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| Wednesday, 1-Mar-2006 11:14 |
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Christmas Day at Olarro (Kenya: 25/12/05)
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Christmas Day 2005... a rather unusual one...
The day started early with a sunrise game drive, then it was back to camp for breakfast and presents. In the afternoon we went for another drive, and saw lots of game!
I will write more... 
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| Tuesday, 28-Feb-2006 13:09 |
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To Olarro (Kenya - 24th December 2005)
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Back to the Kenya photos, I realised yesterday that unless I push the rest of them up soonish I'm going to take till forever to get them done and I lose my good internet connection next week Thursday...
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| Monday, 27-Feb-2006 12:00 |
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Money well spent?
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R13 000
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R13 000
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R13 000 converts to approximately US$2 100 or GBP1 200...
Alternative title: The joys of being an international student
Biggest wish: that I never ever ever have to go to downtown Jo'burg (or anywhere else for that matter!) with so much cash ever ever ever again!!!!
Being English means that I have to have a study permit to study in South Africa. This was the wad of cash that I took with me to Home Affairs two weeks ago... R425 to pay for the permit and a R12 560 repatriation deposit just in case I become illegal and they have to fly me home all of a sudden...  They had to have the deposit in cash which was an interesting adventure... days and days of withdrawing R2 000 at a time, not a very relaxing time of my life 
Now I'm in the position of crossing my fingers and waiting to see if my application was successful... another trip to Home Affairs... yay!
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| Monday, 20-Feb-2006 12:00 |
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Index: Updates
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My new approach to my fotopage is combining my email updates with photos. They should happen once a week, probably on a Monday. If you're looking for an old one... here's the list:
JHB 8 (19th November 2006): Two different worlds
WRF 18 (31st October 2006): October
WRF 17 (28th October 2006): Torchlight portraits
WRF 16 (27th October 2006): The Halloween Party
WRF 15 (15th October 2006): Vusi is my hero
WRF 14 (24th September 2006): Dancing in the sky
JHB 7 (16th September 2006): Quarter of a century
WRF 13 (26th August 2006): A Random Collection
WRF 12 (19th August 2006): A busy week!
WRF 11 (12th August 2006): 24 Hour Holiday
WRF 10 (5th August 2006): Sundowners
WRF 9 (29th July 2006): Home
JHB 6 (18th July 2006): Thinking of home
RND 5 (14th June 2006): Congratulations to my sister!
RND 4 (6th June 2006): My house
WRF 8 (5th June 2006): WRF Characters
RND 3 (14th May 2006): How it works...
FLD 1 (8th May 2006): Excitement in the field
RND 2 (6th May 2006): Slicing the sky
RND 1 (2nd May 2006): A few random photos
JHB 5 (1st May 2006): A busy week
WRF 7 (17th April 2006): Bits and pieces
WRF 6 (10th April 2006): Sunsets and caterpillars (and a hornbill...)
WRF 5 (3rd April 2006): At home and in the field
WRF 4 (21st March 2006): The elephant bull
WRF 3 (21st March 2006): More than just termites
WRF 2 (21st March 2006): From my "garden"
WRF 1 (21st March 2006): A week and a half at "home"
JHB 4 (6th March 2006): The last of Jo'burg
JHB 3 (27th Feb 2006): Money well spent?
JHB 2 (13th Feb 2006): Morningside Medi-Clinic
JHB 1 (30th Jan 2006): My first week in Jo'burg
CT 1 (24th Jan 2006): I don't have malaria
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| Sunday, 19-Feb-2006 12:00 |
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Index: Kenya Trip
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From mid-November to end-December 2005 I was in Kenya. The original plan was 4 weeks of nothing in Nairobi followed by 2 weeks of safari. I ended up meeting up with a friend and doing quite a bit more... the indices for each of the trips are to be found at:
Trip 1: Climbing Mount Kenya
Trip 2: Overland to Northern Kenya
Trip 3: Chilling at the Coast
Trip 4: Game viewing in the Mara
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| Saturday, 18-Feb-2006 12:00 |
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Index: Olarro and the Masai Mara
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The last part of my Kenya trip was 3 nights at Olarro, just outside the Masai Mara. A gluttony of game viewing (including loads of lions) and of good food...
Day 1: Arrival at Olarro
Day 2: Christmas at Olarro
Day 3: Day in the Masai Mara
Day 4: Last day at Olarro
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| Friday, 17-Feb-2006 12:00 |
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Index: Kenyan Coast
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Well there isn't much to index... after all the photos I took on Mount Kenya and Lake Turkana, my camera had a bit of a rest when we went to Diani. Five days at the coast with my family (minus my brother) and some friends from England.
