Day 8 – A day in Sankobar – Joeee and Kimberley
To give people a chance to settle in we spent a second day in Sankobar rather than starting the walk to Geech. After a lie in we were awoken by the rich smell of fresh tea and coffee and a kindly prepared breakfast by those who had gotten up earlier to be on breakfast duty. After a relaxed morning those who wished to, opted to go on a leisurely walk into the park, in the first 5 minutes everyone was overjoyed by spotting two clip springer antelope. There were some stunning views along the way and at each one we admired the view for many minutes;when the clouds cleared we could see for many miles across the park and birds such as thick billed ravens and white backed vultures flying below us made the experience even more breath taking and memorable.
After we returned to Sankobar many members of the group chose to try out the shower, this turned out to be a pipe which brought water from the spring so instead most decided to try out the waterfall instead. Although cold, this turned out to be a truly unique experience. To help everyone warm up the scouts started an open fire which everyone gathered around in the tukel and then to help pass time before tea we came up with some indoor games to participate in. these games were rather inventive with everyone having to come up a name that nobody would guess to be theirs everybody would then guess who was who.This turned out to be rather fun because people came out with some ridiculous and interesting names for instance Bill and Ben the Flower Pot Men, Pingu and Fyodor Dostevsky to name a few. After a few rounds of this game we boiled quite a lot of water to compensate for all the scouts and guides which took a while but everybody appreciated the lovely hot drinks that a few group members had prepared for everyone. The scouts seemed ecstatic at the offering of boona (which is amharic for coffee) since it is a traditional drink in Ethiopia since coffee comes from here.
After a long day we retired to the tukel excited for the citrus infused rice with cooked vegtables which Sophie and her team had prepared earlier. For some, it became obvious that their place wasn’t in the kitchen, although some of the team definitely came into their own – chopping veg like a pro. Again, the group spent the night around the campfire in the Tukel; definitely one of the best experiences about camping in the mountains. However after a long but quite relaxed day (in comparison to the others) we returned to our tents as we all knew we were up for an early start in the morning to leave for our momentous journey to Geech.
Love to everyone at home.