Day 12: Mbulu

6am get up doesn't really mix well with Radlians but we made our way to the 3rd biggest cathedral in Africa which happened to be in our garden.

However the church service in Swahili ended up taking up over 2 hours but a lovely experience nonetheless. The priests welcomed us warmly. Then we made our way to meet our pen pals. Everyone was in high spirits. Our pen pals increased with confidence after our walk up another mountain. Slightly embarrassing as we were all beaten up there by 3 young locals who were greeted with food and games. 

We played a few icebreakers and everyone had a smile on there face. After us teaching them a little bit about our culture they taught us a bit about theirs by giving us some sugar cane to eat. Some of us struggled with the obscure challenge. One must strip the outside of the cane with only your teeth. We had a lovely supper and then returned to plan our lessons for the forcoming days. We look forward to the week ahead.

By Tom Rutherford

     Ollie Martyn-Hemphill

     George Love

Day 11: Safari (Part Two)

After a good night's sleep in an igloo, we set off for the infamous Ngorogoro Crater. 

Despite a slower start than a fat man over the 100m we eventually made our way down the crater rim. It didn't take long to spot the first hyena of the day, shortly followed by a pride of lions, the two species ended up in a standoff over the carcass of Gary the gazelle ( A close friend of Cecil the lion). we also saw Jackals, a black Rhino, Zebras, Springbok and many other animals. 

We then drove to the seminary and settled in for the night. 

Will and Harry

Ps From Inspire and Radley Teachers: Just to reassure all parents we are keeping a close eye on the situation in Turkey. At present FCO advice states it is fine to travel (especially as we are also only in transi). We will be looking at options and assessing over the next few days though and will keep you updated.

Day 10: Safari (Part One)

by George Gent and Seb Berger. 

We had an early wake up courtesy of Tom Rutherford and soon boarded our safari vehicles. A 2 hour drive took us to Tarangire nature reserve where we swiftly took to the track. 

A herd of zebra let us know that we were due to see many animals, but none of us expected the sheer variety and quantity of animals. From a hugely impressive male elephant to the first leopard spotted in the park for 3 years. 

Wildebeest and lions seemed at ease with one another in the midday heat as we settled down for a lunch over a spectacular view. 

In meal entertainment was provided by velvet monkeys, who stole food and defecated on MRJ! 

Fleeing from the monkeys we rejoined the trail, to be greeted by giraffes and an unbelievable number of elephants. 

After an amazing day of safari we headed for the Masai market, where we tried our hand at bartering to varying degrees of success! 

Then a short journey to our hotel whose igloo shaped cabins were unlike anything anyone had seen before. 

After a delicious supper with musical accompaniment we all headed to bed looking forward to a great day at Ngorongoro.

Blog comments

Dear all

You may have been aware there has been a technical fault with the blogsite and it hasn't been allowing all of you to post your comments. We do apologise for this. 

We have now sorted this out and everyone should now be able to post comments on each update.

We will then pass these comments on to the team. 

Once again, apologies for this technical hitch and we look forward to hearing from you all over the rest of the trip!

Best wishes

All at Team Inspire 

NB. Whilst the blogsite had this error the boys were allowed to use their personal phones to keep you updated (if they had them). However, now we have resolved the issue we will be going back to our usual policy of no mobiles. This is for safety management of the team as I am sure you all understand. If you need to contact your son at any point though please don't hesitate to call our 24 hour number on 07531 872658 and we can get a message to the team through our Inspire Leaders. 

Day 9: Onto Arusha

The boys enjoyed a bit of a lie-in this morning, and a hearty breakfast, with weetabix! The new Inspire leaders Jack and Julia then took over, and we waved a fond farewell to Greg and Eamon.

 Our first stop was to the Commonwealth cemetery in Moshi where O.R Noel Gibbs is buried, having been shot in action in British East Africa in 1916. We held a brief ceremony led by George and Seb and observed a minute's silence in respect of his life and sacrifice. 

Then we headed to Meserani snake park for lunch and some brave people (Will) held some of the non-venomous vipers. 

After that we travelled back to Arusha and to Charity Hotel. There we had group orientation with Jack and Julia, and learnt more about the project at Gehandu and the programme for the week. We ended the evening with a delicious buffet supper and an early night. Looking forward to safari tomorrow. 

Some piccies from Kili! 

Day 8: Back to base

Hi all

Just to let you know that the team are now safely back at Weruweru Lodge at the base of Kilimanjaro.

They are delighted to be clean and back in proper beds tonight- but they have asked if we can update you tonight so they can head to bed early! 

Day 7: Summit Day

Hi all.. We have just had the following update from Greg and Eamon the Inspire Mountain Trip Leaders:

'Hi all. We are now all safely back down at Kibo Camp having lunch before descending further to Horombo Huts later this afternoon.

Five team members made it to the summit (William C, Sebastian B, Oliver MH, Joshua BJ and Henry C), with another seven making it to Gilman's Point (Alec GC, Archie, Charles, George E, Jack E , Tom R and Sven WVS).

The other team members did amazingly well but the effects of altitude meant they had to descend earlier (Atticus, Cameron, George G, George L, Thomas TD).

It was amazing weather throughout the climb with little wind, stunning stars and an incredible sunrise.'

The team did amazingly well and were really supportive of each other.

We are all on good form and looking forward to hot showers and food when we get back to the lodge tomorrow!