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

The adventures of Marty the Motorcycling Giraffe Story 37 Marty’s amazing Asian Adventure Part 3 Marty goes for a walk on the Great Wall of China

The adventures of Mary the Motorcycling Giraffe

Story 37 Marty’s amazing Asian Adventure Part 3 Marty goes for a walk on the Great Wall of China

Marty the motorcycling Giraffe is on one of his most amazing adventures yet, a train journey through Asia.

After travelling through India where he visited the Taj Mahal and Nepal, where he climbed to the base camp of Mount Everest and was taught how to snow board by Santosh the snow boarding Yak, Marty is now heading for China, where he wants to go for a walk on the great wall.

As the train ram through the rolling hills of Tibet, Marty looked out of the window and enjoyed the beautiful countryside and was in awe at some of the magnificent temples built into the hills

Soon the train passed out of the hill and through miles and miles of marshy farm land (paddy fields) where the local farmers grew and harvested huge quantities of rice.

“Hmm” Thought Marty “I don’t really like rice, I hope there are a lot of nice twigs and leafs to eat in China, or I will get quite hungry

It was a very long train journey to the city of Taiyuan, where Marty was going to stay the night before going on to join the great wall at the Niangzi guan pas before walking along the wall all the way to Beijing (China’s capital city), and Marty passed the time by reading a book all about the great wall of China.

He learned that the wall was 8,851 km (5,300 miles) long and runs right across the north part of China from Shanhaigua in the east to Lop lake in the west, and was originally built thousands of years ago to defend China from the nomadic tribes and war lords that use to live in the Mongolian areas north of the wall. Marty also read that legend says that the Niangzi guan pass is a garrison that used to be guarded by female soldiers under the command of Princess Pingyan

“Wow” thought Marty to himself “visiting the great wall is certainly going to be a very exciting adventure”

It was very late in the evening when Marty arrived at Taiyuan, so he booked himself into a hotel for the night

The next morning Marty was up bright and early and after a quick breakfast set out into Taiyuan.

Taiyuan is a very large, busy modern city with lots of very tall buildings and a lot of people whizzing around doing their daily business.

Marty thought to himself that he and Peter would be very busy if they had to clean all the windows in this city.

A young man came up to Marty and said “你好’ (n ho)” (hello in Chinese) “Mr. Giraffe, you look a little lost, can I help?”

“Jambo” replied Marty “I am Marty, I am from Africa I am here on an adventure and want to get to the Niangzi guan pass, so that I can go for a walk on the great wall”.

“I am Cheng-Gong” the young man said, “and I can show the way to the pass but first would you like me to show you some of the sites here in Taiyuan”

“Asante sana” replied Marty “that would be very kind of you”

Marty spent the morning with Cheng –Gong  who  told Marty all  about  the city of Taiyuan and how it is an ancient city that used to be know as the Dragon city, and he showed Marty some of the main sites in the city, which included the very tall Hilton hotel ,  Taiyuan food street, with its traditional building variety of eating places all serving up delicious smelling Chinese food (but of course Marty didn’t want to try and of these different types of food because he only eats twigs and leafs) and finally Cheng-Gong  took Marty to see the Jinci temple.

The Jinci temple is a beautiful pagoda style building, and Cheng Gong informed Marty that it is over 1400 years old.

Marty looked inside the temple and was amazed at tall the beautiful artefacts and Chinese carvings that he saw.

Soon it was time for Marty to head off for the Great Wall of China, so Cheng Gong took Marty to a bus station and showed him which bus to catch that would take him to the Niangzi guan pass.

Marty got on board the bus, but because he is so tall he had to sit with his neck and head sticking out of the window.

After a short bus journey Marty arrived at the Niangzi guan pass. Marty picked up his back pack and walked up to the wall.

Marty was quite amazed by the size of the wall and thought to himself that it must have taken a lot of bricks to build this all the away across China.

