Lorraine Hood led George Heriot's School's expedition to Kenya in June. Writing home to parents each evening captured the daily highlights, but looking back now, it is the bigger picture that stands out...
We arrived at Rift Valley Forest Camp on a Sunday afternoon after admiring the drivers’ impressive talent for securing an extraordinary amount of luggage to the roofs of the vehicles.
As we approached camp, excitement levels rose as we were treated to some spectacular wildlife sightings. Giraffe, zebra, gazelle, buffalo and even a tawny eagle were spotted along the way, providing a wonderful welcome to Kenya.
By the end of that first afternoon, the pupils had been mountain biking, trying archery and bouldering, and learning some impressive rope work skills. The adventure was well and truly underway.
Arriving somewhere that you already know
George Heriot’s has been coming to this corner of Kenya for more than twelve years, and the first thing we did was visit projects completed by previous groups.
At Ethi Primary School, the library is now finished, decorated and beginning to fill with books. What was once a building site is now a thriving learning space. Seeing that, before we lifted a single trowel changed how our pupils understood the fortnight ahead. They were not starting something new. They were continuing a tradition.
We also met Baby George, who is two years old and was born at the Ethi Medical Centre and was named after George Heriot. There is a version of a school trip where you arrive, do something well-meaning and leave. This is not that. Twelve years of partnership creates lasting relationships and sustainable commitments, and our pupils could see this first hand.
The work, and who was actually doing it.
Our project was at Ngare Ndare Primary School, where we helped build a kitchen and a nursery classroom. By the time we arrived, the mafundi, the local skilled tradespeople, had already completed the basic structure. Our role was to plaster the walls, fit windows, make furniture and, if time allowed paint.
Fortunately, it did.
Over six working days, the classroom was transformed from a bare shell into a bright learning space complete with plastered walls, glazed windows and murals of numbers and letters. Outside, a colourful safari scene now welcomes visitors arriving through the school gates.
The furniture team welded, painted and assembled tables, chairs and stools. The seats were supplied by the Flipflopi Project and made from recycled plastic recovered from the ocean, creating durable furniture that will serve the school for many years.
Elsewhere, one team spent three long, hot and extremely dusty hours excavating a 400 kg rock. The celebrations afterwards suggested it felt like a major triumph. Who needs a gym when there is manual labour available?
I want to be clear about one thing. The mafundi were astonished by how much our pupils achieved, and they deserved that praise. However, the expertise behind these buildings is Kenyan. Our pupils worked alongside skilled professionals, learned from them and benefited enormously from the experience. Several returned home with a more realistic understanding of their own practical abilities, which is no bad thing.
The classroom, from the other side of the desk
Groups of our pupils also taught Maths, English, Science, Music and lessons on sanitation. The local staff set the topics, which meant nobody could hide behind a lesson they simply fancied teaching.
One pupil described teaching fractions to Grade 4. It was awkward at first because the children were understandably shy, and converting fractions is a challenging topic. The group soon discovered that repetition and interaction worked best. Within twenty minutes there was plenty of participation, clapping and laughter.
Another group had an entire Grade 1 class singing a song they had written together. Two of our girls taught a Grade 3 class to sing in rounds and finished with Auld Lang Syne, complete with hand holding.
Nobody has ever come back from teaching a lesson at Ngare Ndare and been quite so quick to complain about their own teachers. We may well have discovered a few future members of the profession.
The things we did not go looking for
An afternoon at Borana Conservancy was spent alongside Grade 9 pupils from Ngare Ndare, and it was the conversations rather than the wildlife that stayed with many of us.
The rangers told us about tracking fifty black rhinos and seventeen white rhinos across 32,000 acres and explained how wildlife corridors help protect endangered animals while allowing migration routes to remain open.
Once we climbed into the vehicles together, the focus shifted. After some initial shyness, the Grade 9 pupils began talking about school, food and community life. They explained how strong community ties help reduce crime and make poaching more difficult. They taught us some Swahili and, before long, our pupils were enthusiastically identifying animals in a new language.
We also visited a tree nursery that grows around 11,000 indigenous seedlings each year. In a single morning, our group produced as many potting bags as the nursery would ordinarily make in two months.
