Safari, physio and children leaving and arriving!

Last week I did a safari for 4 days and 3 nights...it was absolutely incredible! I went with 3 other girls who are volunteering here - Rachel, Hannah and Emma. I was so excited but also slightly nervous at the though of camping in the middle of the Serengeti! We left at 9am last Wednesday morning and arrived in the Serengeti about 3 hours later. We quickly began to see animals - loads f impala and wildebeest! And it was it too long before Emma spotted a family of giraffes in the trees! That afternoon we were also lucky enough to see a male lion and then 4 more lions one of which was eating a zebra! 

We also saw a cheetah kill an impala for its dinner! 

We then arrived at our camp and had a lovely dinner before making one last trip to the toilet before bed...we saw a huge spider there and had to check our tents for creepy crawlies before bed! It was pretty nerve wracking sleeping in a tent in the middle of the Serengeti knowing we had seen lions earlier that day but I slept surprisingly well! The next day we were lucky enough to see a herd of about 20 elephants who came so close that we could have touched some of them if we had leaned out of our van!! 

The 3rd day we went to the ngorogoro crater and stopped at a Masai village on the way. It was interesting but also a bit money maker from tourists and bit of a rip off! It was very interesting, they did some dances and showed us their houses and school! We paid £8 to get in and then looked around their market which was very expensive but it was clear we wouldn't get away without buying something! I bought a bracelet which they wanted £10 for but I got it for £4 in the end which was still more than it should have been! It was an interesting experience but not one I would do again I don't think!!

We eventually arrived at the crater and it's probably the most amazing beautiful place I've ever seen! Most of it was desert but then one area was all green and almost like a jungle! We were hoping to see some rhinos as they are sometimes seen there but it's very rare and we didn't manage too! However we saw elephants, baboons, zebras, hippos and much more!! Hannah and Rachel decided to stay in a lodge that night as they weren't enjoying camping. We dropped them to their lodge on the way to our campsite and it was amazing! Me and Emma stayed for one drink to pretend we were staying there and then headed to our campsite! 

We'd been promised hot showers and it was very disappointing when they were freezing!  It was freezing in the crater at night (I slept in leggings and 2 pairs of trousers and a vest top, long sleeved top and 2 hoodies and 2 sleeping bags!!) As I was getting ready for bed and putting my 3 pairs of socks on I was slightly jealous we weren't in a lodge but then our cool came to get us to tell us there was an elephant drinking from the water tank in camp! We went out to see it, it was huge and we were about 5 metres away which was so amazing! There was also zebras in camp too! I actually was pretty a warm and slept well...I did have to get up to go to the toilet in the night which is slightly scary! We'd been told if you have to go in the night just go outside your tent don't walk to the toilet..I was slightly scared I might get eaten by a lion but made it back into my tent in one piece!!

Overall it was amazing and one of the bet things I've ever done!! Here are some photos! 

While I was away one of the little girls from forever angels went home. I had completely fallen in love with her so I was so upset she went when I didn't get to say bye. All the children here have life books which the volunteers make and put photos and messages in so I was sad I couldn't put things in hers! However it's great she's gone home to family and I'm sure she'll grow up to be very happy! 

Also while I was away this gorgeous girl arrived! 

She's 19 months old and had cerebral palsy. She's severely malnourished and only weighs 11 pounds at the moment. I've spent a lot of time with her and she is so happy and lovely! Her cerebral palsy doesn't seem to severe so I have a lot of hope that one day she will hopefully walk. She has very good movement and none of limbs have gone stiff yet but her feet are starting to turn in so I'm going to try and make some splints for her. There are obviously limited resources here so I'm planning on trying to use some Tupperware containers cut up with padding and Velcro! Will have to see how it goes and rethink if doesn't work! 

I've done a lot of work with the special needs work lately as me and some of the other volunteers have been trying to update their folders with all their physio plans and goals.

This little girl has hydrocephalus as lives and spends most of her time in the tiny baby house as she would get hurt with the other children running around! We took her into one of the tv rooms one day and she had her face painted and loved it! 

We took the special needs children swimming which was nice as they dont often go out. I took this 3 year old girl who is blind. She's lovely but either loves or hates something so I wasn't sure how she'd react! She enjoyed it but wasn't too sure about the cold! All the children had a great time though.

We also took some children to the beach which was nice! 

We took some of the older children out for pizza in town yesterday which was really nice and they all ate loads!! I took this little boy :)

I have less than 2 weeks here which is really sad but I have had the most amazing time! I'm then heading to Zanzibar and Dubai so that should be really good!!