Marty the motorcycling giraffe Story 42 Marty’s exciting European adventure part 1 Marty goes to Paris

Marty the motorcycling giraffe

Story 42 Marty’s exciting European adventure part 1 Marty goes to Paris

Marty the motorcycling giraffe, is about to set off another exciting adventure, this time his heading for a long trip to Europe. For the first part of the trip he is flying to Paris the capital city of France, where he going to meet up with his friend Jean-Pierre (who he climbed up the mountain in Peru, to the lost city of Machu Pichu, with)

As usual when he goes on an adventure, Marty’s friends (Peter, Gloria, Victor, Emmanuelle and his special friend Gillian) all turned up at the airport. to see him off

“Kwahari na safari njema” (goodbye have a good journey) they shouted and waved as Marty headed for the aeroplane.

It was a long flight to Paris and by the time he arrived Marty felt quite achy from being crammed into the small aeroplane seats, but he was very pleased to see Jean Pierre waiting for him at the airport.

“Jambo Jean Pierre, its good to see you again” said Marty as he shook Jean Pierre’s hand with one of his front hoofs

“Bonjour mon ami. il est bon de vous voir trop” (hello my friend it’s good to see you too) replied Jean Pierre “I am looking forward to showing you around Paris”

First Jean Pierre took Marty to the restaurant that he owns, which is just along from the Arc de triomphe and underneath the magnificent Eifel tower.

Marty sat at table on the pavement side and ate a big bag of twigs and leafs that Jean Pierre had brought specially for him and the two friends chatted about all the different things they had done since they first met in Peru.

“Oh la la, you certainly have had some wonderful adventures” exclaimed Jean Pierre

“Yes I have and I am sure to have another exciting adventure in this wonderful city” said Marty

After lunch Jean Pierre started to show Marty around Paris, first they walked down past the Trocadéro and over the bridge to the Eifel Tower.

They climbed up the many hundreds of stairs to the top of the tower, where they had the most fantastic of view across a Paris

“Il est magnifique, n'est-ce pas??” (It is magnificent is it not?) Asked Jean Pierre

“It certainly is, you live in a wonderful city Jean Pierre” replied Marty.

After they climbed down the tower the two friends decided to take a boat trip along the River Seine, stopping at the Notre Dam cathedral, where Marty marvelled at the majestic colourful stain glass windows and then they got back on the boat and went a little further up the river, where the boat moored up by a bridge and Marty and Pierre got off, to go for a little walk.

As they walked across the bridge a loud screeching of brakes cold be heard, and racing towards Marty and Peter was a large coach, full of school children that was out of control.

Marty and Jean Pierre leapt out of the way as the coach mounted the pavement and crashed through the wall on the side of the bridge.

The coach finally came to a halt with the front end hanging dangerously over the river, lots of people ran to the bus to try an old the back end to stop the coach toppling into the river. And a police officer came over to take control.

The police officer told the crowd that the emergency services have been called and are on the way to rescue the people from the coach.

“There might not be enough time this coach could fall into the river at any moment” shouted someone from the crowd.

Marty had an idea and he leaned over the crowd to the police officer and told him how he could help.

The police officer quickly cleared the crowd out of the way to allow Marty to get the edge  of the river and then he ordered four strong looking men to hold onto Marty’s legs, and Marty leaned forward as far as he could, so that he head was inline with the door of the coach.

The bus driver and the children’s teacher saw what was happening and one by one they lifted the children onto Marty’s head so hat they could shuffle along his neck to safety.

Once all the children were safely off the bus and on to the bridge, the slightly tubby teachers climbed on to Marty and started to shuffle along his neck, followed by the very heavy looking bus driver.

Just as they were all off and Marty pulled himself back fully on to  the bridge, coach started to lean further towards the river and then with an almighty splash it toppled off the bridge and into the rive

“Phew that was close” said the police officer, “we will have to get a large crane to get the coach out of the river, you certainly saved the day Monsieur Giraffe”

But Marty found it hard to be happy about this as his neck was hurting so much from the strain of carring all those children and the rather rotund adults off the coach

“Are you okay Marty?” asked Jean Pierre

“My neck really hurts” replied Marty

A doctor who had come to see what was happening, said he could prescribe some cream to be rubbed on Marty’s neck that would help  

“And you’re going to need the biggest jar of the cream ever” laughed the doctor.

