (not a proper match obviously). Amarula is the most amazing polo pony. She is kind enough to maintain a constant steady canter without pulling to go faster and positions herself at the right distance from the ball for you to hit it. She definitely knows her job! Somewhat concerningly, she is producing milk which is a little odd. She is not supposed to be in foal and certainly doesn’t look fat enough to be in foal. I have googled non pregnant mares producing milk and apparently this isn’t that unusual for older mares that have previously had foals. I sincerely hope she isn’t pregnant because she has been playing polo for the last three consecutive weekends which wouldn’t constitute the best pre-natal care for her and the foal! There is still a part of me that expects a call from the syce to say Amarula had a foal last night….

Lost on Lewa

There are many hills on Lewa that make for great “sundowner” spots. I have been exploring some of these in the past couple of weeks as I am getting to know more people who live and work at the other lodges on Lewa. Lodge work does mean that it can be difficult to get together as everyone is busy with guests. However, it is often possible to grab an hour to have a drink with friends and watch the sunset so this is what we do. The down side of this is that you then need to drive home in the dark. With so little light pollution, the stars are amazing but the darkness also makes navigation challenging. Every dirt road looks the same. Cutting a long story short, we managed to get ridiculously lost one night. I would love to have known where we ended up driving (probably round in circles). Obviously, we made it eventually but it took about an hour longer than it should have done! The plus side of the unplanned night drive was great hyena sightings. On Lewa, you only ever see hyenas at night so they are not an animal you get to see regularly.

I finally got to watch the polo ponies in action last weekend. It was not a proper tournament but “club chukkas” which is kind of like practice weekends at the local polo club. The next tournament which runs over the next two weekends also takes place there so I should get to see the real thing very soon. The polo ponies have stayed up at the polo club as there doesn’t seem much point bringing them backwards and forwards. Also this way, they get to claim the good stables before those coming from further afield arrive, and they can use the polo pitch each day for schooling. Gives me a good excuse to get off Lewa too as I need to go check on them and ride them (although the polo syces have it covered really).

The sad news is that poor little Santa is an orphan. Not in the technical sense as his mother hasn’t died (yet) but she is very sick so he has had to be weaned. It was heart breaking separating them. Not that the mare had the energy to care. All I could hear as I drove off was Santa calling to her desperately from his stable. He is being very brave though and is coping better than I expected. Simba (the mare) currently looks like a rescue case (as in those awful horse rescue charity pictures you see in magazines). She has lost so much condition in the space of just a few days. The blood test shows a very high white blood cell count which means she has some sort of bacterial infection. She is now on intravenous antibiotics but she is so weak and has even fallen over a couple of times. This all makes it sound like she has been seen by a vet. But this is Kenya so she hasn’t. I took the blood myself, then took it to Nanyuki for testing, then spoke to a vet who told me what drugs to buy and administer. Playing at vets again…

The next exciting event on Lewa is the Marathon on 30^th June. This is reputedly one of the ten toughest marathons in the world due to the altitude and rough terrain. The majority of entrants just do the half marathon which is allegedly like doing a full marathon anywhere else. People fly in from all over the world to do it. The purpose of the event is to raise money for Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and the Tusk Trust. Somehow I have been roped into being a water station manager for the event so I’ll let you know how that goes!

What day of the week is it?

One of the joys of living in Kenya is that I rarely register the day of the week or have much idea of what is going on outside of my “Lewa bubble”. However, one constant each week is that Sunday lunch is always curry. I believe this dates back to some strange colonial tradition and it is one that is continued here at Wilderness Trails.

There seem to be giraffes all over Lewa at the moment. It is a very beautiful sight watching them walk along the ridge of the hill opposite our open sided dining room whilst you are eating breakfast. They are so majestic when they move. I never get bored of seeing giraffes whilst out riding either. You get a true sense of their size when you are on a horse as they tower over you with their long necks.

