A giant hello to all of the parents!
We are here at our beautiful hotel in the middle of the Masai Mara. We arrived this morning after an early morning departure from Mombasa.
Our last days in Mombasa were structured similar to this: mornings spent with the MCF students in Vipingo village, afternoon and evening at leisure with dinner as a group then the students had free time. Often times after dinner there would be a band playing music and the students would dance until curfew.
Our second last day in Vipingo was spent visiting the homes of the children. The groups were broken up into their teacher groups (we are 10 students to one chaperon) and three, four of five MCF children came with each group. We were then escorted through the village with the children and representatives from MCF to visit the childs home and to meet his/her parents. My group was fortunate to visit 4 families. Every group had their own unique experiences, I will let your children tell you firsthand what stood out for them in their groups, as I know it was a special day for the entire group.
Some of the Lord Byng students were so moved that they decided it would be a good idea to collect funds from each group, pool the money collected and purchase food for the families to be hand delivered the next day, and we did just that. The following day we returned to the homes of the children that we had visited and handed over bags of rice and ugali (Ugali is the most common dish in Kenya http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugali). The parents thanked us over and over. The handing over of the food and meeting with the parents will be a memory that will surely stay with us forever.
So in all, Mombasa was a very large success. A healthy combination of volunteer work and free time as our hotel was an excellent spot for our students to take in the sun and chill out by the pool.
This morning we departed Mombasa and traveled to the Masai Mara, and what an experience! We had an early morning flight to Nairobi where we were transferred to a smaller, private airport and we boarded our flights to the Masai Mara. We had a plane that fit 35 participants and a smaller plane that fit 10. All of the boys in Frank Tilley's group were VERY eager to be able to fly on the smaller plane and we allowed them. Hopefully they didn't cause the pilot to much grief :)
Upon arrival to our private airstrip, we were greeted by members in the Masai Mara tribe and staff at our hotel. While we waited for the smaller plane to arrive (they were roughly 10 minutes behind us) we were handed cool towels to freshen up and fresh passion fruit juice. Once the group connected again, we all boarded our jeeps, that usually held 6 passengers and took in a quick 45 minute game ride. Our first ride didn't provide much to see as the animals were discovered when we went back out this afternoon prior to our dinner. Every jeep had different experiences, but in my jeep we were able to see Elephants (at sunset!), giraffes, buffalo, impalas, gazelles and some two cheetah relaxing in the sun. It was absolutely magical to see these animals in the wild. Tomorrow we have a full day planned with an early morning departure to see the animals before the sun comes up, followed by free time in the afternoon and another game ride just before dinner.
I will be able to post the pictures of our last days in Vipingo and our game drives tomorrow ! I just wanted to let everyone know that we are well and safe and having a really great time.
Ms. Smith would look to say something as well! She would like me to pass on the following message:
Jambo parents!
Our trip has been wonderful thus far. We have accomplished a great deal in a short time and we are looking forward to seeing more of the Big Five on our safari tomorrow - To this point, we have seen two elephants and Cape Horn Buffalo.
All the students are healthy, safe and happy, and I am pleased with their behaviour and positive attitude. The impression students left at MCF was excellent and MCF really appreciated all of their help. I am thrilled to be working with this amazing group of young people! We all look forward to seeing you soon!
Ms. Smith
Have a great day parents, please check back tomorrow for some pictures!
All the best,
Natalie
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