After spending the rest of the day with Jean Pierre, Marty went to his hotel room and covered his neck with the cream the doctor had prescribed and went to bed.

The next morning Marty was very relieved to find his neck had stopped hurting and after breakfast (twigs and leafs of course), he set off for the train station, as it was now time for Marty to leave Paris and head for Berlin in Germany for the second part of his exciting European adventure.

Jean Pierre came to see Marty off at the train station

“Adieu mon ami”, have a good journey” said Jean Pierre “kwahari” replied Marty and he climbed on to the train wondering what the next adventure would be for

Marty the Motorcycling giraffe

Marty's exciting Europen adventure continues next Saturday in story 43 Marty brilliant visit to Berlin

Marty the Motorcycling giraffe Story 41 Marty and the Fire brigade

Marty the Motorcycling giraffe

Marty the motorcycling giraffe and his friends Peter and Victor are back at work after their exciting trip to Lake Turkana where they found a large chest full of treasure. Marty is lifting Peter up on his head so that he can reach up to clean the windows in the  tall buildings and Victor is busy filling up buckets of water and cleaning the window cleaning rags.

“I have brought some very nice new clothes and the most up to date mobile phone with my share of the treasure” Victor shouted up to the others.

“I have ordered a new van, that should be delivered soon” replied Peter “and Gloria has been buying new furniture for our home” he added.

“What about you Marty, have brought anything new yet?” asked Victor “or let me guess your going to spend all yours on another adventure to some far off land”

Marty smiled and replied “yes I do have a couple of trips in mind, but I also have something special planned for a few months time, but I am not telling anyone about it just yet”

“Oh a secret, hey!” exclaimed Peter “now that sounds interesting”

“Well you’ll just have to wait and see, because I am not telling anyone what I have planned just yet”

With that Peter noticed some smoke and flames coming from one of the tall buildings a bit further down the street

“Look that building’s on fire” Peter shouted

All of the sudden the loud sound of a fire engine’s siren rang out, as the smoke started to fill the air.

It wasn’t long before the fire brigade arrived and all the fire fighters were running around, getting there equipment out of the fire engine ready to put the fire out.

A very frightened looking lady ran up to the fire fighters and shouted

“Msaada, msaada! watoto wangu ni kukwama kwa juu ya jengo kuungua tafadhali kuwaokoa” (Help help!  My children are stuck in the top of the burning building, please save them)

“sisi kuokoa watoto” (we will save the children) promised the chief fire fighter

As two of the fire fighters started to hose the bottom of the building, another sat in the cage at the top of the fire engines ladder and the driver started to raise the ladder, but suddenly there was a large grinding sound and the ladder wouldn’t rise any more.

“Oh no” shouted the chief fire fighter, “the engine is broke, we will have to send for another and that could take too long”

“Msaada watoto” (help my children) cried the lady.

Peter pushed his way to the front of the crowd that had gathered to watch, “me and my friends can help” Peter shouted to the fire fighters, and explained that a fire fighter could sit on Marty’s head to reach the children down and that he had lots of buckets of water on the back of his truck that could be thrown on to the fire

“Great idea” shouted the fire chief, he instructed Marty to come forward.

Marty kneeled down and lowered his head, so that a fire fighter could climb aboard and then he lifted him into the air. Marty bravely moved his head towards the burning building, and he could feel the fierce heat of the flames on his neck and face.

As they neared the top window, the fire officer leaned forward and smashed he window with his axe and climbed into the building.

He then one by one lifted the three small watoto (children) and placed them onto Marty’s head.

“Lower them carefully now Marty” instructed the fire fighter and Marty gently carried the children down to the ground near where their mother was waiting.

“Oh asante sana, asante sana” shouted the lady as she rushed forward to cuddle her children.

Marty then lifted his head back up to the window to get the fire fighter out of the building.

Marty then stepped a safe distance back from the fire and reached down to pick up the fire engine’s hose. The fire fighter then sat on Marty’s head and sprayed water over the building.

At the sae time Peter, Victor and the other fire fighters threw buckets of water from the back of Peter’s van all over the bottom of the fire.

It took a long time to put the fire out and everyone was very tired so Peter told Victor and Marty to take the rest of the day off and to go and get some rest.

