Charlie and Pete come to town

 The in-laws had only gone 48 hours when our next guests arrived.  Charlie and Pete showed up at our flat on Wednesday afternoon having already spent several days in Kwa-Zulu Natal.  Although Peter and Sheila brought the first drizzles with them, Charlie and Pete brought the thunder storms!  We had a lovely first evening catching up on what the past 4 months had brought each other.  Our chat was interrupted regularly by cracking thunder and spectacular forks of lightning.

The following morning I woke early and darted off to do some work before we headed up into the mountains for lunch.  The staff and patients in particular were very surprised to see a doctor in clinic at 7:20 in the morning!  I made a good dent in the queue and headed back home for our 9:30 departure to Katse Dam.  The drive was almost as spectacular as the first time we had done it.  The clouds in the sky somehow gave a better perspective on the landscape.  Despite a number of photo stops we managed to get to the dam for a bite to eat before the 2pm tour.  The tour was informative and entertaining... dam fine in fact!  Afterwards we checked into the lodge overlooking the reservoir, wandered around the botanical gardens before settling ourselves on the veranda with a beer for the spectacular sunset.

The following morning we prepared ourselves some breakfast and set off on a long drive through Thaba Tseka and on to Semonkong.  A large portion of the drive was a new for Kit and I.  It was a most unusual experience with glorious blue skies intermingled with fabulous cloud formations and then even snow!  The snow made it on to the news as it is a little unusual for mid-October.  We managed to find an almost idyllic spot for our picnic.  All the boxes were ticked: not too far from the road, a river running past with overhanging weeping willows and some sunshine.  The only problem was the enormous amount of litter.  In every direction there were cans, bottles and polystyrene containers.   This is a real problem in Lesotho and a great shame.  Anyway... we managed to enjoy lunch and completed our journey to Semonkong without incident.

We arrived at the lodge in the afternoon.  It is rapidly becoming our favourite spot in Lesotho and once again our visit didn’t disappoint.  We settled in our rooms and headed to the bar for a game of pool, a drink or two, followed by dinner.  We had a chat and played some pool with two Frenchman who were travelling around the world on their motorbikes!!  They had some amazing tales!

The morning on Saturday brought some clearer skies.  After breakfast we prepared for the main event of the weekend... a 204 metre abseil down besides the Maletsunyane falls.  It is the highest single drop abseil in the world!  The practice session was held just behind the lodge on a 25 metre cliff.  All four of us managed one decent, but then there were only 2.  Don’t worry... Kit and Charlie are still both alive and well... but they simply decided abseiling just isn’t for them!  We drove round to the falls after the practice session which allowed for a little bit of off roading in Jeepy!  In the afternoon the clouds returned so we had a cosy time in front of the fire playing cards.

Sunday morning the weather was again glorious; there was no wind and only a few wispy clouds in the sky.  Pete and I headed off with the crew for our abseil after breakfast.  There was a drive, then a short hike to the top.  We chatted whilst the equipment was set up.  The mood was jovial but then they were ready.  I’ll admit a few butterflies did appear, but I was ready to enjoy this experience.  Pete decided I would go first, so I was attached to my rope and stepped back to the cliff edge.  I leant back on the harness and asked myself... should I look down?  Well, why not hey?  The view down to the bottom of the falls was exhilarating.  I could see one of the instructors as a small dot on the gorge bottom.  I quickly got in to the swing of things and was able to take time to look around as I descended.  Then out of nowhere wind appeared.  The waterfall was blown over me for the bottom third of my journey down and I ended up soaked through to my underpants.  It didn’t take a great deal off the experience, which was superb.  I was safely at the bottom and in the sun, so I stripped off some layers and lay my clothes out to dry.  I now had the opportunity to watch Pete’s descent, which was unfortunately also a rather moist one!  After we dried out we had an hour’s hike back up and out of the gorge.  We stopped to admire the views... and catch our breath!

On our return to the lodge we caught up with the ladies whilst enjoying lunch in the sunshine.  They had travelled on horseback to the top of the gorge to witness their husbands avoiding plummeting to their deaths!  Their morning had been eventful in other ways too... they had had to grovel to the village chief as their horses had roamed off and grazed on lands they shouldn’t have, they also witnessed a man being chased and whipped by 5 men on horseback.  He had been caught committing a crime and was being taken to the police.  After lunch we did the last leg of our journey back to Maseru arriving in time for dinner.  We had take away pizzas and reflected on the weekend whilst we looked through our photos.  On Monday we had to say goodbyes as Charlie and Pete headed off down the garden route (where they might bump into Peter and Sheila).

Audiology moves on a small step

Besides enjoying travelling around Lesotho with our friends and family, we have still been busy at work (well, Matt perhaps more so than me) so I thought I’d give a little update on the audiology front.  As of 3 weeks ago (and thanks to a generous donation) we were able to purchase the equipment to take impressions of patient’s ears who require hearing aids. Although seemingly a small thing this will save patient’s one journey to South Africa. It is surprising what you take for granted as the most basic of requirements having worked in the NHS.

