What a great couple of days on the slopes! The kids are having a blast in their lessons, so much so that the suggestion of coming out of the afternoon sessions to ski with us was shot down as fast as you like – “what, the afternoons are our fun times on the reds!!”. Ho hum. The lesson we did earlier in the week is paying off as Sam is happy to ski more reds as well, so we’ve done quite a few in the morning and in the afternoon, Sam decided she’d had enough so I went up Couis II and had a blast down the red 16 which is quite steep at the start, but has a glorious run right across the top of the mountains. I did that a couple of times on my own, then skiied 16, 17 and 15 down into the town for a beer, all the way thinking 16, 17, 15, beer! We then decided to do one quick run as a family, up to 5, then 15, then home and tonight is the Interski Pizza night so Erin and Jed will enjoy that!

So last night we are at Sapori Di Casa, which I highly recommend. Great food (I had the wild boar) and great service from one waitress who served the whole restaurant with a touch of humour in English. We slept well and got onto the slopes the next morning to get the kids into their ski schools.

We asked about lessons for us and it turned out that an instructor was available to give us 2 hours from 11am, so we took it and skied with Jordan, taking the Chamole chair up to La Chatelaine (5) first, then down the red Plan de l’Eyvie, making it our first red of the trip.

We had lunch and Sam decided she’d skied enough for the day, so took to a deck chair at the bar while I went up to Grimod to ski the red Grimondet. On the chair lift up, literally by myself, no one else in sight, I spotted a rook flying straight towards me. It glided down, then tucked its wings in tight and proceeded to do a barrel roll! You don’t see that every day!

I then skied down the red run, onto the 5km blue Grimod all the way to the bottom to meet Sam and the kids. We called it a day at that point and headed back to Pila. The kids went to the hotel and Sam and I went to a bar for a drink with some new friends we’d met from Poole, before returning to the hotel to pick up the kids for dinner. Both Erin and Jed had had a blast on the slopes and were still smiling into the evening. Erin was suffering a hit after being wiped out by someone in the afternoon, but had lived to tell the tale. Jed didn’t have a clue what slopes he’d boarded down, when asked, but clearly had had fun. Onwards to tomorrow and hopefully some more barrel rolling crows!

We got to Pila around 11.30pm last night, after transferring from Turin. An early start was needed the next day as we had to get our equipment which without Storm Dennis, we’d have sorted out the day before.

It was a bit of a rush, and we were late getting Erin and Jed to ski school, but we got there in the end. Off we went up to the near 6km blue Grimod (15 on the map) and skied a bit of it to get our ski legs! We missed Jed at his lunch venue, but caught up with Erin at hers. She was a bit of a nervous skier last time out so we were a bit worried, but she was having a blast and was moving up a group with a new friend from Glastonbury. We continued on Grimod after lunch, with a trip up Leisse and La Chatelaine (5) before heading down the slopes for apres ski and contemplate were to go for dinner.

For the second year in a row in February half term, we’re going skiing. Last year it was to Courmayeur, this year it’s just down the valley to Pila. However, this weekend sees the arrival of Storm Dennis to the UK and several flights have been cancelled, including the flight we are supposed to be on, flying out of Gatwick on Sunday morning into Milan. Fortunately, we managed to get rebooked onto a later flight to Turin, at 6pm, but that does mean we lose the day to travel rather than get there and get sorted for the week. Hopefully it’ll all work out, but let’s see….

So I’ll combine two days into one post. Yesterday, Erin, Jed and I went on an hours briefing and lesson on scuba diving with the in house scuba company at Baobab, Diving the Crab. We’ll, let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to dive in this…

I’d been here 25 years ago and done precisely that and remembering how much I’d enjoyed that, I really wanted to go with my kids!

They coped brilliantly with the lesson and all was well. An afternoon spent lounging around the pool followed.

The entertainment was watching the monkeys come down and steal biscuits (more later on that) and donuts from people’s plates.

We awoke the following morning at 7am for an 8am departure for our 2 dives.

By 9am we were at the first reef. We spent 30 minutes or so on each of the 2 dives, seeing sea turtles, alligator fish, star fish, trumpet fish, clown fish, puffer fish and plenty others. I had an Sjcam and took videos of both dives.

Erin struggled with sea sickness between the dives, but managed both and had a great time.

The sea was really clear and you could see a long way.

Having finished the dives and given the kids a great experience, we headed back and had a quiet 2 hours in our room

Erin came and sat outside on our balcony and felt a bit peckish so went and got a packet of biscuits. She put them down beside her and chatted to me. Next thing we knew, a monkey appeared, grabbed the whole lot and shot up into our rafters!

We watched him eat the whole lot in front of us. He was eco friendly though, as he dropped the package back down onto our seat when he was finished!

Sadly, tonight is our last night, we fly from Ukunda to Nairobi Wilson, then transfer to JKA for our flight home overnight. I’m writing this at the bar beside the restaurant where we’ll dine tonight sipping a Pina Colada.

