Marty the Motorcycling Giraffe Story 46 Marty rides the rapids (Marty and Kevin the kayaking monkey)

Marty the Motorcycling Giraffe

Story 46 Marty rides the rapids (Marty and Kevin the kayaking monkey)

While Marty was having his breakfast (twigs and leafs of course) he looked out of the window and noticed what a lovely sunny day it is.

“As its Saturday and I don’t have to go to work, I think I will go for a nice long ride on my Motorcycle” Marty said to himself.

There is nothing Marty likes better than to whizz around on his motorcycle, but just a he was getting everything ready to go for a ride, some one knocked on his door

Marty opened the door to see a monkey with a rather cheeky smile at the door.

“Jambo Marty rafiki (my friend), it’s me Kevin the Kayaking monkey from Zambezi River”

Jambo Kevin, it’s good to see you again, what are you doing in Kenya”

Kevin came inside and explained to Marty that he has been invited to enter a kayaking race on the white water rapids on the River Tana near Sagna in Kenya.

“I caught a train from Lusaka (capital city of Zambia) to Nairobi and I now have to get to Sanga for the race. But I couldn’t come to Nairobi with out visiting my old rafiki, now could I”  Kevin told Marty and then added “and it turns out you’re a bit of a local celebrity as well, I had no problems finding your home as everybody I asked in Nairobi knows all about Marty the motorcycling giraffe.”

This made Marty laugh and he replied “well you don’t get many giraffes in the city and I am definitely the only motorcycling giraffe”

Marty then told Kevin that he had no plans for the day and he would happily give him a lift, to Sanga, on the back of his motorcycle.

It didn’t take Marty long to get ready and soon the Marty and Kevin were whizzing along the streets of Nairobi heading towards Sanga.

They certainly got some odd looks from the people they passed, as you don’t often see a motorcycle whizzing by with a giraffe and a monkey on board.

Because Marty can ride his motorcycle very fast they arrived at the River bank in plenty of time for the race.  This gave Kevin time to test out the kayak the organiers of the race had provided for him.

After a quick go in the kayak, Kevin paddled the kayak up to the side of the river and where Marty was stood.

“This is a good kayak, I think I am in with a chance of winning this race” Kevin said to Marty and then added, “there is still plenty of time for the race, why don’t you have a little go at kayaking, while we wait its great fun”.

Marty agreed that it did look fun, so when Kevin got out of the Kayak, Marty climbed in. Because he has such long legs it was very difficult for Marty to get in and he didn’t feel very comfortable or very stable in the kayak.

Kevin laughed at Marty and pointed out cheekily that he looked about as much as home in a kayak as a fish would on a bicycle.

Marty took the paddles off Kevin and pushed himself away form the side of the river and vey slowly started to paddle downstream.

Marty’s great height made the kayak very unstable and it wobbled about in water, making Marty quite nervous and he tried to control it with the paddles.

As Marty reached the middle of the river, the faster flowing water caught the kayak and it started to rush down stream

“Whoa, how do you stop this thing” shouted Marty, as he shot off down the river, ducking his head under the branches of trees that hung over the river from its banks.

To his great trepidation Marty saw a large rock sticking out of the water up ahead and not matter how had he paddled he couldn’t stop his kayak head strait for it and his eyes were as wide as saucers as the front end of his kayak hit the rock sending Marty flying out of the kayak and spinning in the air before landing with a huge splash in the water.

For a few worrying seconds Marty disappeared underneath the fast flowing waters, but quite quickly hi head an long neck and head popped out and Marty slowly stood to his feet.

As he is so tall Marty as quite able to wade to the side of the river, but he was dripping wet.

By this time Kevin was laughing hysterically at the site of his sodden Giraffe friend.

“You are the worst kayaker ever” laughed Kevin.

This made Marty laugh too,

“Yes I don’t think Giraffes are cut out for kayaking and I will stick to motorcycling in future” laughed Marty

Marty and Kevin then ran down the banks of the river to retrieve the kayak so that Kevin could take it back upstream to the start of the race. Where there was quite a crowd gather to watch.

Kevin climbed into the kayak and lined up along side the other kayakers at the start of the race

“Moja, mbili, tatu, kuanza mbio” (One, two, three, start the race) shouted on of the race organisers

All of the kayakers paddled very hard to get their kayaks to the centre of the river where the water runs the fastest.

The race got very exciting as the kayakers started to zoom through the white water rapids, while zig-zagging in and out of the rocks that stuck out of the water.

Marty ran along the river bank to keep with the race, cheering and shouting his support to Kevin as he went.

Many of the kayakers fell out of their kayaks and into the river, they then pulled themselves to the river bank where they could dry off in the hot sun and watch the rest of the competitors speed towards the finishing line.

The river hits a sharp bend and the finishing line is just past the bend.

As the kayakers reach the bend Kevin was in third place.

