Day one! Flew through the night from London to Adis Ababa. Then after a 3 hour wait there got another flight which I had no idea was having a quick stop in Kilimanjaro (apologies for the spelling!) Just before landing the captain came on the intercom and told us to look left and I saw the biggest mountain in the whole freakin' world! It looks bizarre, like it is sitting atop the clouds! After that it was straight to Mombassa.
I got picked up at the airport by a lovely chap. We drove through Mombasa and it was downright scary! I didn't see a single other white person and EVERYONE stared at me, it was pretty intense. We had to get a ferry over the river because they have no bridges and that too was an interesting experience. It's exactly like it is in the films, all shanty buildings and people wandering in the streets with huge packs on their heads.
It was a pretty long drive but eventually got to Diani and it was noticeably nicer right away. I asked the driver is Diani was safer than Mombasa and he said "Sure, sure; Hakuna Matata." I don't think I need to explain how happy this made me!
At The Trust I met everyone, the couple who run it are English, there are 7 Kenyan staff (cleaner, chef etc) and at the moment there are 7 volunteers. Myself and another English girl, 2 German girls and a girl from Portugal. There are 2 male volunteers from Kenya. It's basically a very large bungalow with a garden full of monkeys! At the moment they are hand raising a Colobus, the first time this has ever been done and she is just the cutest thing! I will put pictures of everything up when I have the cables that are in my suitcase! I also went down to the beach and it looks just like it does in the photos, it's breathtaking.
One of the volunteers went with me to the local supermarket so I could get some bits that I needed and this involved getting a taxi. They are basically minivans that drive up and down the road and you just jump in. There's normally at least 20 or so people in it, atleast double it's capacity and there's a few men who just hang on to the door frame. It's pretty intense and the smell is unbeliveable but it's an experience! Afterwards we had dinner, all read for a few hours and went to bed. Sara, you were right, I'm half way through Lord Of The Rings already!
A rollercoaster of a first day but absolutley priceless!
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