Kenya Trip - 29th September to 6th December 2007

2007-03-20T03:34:00.000-07:00

After I complete the charity project in Kenya I will be going on a safari for 5 weeks in Kenya, Uganda Tanzania and Zanzibar.

Wildlife and Spice Island Tour:

Day 1 to 6 - Kenya to Uganda
Depart Nairobi, Kenya driving via the Rift Valley Look Out to camp for two nights by Lake Naivasha. From the 8,000ft look out gaze across the extraordinary panorama or lakes, plains and mountains.

From Naivasham we travel to Lake Nakuru National Park for our first big game drives. The Soda Lake is famous for its flamingo population as sanctuary for black and white rhino. We may also spot leopards, giraffe, zebra, hippo and antelopes.

Onto Uganda and arriving at Jinja where you can white water raft on the White Nile at Bunjagali Falls.

Options:
1) Cycle in Hells Gate National Park with its extraordinary scenary of volcanic plugs and dramatic cliffs of columnar basalt.
2) Visit the Masai Cultural Centre.
3) Take a boat across to Crescent Island Reserve for guided walks of an extinct volcano. There may be an opportunity to see hippo's.
4) Village walk in Jinja.
5) Whitewater rafting on the White Nile (Grade 5)
6) Guided walk in Kakamega rainforest.

Day 7 to 13 - Uganda

Flights and injections booked!

2007-03-20T01:45:00.000-07:00

I've booked and paid for my flights. I fly out to Kenya via Dubai on 27th Septemeber arriving on the 28th ready for the project which starts on the 29th.

I fly back from Zanzibar to Dubai on 7th of December arriving in Dubai on the 9th where I will be stopping over for 2 nights to see as much as I can of this diverse city. I then fly back home to London on the 11th where I start work again on the 12th. Luckily I only have to work for 1 1/2 weeks until the Christmas holidays, although I have to sit 2 exams in that time. Sadly I'll be taking my bookes with me to study while I'm away.

As well as booking flights I've also booked in with the nurse at my surgery to book all my injections. I've been looking through all the literature on the medical side that the charity sent through to me and it looks like I'll need the following: Yellow Fever, thyphoid, polio, tetanus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningitis, diphtheria and rabies, as well as taking a course of anti malarials. Its quite a long list. I'm sure I've had polio and meningitis in the past 5 years. Luckily some of the vacines can be combined in one. I just hope it doesn't cost too much for all the pain I'll have to suffer!

Outdoor Show - Birmingham NEC

2007-03-19T08:12:00.001-07:00

This weekend I went to the Outdoor Show in Birmingham NEC. Its a big event where there are lots of stands from all sorts of outdoor events companies, clothing companies and lots of events you could participate in such as scuba diving, canoing, rock climbing, mountain biking, bouldering.

Each year they hold the European Bouldering Championships which I have been to for the past 4 years. This year I saw the mens qualifying round on the Satuday, followed by both the mens and womens finals on the Sunday. Unfortunately, ever since the UKs win in 2005 with Mark Croxley, the UK haven't done very well. No-one made it to the final, although it was still great to watch as all the routes look highly impossible so its amazing to see someone complete it, especially when they choose different routes.

In the end 16 year old David Lama from Austria won the mens:

and Juliette Danion from France won the womens

These photos don't show how difficult it was! I'll be uploading video clips I recorded of the qualifying stages.

I also had a one hours tuition on the bouldering wall by two coaches from Planer Fear. Both of them have had successes in the past in competitions so I was very priviledged to have free tuition with them. I haven't climbed for about 2 years so I was a little out of practice. I also forgot how many muscles you use climbing. You pretty much use all those redundant muscles you rarely use, as well as the main shoulder and leg muscles. Today I'm feeling the aches and pains from my efforts! But it was worth it! I'll upload a couple of photos of me climbing soon.

The main reason I went to the show was to start buying some equipment I will need while in Africa. I bought a 70 litre all singing, all dancing rucksack from Millets and even got discount as I needed it for a charity project. If you don't ask you don't get!

I also picked up some 70% discounted clothes from Blacks as well as a nifty minature light which is suprisingly bright for how small it is.

Outdoor Show Website: http://www.theoutdoorsshow.co.uk/

Planer Fear website: http://www.planetfear.com/news_detail.asp?n_id=6163

The Great Capital Run

2007-03-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

This week I stupidly signed up for the Great Capital Run in London on 15th July. Its a 10km starting in Hyde Park.

Now I haven't run in a race since senior school when I used to be in the Cross Country Team. Recently I've tried to get back into running, but only run for a mile at a time and not in a particularly quick time. Definitely no where near a 4 minute mile, or no-where even close to Elle Macphersons 4:24 mile.

I shall definitely be doing a training program to increase my stamina, and practice running outside as I tend to run on a running machine at my gym at work.

I'll be going down to London on 13th July for a long weekend to make the trip into something other than running! Hopefully I'll catch a Shakespeare play at the Globe Theatre while I'm there, and catch up with some friends who live down there.

If you'd like to have a guess at how long it will take me to complete the 10km then drop me an email, along with a sponsor. Whoever gets the closest will receive a special prize!!! sam@oaktrees.plus.com Please include in the title 'The Great Capital Run.'

The Great Capital Run homepage http://www.bupa.co.uk/about/html/events/capitalrun.html
I will be running in aid of the MAD Kenya project.

St Patricks themed cake stall

2007-03-19T07:50:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th, I baked cakes, along with the help of my Mum, as she is the best cake maker ever, and we baked, and baked, and baked until we ran out of ingredients and containers to put things in.

