How to visit Africa
How I did it: in my region, there's a group of guides who are twinned with a campsite in Kenya, my friend went with them a few yesr before i did so i asked her to get in contact with the group leader, who then gave me the details we had a few camps as a group and last year went out to Kenya. because we needed so much stuff we had to ship it out weeks before, and it costs a fortune- we were lucky enough to get grants and do some really good fayres.
the trip is totally worthwhile, and though it may reeeeeally annoy your friends when a year later, you are still talking about it, i would recommend it to anyone. otally changed my life and I made some great friends who I still keep in touch with, both english guides and Kenyan girls.
Lessons & tips: make sure you take lots of little gifts out with you-the kids really appreciate it (but avoid sweets, as they don't have many dentists), little toys and things for party bags are good, and things like blow up beach balls.
before you go, make sure you've researched the local area and customs, you don't want to offend anyone or spend ages staring at the first maasai you see like we did, they don't really appreciate that.
go with a group you are comfortable with- Africa is a very emotional experience and they will see you crying and laughing, you don't want to be around strangers when doing that.
make sure you have a good contingency fund- we had £500. you don't know what can happen out there.
take straws. it sounds really dumb but you really shouldn't drink straight out of bottles- they don't have great cleaning and sterilisation.
also, muslin is really useful- it's light and can be used for so many things.
and if you're staying near mountains, be prepared for massive rain, our tent got flooded one night so badly we had to bucket the water out the next day. you don't expect rain in Africa thanks to TV, but when it rains, it really rains.