In terms of how the service is developing within the ENT department, I was pleased to return to work after mum and dad’s trip to find that my two colleagues had taken great efforts to sort the audiology room out and carry on the service. This is the ultimate aim as the service needs to continue after I leave and so far it looks promising. Having arrived to a demotivated team they seem to be a little bit more hopeful in what the service can offer. It is actually not a bad thing that over the next few months I will be taking some leave as it means I will slowly be stepping back from the work and letting the team take over.  There are still things that need to happen and I am anxious that we are running out of time.

The patients I am seeing are as varied as ever and I am still enjoying the challenge.  Over the last few weeks I have seen a 78 year old village chief, a 2 year old orphan who was being adopted that very afternoon by a Canadian couple, a boy who had been convulsing for 24 hours (I quickly referred that case on!) and a man with a serious head injury (hit over the head by a stick in a drunken brawl).  Tuesday mornings are by far the busiest for me and yesterday was no exception. One minute I was taking impressions, counselling a non-english speaking patient about how to use her hearing aid with no translator, testing an ex-miner who was claiming for noise-induced hearing loss as well as seeing patients referred from the ENT clinic.  Keeps you on your toes as you have no idea who will come through the door next. 

The Bricknells' 40th Wedding Anniversary Tour

After a small influx of visitors Matt and I are now getting back into the swing of work and have finally got round to updating the blog.

Mum and Dad arrived in South Africa on the 1^st October at the start of their 3 week holiday. They spent 10 days with us in Lesotho and are now lapping up the sun (hopefully) on the Cape and perhaps enjoying the odd glass of wine?! It was so good to see them here after a month of not knowing whether they were going to be able to make it or not.

After a day of rest and acclimatisation to African life we headed into the mountains for the Ruby anniversary celebrations. We had tried to keep the destination a surprise but when there are only a handful of lodges in the country it can be pretty easy to guess sometimes. We had booked a night at the only 5 star lodge in Lesotho which is in the Ts’ehlanyane National Park (where Jeepy had broken down back in March). We arrived to a warm welcome and 3 course lunch on the deck over-looking the mountains. This was the perfect pre-cursor to a lazy afternoon spent in our thatched chalets soaking up every inch of the luxurious and beautiful surroundings. After the sunset, with glad rags on we headed back to the main lodge for a celebratory dinner and drinks. After a great evening of catching up, mum and dad enjoyed the surprise of returning to their room which had been filled with lit candles (I think dad tried to pretend he has done it!).

The next morning, dad, Matt and I went for a hike. There had unfortunately been a bush fire that spread uncontrollably the weekend before and had totally desecrated the surrounding vegetation. The lodge was luckily untouched but only by sheer luck. As we tramped back after our 3 hour walk we heard a crackling coming from the lodge area and could see in the distance another blaze very close to our chalets. Matt then pointed out that the main lodge thatch was alight, only to discover it was the roof of our apartment. Mum was in the neighbouring one so we were all a bit frightened. Unfortunately at that point we were negotiating our way down a tricky bit of scree slope so we sent Matt (the quick one) on ahead. He ran off (I think more worried about Jeepy than his mother-in-Law!). When dad and I arrived, mum was safe and our roof was being hosed down. All that excitement certainly gave us a thirst for a well-earned beer.

During the week, whilst Matt had to work I took mum and dad to Ramabanta for 2 nights. We were the only visitors and lapped up the relaxing atmosphere, beautiful gardens and stunning scenery. In fact we were all so relaxed we barely made it to 9pm on either night. The sign of a good holiday I think. There was some lovely hiking (dad and I) and leisurely sketching (mum and I) before we had to head back to Maseru to collect Matt and begin our next adventure – the Sani Pass.

Friday was spent driving carefully over mountain passes until we reached Mokhotlong where we stayed for the night at the local hotel. After an early start the next day we set out for the Sani Pass. 3 hours of unpaved road led us to the highest pub in Africa where we enjoyed the views over the Sani Pass as well as a gale force wind! A beer and lunch gave us the confidence to tackle the pass and we enjoyed the 1 hour descent to the South African border where we were greeted by baboons and buck. That night we stayed at a Dairy farm 2 hours from the Sani Pass. The farm was vast and the house very beautiful. We were treated to a 3 course South African meal. The next morning we were invited on a tour of the farm...in the Bakkie. Matt, dad and I jumped at the chance to ride free in the back and were warned to hold on tight. It was a hair-raising drive - we grounded the vehicle beside a dam and a tractor had to pull us free and then we flew across fields at a 45 degree angle with the back flipping out. I haven’t seen dad look so scared before!

Having been a bit shaken up by the Bakkie trip we tenderly journeyed back to Maseru via the Golden Gate National Park for our last night together. A brilliant 10 days and I was sad when I dropped them off in Bloemfontein but great to think they had another 2 whole weeks of holiday ahead of them.