The fire chief thanked them all for their help and said that Marty was particularly brave in helping to rescue the watoto.

Marty was very tired when he got home and he soon fell asleep. He slept soundly right through the night, and only woke up the next morning when he heard the paper boy delivering his copy of the Nairobi Star (newspaper).

Marty got out of his bed and picked the newspaper up and he couldn’t believe what he saw.

On the front page there was a picture of him rescuing the children and the headline read

“Marty Giraffe is the hero of the day”

This made Marty smile, he liked being a hero and he couldn’t wait to see what more adventures might lay in store for

Marty the Motorcycling giraffe

Dont for get to check next weeks story : Marty's exciting european adventure part 1 Marty goes to Paris

Marty the motorcycling Giraffe Story 40 Marty and the treasure map Part 2 Marty and the treasure chest

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Marty the motorcycling giraffe and his friends Peter and Gloria Ngono, Emmanuelle Wagana and Victor Chipco as well as his very special friend Gillian are in the middle of a very exciting adventure indeed, they have gone to the central island in Lake Turkana at the very north of Kenya to search for treasure, after Emmanuelle had found a treasure map buried in one of the fields on his farm.

After spending the night in tents on the shores of Central Island, the six adventures woke up very early, they gathered some wood together and lit a fire and Gloria cooked some maize porridge for breakfast, but Marty and Gillian of course preferred to eat some twigs and leafs, off the top of some nearby trees.

As soon as they had finished their breakfast, Emmanuelle laid out the treasure map on the floor for them all to look at.

“The path to the treasure seems to lead right round the volcano to the other side of the island, past some really big looking caves and the X for the treasure is in between two very large Baobab trees.

“Harambee” shouted Peter and the six adventures set off, with the sun glistening on the lake behind them and the volcano puffing out small clouds of steam into the otherwise cloudless blue sky.

“This really is a good place to search for treasure” Marty whispered to Gillian

It was a long hard trek around the volcano to the other side and the hot sun meant that they had to stop quite regularly for a rest and to drink some water out of the lovely cool springs.

It was past lunchtime by the time they passed the large deep caves that gave out wonderful echo sounds as Victor ran to the entrance of each one and shouted loudly down them, so by the time they reached the giant Baobab trees they were all very hungry. So before they started to dig at the spot between the trees where the map marks the treasure is, they decided to have something to eat first.

Gloria had brought some Ugali and fried chicken for everyone, except of course Marty and Gillian who as usual just ate some twigs and leafs from the top of the trees.

“Asante sana Gloria” Said Emmanuelle “that was a lovely dinner", and Peter and Victor agreed.

“Right” said Peter “we had better get started digging or we will never find the treasure in time to get home tonight.”

Peter, Victor, Emmanuelle and Gloria all started to dig a hole with the spades they had brought and placed the mud a big blanket that Marty and Gillian would lift up and tip the mud out away form the hole, like a big pair of spotty cranes.

With everyone working so hard it wasn’t long before the hole got so large and deep that Peter, Gloria, Emmanuelle and Victor couldn’t see out of the top of it and Marty and Gillian had to bend there necks very low to lift the blankets of dug soil out of the hole.

Suddenly Peter’s spade made a large thudding sound as he tried to dig it into the ground.

“I think I have found something” Peter shouted excitedly

They all started to scrape away at the ground and slowly a large wooden box with ornate gold markings started to appear

“Ndiyo! Ni kifua hazina” (Yes! It’s a treasure chest) shouted Victor at the top of his voice.

With a little bit more digging and scrapping the soon had the chest free from the ground.

Marty and Gillian lowered two pieces of rope into the hole so Peter could tie them to the chest. Then with a shout of “harambee” Marty and Gillian pulled the treasure chest out of the hole.

They then helped the other four out of the hole and Emmanuelle opened up the treasure chest.

The chest was full of sparkling jewellery and old gold coins.

“Wow we have hit the jackpot” exclaimed Emmanuelle.

“Yes some of that jewellery will make us look very glamorous, don’t you think Gillian” said Gloria with a large smile.

The six adventures then started off slowly carrying the chest back to the other side of the island where their boats were. As they walked they all talked excitedly about what they are going to with there share of the treasure.

