More Rwandan Wildlife

Impala in the Akegera National Park .

Maybe a species of Vulture on the Bank building opposite our hotel

 Definitely related to a blackbird or thrush (Ed - An African Thrush - Turdus pelios - Thanks Paula!)

 Two species of weaver birds

 A weaver bird's nest

 A water Buffalo complete with oxpecker

more giraffes...

and the cutest little gecko! Thanks for looking!

More photos from Rwanda

I wanted to share a few photos from my trip. In Rwanda there were many things that made me think, like water for example.
These yellow water containers are an essential part of life in Rwanda. There are not many places that have mains water in the district I visited, and both children and adults take their containers to the local pump or river to fill them. There are some water storage towers  and rain water tanks around but these are not available to everyone. Many of the yellow containers have an unusual stopper in the form of a green banana.

 They are often carried by cyclists when the nearest water is further away, and often several containers per bike. These containers then take the place of taps like this:

Thanks for looking!

Home again

First I must apologise for the shortness of yesterday's post. I had downloaded a huge number of photos and my battery was running low. I had packed my mains lead in my case, which was being packed into the next plane so I couldn't plug in, and I only just published in time before the battery ran out. By the way, If you are ever stuck for eight hours in Nairobi Airport I can totally recommend the Executive lounge for Kenya Airways. It cost us 30 dollars for 4 hours and included drinks food and very comfortable seats as well as clean toilets and internet connection. I am now home after a fairly long couple of days and will try and show you more photos of my trip in between loads of washing, showers and unpacking.
I really wanted to show you this picture that my travel partner, Megan took. we decided to call it "Where's Wally Sally?!"

Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments this week. Hope you don't mind seeing more photos very soon!

Murabeho Rwanda

Well, I'm sat here in Nairobi Airport on the way home after a truly life-changing week. I have laughed so much and cried too. Yesterday we visited the Genocide Memorial Centre which generated quite a few tears, as did parting from our friends at G. S. Muyumbu. 

Muraho!

Hello friends! Moraho means good morning, but seems to be used at all times of the day here. I am here after a very long day in the national park, but I wanted to share a few photos. I am shattered, so I will be brief.

 This little lizard was at the entrance to the park,

Monkeys sauntered across the road,

and we got stared at by giraffes and large birds of prey.
Thanks for looking!

Greetings from Rwanda

Mwaramutse, my friends! Hello from Rwanda!
After a 28 hour journey I have arrived in Rwanda and I am quite speechless at the amazing sites we are seeing. the scenery is breathtaking. Quite different to what I expected. There are lots of hills and more Banana trees than you could imagine. The school is huge - more than 2000 pupils and everyone is very friendly. The hotel is basic, but clean and in a beautiful setting. We are in the district of Rwamagana, in the eastern province of Rwanda.
We have had a few glimpses of local bird life...

and this little cutie was right outside my room!

Any help on identifying them would be greatly appreciated. My Birds of britain is no use here! Hope to be back soon

Sally x

Here I go!

Well, as you read this I will be boarding a plane to Nairobi, transferring to a flight to Kigali and I will be alighting in Rwanda tomorrow morning. Let me tell you how this all came about. Are you sitting comfortably? then I will begin...
Our school decided to go for 'International School award'. We had gained the intermediate award last year, but wanted to go on to full award. We were selected as one of several schools in Nottingham to make links with Rwanda. Due to unforeseen circumstances (remember all those maternity leave and baby cards I was making?), I was offered the opportunity to go, so went home and discussed it with Meg and Steve. I wasn't at all sure, but they both thought I should jump at the chance, bless them, so I did. I haven't been abroad for a very long time and I haven't flown further than France, so this is VERY new to me. I have been wondering if I had made the right decision, but I am sure I would be kicking myself if I hadn't accepted. My lovely visitor Andre (see this post) is the Head Teacher at the school I will be visiting and I am going with a wonderful young teacher from our school, called Megan, along with 11 other people. We will be visiting 6 different schools out there.
I don't intend to be a stranger for the next week, as we are taking my laptop with us and I intend to blog whilst I am there. Hopefully I will have some cool photos to show you. There is a massive luggage allowance, so feel free to suggest what I could bring back with me!!! Wish me luck and thanks for looking! 

Rwanda trip

I have been doing a lot of soul-searching over the past few days thinking about how to keep in touch from Rwanda. I have finally come to the conclusion that I will have to take my laptop. I tried out an I-pad and I had a good play with my phone, but it proved so hard trying to post a photo, I almost lost the will to live! In the end I thought "Why waste half your life when it could be so much easier?". It isn't like my laptop is hugely different in size to an i-pad anyway, and I can do soooo much more with it.
The hotel has free Wi-fi, so I might as well make the most of those evenings. I'll be skyping Steve and Meg to make sure they are being good! You can take a look at where I am staying here.
Monday to Thursday we are in school with events early each evening. On Friday we are visiting the Akagera National Park. On Saturday we are hoping to pull in a visit to the Genocide Memorial Centre and the Capalaki Craft Village before setting off back around lunch time.
To be perfectly honest, I'm feeling a bit scared now. I am sure I will be fine once I get there and I don't regret agreeing to go at all. Let's just hope I can get through the week with as few insect bites, gippy tummy and sunburn as possible. I'm taking a small pharmacy with me!
Well, I'd better go and get tea ready. Thanks for looking!

A lovely weekend

Well, my lovely guest left England and is flying back to Rwanda as this is posted. We had a great weekend and I think he enjoyed himself. I took him to my Dad's church where there was a flower festival followed by cream tea and brass band on the vicarage lawn. I don't think we could've shown him anything more British. We dodged the showers and he loved the scones, jam, strawberries and cream!

We drove through Sherwood forest and talked about the differences in the landscape. He says we have lots and lots of trees in England.
On Sunday we talked about Rwanda and plans for when we go over there. He tells me we will either go to the National park to see Zebra, Elephants, Giraffes, Lions and Hippos or we will visit the Mountain gorillas! How exciting is that! Meg also tried teaching Andre a few chords on the guitar.As well as helping to entertain our guest, Meg has had a weekend free of homework (she is on work experience next week) and has been sketching like mad. You can see her latest portraits here .

A bit of news!

I've been so busy at work this past couple of weeks, and I finally finished writing my classes reports this evening. There I was looking to have a good play with my craft stuff over the weekend. I should stop planning! The Rwandan head teacher whose school I am visiting in September (Yeah - very excited!) is going to be staying with me over the weekend. Not entirely sure what we are going to do for two days, but I think a trip into the countryside is in order, as he asked if we have elephants in our national parks today! He was totally blown away by a trip to Tesco too. I moan about the government here interfering in education, but their schools spoke and taught in French until 2008, and then were told it all had to be done in English! I think we may have to resort to some French over the weekend - thank goodness Meg is doing GCSE!
I will do my best to visit those of you who have left me lovely comments on Sunday afternoon after I have dropped him at the university from where he will head back to Rwanda. Hoping normal service will resume after that. In the meantime my craft space needs to become my dining table!