Bartering for hippos

Tuesday 13th August.

Bartering for hippos

We left the nature reserve bright and early at eight, and loaded our lives onto the truck to head for Monkey Bay. Our night's sleep was uneventful, seeing (yet again) no hippos traipsing through our campsite - however, we do seem to have a resident warthog who took a particular shine to Kirsty, and enjoyed a night snoozing alongside her tent ( much to my (big lucy)  surprise in the morning.)

It took us an hour to drive across and out of the reserve, through bumpy tracks, and dodging elephants. With an unknown length of time ahead of us, we settled into our usual singing and laughing times on our dear old Terence. Our first stop saw Lucy, Kirsty and Helen buying wooden hippos through a window...Hours passed, and we found ourselves rolling past more oddly named shops, more racks of sugarcane and more waving children. As we reached the 4 hour point, Doc pulled up at a small supermarket, which to be honest was not that super.  £40 later, we had 8 boxes of cornflakes and some apples. Whilst some leaders purchased the goods, Chante was busy bartering through a window. Reminding the man selling painting that 'there's a recession in England' she managed to get a lovely painting for a reasonable price.

We arrived at Cape Maclear (monkey bay) early afternoon after a particularly amusing lunch prepared and served on the truck whilst on the move. We spent the afternoon avoiding street sellers whilst lounging on the beach and drinking much needed fizzy at the bar. As the sun set, we took lots of photos and prepared for our evening meal at a local 'restaurant'. After our waitress Chloe collated our drinks order, and our food order, we waited over an hour and a half for our meals. Eating on our laps, joined by a random dog we fondly named Bruce, we were dubious about our choices. The feta and chicken pancake was slightly odd, but all fish dishes went down well.

Overall, today was a good day, and for many of us, the sandy beaches, beautiful view and sunset have been our first experience of relaxing island life.
Everyone says hello, and we will soon be snoozing to recoup our energy - after all, we are kayaking tomorrow.

Xxx Big Lucy.