Marty climbed into the Niangzi guan pass and up the stairs on to the wall and set off on the long walk along the wall to Beijing.

As he walked along the wall Marty looked out into the Chinese countryside and wondered if he might see a panda in the bamboo fields.

“Jambo Mr Giraffe” came a voice from behind him. Marty turned round to see a small African family looking up at him

The family introduced themselves to Marty as Daniel, Diana and their son Simon from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania East Africa

“We have come on a safari to China” Daniel told Marty

“I have been all across Asia” Marty told the family, “and I think this walk on the great wall will be quite an amazing adventure”

Daniel told Marty that the only thing spoiling their trip on the great wall, was tht little Simon couldn’t see over the top and was missing out on the great scenery.

“He could climb up and sit on my head for the trip” offered Marty “then he wouldn’t miss a thing”

Marty knelt down and lowered his head so Simon could climbed

“Hold on tight” said Marty as he raised his head back into air

“Wow this is fantastic” shouted Simon “I can see for miles”

Marty and the family then set off on the long to Beijing and chatted all about their various ravels and all the wonderful things they have seen.

“I will still be glad to get back to Africa though” said Diana “I do miss Dar es  Salaam”

“hakuna mahali kama nyumbani” (there’s no place like home)  smiled Marty

Along the way Marty and the family met lots of other people from all over the world who had came to China to walk along the great wall.

They also got to look across the lovely scenery with the rolling Mongolian hills to the north and the farm lands to the south

Then suddenly little Simon started shouting and pointing from the top of Marty’s head

“Look look Panda bears”

Every one ran to the look over the side of the wall where Simon was pointing and sure enough sat in a field of bamboo sat two large giant Panda bears.

“Jambo Mr and Mrs Panda” shouted Marty, but the Panda’s didn’t look up they just carried on eating the bamboo shoots.

“Mmm I guess Panda’s don’t understand Swahilli” joked Daniel which made Marty laugh so much that he nearly shook little Simon off his head.

“Careful Marty don’t hurt my little boy” shouted.

“Hakuna matata” shouted down Simon, I am hanging on tight to Marty’s ears.

“Ouch, he certainly is hanging on tight” exclaimed Marty and every one laughed again.

After a very long and tiring walk and just as it was starting to get dark, Marty saw the bright lights of Beijing, lighting up the night’s sky.

“We are nearly there” said Marty

“Yes Beijing here we come” said Daniel “but I don’t think Simon will know much about our arrival, he’s fallen asleep”

And sure enough Simon had wedged himself between Marty’s horns and fallen fast asleep.

They all walked into the busy city to the hotel where Daniel, Diana and Simon were staying (Marty was booked into a different hotel)

So as not to wake little Simon, Marty stayed outside while Daniel and Diana booked into the hotel and went up to their room on the third floor,

Diana opened the window to the bedroom and Marty leaned through the window and put his head down close to Simon’s bed, so Daniel could move the little boy into his bed without waking him.

“I have to go to find my hotel now” said Marty “and I am leaving for home on an early flight tomorrow”

“We are staying in Beijing for a few days” said Diana “so kwaheri Marty, kuwa salama safari nyumbani kwa Afrika “(goodbye Marty have a safe journey home to Africa)

“Kwahari” replied Marty “It has been lovely to meet you all”

Marty made his way to his own hotel and as he was so tired after the long walk he fell asleep very quickly.

He was up early the next morning and headed straight for the airport.

“My journey through Asia has been an amazing adventure” Marty thought to himself as be boarded the aeroplane “but I will be glad to get back to Nairobi to see all my friends, my little house, my motorcycle and most of all my Gillian again”

Soon the aeroplane was flying high above the clouds taking Marty back to Africa where there will sure to be lots more adventures for

Marty the motorcycling giraffe.

