Travels, adventures and family …
I stuck my GoPro onto the end of the boat hook for this one. Lucky timing! We’re now heading back north having had a few days off Tanzania. The wind picked up considerably and because we’d torn the leech of the genoa, had to use a No.3 jib. Still made a good 6 knots to windward though.
Brian B down below, cooking up one of his legendary fried breakfasts. We managed to get him into his bright sponsored shirt, too! We ate a fry-up every morning, and didn’t have much else during the day apart from a can or two of Tusker and a bit of stew or curry in the evening. I actually felt really good after a couple of weeks of this. Might have to try it at home…
Dad at the helm on Brian’s boat, sailing south to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from Kilifi, Kenya – on our way to the Dar Tanga race. This was the first year that the race was back on having been cancelled for the few previous years due to piracy in the Indian Ocean.
Sun rising over the coast as we gently drift south. Passed a fella paddling north.
Dad, Rose, Me. Taken after dark with a long exposure.
A load of kids at the Daphne Sheldrick Elephant orphanage, Kenya. They were on a school trip; one of a number of coach loads that came by whilst we were there. It’s great to see the kids being taught about the wildlife that means so much to the country – whilst the population of the country grows exponentially there’s less and less room for wild spaces, and yet the parks and animals bring tourism and money. Africa has changed such a lot since I left in ’92 … sooooo many people!
Mount Kenya has two peaks; Batian at 1,199m and Nelion at 5,188m. When climbing up from Pt. Lenana (the route we took) you climb Nelion first and then have to abseil into the notch between the two before climbing Batian. Here’s Dan abseiling down. I clearly remember this section; I had kept my rubber climbing shoes on, and moving along the knife edge ridge between the two peaks, sometimes on snow, unroped, was terrifying – even though it can’t have been much more than 5 metres.
Dan and I with the peak of Mt. Kenya in the background. Mount Kenya is the second highest peak in Africa, at 5,199 m (17,057 ft). We’d spent about 4 days climbing up the eastern flanks to acclimatise, and this was taken the day before our summit climb. It was cooooold at night!
Dan looking back up at Point John. The main peaks of Batian and Nelion are hidden up behind, in the cloud. It looks like another planet!
Road and Ocean 