Another visit took us to a family using a biogas unit that provides fuel for cooking from water and the manure of a single cow. There is no need for firewood, no harmful emissions and no lengthy journeys to collect fuel. Ten of these units have now been installed within the Ethi community, funded in part by previous expeditions.
Every pupil was invited to mix the slurry by hand. Mrs Hughes and I found our stomachs tested more than most, but everybody emerged unscathed.
At Chumvi Women’s Camp, we built manyattas, threw spears, cooked dinner and spent the evening around a fire exchanging riddles. There was considerable surprise when Mrs Hughes proved one of the most accurate spear throwers in the group.
Several of the boys chose to sleep in the manyattas. A hut plastered with cow dung does not immediately sound appealing, but I can confirm it was surprisingly comfortable.
The Adventure
There was, of course, plenty of adventure.
We abseiled down a waterfall, swam through water that felt close to freezing, tackled jumps of up to eight metres, climbed rock faces occupied by impressively large lizards and crossed a 500 metre canopy walk suspended high above the forest floor.
The jumps alone demonstrated a full range of techniques, from textbook pencil dives to cannonballs capable of soaking everyone within range.
Two days at Ol Pejeta Wildlife Conservancy
Halfway through the expedition, the group split in two, with each half spending two days at Ol Pejeta Conservancy.
When we reflected on the trip afterwards, there was complete agreement that this had been the highlight of the fortnight.
The roofs come off the jeeps and you are immersed in the landscape immediately. We saw buffalo, black rhino, white rhino, zebra, impala, warthog, elephant and more gazelle than anyone could count.
One group spent time watching a lioness who had become strangely fascinated by a Nile monitor lizard, while a giraffe stood nearby as though it had deliberately positioned itself for the scene.
The other group woke on Sunday morning to discover that a pride of seven lions had enjoyed a zebra for breakfast. Hyenas were already making off across the plains carrying whatever remains they could claim.
Both groups were woken at least once by elephants grazing close to the edge of camp. There are certainly worse ways to start the day.
At the chimpanzee sanctuary, we met some of the forty-six residents. All had been rescued and all were known individually by their keepers. The youngest, Astra, was born during the pandemic and named accordingly. Max appeared rather less enthusiastic about receiving visitors and expressed his opinion by throwing stones in our direction.
We camped inside the conservancy, ate remarkably well considering our surroundings, toasted marshmallows and played Werewolf. Accusations flew, trust disappeared and more than a few friendships were briefly tested.
Two armed rangers guarded the campsite overnight, which the staff appreciated rather more than the pupils seemed to. This was especially true after someone spotted fresh animal droppings near the tents.
On the second morning, we explored by doing a bicycle safari. Cycling alongside rhino and zebra is not an experience that appears on many people’s lists of everyday activities. The route included the Rhino Memorial, where every animal lost to poaching is remembered by name and story. Our pupils spent time reading the memorial and, for perhaps the first time in two weeks, the entire group fell silent without being asked.
We also visited Baraka, the blind black rhino. One group was lucky enough to feed him, while the second group found him in a less sociable mood and more interested in a morning nap than meeting visitors.
What it all came to
We played Ethi Secondary School at football on two occasions. The deciding match ended in a 4 to 2 defeat under a scorching sun, accompanied by some questionable refereeing decisions and a red card for the hosts. In truth, it felt like the correct result.
On our final day, the school hosted an Environmental Day. Celebrations continued well beyond the published schedule as Kenyan time once again proved delightfully flexible.
Remy’s kitchen fed more than five hundred people with what appeared to be effortless efficiency.
Our pupils performed Loch Lomond and Flower of Scotland. There were handshakes, hugs and more than a few emotional goodbyes.
Before we left, each pupil was presented with a handmade bracelet bearing their name. I suspect many of those bracelets will remain on wrists for a long time to come.
What I would say to any school considering this
This is not a fortnight spent doing good to people.
It is a fortnight spent working alongside people, learning from them, sharing experiences with them, losing to them at football and returning home with a far richer understanding of their lives and community.
It is more demanding than a holiday and infinitely more rewarding.