Dont forget to catch next weeks thrilling adventure  in story 38 Marty and Gillian's speccial night, to be posted Sat 3rd March 2012

Marty the Motorcycling Giraffe Story 36 Marty’s amazing Asian adventure part 2 Marty and Santosh the snowboarding yak

Marty the Motorcycling Giraffe

Story 36 Marty’s amazing Asian adventure part 2 Marty and Santosh the snowboarding yak

Marty the Motorcycling Giraffe is on one of his most amazing adventures as he is visiting Asia, after a lovely time in India, where he met a knew friend called Jai and visited the Taj Mahal, Marty is now sat on the roof of a train heading for Nepal and a small town called that is high in the Himalayan mountains.

After passing through the border between India and Nepal the train track started to rise steeply up the mountains as the train raced through the Nepalese countryside. A cold wind started to blow and Marty felt every exposed sat on the top of the train.

“If it gets any colder up here I am going to be worlds only blue Giraffe” Marty thought to himself as the surrounding countryside started to turn white with a thick covering of snow.

Marty was very pleased when the train finally came to a stop at Kathmandu station, and he could climb off the roof. Marty  quickly got his very long and very stripy scarf (that Mrs Smith made for him when he visited London on a previous adventure) and wrapped it round his neck (a rather long job)

“That’s better” said Marty to himself “I feel a lot warmer with my scarf on”.

As Marty trudged through the snowy streets, towards the hotel he was staying at tonight, he looked up at all the snowy mountains that towered above the small town and often seem to disappear into the clouds looking like they would go on rising into the sky for ever. Marty was very excited because tomorrow he was going to start a hike to the base camp of the highest of all the mountains, Mount Everest.

Although Marty has climbed very high mountains before in Africa and in South America, he has never climbed as high as he will do on this adventure.

Marty’s hotel in Khatmandu was very nice and had a big log fire burning in the main lounge area. So Marty sat in front of it warming his hooves before deciding to go to bed to get some rest before his big climb to the base camp of Mount Everest the next day.

The next day after a big breakfast of twigs and leafs, Marty met up with Adesh his guide, a rather small man with a very old wrinkly face and  grey bear, who was going to take Marty to the base camp of Mount Everest.

“Namaste” said Adesh “I have never had a Giraffe climb with me before” said   “have you ever climbed any mountains before”

“Yes” replied Marty very proudly, “I have climbed Mount Kilimanjaro back in Africa and the Andes mountains in Peru to see the lost city of Machu Pichu”

“They are fine mountains indeed” said Adesh   “but Everest is the tallest mountain in the world and although we are only going to base camp and not to the top, you will still have to climb higher than you have ever done before”.

Marty thought that this sounded like a very exciting adventure.

Soon Marty set off following in Adesh’s footsteps; it was very tough going trudging through the deep snow and up the steep slopes. It took four days and nights before they arrived at the base camp of Everest and Marty felt very cold in his tent each night and was very glad each morning when Adesh brought him a cup of hot tea and bowl of piping hot porridge. (Marty usually only eats twigs and leafs, but in this climate he was very happy to eat something hot)

Adesh was a very quiet guide and didn’t talk much as they trekked up the mountain, but at least he seemed to know the correct way.

Marty was feeling very tired when they finally reached the base camp of Everest, where there were a few other parties who made a similar trip and one group of intrepid mountaineers who were intending climbing on to the top of Everest.

“Wow” said Marty to the group of climbers “you must be very brave to be climbing to the top” as he looked up the snowy slopes to see the top of Mount Everest was still disappearing into the clouds.

“It  will certainly be a great adventure  replied one of the mountaineers “who added “maybe you should come back one day Marty and climb the whole of the mountain, and become the first Giraffe to ever reach the top of Mount Everest.”

“I would like that, maybe I will one day” said Marty.

