Juliet's Kenya Days blog

Letter from Helen to Grandma & Grandad 3 May 1976 –

Last Saturday we went away to a volcanic mountain called Suswa. We stayed up there until Sunday afternoon. Dad was meant to go in some caves but he got a cold so couldn’t. I don’t know how he got a cold because it was boiling hot. But it was a nice holiday all the same. We went with some people from the Mountain Club. The caves were about six miles from the camp. We arrived at the camp at about 3 o’clock. A Maasai lady and boy came up while we were having lunch and asked for some ‘maji’ which means water. They always wear red robes and they have lovely bead necklaces and chokers. The little boy even had a necklace. The lady had a little baby slung over her back and it had a ring of beads around each foot. The custom of the Maasai is that the ears are slit and stretched and then ornaments were put on. The next day two boys came. I was wrapped up in a blanket because blankets are thick and keep out the heat. The other boy had dyed his hair a red-brown colour. We left on Sunday about 2 o’clock. Some other people left then too but they hadn’t had lunch so we made them some toast and some drinks. The toast came from 1 and a half loaves of bread and they ate it all, so they must of been hungry !

Letter from Judy to Caroline & Martin 6 May 1976 –

Last weekend Graham, I and the kids plus various members of the Chyulu Expendition Group went and camped at Suswa, right on the edge of the main crater. The road up was appalling – like driving up an irregular lava staircase alternating with patches of thick dust. It’s strange that we attempt tracks here without a qualm that we wouldn’t consider touching with a bargepole at home. Actually, since the van has survived two trips to the Chyulus Graham has got rather blasé about what it can achieve.

Letter from Judy to Nanny & Grandad 7 May 1976 –

The outer crater of Suswa is about 6 miles across with high cliffs surrounding it except where the track crosses into the crater – we camped on the edge of the inner crater where there is a drop of many hundreds of feet to what is called The Moat – the remains of the crater of the latest volcano I suppose. It is popular with the Maasai and we had several visitors – they love to get a drink of water which they never normally have – it’s the one word in Swahili that they always know. One girl came who didn’t look much older than Juliet but she had a super little baby on her back who was full of beans, chuckling and peeping at us over her shoulder – she had a boy of about 6 or 7 with her and was minding a large flock of goats and cattle who passed through the crater. That morning Graham and some of the others camping with us followed a very fresh leopard spoor through the crater so I suppose her job is not without it’s dangers – they certainly always carry a highly efficient spear with them.

Letter from Judy to Nanny & Grandad 28 Mar 1977 –

We had a pleasant change from climbing the other weekend when 6 of us hired a Landrover and drove to Suswa and did some caving. Graham took us down a large cave like an underground tunnel with several different levels which we descended by caving ladder – we found this quite a difficult technique to master. Either the ladder was resting against the wall in which case one had difficulty getting ones feet into the rungs and suffered from grazed knuckles as well, or one was swinging wildly around in space ! It was rather amusing – we met two young Maasai moran (boys of 17 or so) just before we entered the cave. They were all dressed up with earrings and copper and bead necklaces, spears, ochred hair and all and the usual very brief red cloak which didn’t leave anything to the imagination. We got into conversation in Swahili which Guri speaks well. After a laboured talk about caving, none of whose words even occur in Swahili, another member of the party came up and said jokingly “it’s rude not to speak English to muzungus (white men) you know” whereupon the morans said “okay” and continued the conversation in impeccable English ! We hope it wasn’t an Alliance boy anyway ! Actually, they were most intrigued by our descent into the cave and reluctantly were unable to come as well as they were supposed to be looking after their animals. In the afternoon we went into a beautiful decorated cave which consisted of stretches of tunnel connected by a series of squeezes which fortunately we all found great fun though I definitely preferred those where I had smooth rock under my stomach as some places were sharp and knobbly. We had a lovely drive back along the Rift Valley along a road we usually avoid because you really need 4 wheel drive. The last time we took it in the minibus we very nearly got stuck in a long patch of mud which could have been embarrassing as the road is little used. We find the new car much less reliable once off the tarmac as its clearance is so low but so far have only had to be pulled out of trouble once – fortunately on a Club meet where there were plenty of other cars around to help.

Diary entry by Helen 26 June 1977 –

Heather and Jackie stayed the night with us which was nice. Mum and Dad went to Suswa today and we stayed at home. We looked after two Japanese boys (Satoshi and Go) as their parents also went to Suswa (Kunji and Emiko Maeda). They were quite nice and weren’t too much of a big handful. We had a nice day going up to the farm and playing draughts mostly.