So far I have been very fortunate in that I haven’t had a single guest fall off their horse. Clearly, this couldn’t last forever. The saving grace was that on this occasion it was only a family member of the owners and not a paying guest. Also, she wasn’t injured as children bounce very well! That said, I was quite relieved to find she was okay as there isn’t much you can do when a pony canters off apart from stop your own horse and watch the horror unfold. I won’t be trusting Oyster (the naughty little pony) again with children who can’t ride…

No more foals this year. Both mares that were supposedly in foal tested negative when the vet came last week. In some ways, I am relieved as the foaling is quite stressful but it is also very exciting and rewarding so I am a little disappointed that I won’t have any more foals to watch grow up.

The horses are still hard work but I have managed to get out and about a couple of times. One evening for sundowners (drinks at sunset on the hill enjoying the Lewa views), although we were a little late reaching our chosen point due to a puncture. We did see a couple of lions en route though which was a treat as big cats are often hard to find. Fortunately, they weren’t around when we were changing the tyre! Also went on a game drive one evening. Lewa is vast (over 60,000 acres) so there is still so much of it to explore. I often think that I will never learn my way around entirely. There are not exactly a huge number of signs to follow and the “roads” are just dirt tracks.

Signing off now as the polo ponies are due back from their ten days away at tournaments. It is cold where they have been so I think they will be happy to be home to the warmth of Lewa and to get off the lorry and stretch their legs after an eight hour journey. I’m just hoping they don’t look too dreadful after the rigours of polo and travelling…

Back to Kenya!

What a whirlwind of a week. It has flown past and I am struggling to recall what exactly has gone on.

It was fun driving up from Nairobi to Lewa seeing Kenya again. Everywhere looks nice and green after the rains until you get to Lewa which is really not green at all. It seems to have rained everywhere else but here! In fairness, there has been some rain but not as much as people would like. Despite taking the main entrance into Lewa (the longer route to Wilderness) to maximise our game viewing, there was surprisingly little game around. No time to dwell on these things as it was then straight back out to the polo club for an evening of drinking and dancing. The polo season is upon us and club chukkas (kind of like weekend practice sessions) had started at the local polo club about 45 minutes drive away. I did quickly manage to race up to the stables first to see my gorgeous foal, Champagne. It was almost dark but she was of course pleased to see me and she has grown beyond belief! She is no longer a little baby, although she does still like to have tantrums…

The other two foals have also grown so much – I barely recognise them. Santa has changed colour from a bright bay to a very handsome dark bay. He still has one bad leg but it is slowly healing and hopefully one day he will be a really lovely horse. Sheba is the most unfriendly foal ever and, like her mother, is very aloof.

I would like to say that the other horses are all well but that would be a lie. I am very glad that Ness (who has been covering for me) has been here all week to help out because there are so many problems. We are injecting horses left right and centre, bandaging, stitching, cleaning wounds, etc, etc. Could these horses be any more accident prone? Ness has now gone off to the polo tournament at Gilgil with six of the polo ponies leaving me with the four injured ones to look after. Thank goodness we actually do have the vet coming out next Tuesday to spend the whole day here. I think he could be busy…

We also have three new horses come to stay at livery for the next couple of months. They are Friesan cross Boerperd (a South African breed) which makes for a very large well built horse. They look huge compared to ours and the syces cannot get over the size of them. The farriers are particularly amazed by the size of their feet as they have never shod feet that size!

Nothing else to report other than horsey stuff because all my time has been taken up with them. The lodge reopens to guests tomorrow.

The South West Coastal Path: St Ives to Penzance

As my blog site is entitled 2011-12 Travel Adventures, I figure that any travel experience during this time warrants a blog post. Unlike my other adventures though, this one doesn’t involve foreign travels – just a trip to Cornwall.