It’s been a great trip, working in the Orphanage, doing the safari and then here. I’ve asked my family to think of their 3 best moments from each of the 3 distinct bits of this trip and we’ll discuss it after dinner, so if I get time later, that may well appear here.

We were leaving the others today and traveling to Diani Beach from Nairobi Wilson Airport. We’d been quoted £70 for the transfer from the travel company the party had used and thought that was a bit steep, so on the way back from safari, I’d had a chat with Frank, our driver, and he had a friend who would do it for half that cost.

Sure enough, Timothy arrived at our hotel at 8.15am and we packed our cases into his saloon while the others were “discussing” our discount for the previous nights issues with the hotel management (we later discovered they eventually settled on half price for everyone).

Wilson Airport is a provincial airport that handles internal flights and we checked in and boarded a twin propeller Bombardier aircraft for Ukunda (Diani) Airport.

An hour later, we were at our destination and picked up by the hotel. A quick 10 minute transfer, and we were at the hotel.

It’s an amazing place, with thatched buildings, several pools, restaurants, bars and wildlife.

We’d arrived at lunchtime, so we went into the restaurant for a huge buffet choice of food.

Back in our room we soon discovered why you shut the balcony doors as a monkey wandered in!

The afternoon was spent in the pool swimming and relaxing.

Tomorrow, we’ll see about diving in the Indian Ocean!

Jed, Erin and I got up at 6am for the 6.30am drive. The full days drive had taken its toll on Sam and she decided to stay at home. Frank, our driver (below with Sam) was waiting and off we went.

Pretty soon we saw a group of jeeps in the distance and as we joined them, we saw they were looking at a pair of Lions.

That was pretty impressive, but next up was just amazing. We drove into the park to another group of jeeps and saw the 2 cheetahs stalking a herd of wilderbeast. They slowly edged forward and one slowly got up, started slowly walking forward before breaking into a run, then a sprint towards the wilderbeasts. They scattered, but the cheetah locked onto one poor individual and hauled it down. The other cheetah joined it and they quickly finished the poor animal off. It was a truly amazing experience to see it unfold.

We saw another lion on the way home, but that was it for our main drives. We’d seen 3 of the big 5, missing leopards and rhino’s.

We were already packed for our 10.30am departure and set off back to Nairobi.

As we left the park, we saw giraffes and a herd of elephants.

The journey back was long and we turned into our hotel at 6.30pm, only to be told they were full as they’d ignored our reservation and pushed us out into a poorer standard sister hotel. After a heated discussion, we had to accept the move and were driven 5 minutes down the road. The rain had started to fall and just when you thought nothing else could go wrong, the power went off!

It eventually came back on again and we turned in, ready to head off to Diani beach the next day.

We woke at 6.30 for a 7.30 start and headed into the Bush with our guide, Frank. Pretty soon, we spotted a pair of cheetahs relaxing under a tree.

Then we came across a family of elephants

After a quick stop at the local Bush airstrip, our guide found a clump of Bush and suddenly drove us round the back of it as he’d spotted something – another lion in the shade.

Next we stopped at the Kenyan Tanzania border and Jed straddled the boundary.

Up next were hippos and crocodiles while we waited in vain for the wilder east to cross the Mara River.

We saw more giraffe and elephant on the way home, but our own animals finally found water back at the lodge…..

Finally, dinner and cocktails….

Tomorrow, we have a 6.30 start for our last drive, before heading back to Nairobi for our flights to Diani beach.

So we were due to be picked up at 7.30am by the safari jeeps with breakfast at 6.30 in the orphanage. However, we were woken up at 7.15 by someone banging on our door!!

Not the best start was followed by a speedy breakfast and hesty packing. We eventually got on the jeep for our 5 hour journey to the Sopa Lodge. Things were going fine for 4 hours, until our suspension broke en route. With it hanging on the floor, our driver and his mate in the other jeep pulled out a spare U bolt and promptly fixed it, with around an hours delay.

We arrived at the lodge and quickly changed and back out for an evening drive – straight after my first beer for a week…

We were rewarded with 2 of the big 5, elephant and buffalo.

After a quick shower and dinner, we retired to our lodge ready for a full day’s drive the next day

We have had an amazing time at New Hope, but everything comes to an end. The last day was brilliant, playing with the children, running crafts and sports sessions. In the evening, they put on a “New Hopes got talent” show, and boy, do they!

Several dances, singing and finally an acrobatic show with juggling balls, fire and finally big knives. All it needed was Simon Cowell et Al giving it a standing ovation.

Afterwards, we handed out bowls of biscuits, popcorn and crisps to each of the 100 odd children which disappeared in seconds. We then spent ages saying our goodbyes with plenty of tears. It has been a truly humbling experience and something that will stay with my children forever. When I asked them both independently and privately if they would come back, both immediately said yes.

We were due to head off to the Maasai Mara on safari early the next morning. More on that later……