Once they had rowed the boats back to the side of the lake and handed them back to the fishermen, they loaded the treasure chest into Peter’s van.

“We will split the treasure up when we get back to Nairobi” stated Emmanuelle

As Gillian climbed onto the back of Marty’s motorcycle she whispered to him that it has been lovely to come on an adventure with him

“And it has been lovely having you here as well” replied Marty “and what a wonderful adventure it was as well” he added

But as he started the long ride back to Nairobi, Marty couldn’t help wondering what the next adventure will be for

Marty the motorcycling giraffe

Dont miss next weeks exciting adventure in story 41 Marty and the fire brigade

Marty the Motorcycling Giraffe Story 39 Marty and the treasure map part 1 Victor’s close call

Marty the Motorcycling Giraffe

Story 38 Marty and the treasure map part 1 Victor’s close call

It was a Friday afternoon and Marty the motorcycling giraffe was hard at work with is friends Peter and Victor, they had finished cleaning the windows of the tall building in Nairobi for the week and were now hard at work cleaning the lorries and trucks at Mr Makuchi’s yard, when suddenly they heard the roar of a motorcycling and the lads' friend Emmanuelle (the farmer) came whizzing into the yard.

Emmanuelle parked his motorcycle and ran across to the others shouting excitingly holding a large rather tatty looking piece of paper.

“Marty, Peter, Victor, looked what I found, when I was planting some coffee plants in my field today”

“What is it?” asked Peter “it looks like a bit of rubbish”

“Oh its not rubbish” replied Emmanuelle, who then exclaimed rather grandly “It is a TREASURE MAP!!”

“Wow really? Let me see” shouted Victor, and he tried to grab he map

“Steady on Victor, don’t rip the map it’s very fragile” said Emmanuelle rather crossly.

Emmanuelle then rolled the map out on the floor and the all gathered round to take a good look at it.

Emmanuelle explained hat the map seems t be in the Turkana area of northern Kenya, and it leads to a spot on an island in Lake Turkana where the treasure is buried”.

“It could be the ancient treasure of a Masai or Turkana chief” explained Emmanuelle.

“Why don’t we visit Lake Turkana this weekend and see if we can find the treasure, it will be a great adventure” said Marty

So they started to plan their trip, Marty and Emmanuelle would go on their Motorcycles and Peter and Victor will go in Peter’s van with Peter’s wife Gloria.

“I will pick up Gillian as well” said Marty “she told me she would like to go on an adventure with me one day”

Victor was still looking at the map and had a puzzled look on hi face,

“Why has the mountain, on the island where the treasure is, drawn with a hole in its top?”

“That’s because eh mountain on the central island on Lake Turkana is a volcano” Emmanuelle informed Victor.

“Oh!” said Victor “that’s a bit dangerous isn’t it?”

“It’s not the volcano you have to worry about” laughed Emmanuelle “it’s all the crocodiles in the lake that are the real danger”

“I don’t like crocodiles” said Victor nervously “they are very scary”.

“You’ll be alright” laughed Peter who added “come on Marty, Victor let’s get the cleaning of these trucks finished s that we can get home for same rest , before making an early start searching for Emmanuelle’s reassure tomorrow”

They agreed they would meet at Peter’s yard at 8 in the morning, Emmanuelle set of home to his farm and left the others to finish cleaning Mr Makoushi’s trucks and vans.

As soon as he was finished working Mary rushed off home to have some dinner (twigs and leaves of course) and to get to bed for an early night.

The next morning Marty got up before the sun rose and was soon whizzing out of Nairobi and he had reached the Masai Mara as the daybreak spread a beautiful orange glow across the African plain as the sun rose above horizon.

Soon Marty reached the part where the giraffes like to spend the night; he found Gillian and woke her up to tell her all about the treasure map and the trip to Lake Turkana.

“That sounds wonderful” said Gillian “I have always wanted to go on a real adventure with you Marty” and she gave him a little kiss and went to get ready.

Gillian got ready very quickly and was soon sat behind Marty on his motorcycle,  while little Georgina who had woken up a soon as Marty had arrived and had listened to everything they said,  ran up to Marty and Gillian excitedly shouting “Uncle Marty uncle Marty bring some treasure back for me”

“Hush” Said Gillian “you’ll wake the others and of course we will bring something back for you,”

With that Marty accelerated his motorcycle and with a roar Marty and Gillian started to whizz away.

