My Favourite Africa Photos

It's official, now that Pinterest and Instagram are in my life, I feel more complete. And now that I have myself an iPhone (am I the last person to get one? I think so.) I have this at my fingertips, so I'm even more antisocial focused.

I love photos. Sometimes on a trip out or a holiday, I worry that I've spent too long behind the camera instead of just enjoying the trip for what it is, and it's important to have that balance. Overall I think I'd rather have too many photos than not enough. So there.

I thought I'd try my first photo essay type thing of my favourite photos from Africa so far, hopefully there are so many more to come:

2007: Lake Bunyonyi, Uganda

Look what the African sun did to my camera! It looks like I was there in the sixties rather than 2007. I love this photo because I have so many memories of my trip to Uganda and trying to navigate that dug out tree trunk on the water was just so funny for all of us. We didn't think we'd ever make it back to shore. Happy days.

2007: Nyakisiru, Uganda

This was our last day in the village and we had our photo taken with the elders of Nyakasiru. I had my photo taken with a 90 year old Ugandan man who, when translated, said he never thought he'd live to see the day where we had his photo taken with a white girl. Brilliant, glad to be of assistance.

2009: Mombasa, Kenya

Clearly I make a great, fascinating and lively teacher. Here are my students, asleep in class. To be fair they were only 4 years old and were far too young to be sitting in a small classroom at a desk, similar children back home here would be running around screaming and playing with jelly moulds or doing finger painting. The dude on the left later peed his pants in his sleep. Bless.

2009: Tiwi Beach, Mombasa

I don't know why I love this photo so much but it's always been one of my favourites. We went for a walk around our beach resort (Tiwi beach is beautiful but quite remote) and stumbled upon these guys who let me take their photo - asante sana rafikis! I REALLY wanted that wooden ship.

2009: Mombasa - Nairobi train, Kenya

Look at me! I'm on the Mombasa to Nairobi train. I wrote another blog all about the 15 hour train ride to Nairobi, but one of the things I really wanted was to take a picture of the train going around the bend and by jove I did! I might not have had a fandangled camera like the other people on the train, but I got the shot I wanted and then just enjoyed the view.

2011: Lake Naivasha, Kenya

This photo is cool for so many reasons (well actually, just one reason really, the giraffe) We did a walking safari after being reassured that there were no predators in the area and it was amazing. I fell in love with warthogs on this walking safari, they're just so damned funny looking, I love it.

2011: Nakuru National Park, Kenya

A true Lion King moment at the top of this hill overlooking the park. How amazing is this place? Everything the light touches is your kingdom.

2011: Tanzania (A beach somewhere)

Oh my. I just love this photo. This photo represents the one morning on this trip that I was one of the first people awake and up. Every other morning I had to be dragged from my tent so we could get going (what? I love sleep) but that morning we'd slept in a hut on the beach, so the sea woke me up and I got up to enjoy the view on my own. Serene hey?

2011: Stone Town, Zanzibar

Stone Town holds the prize of the hottest place I've been to, twinned with the place I've covered up the most in despite the heat. Out of respect for the Muslim community, my translucent skin was covered up resulting in around five outfit changes per hour. Stunning place though, you soon get tired of the winding alleys as you get completely lost and have no idea where your hotel is...

2011: Nungwi, Zanzibar

No words are needed really, just admire the picture.

The scenery there was so beautiful, it should be illegal. I HAVE to go back there.

And that's all for now! Hope you enjoyed it. Does that count as a photo essay? Let's pretend it does to make me feel better.

10 Things that Annoy me in the Supermarket

There's something about supermarkets that fill me with undiluted rage. To the point that I've started shopping online, but even that makes me seethe. Here's my list, hold on to your trolleys... apologies in advance for the angry tone, old chap!

1. Trolleys abandoned in the car park. Why are you excluded from putting your trolley back in the bay Sir/Madam? And why do I end up getting that trolley who has a behaviour problem and decides to veer to the right with no warning?

2. The self service machines that shout at me every single time. I’m fairly intelligent and I get by most some days without banging in to things, but I can’t seem to get through a single transaction without having to call an assistant over…sorry I'm stupid.

3. People who think its ok to pick a steak or other meats up off the shelf and dump them…in the cereal aisle. Why?

4. Requesting cash back, then both assistant and myself forgetting all about it until after you have left the premises…robbing me blind, you SWINES.

5. Buying eggs and forgetting to check they aren’t cracked. Then getting home and finding they are cracked. Grrr.

6. Taking something to the checkout that you thought was on offer, but the offer ticket was either in the wrong place or you’ve made a mistake. Huge embarrassment as you pipe up and feel like a total cheapskate.

7. People idly chatting in the aisles and TOTALLY blocking where I need to get to, especially you old ladies, I'm looking at YOU. Why do you have to stand right there and get in my way on my lunch hour? I only get one hour, you have alllllll day. Go and have a chat over a drink in the cafe or a pub somewhere.