Soon it was time for Marty and Adesh to start climbing back down to Kathmandu

Marty and Adesh had not got far down the snowy slope, when they heard a strange noise coming form behind them they looked around to see a large cloud of snow billowing down the mountain towards them

“Weeeeeee!” came a  noise from inside the cloud of  snow, and as it came nearer Marty and Adesh could see the cloud of snow was being caused by a Yak coming down the hill on a snowboard. The Yak came to a skidding halt just in front of Adesh and Marty, throwing snow up and into their faces

“Namaste” said the Yak “I am Santosh the snowboarding yak, and I live here on these mountains”

“Jambo, I am Marty the motorcycling giraffe, all the way form Africa” replied Marty.

“I have never seen a giraffe in the Himalayas before and I don’t think you could ride a motorcycle up here” exclaimed Santosh.

“No, I don’t think so” laughed Marty and he added “snowboarding looks exciting”

“I have a spare snow board in my back pack, if you would like to have a go?” offered Santosh

Marty said that would be great , so Marty and Santosh climbed back up the slopes a little way to find a good spot to snow board down, while Adesh quietly and patiently watched them.

After a few instructions from Santosh, Marty felt he was ready to go snow boarding. So they Marty and Adesh jumped on their snow boards and started to whizz down the mountains slopes at great speed.

“Wow! This is fantastic” shouted Marty

But suddenly Marty found that the snow board wasn’t that easy to control and he was heading straight towards the edge of a cliff…. “Oooh quick, help me Santsoh” shouted out Marty.

Santosh quickly caught up with Marty and shouted for him to lean to his right.

Marty did this and the snow board turned away from the cliff edge just in time.

“Phew that was close” exclaimed Marty, but as he look back at the cliff edge he didn’t notice a rock sticking out the snow and Marty hit the rock and full speed, that sent him and his snowboard spinning into the air, Marty land with a loud flumpy noise into a deep pile of soft snow, so that only his neck and head were sticking out of the snow.

Marty wasn’t hurt and he and Santosh were soon laughing about how he flew through the air.

“Snow boarding is great fun” exclaimed Marty as he dug himself out of the snow “but I think I prefer motorcycling”

Marty thanked Santosh for letting him have a go at snowboarding and he and Adesh carried on back down the Mountain to Kathmandu.

At Khatmandu Marty said “asante sana” to Adesh for helping him climb to the base camp at Everest and then shouted “Kawahari” as he climbed on board the train. Adesh quietly put his hands to together bowed and whispered “Namaste, Marty enjoy the rest of your travels”.

Soon the train was rocketing along the tracks out of Nepal and into China, and Marty thought to himself that he can’t wait to see what more adventures this trip will bring for

Marty the motorcycling Giraffe

Look out for next weeks tale of adventure Story 37 Marty's amazing Asian adventure part 3  Marty wlks on the Great wall of China , to be posted on Sat 25th Feb 2012

Marty the motorcycling giraffe Story 35 Marty’s great Asian adventure (Part 1 Marty and the Taj Mahal)

Marty the motorcycling giraffe

Story 35 Marty’s great Asian adventure (Part 1 Marty and the Taj Mahal)

Today was an exciting day for Marty, because today he is starting off on one of his exciting travelling adventures. Marty is flying to Mumbai in India to start his great Asian adventure.

Gillian, Peter, Gloria, Emmanuelle and Victor all turned up at the airport to wave Marty goodbye

“Kawhari, na safari njema” (goodbye have a good trip) they all shouted as Marty left for the plane.

“I’ll miss you” shouted Gillian, “I’ll miss you too” replied Marty and he blew Gillian a goodbye kiss.

During the long flight to Mumbai, Marty read all abut India in a book he brought at Nairobi airport, he was particularly interested in the Taj Mahal, which is magnificent building that was built by Shah Jahan (Prince Hurran) as a tomb for and shrine to his late wife Murmataz Mahal

Marty was quite tired when he arrived in Mumbai so he booked into a small hotel to stay the night and plan his trip to the Taj Mahal.

