Flamingo Lodge, Karuta

I didn’t sleep particularly well. The road next to the campsite was really busy with trucks pounding up and down all night. We had to be up at 5am anyway, so when zips started being opened at around 4.30am, we got up too! At least, after all this time, we’ve got the putting up and taking down of the tent off to a fine art. I think we got it packed away in less than five minutes this morning!

Breakfast was Spanish omelettes with corn bread, a vast improvement on the last couple of days.

We were on the road by 6.30am, heading for Karuta. We drove through lots of villages, all busy with stallholders setting up for the day and schoolchildren on their way to school.
We arrived at the starting point for the hike at about 9.30am. Nash was encouraging everyone to go and listen to the rangers as they described the options that we’d have when it came to the walks. We’d already made our minds up, so we stayed on the truck. I’m so glad we did because, when the others were being briefed, Ibrahim and John told us that we would be going with them to pick up a bit of shopping and then going straight to the campsite! That’s not what Nash had led us to believe, and I bet there were a few disappointed people in our group when they saw us driving off!

So, we were at Flamingo Lodge and Campsite by 11am. The campground was grassy and the showers looked OK. There was also somewhere to sit with power points, so I could get some work done. We decided that there was no point in upgrading just for the one night, so we picked our spot and pitched our tent. We then both had showers before the rest of the group turned up, and we got some washing done. Afterwards, I worked on my trip notes. It was a far more preferable way to spend the morning than trekking up hill and down dale! 😂

When the others got back, they said the walk wasn’t as long or as hard as the one the other day. I was still happy with our decision not to do it!

Ibrahim had made fried chicken, chips, and salad for lunch, the best so far!!

After lunch, we had a lazy afternoon sitting by the pool with Jordan and Luke. It was nice to switch off for a few hours.

Later, we had beef stew with rice for dinner. We were all having problems charging our devices. There was a bit of a problem on the truck first thing this morning, and a couple of people reported that their adaptors and leads were smoking in the sockets. It appears that most of us have damaged leads as a result! It couldn’t have come at a worse time – just before we are spending a couple of days in a bush camp!Read more