Hello! sorry it has been so long since my last one!

This will be in two parts; firstly our amazing safari and secondly my experiances this week on surgical.

The Safari!

Friday - So we got up at 5.30 to get ready for our jeep to arrive, which it did at 7.15am. Just like out of jurassic park! Loads of leg room and standing room for when the roof came off! We drove to the office and paid, then set off for the 6 hour jouney to the serengeti! We passed so much stuff on the way though and the time flew by. We drove by Lake Manyara which is huge (but not deep, about 30cm. Fun Fact!), through the Ngorongoro crater (although it was very misty because of the altitude we couldn't see anything) through the gates of the serengeti! We then stopped for lunch at the edge of the crater and sat on tree stumps to eat. I however, promptly fell off it into a huge pile of elephant poo, meanwhile still clutching my banana! Needless to say my cream shorts will never be cream again. As soon as we arrived we were greeted by bright sunshine and the top of the car came down! So exciting! The serengeti has to be, hands down, one of the most amazing places i have ever been. Spectacular! The vastness of it is mindblowing, you can see to all corners of the earth with nothing in between. We drove to our campsite in the heart of the serengeti doing a bit of a game drive on the way, getting exciting by all the animals which by the end of the weekend we were so sick of seeing i.e. zebras and gazelles! We arrived on the campsite at about 5.30 and set up camp while the chef got to work on tea, SOOOOOO hungrey! Tea was fab, had leek soup to start, then spag bol with salad with fruit salad to finish. Got into bed and fell asleep, only to be woken by the lions in our campsite roaring and circling the tents. Needless to say i did not sleep after that!

Saturday - woke at 5.30 again, breakfast at 6, out on another game drive and to see the sunset by 6.30. The sunset, as people with facebook will see by the pictures, was STAGGERING and i stood and stared for ages. The first 3/4 was ok but we were in desperate search a a lion so all other animals paled in comparason (except the giraffes, beautiful). So then about 11, our guide got a message on his radio to say that one had been seen and we rushed to see. Low and behold, a lioness was sitting on a rock in the shade and we got so close! Happy with this we set off home, only to be stopped by a pack of 11 lions walking towards us!!! They were so elegent and regal. In total on the trip we saw 21 lions! Very lucky! After this we raced back to the campsite for a lovely lunch, at 80 MPH, through the serengeti, top down, stood up, wind in my hair, CRAZYYYYY!!!! So exilerating! As we were flying along jasmines hat got fed to the lions only to be retured later that day by another safari truck, luck or what! After lunch we packed up our stuff and headed off to the campsite in Ngorongoro, arrived about 5.30 and put up our tents next to the zebras! Beautiful views of the crater in bright sunshine. Tea yet again was lovely and we had pumpkin soup, beef and mango stew and banana fritters! Went to bed although i was too scared to sleep!

Sunday - Set off to go into the crater at 6.30, very cold and misty because of the altiutude but we didn't mind too much as it is such an awe inspiring place. Within an hour we had seen 2 more lions! We just wanted the cheetah and the rhino now! By this point was had not washed for at least 3 days and were begining to think the reason we saw so much was that they were attracted to our smell! We ate luch next to hippos and defended ourselves against kite birds then headed back towards homw. little did we know on our way our we would see the coveted Black Rhino to complete out BIG 5!!! 4 hours later we were back in Arusha and in desperate need of a shower!

Here is a complete list of the animals we saw: Wilderbeast, baboon, giraffe, anteloape, osterich, donkey!, goats, camels, impala, sheep, vultures, ELEPHANTS, hartbeast, ?cory basterd, warthogs, LEOPARD, marabu stalk, black faced monkey, gazzele, hippos, BUFFALOS, bats, ants, hyenas, jackels, secratery birds, little bee eater, rock hyracks, dik diks, bat eared fox, grey crowned crane, LIONS, hornbill, BLACK RHINO.....and probably so much more!

The hospital...surgical wards and theatre

Ok, so this is the more harrowing part of this week. On monday i arrived to be treated like something i would scrape off my shoe by the next nurse in charge so i decided not to go back to obs and gynae. So i have transfered to surgical which has rendered me spechless many times (probably trying not to vomit). We were in theatre on tuesday. There is no anaethetic, just sedation which comes in the form of IV ketamine (with no calculation as to the dose) and most of the patients wake up during surgery and/or hallucinate manically. We saw a reduction of a fracture in a child which was fine. Then came in the man with the amputated leg. The smell and the sight will never leave me. It was whole skin on top of the leg and i thought it was fine, however the underneath had been butchered by some of the worst sepsis and infection i have ever seen. The only was i can describe it was green minced beef with bone poking through. They had taken him in to 'clean it' which involved pouring iodine over it (which then poured onto the floor with bits of flesh in it). It will have to be amputaed higher and he will probably die of septacemia before he gets the surgery. There is no concept of wound care here and it is shocking what that can do to a wound and a person. The next patient has an open fracture to the tib and fib, they had absolutly so clue as to how to fix and just ended up grabbing the bone, trying to get it to fit with the other one, hammering a pin in somewhere then stitching it up, although it was blatent the wound was not having any of it! I held my nose all of the day and it was sore afterwards, as was my stomach from retching. The doctors wear the same outfit as the butchers and do the same job. It is barbaric. Hey ho, i will have a strong stomach on my return.

This weekend going to Via Via on thursday, football friday, then hopefully sun bathing sat and sun!

Thanks for all your messages!

Love

Annie xxxxxx