Marty spent the evening looking out across Mumbai from his hotel window and marvelling at all the different things going on and the lovely smells coming from people cooking spicy food on the pavements. Marty of course doesn’t eat any of these different types of food, so he settled for some dinner of twigs and leafs before going to bed to get a good nights sleep.

The next morning Marty went to the train station to catch a train to Agra, the nearest city to the Taj Mahal. Marty brought his ticket and went out to the platform on the train station and he couldn’t believe his eyes when his train came in, the train was so crowded there was no room in any of the carriages and lots of people were climbing on top of the train to sit on its roof.

“Come up here Mr Giraffe I will help you” said a young boy reaching his hand down from the roof, He took Marty’s hoof and helped Marty onto the roof.

“Asante sana” said Mary

“Namaste (hello)” said the boy “my name is Jai, I have never met a giraffe before, you are very tall”

“Jambo” replied Marty “My name is Marty and I am from Africa and I like visiting new places and having lots of adventures”

“Well a train ride in India is certainly an adventure” Laughed Jai, and then he shouted “look out! Duck down Marty!”

Marty looked up to see that the train was headed towards a low bridge and he had to lean his head and neck down the side of the train to fit through

“Phew that was close” exclaimed Marty

As the train passed through different stations on the journey it b got busier and busier and Marty had to hold on tight to stop him being pushed off the roof.

Marty thought that this was a very exciting way to travel and loved looking out across the Indian countryside, especially when he saw some Indian Elephants and a very fierce looking tiger walking quite close to the railway tracks.

Eventually the train came to halt at Agra train station and Marty and Jai left the station

“I can show you round the Taj Mahal, I have been there several times before” said jai

“Asante sana that is really good of you” replied Marty.

It was quite a long walk from the station, which gave Marty and jai plenty of time to swap stories about living in Africa and India.

When they arrived at the Taj Mahal, Marty instantly new the trip was worthwhile, the building was an absolutely fantastic site  with its four large towers and the wonderfully ornate stonework that created glorious archways and a simply magnificent domed roof and was set in the most beautiful gardens.

“That is truly an amazing building” exclaimed Marty “Shah Jahan must have really loved his wife, to have such a magnificent shrine built for her”

“Yes indeed” replied Jai “but you wait until you see the inside it gets even better”.

Jai and Marty spent the rest of the day inside and outside the Taj Mahal marvelling at all the treasures and secrets that the building kept. Marty was very impressed with Jai’s knowledge.

“You do know an awfull lot about the Taj Mahal, I am very grateful that you could show me round” said Mary “I am also surprised by how many people from all over the world are here to visit the building”

“Yes lots of people come to our country to visit the Taj Mahal, but I think you are the only Giraffe.”

This made Marty smile and feel very proud.

Soon it was time for Marty to leave and continue on his Asian adventure, as he had to catch another train to take him out of India into Nepal and the giant mountains of the Himalayas

Marty and Jai said goodbye at the train station and Marty made Jai promise that he would come to Africa to visit him some day

“I would love to show you round my home country” Said Marty

Marty then climbed on top of the roof of the train and shouted Kawahari  as the train left the station heading for Nepal, the Himalayas and yet more adventures for

Marty the Motorcycling Giraffe.

Dont for get to check next weeks adventure:- story 36 Marty's great Asian adventure part 2 Marty and Santosh the snowboarding Yak

Marty the Motorcycling Giraffe Story 34 Marty and Peter give Emmanuelle a big birthday surprise

Marty the Motorcycling Giraffe

Story 34 Marty and Peter give Emmanuelle a big birthday surprise.

One day while they were hard at work, cleaning windows in Nairobi, Marty, the Motorcycling Giraffe and window cleaner’s assistant, and his good friend Peter, the window cleaner, were having a chat about their friend Emmanuelle, the farmer.

“Did you know it is Emmanuelle’s birthday on Friday?”  Peter asked Marty.

“Yes I did know” replied Marty “But he will probably be too busy working on his farm to celebrate his birthday”

“He does work very hard” agreed Peter.