“The other giraffes will certainly be awake now” laughed Gillian

It wasn’t long before Marty and Gillian arrived at Peter’s window cleaning yard in Nairobi, Peter, Emmanuel Victor and Gloria were already there waiting for Marty and Gillian.

“Come on” shouted Peter “let’s get going we have a long way to go”

And off they shot out of the yard and into the roads heading north out of Nairobi with Peters van in front and Marty (with Gillian as a pillion passenger) and Emmanuelle following behind on their motorcycles.

It was a long drive to Turkana and they had to pass over the equator and through the Samburu national park before eventually arriving at the banks of Lake Turkana, in the early evening.

On the coast of the lake, the six adventurers stopped for a rest and to have something to eat before hiring a couple of rowing boats from the local fisher men to get across the lake to the island where the treasure is.

Gloria had packed a lovely picnic hamper with all types of different food in it for everyone to eat, but Marty and Gillian preferred to eat the twigs and leafs from the top of some acacia tress that were growing nearby.

After eating Peter worked a deal with the local fisherman to hire two rowing boats.

Marty, Gillian and Emmanuelle climbed into one of the boats and Peter, Gloria and Victor got into the other

“bahati nzuri ya kupata hazina, bali kuangalia mamba” ~(good luck finding the treasure, but watch out for the crocodiles) shouted the fisherman that hired them the rowing boats.

“Let’s have a race to other side” shouted Victor

“You sit down and don’t do any thing silly” scolded Peter in reply and set off to row across the very large lake towards the island in the distance.

As the two boats crossed the lake the six adventurers saw some very large turtles swimming close by to the their boats and in the distance they could see some very large and very scary crocodiles lying at the top of the water basking in the last of the days  hot sun.

Because of all the hard work he does on his farm, Emmanuelle has very strong arms and when it was his turn to row, his Marty and Gillian’s boat started to get ahead of Peter, Gloria and Victor’s boat.

This got Victor a little excited and he stood at the front of his boat and shouted to Peter, “come on Peter row faster”

But a small wave in the lake caused the boat to rock and Victor slipped and with a great big splash he fell into the water.

Because of the wares on the lake Peter’s boat was quickly some distance from Victor who was left splashing in the water shouting for help. A large crocodile saw what was going on and thought to himself that a trainee window cleaner would make a very tasty supper, and started to swim towards Victor with hungry looking grin on his face.

Marty, Gillian and Emmanuelle saw what happened and the turned their boat around and Emmanuelle, with his big strong muscles, started to row very fast to where Victor was splashing in the lake.

It soon became a bit of a race over who would get to Victor first, Emmanuelle, Marty and Gillian or the crocodile. Just as it looked like the crocodile was going to win and Victor was going to be a tasty snack, Marty stretched his long neck over the edge of the boat and grabbed Victor by is collar and pulled him up to the boat.

As Victor was raised out of the water the crocodile tried to grab him but he was just too late, with his big bite missing Victor by inches.

Victor sat very quietly for the rest of the trip across the lake. And once they had all arrived safely across to the island, they gathered some wood together and lit a big fire to get Victor dry and decided that as it was now getting quite dark they would put up their tents and spent the night on the island before hunting for the treasure in the morning.

Because they are so tall Marty and Gillian’s head and neck stick out of their tents, so they put up their tents opposite each other so that they could lie with with heads next to each other.

Before they went to sleep they looked up at the night sky and chatted about what more adventures this trip will bring for

Marty the motorcycling giraffe

Look out for the nesxt thrilling installment as Marty's year of adventure  continues next Saturday (March 17rh 2012) with story 40 Marty and the treasure map part 2 Marty and the large treasure chest

Marty the Motorcycling Giraffe Story 38 Marty and Gillian special night

Marty the Motorcycling Giraffe

Story 38 Marty and Gillian special night

Marty had just got back home from his amazing Asian adventure and was feeling rather tired from all the travelling, and was very glad that he did not have to go back to work (Marty works as a window cleaner’s assistant) for another couple of days, as he would like to get a good rest and go and visit his family and Gillian the giraffe in the Masai Mara first.

So Marty took an early night and slept very well back in his own bed and before he knew the alarm was going of and it was time to go and visit his family and friends in the Masai Mara.