Entry 1: Driving to Mombasa
Entry 2: Snorkelling day trip
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| Thursday, 16-Feb-2006 13:14 |
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Charlie Claw's Day Trip - Kenya 22/12/05
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Back to the Kenya photos (there's still loads more to come!)
Most of my time at the coast was spent in or beside the swimming pool but one day we all went out on a day trip. The day started with breakfast in the slave caves. The local community is developing the caves as a project, you go for a tour and breakfast and a local person tells you the story.
We then went to the jetty and found our dhow and waited for everyone else to arrive. The downside of the Kenyan coast is that it's a massive tourist destination, our company took 3 dhows (about 20 people each boat) out that morning and there were about half a dozen companies. The ride out to the reef takes a while over some enormous waves (well they felt enormous  ) and some stunning turquoise water.
Everyone is restricted to snorkelling in one area but we were lucky enough to be the second boat to arrive so things were relatively uncrowded when we were in the water. A little boat takes you to drop you off at one end of the reef then you drift with the current towards the island and your boat.
The snorkelling was AMAZING   I've snorkelled in the Red Sea off Eritrea but the fish were much smaller there. I had an underwater camera with me (one of the cheap (yeah right) throw-away things). I'd never used one before and using it through a snorkelling mask was interesting! I did get photos of some of the fish, just still need to scan them in.
After snorkelling we went for lunch on Wassini Island, a traditional lunch. The starter was crabs, which my sister and Alex (a family friend) hadn't eaten before. I was nasty enough to take videos of their first attempts They're hilarious!!! After the crab was rice with a tomato and coconut sauce and fish. Quite literally fish... they caught the fish they took its guts out they cooked it and they put it on your plate, complete with tail and head My sister used a slice of lemon to cover her fish's eye as she didn't like it staring at her while she was eating it
After the meal and an hour wandering around the island we went back on the dhow to go back to the jetty... then a long drive home, lots of aftersun and a long sleep
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| Monday, 13-Feb-2006 13:03 |
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Morningside Medi-Clinic
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Somewhere along the line I missed a week... I looked at my diary and it was the 3rd of February I looked at my diary and it was the 10th of February. So that's why I'm doing two weeks in one, also, I was in hospital have cameras poked into me last week monday!
Basically I got sick... and then I got sicker... and then I couldn't eat or drink... and then my housemate packed me into the car and took me to A&E and they put me on a drip and admitted me to hospital for 4 nights. And they made me better
So, there's not actually much to say! The first three photos are of the animals at the house where I'm staying, the flowers were bunches I got whilst in hospital and the last is a fly that was too lazy to fly away when I was tidying up so I decided to photograph it instead
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| Monday, 30-Jan-2006 07:29 |
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My first week in Jo'burg
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One week down... after 3 days driving up the N1 with all my stuff packed into my little car, I had 2 days off and then started my PhD. On my first afternoon at Wits I was in the campus health centre... having my first malaria test... What a way to start! Thankfully I didn't have malaria, just a cold which made my first week not so fun, but I survived.
I now know a few roads in Jo'burg and can get between home and the physio and university. I think I'll stick to keeping it small - there's just so much traffic in this place! And the roads have 3, and sometimes even 4, lanes! I'm staying with Fran, also a student in the same department as me at Wits which is cool as she knows where everything is!
Last week was mainly an admin week as because I'm an international student there's a whole heap of things to organise. On Friday morning I spent 4 hours at Home Affairs to try and sort out my study permit but got nowhere.  The latest is that they want me to pay a cash deposit of R12 560 for repatriation... hmmmmm... that will be interesting to sort out!
I've been lucky with thunderstorms, there have been several since I arrived. I was at home for the one yesterday afternoon so had my camera with me. I was actually having a nap on the sofa when it started and was rudely awoken by Huxley (the small dog) jumping on to my stomach (note to self... don't sleep on back on couch). Huxley is absolutely terrified of thunderstorms...
Other than working and admin-ing and sleeping, I went to a birthday party in Pretoria on Saturday evening (a braai... haloumi drizzled with rosemary+garlic olive oil, served with a drizzle of lemon plus garlic mushrooms in bread rolls with salad...  ). On Thursday I went to time trials with Fran and ran for the first time in 2 months. I managed to survive...ish...
Now it's Monday again and the start of another week. Hope that everyone has a fun time! 
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