I made gingerbread snaps with a shamrock iced on top, chocolate rocky road brownies, cup cakes with green icing and a chocolate cake. My mum made fruit cake, banana and date cake and scones with strawberries and cream. As well as our efforts a few people at work also a whole load of cakes in, enought to cover 2 tables in the foyer at work which were covered with green table cloths to keep with the St Patricks Day theme.

We opend at 10am and sold out of everything by 11am. I even managed to eat a few sneaky pieces of cake too (that I paid for)! A chef must sample their food!

Overall we raised £101.13. A massive amount considering there were other events going on throughout the building for Comic Reliefs Red Nose Day which was on the same day.

Sky Dive - New Zealand - Completed!!!

2007-03-16T13:24:00.000-07:00

As some of you may be aware, I went to New Zealand and Australia on holiday for a month in February. As well as having a fantastic time, this was also where my fund raising efforts would begin.

In Queenstown, along with a few of my friends on tour (Sarah, John, Makini, Jess, Monica, Louise, Nicole, Phill and a few others), we went sky diving over The Remarkable Mountains. We flew up to 12,00ft before jumping(tandem) out of a perfectly good plane, plummeting to the ground at a rate of 1,000 feet every 5 seconds at 200 kmph! The free-fall lasted for 45 seconds, followed by a 5 minute parachute flight to the ground while taking in the spectacular scenery.

My friends and family back home sponsored me to do the jump, and so far I have raised £350 and counting!!!!

Please see my special 'Thank you' page for a list of all the wonderful people who sponsored me! I think they were all pretty suprised that I actually went through with it. Probably more so the fact that I ended up doing it again on my last day in Sydney!

The first set of photos are of the Queenstown jump. I'll upload the DVD soon.

This is my grin of fear. I was extremely calm until the last minute when we positioned ourselves at the open door.

I was the second person out of the plane following Sarah. I was holding onto my strap and doing the 'banana' position as instructed. I think at this stage I had my eyes shut!

Tumbling through the air. You actually somersault through the air for the first few seconds.

Having levelled out I took in the time to wave at the camera. The photographer jumped from the plane at the same time to film us on the way down.

Taking in the amazing view. It really was quite spectacular.

Silly faces!

From above (thats not the parachute, that just acts as a stabaliser.

About to pull the cord...

Ouch! The harness really dug in at this point. At least I'm not a bloke! I feel sorry for them!

Coming into land. Not very elegant at all!

I survived! This is Kev, my instructor.

The pictures below are of the sky dive in Sydney over Wollongong beach on my last day in Australia on 28th February.

Waiting to meet my instructor

On the runway

The pilot

About 5,000 feet up, almost half way.

Heading towards the exit!

Tumbling through the air

Woooohooooo! If only these photos had sound included!

Flying the parachute

Hoping we don't land in the sea. Luckily we had a life jacket with us in case we did.

Safetly on the ground ready to go up again!!!

When? Where? How much?

2007-03-16T13:18:00.000-07:00

The project starts on 29th September 2007 based in the Rift Valley and ends on November 2nd. The project costs £1250. I will be paying for flights, visas (as I will also be travelling to Uganda and Tanzania), equipment and the dreaded INJECTIONS!!!!! I will also be taking over teaching, medial, sport and art supplies, as the schools are severely lacking in these, with some pupils even having to share pens, let alone textbooks.

After the project I want to see more of Africa so I will be travelling on safari for another 5 weeks around Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania ending up on the beautiful island of Zanzibar! I'm sure a few days on the beach in Zanzibar will help me recover from all the hard work in Kenya, and be a beautiful end to a very unique experience in Africa.

Why Kenya?

2007-03-16T10:29:00.000-07:00

There are many countries throughout the world where MAD Foundation have projects running in them, it is not only limited to Africa. For example there are projects in Fiji, Thailand and Peru.

The reason I chose Kenya is because it would give me a wide range of activities to get involved in. Building projects will be the main part of the project, such as building classrooms for schools or community centres. Teaching is another area which I will be involved in, as well as occasionally helping out at local hospitals or medical centres to support the doctors and nurses, as well as helping to raise awareness of AIDS, as Africa is still the country with the most cases of the disease, and the number is continually increasing.

The reason for this blog...

2007-03-16T10:20:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

So you've either stumbled across my blog by chance; or you know me, and I've harassed you to come stop by.

First and foremost thanks for stopping by and taking an interest. This page has been set up to help highlight the fundraising efforts I have been, and will continue to do this year for Mottey African Development (MAD) Foundation. In particular I will be raising money for the Kenya Community Project I will be going on in October and November for 5 weeks.

In brief, MAD Foundation was established in 1999 to support a wide range of development projects in Africa. Today, as a fully registered charity (Charity Reg. No. 1111805), it supports projects and individuals throughout the developing world. Mad Foundation funds are used to pay for project materials, emergency disaster appeals, scholarships, and grants to help local people set up businesses. Every penny of funding that the Mad Foundation receives goes directly to sustainable and beneficial development projects. The communities themselves identify and choose the projects that will have the most benefit to them, and through our network of overseas crew are able to put their appeal forward to the Mad Foundation.

Madventurer started when the Chief, John Lawler, set out on his gap year to teach in a small village in Ghana, West Africa. His experience had a big impact both on him and on the villagers, who enstooled John a Chief (Togbe Mottey I) for his contributions in help setting up a Secondary School in the village. He decided that he wanted other people to have an amazing experience like his, so the next year he went back to Ghana with a group of friends who all worked together to build a school and to teach the children subjects in their curriculum. Before going home, the group then set off in an overland vehicle in an attempt to reach the mystical Timbuktu…and Madventurer had begun!

If you’d like to know more about the Mad Foundation and the previous projects it has supported with Madventurer volunteers or would like to find out about fundraising or donating please visit the website http://www.madfoundation.org/