8. Shop assistants chatting to each other as they serve customers, by all means have a chat – on your lunch break! I'm telling your manager on the way out. If I don't come over all British and bottle it.

9. They’ll have Christmas cards in the seasonal aisle by next week…watch this space.

10. Asking if I need any help with my packing, when I have two items sat waiting on the conveyor belt. No, you ROBOT.

I'm a nice person honest! I'm a raging bull in the supermarket though, so apologies in advance if I ram in to you in a supermarket with my trolley...Happy shopping!

The 5 Most Daring Things I've Done So Far... dum dum dum!

Sorry it's been a while since my last post. I've been training my cat for car travel and it's taking longer than expected. Bloody cat.

Anyhoo. Whilst I have travel on the brain, I have exciting news!

No, I am NOT pregnant!

We're doing a charity skydive at work. Not at work technically, that would be the lamest skydive ever. No, the drop location is yet to be announced but we're all throwing ourselves out of a plane in the next few months. Scary hey?

It got me thinking that I've done some scary/daring stuff already in my life, am I tempting fate by signing myself up for yet another risky activity?

I figure life's too short to spend it hiding away 'just in case'... it's better to live it than worry about it!

So in no particular order, but starting with the scariest first, I give you my list:

1. Camping in the Serengeti, Tanzania

Ain't no lions getting in my tent!

Woah. Poopantsville this one. It was one of those moments I thought to myself 'What the hell are you doing spending the night in the Serengeti in a tent?!!!' and I honestly didn't think I'd last the night but it was reassuringly uneventful. The camp was completely open and there were zebra all around us but no sign of any KatieEaters. We sat around the campfire hearing stories about tour guides waking up in the night to find lions around the fire... gulp. My recipe for surviving a night in the Serengeti? 1 beer, 2 sleeping pills and some sturdy earplugs. You'll soon wake up to sunrise feeling like a hero.

It wasn't until the next night where we camped at the Ngorogoro Crater and a fully grown elephant appeared a few feet away from our truck that it sank in just how cool this was. TIP - If you ever find yourself being chased by an elephant, just run in diagonal lines and you'll soon lose them. Or is that a rhino?

2. Flying solo across the world

Sadly not like Amelia Earhart, I was just a passenger, this time. No, I flew to Honduras a few years ago, and not only was it my first flight alone but I had THREE flights to catch (SIX if you think about the return journey as well mmm hmmmm) 19 hours and THREE planes later I was feeling mighty proud of myself let me tell you.

Two main horror stories were the guy who I sat next to asking me if I wanted to watch Air Crash Investigation with him on his laptop (true story) and the final flight after two long previous flights turned out to be the equivalent of a paper airplane, it was the size of a private jet on a windy night. My nerves were shot to shit after that long journey, but I calmed down pretty quickly with a glass of wine in my paw.

3. Zip Lining in Honduras

While I'm talking about Honduras, I'll drop in the absolutely insane and completely unsafe amazing zip line/canopy tour I did in Copan. I hear you guffawing 'that's not daring!' but if you'd care to watch my video and stay tuned until the camera pans around, I suspect you might think otherwise. Especially when you get to the end of the line and note that the wire that is the difference between life and death has been wrapped around a DEAD TREE. Don't tell my Mum.

One guy we were with got wire burns because they let him do the course in the dark and he didn't see the end of the wire and slammed full speed in to the tree. They made him finish the course because there was no other way down. Ouchville.

4. Still with me? Impressed at all? How about visiting a Mexican Doctor who used Google Translate to treat me?

This one is SO weird. I got an infection on my leg from a open scar (quick sick story that still makes me retch...I was sunbathing and looked down to see A FLY SITTING RIGHT ON THE OPEN WOUND!) Anyway, I needed antibiotics and quick, and found a Mexican doctor. My Spanish is fine if I need to order a cerveza or get the bill, but explaining the situation to the Doc was going to be tricky.

Luckily for me, he had an iPhone! We conversed through Google Translate for a while, I got my pills (to this day I don't know if they were antibiotics) and as I was about to leave, he called me back for one more translation which was 'Don't eat pig during the healing process' ... *blank look from me* 'sorry, pig?' nodding from the Doctor. I checked with a doctor when I got home and in his many years of practicing medicine, he has not come across this seemingly Pig-ist reaction. But I'm open to any comments from anyone in the medical profession!

5. I got married.

Collective puking from readers! Whatever.

I still maintain that buying a house is more of a commitment than getting married, but it's the most intense and full on day of my entire life, no regrets as yet my friends! Married life is NO different to life before, but with this weekend comes wedding anniversary #1 and it's been a fab year. Thank you for bearing with me, I kept it short on purpose.

So, I'll leave it on that note. I'd LOVE to hear what your most daring moments are and I'll let you know how the parachute jump goes. I REALLY hope I don't get the work experience guy rolling up my parachute...