Hence I find myself on a somewhat dreary bank holiday Monday stepping off the train in St Ives. I am pleasantly surprised by the beautiful sandy beach and clear water, the refreshing sea air scent, and the brightly coloured shutters of the old fishermens' cottages lining the narrow streets. After a 10 minute stroll along the harbour and up a steep winding street, I reach my surprisingly nice guest house. At this moment, the heavens decide to open so I wait a couple of hours for the rain to pass before heading out for an early evening stroll. It really is very pretty with the harbour full of fishing boats and houses built into the hillside. There are a myriad of tiny little streets and cobbled alleyways to explore full of quaint little boutique type shops and art galleries. Quite impressed with St Ives!

St Ives

Day 1 of the walk – St Ives to Pendeen billed as a “severe” 14 miles taking approximately 7 hours. As it turns out, that was a very accurate description. The day dawned bright and clear and I quickly found myself walking in just a t-shirt as the sun shone and the breeze was very light. Stunning coastal views, golden sandy beaches and turquoise blue waters – a truly glorious morning. As the morning went on, the trail became increasingly challenging as the beaches gave way to rugged coastline and a steep, narrow and rocky coastal path. Five hours in and I am really feeling it in my legs. The trail turns to moorland with lots of heather. I can see Pendeen Lighthouse way in the distance and it seems to take forever to get there along a very boggy wet path. From there, I head into the village of Pendeen – the largest settlement I’ve seen all day – to find my decidedly average B&B at the local pub. On the plus side, my en suite has a bath for which my aching limbs are eternally grateful…

Views along the walk from St Ives to Pendeen

Day 2 – Pendeen to Porthcurno 15.6 miles graded “moderate” taking approximately 6 hours. Day 1 equals sunburn, Day 2 equals drowned rat! Such a contrast from the previous day – full waterproofs definitely required. For the first couple of hours, I could only hear the waves crashing on the rocks below because the fog was so dense that I couldn’t actually see the sea. The first part of the walk took me past several old tin mines and across lots of moorland before I reached Cape Cornwall mid-morning. Cape Cornwall was originally thought to be England’s most westerly point but, unlike Land’s End, it is entirely deserted. Then it was some rugged cliff side walking before dropping down to the impressive beach at Seneen Cove where I stopped for lunch. After lunch, on to Land’s End which was shrouded in fog so not much to see there (unless you like tacky tourist shops). From this point on, the weather really turned and walking in torrential rain and strong winds wasn’t that much fun. Not least because it was also incredibly foggy so I actually had no clue where I was most of the time and just hoped I hadn’t taken a wrong turn anywhere. Time to dig in, trudge along and dream about that hot shower and dry clothes at the end of the day. It was a shame that the weather was so bad as I’m sure parts of the walk would have been stunning had I been able to see anything.

Cape Cornwall

Seneen Cove

Land's End

Day 3 – Porthcurno to Penzance 11.5 miles. Porthcurno Beach is regarded as one of the best in Cornwall but on a damp foggy morning, it was completely deserted. The first half of the walk was strenuous – lots of up and down into rocky coves along narrow paths. Once again, views were not great due to the mist but the trail itself was pretty with bluebells lining the path for much of the morning. Later there were some forested areas which made a pleasant change from being out in the open and provided some respite from the coastal breeze. The waves were fierce and it is easy to see why so many vessels have come unstuck in these unforgiving waters. This part of the trail was very desolate and I saw barely a soul for the first three hours of my walk. By lunchtime, I had reached the small harbour town of Mousehole (pronounced “Mow-zell”). A pretty little fishing port and from this point on, the coastal path becomes very urban, easy walking following a cycle path running parallel to the road. On to Newlyn, a busy commercial fishing harbour, and then my final destination, Penzance, and a well earned Cornish cream tea! Not that impressed by Penzance as it has that sense of faded grandeur that so many British seaside towns seem to have.

Mousehole

Three days and over 41 miles of the South West Coastal Path complete. I would recommend this section of the route to anyone who likes the great outdoors. It’s very remote at times but the reward is great views and deserted coves and beaches – especially if you undertake it out of season and / or when the weather is shocking…