OUR GUEST BLOGGER TODAY IS CWB VOLUNTEER MARTIN JAMES.

Phew, what a scorcher! We really had a hot one today. It was certainly the hottest day of the trip so far and we probably ended up spending six hours or more out in the open, our second day at Kilembe. Ken wisely decided to sit this one out, but Yusuf was expecting cool weather and set out in a jacket!

The morning got off to an inauspicious start when we arrived at the field to find a game of football in progress, cows grazing on the pitch and loads of kids waiting – but waiting for school to start, as it turned out.

The cows were shooed away by the footballers and we felt the same fate might befall us if we dared encroach on the pitch, while Claire kept the kids amused by showing them some of her dance moves.

All of a sudden the playing field emptied of everyone except cricket coaches – and then the aspiring cricketers arrived, 165 in all by the time the session ended and among the best behaved groups so far.

To avoid the zoo feeding-time experience we ate our pack-up a mile or two away. Venturing a little further into the mountains, driver Joseph found us a delightful spot by a mountain stream – rocks (of some kind) and even white water. It was the coolest we felt all day. It’s sometimes takes a while to remember that we’re on the Equator so the sun is directly overhead and shade is hard to find.

We were only expecting one school in the afternoon and around 20 kids duly appeared about ten minutes before we had decided to leave. Another primary school group arrived shortly after and with a further group practising nearby, there was plenty of cricket going on after all.

We paid a return visit to the Margherita Hotel for our evening meal, another big hit for everyone, and wondered whether the stubble burning going on in the distant fields around us heralded rain, not something we’ve had during the day so far.