Marty packed a few presents he had brought on his travels into his back pack and climbed onto his motorcycle and started to whiz along the busy Nairobi streets and out of town into the Kenyan countryside on the way to the Masai Mara.

It wasn’t long before he reached the familiar surrounding of the grassy plains of the Masai Mara.

Marty passed by some large herds of wildebeests and zebras, all grazing on the grasslands, while keeping a watchful eye out for any scary lions that might be about. Eventually he came to the cluster of umbrella acacia trees where Marty’s family and some other giraffes, liked to gather to eat the twigs and leafs form the top of the trees.

The Giraffes heard the roar of Marty’s motorcycle before he arrived and this made little Georgina (Marty’s niece) very excited and she jumped up and down shouting

“Uncle Marty’s coming, uncle Marty’s coming” 

“It certainly sounds like it!” Smiled Geraldine (Marty’s sister and Georgina’s mum)

“Yep that’ll be Marty alright” sighed Gary and George (Marty’s brother and brother in law)

And Gillian trotted over to the other Giraffes with a large smile on her face; she couldn’t wait to see Marty.

Marty appeared in a cloud of dust and drove his motorcycle alongside the giraffes and pulled his brakes top come to a screeching stop.

“Must you drive that thing so fast and so close to us” scolded Geraldine, but she was secretly very please to see Marty

Marty got all the presents out of his back pack and handed them out. Georgina was delighted with the doll he had brought her from China and Gillian loved the (very large) necklace he had brought her back form India

“I look so glamorous” she chuckled as Marty put it round her neck “asante sana Marty”

Marty stayed for quite a long time chatting to all the giraffes and telling them all about India, while they updated him on all the gossip from the Masai Mara.

After a while Marty pulled Gillian to one side and whispered in her ear.

“I missed you while I was in India and as I don’t have to go back to Nairobi until tomorrow, why don’t we take off some where together away from the others”

“Ooh that would be lovely” replied Gillian excitedly “where will we go”

“I know a lovely spot, on the far side of the Masai Mara alongside a small river, where the acacia trees are particularly juicy and tasty, here are large baobab trees to shelter us from the sun and keep us warm when the sun goes down,. Its very quiet there will be just you and me and best of all there are never any scary lions in that part of the Masai Mara”

“Oh it sounds wonderful Marty” sighed Gillian

So Gillian jumped on the back of Marty’s motorcycle and they both shouted “Kwarhari” to the other giraffes and started to ride away.

Georgina ran after the motorcycle for a little while shouted “Kwahari uncle Marty, kuja nyuma hivi karibuni (come back soon)”

Marty and Gillian were soon whizzing across the plains of the Masai Mara, passing by large herds  of buffalos, Zebras and wildebeats, they also passed a couple of large elephants and a few rhinoceroses and even a large pride of scary lions.

But at last they came to the quiet area along side a small river that Marty had told Gillian about.

Marty parked his motorcycle against a large baobab tree and Marty and Gillian went for a nice walk alongside the river bank, only stopping to eat the twigs and leaves from the top of some very tasty acacia trees.

As the sun started to go down over the horizon, setting a deep orange glow across the African plains, Marty and cuddled together under the mighty baobab, and watched s the stars slowly took the suns place in the night sky.

“Oh Marty the stars are like a million diamonds in the sky” smiled Gillian.

Marty and Gillian stayed up talking all night. Gillian liked to hear about all the exciting places that Marty has visited but she what made her the happiest was when Marty told her that one day he would like to take her on an adventure.

“Oh Marty said Gillian that would be nice, we could call the adventures of Marty and Gillian the motorcycling giraffes” This made Marty laugh.

Eventually the morning sun started to rise and it was time for Marty to take Gillian back to the other giraffes and for him to get back to Nairobi.

“Peter will be wondering if I am every coming back to work” sad Marty.

“I have had a wonderful time Marty” said Gillian “you will come back to the Masai Mara soon won’t you”

“A hundred scary lions couldn't stop me” he replied and gave Gillian a big kiss goodbye and jumped on his motorcycle to whiz back to Nairobi, to find out what the next adventure will be for

Marty the motorcycling giraffes

Look out for Marty's next thrillling adventure , story 39 Marty and the treasure map, to be added on Sat 10th March 2012