Today, I can finally post a few photos from the two journeys. Recently, internet troubles have plagued me and time has been difficult to find. So this a belated update on last month's journey to R and R and our return home to Juba!
Going to Nairobi
Organising the family to leave the house at 7am is always a challenge!
We must ensure that we have all the relevant luggage, documents, paperwork, picnic lunch, flask of tea (there are no air-stewardesses to give me tea on the MAF flight!!) and a travel bag (with tissues, hygienic wipes, loo roll for any emergency 'squatting behind the bush' at village air-strips and changes of clothes in case of a repeat of our March MAF flight vomiting experience!!).
Finally, of course, we must remember all 3 children!
I also need to make sure that the children are fed, the cat is fed, our neighbours have the door-key, the beds are stripped and that the sheets put into the washing machine, as other people will be using our house while we are away. Thankfully, Grace will be coming to work in the house on this day, so she can hang the sheets out to dry and wash up breakfast dishes, which is a great help!
We tumbled out of the house by 07:05 and assembled in the car-park for our lift to the airport. It was such a rainy day! When we got dropped off outside the airport, it was rather muddy:
We boarded our plane with the other passengers, including a Bishop...
Our first stop was the bush-strip at Kapoeta.
Interested locals gathered under the wings and took great interest in the off-loading passengers.
I'm glad they were distracted... it meant that the children and I could sneak off behind some bushes to make good use of our emergency loo-roll, somewhere discreet... MAF planes are too small to install bathrooms!!
As we took off, some of the young people watched us strange foreigners departing in the MAF plane:
We had a second stop at Kuron, where the Bishop alighted from the plane. The Bishop runs an inspirational programme there, which Andrew has visited (for more info, see Andrew's blog, with the post on "Kuron").
By that point, I had terrible pain in my ears and sinuses because I had a head cold. Every descent through the changing air pressure caused incredible discomfort. Joel was also starting to go a little green... So I have no photos to show you from Kuron, although I can tell you that it is a beautiful spot.
I would have loved to speak with the locals who met the plane, but my ears were so painful that I could hear nothing at all! The locals were dressed in very little except animal skins. They were decorated with tribal scars. The children wore nothing at all. It is the most remote bush location I have ever been to.
The next stop was Lokkichoggio, where got stamped into Kenya at the small Immigration office. Lokkichoggio is where Joel started to vomit. I started to feel tearful, seeing him suffering and also feeling more ear-pain after this third descent. It was lunch-time, but two of us definitely did not feel like eating!
Finally, we got to Nairobi and arrived at our Nairobi home around 4pm- just in time for a lovely cup of tea with our neighbours! We had made it! Joel had only vomited 4 times in total, which is an improvement on the 9 times on our previous MAF flight!
We were glad to be on the ground again and happy to start our R and R!
Travelling Home
I have to report that our journey back to Juba from Nairobi was the best and most unadventurous journey I think we have ever done! It was such an easy, trouble-free experience! :-)
Nobody vomited.
Nobody had a head cold, so no-one suffered with ear-ache or sinus pain.
And we only had 2 stops on this particular day, which made the whole journey much, much easier! It is the descents which seem to cause sore ears and dodgy tummies, so it was nice to have less of them.
Waiting to board the plane at Nairobi:
I also employed a couple of strategies to help smooth the way and to help pass the time:
- We had anti-travel-sickness pills for breakfast! (all of us except Andrew!)
- I bought myself some brain-numbing reading material, to distract me from any queasiness or bumps on the flight! It was a happy distraction, to escape into the shiny world of the Rich and Famous for a couple of hours by means of a glossy magazine:
What a great journey home! Here are the contented travellers:
And here is our descent into Juba, coming in to land over the River Nile just after lunch time, with thankful hearts for a trouble-free, smooth and happy flight! :-)
Thanks for your blogs. I feel as if I've been on the journey with you. I wonder if I'll get to ride in one of the MAF planes one day? Love nana xxxxx
ReplyDeleteYou all definitely are very experienced travellers in that part of the world and sounds like you have good coping skills :)
ReplyDeleteThe onlookers look very interested in your arrival. Your 3 look very cool and calm - flying has become such a normal part of their life I guess. Much love to all. Jx
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