Back to civilisation?

A sleepy lioness blocks our track
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Up at 0530, we beat the monkeys to it, but not the ants. Showers were definitely in need of sandals, to avoid the mass of evil biting ants that had settled in the washing block.

Again, we were very lucky with the safari. At this time of morning, almost no people were out, so the animals were still a little dozy, after a night of hunting / being hunted.

Dozens of injured people sat at the road side; there was simply nowhere to go

Leaving Maasai Mara
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So, when we came across a lioness, strewn on the path while her two six-month old cubs played a little way off, she was in no mood to move for us. She lay there, smirking, as we came off the path, and stopped a little way away to photograph her young. Once she realised we were in no hurry to leave, she got in a huff, called the children over, and they walked off into the grass.

As the sun rose, so did a handful of hot air balloons for the start of the posh man's safari. And we became low in petrol, so headed to fill up in a secure hotel buried deep in the park, and returned to our camp for breakfast, to pack, and to start the long journey back to Nairobi.

A View of the bus, barricading route B3
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The short night's sleep took its toll, so the journey went a little faster, with us both periodically nodding off. After a quick stop in Narok to eat and check emails, we drove along the uneven roads, covered in dust each time a vehicle went past in the opposite direction. Charles very safe driving started to get frustrating, as other vehicles would overtake us at considerably higher speeds; perhaps up to 30mph, while we spent significant lengths of timing driving half that speed.

One particularly large bus overtook us, throwing a huge amount of dust into our van and covering all our stuff in the red African sand. Ten minutes later, however, things had changed.

Patients at the roadside, with one of the American nursing students, myself, and Maina
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The same high-speed bus that had just overtaken us had blown a tyre, causing the entire bus to swerve, roll over and come to a halt barricading the entire width of one of the only roads connecting the South West of the country with the capital.

It so happened that, because of the nature of our trip, I'd packed a pretty extensive first (and second) aid kit. As I'd passed my finals two weeks before, and as Aaron was himself a fourth year medical student, we got out of the van to see if everyone was okay. Memories of DRSABC came to mind, as I arrived to find a deserted bus, with every single window broken, belongings strewn inside, but no people. Someone told us people had been taken to hospital by passers-by in mini-buses. However, when we walked round to the other side of the bus, we found a different story. Dozens of injured people sat at the road side; there was simply nowhere to go - no town for miles around, no point calling ambulances, which couldn't possibly arrived for hours. Only the most seriously injured people had been transported, and as I started to try and assess injuries and prioritise people, with Maina being an invaluable translator, I was delighted when another van, carrying two American nursing students, stopped to help as well. I gathered my equipment from the van, and between the four of us, we examined, cleaned, bandaged and compressed all sorts of injuries, from dislocated shoulders, to head injuries, to a small girl with possible internal abdominal injuries. My kit, containing iodine, dressings, analgesia, gloves, band-aid, slings and more, was all but finished - and if people hadn't already been taken to hospital, I'm sure the stitches, cannulas and syringes would have come in useful too!

Once people started to complain about grazes on their knees and sore muscles, we felt it was time to go. Using a cutting through the hedge that someone had made, Charles got our van past the bus, and we were back on our way to Nairobi, with a large bag of clinical waste in tow.

We arrived in Nairobi just before dark, where we said a rushed but emotional farewell to Charles and Maina, who both had a long drive back home in the dark, to Naro Moru, and met Vivian and Jean, friends of Aaron's family, who would be looking after us for our time here.

Both working for VSO (a voluntary programme), they are new arrivals themselves in Nairobi. But, living in a beautiful suburb of the city, close to a new shopping mall that could rival any western place, their life here was more comparable to one in England than the Nairobi we had seen the week before. This change of pace all seemed a little surreal - from driving in a noisy, dust-filled van in the countryside, sleeping in a tent and photographing lethal animals, we had suddenly found ourselves in a beautiful area, driving in a smooth and silent 4x4, to an apartment where our hosts had prepared a beautiful meal for us, had classical music playing, and had a bed made.

After desperately-needed showers and dinner, we talked about their work here, their previous travels, and headed to a real bed; we had a long day planned...