Marty then had an idea “why don’t we throw him a surprise party, then he will have to stop working and enjoy his birthday” he said

“What a great idea” agreed Peter.

For the rest of the day, as they worked, Marty and Peter discussed their plans for Emmanuelle’s party surprise. Victor (the trainee window cleaner) also joined in with some ideas.

By the time they had finished their work for the day the three boys had thought up a great plan.

On Friday they would start work early, and work really fast to get all the windows and all of Mr Makushi’s truck washed and clean before three o’clock in the afternoon, Then they would collect Gloria and Gillian and sneak to the small field on the side of Emmanuelle’s little house and set up a barbeque.

“Emmannuelle will be busy in his banana plant field at that time of the day, so we can set up the barbeque with out him knowing it” said Peter who added with funny smile on his face “I shall get my lovely new wife to make up lots of wonderful tasting smoothies as well” 

Marty and Victor laughed at this, because Peter also had a funny wistful look on his face when he thought of Gloria.

The three friends worked really hard for the rest of the day and they finished cleaning the last of Mr Makushi’s trucks by 2:45 in the afternoon.

“Me and Victor will go in the van and pick up Gloria, and the food” said Peter “and you Marty had better whiz off fast on you motorbike to the Masai Mara and pick up Gillian”

“Right away” said Marty, and it was his turn to have a silly smile on his face,

“He always has a silly look on his face when you mention Gillian” laughed Victor.

“Ha” replied Peter “you will understand Victor when a pretty binti (young lady) captures your heart”

Peter, Victor and Gloria soon arrived at Emmanuelle’s farm and started to set up the barbeque and put up some tables for the food and smoothies and Victor brought his I Pod and speakers so they could have some music.

When Marty and Gillian arrived, Peter asked Marty to ride to the banana field and tell Emmanuelle that he had to come quickly as someone has broken the door to his barn, and that the rest of them would hide in the barn and jump out to surprise him

“That should get him running here quickly, Emmanuelle keeps a lot of important farm equipment in his barn” said Peter with a sly smile

So Marty raced his motorcycle across the farm’s fields until he came to the field with the banana plants.

There was Emmanuelle making sure that all his banana plants were well watered

“Emmanuelle!!! Emmanuelle!!” shouted Marty “Come quickly, something has happened to your barn, the door has been broken off!”

“Oh no not my barn!” shouted Emmanuelle and he jumped onto the back of Marty’s motorcycle.

Soon they were whizzing across the field back to the barn where the others were waiting.

As they pulled up alongside the barn, Emmanuelle looked a bit puzzled.

“But there is nothing wrong with my barn Marty” he said.

Suddenly the barn door opened and out jumped Peter, Gloria, Gillian and Victor.

“Mshangao! (Surprise) Happy birthday Emmanuelle “they all shouted.

“Oh wow a surprise party for me, oh asante sana” excalinmed Emmanuelle

Peter then got the food cooked on the barbeque, Gloria handed out the smoothies and Victor put the music on.

Soon the party was in full swing and some of Emmanuelle’s neighbours from the nearby village joined in and everyone was dancing to Victor’s music and having a great time.

The party continued late into the night, but eventually it was time to go home and all the guests started to leave.

“Kwarhari asante sana” (goodbye, thank you) Emmanuelle shouted to his guests as they were leaving

“Yako kuwakaribisha, hakuna matata” (your welcome, its no problem) laughed Marty and Peter in reply.

By the time Marty had taken Gillian back to the Masai Mara and got back to his house the sun was coming up and he been awake all night.

“I am going to be very tired, but it was worth it. It was a good party and it was good to see Emmanuelle enjoy his birthday” thought Marty to himself and then he thought that he had better get some sleep or he will be too tired for the next adventure that might come along for

Marty the motorcycling giraffe.

Dont forget to check next week as Marty's year of adventures continues with story 35 Marty's great Asian adventure part 1 Marty visits the Taj Mahal