The two leading  kayakers both tried to go down the centre of the river in the fast water, while Kevin tried to go past on the outside, where he would have to paddle extra hard, as the water did not run so fast.

The first two kayaker got to close to each other and bashed paddles which caused them to wobble in the water and they had to slow down to keep their balance, this gave Kevin just the opportunity to paddle past the and into the lead.

“Hooray well done Kevin” shouted Marty and he jumped with joy, which meant his head suddenly appeared above the tree tops surprising a couple of vultures that were sat on the highest branches.

After the race Kevin stepped on to the winner’s podium to collect his trophy

The race organiser shouted to the crowd

“Mshindi wa leo njia yote kutoka Mto Zambezi katika Zambia ni Kevin monkey Kayaking” (Today’s winner all the way from the Zambezi River in Zambia is Kevin the Kayaking monkey)

And the crowd all cheered very loudly as he handed over the winners trophy to Kevin.

“Wow that was exciting, well done” said Marty as he and Kevin prepared to make there way back to Nairobi.

“Yes it was rather fun” replied Kevin

They then climbed on to Marty’s motorcycle and headed off towards Nairobi.

Once they reached Nairobi, Marty took Kevin to the train station so he could start his long journey back to the Zambezi River in Zambia

“Kwahari Kevin, it was good to see you again” said Marty as Kevin boarded the train.

“It was good to see you too Marty” shouted Kevin through the train windows.

Marty waved Kevin off and thought to himself that raiding the rapids in a kayak was an exciting adventure and wondered what the next adventure will be for

Marty the motorcycling Giraffe

check out story 19 (also in this blog site) marty and emmanuelle go on a safari part 3 marty and kevin the kayaking monkey, to find what happended when Marty first met Kevin

The next thrilling installment in Marty's year of adventures (story 47 Marty great North American adventure (part 1 Marty and the Birdman of Boston), will be posted on Sat 5th May)

Marty the Motorcycling giraffe Story 45 Marty and the hot air balloon

Marty the Motorcycling giraffe

Story 45 Marty and the hot air balloon

It’s a lovely sunny day in Nairobi and Marty is back at work, after his exciting European adventure, cleaning windows with Peter and Victor.

While they worked Marty told Peter and Vincent all bout his travels through France, Germany, Belarus and Russia.

“That all sounds very exciting; I bet you have spent all the money you got from the treasure chest then”

“Oh no” replied Marty “I still have enough left for one more big adventure and for something very special I have planned”

“You mentioned this before, but wouldn’t tell us what it is” exclaimed Victor

“That’s right” replied Marty “but it is a special secret plan and you will both just have to wait until the right time, to find out”

“Well you’re not the only one what special plans” said Peter and then he told Marty that Victor, Emmanuelle and he had brought a hot air balloon and that they intend to run hot air balloon safaris on Saturdays.

“I don’t think a hot air balloon is a good place for a giraffe, I would bash my head n the burner” laughed Marty

“But your knowledge of the Masai Mara may be very useful, and you could guide us to the best places to take people.”

“That sounds like a plan” smiled Marty.

They agreed that at the weekend they would take the hot air balloon for a test flight, before they used it with paying customers.

So on Saturday they all headed off to the Masai Mara. Marty an Emmanuelle led the way on their motorcycles and Peter, Gloria and Victor followed in Peter’s van.

When they arrived at the Masai Mara, they headed for the spot where Marty’s family and other giraffes liked to roamed

Marty introduced, Peter, Emmanuelle, Victor and Gloria to his family, Gary (his brother) Geraldine (his sister) George (his brother in law) and Georgina his little niece.

“And of course your already know Gillian” said Marty as he leaned forward to give Gillian a little kiss.

“We have heard a lot about you people and what good friends you are with Marty” said Gary.

“Marty has told us a lot about his Giraffe family too” replied Peter.

The giraffes then led the others to a nice flat spot where they could set the hot air balloon up and take off into the sky.

With a lot of effort they managed to get the balloon and basked out of Peter’s van. Peter, Victor, Emmanuelle and Gloria climbed into the basked and Peter lit the burner.

As the hot air, from the burner, rushed into it, the balloon started to rise above the basket.

Marty and the other giraffes watched in awe as the basket started to rise above the ground, and it wasn’t long before the giant balloon was flying so high, that it looked like a tiny stripy ball floating in the bright blue Kenyan sky, with only occasional vulture flying by to share their airspace with.

“hii ni ajabu, mimi kuona kwa maili” (this is amazing, I can see for miles) shouted Victor from the basket.

“You be careful Victor! You don’t want to fall over the edge of the basket” warned Gloria.

With the giraffes trotting along below them the four intrepid ballooners flew across the Masai Mara towards the Mara River.

Along the way they looked down on herds of zebra (panda-mila) and wildebeests (nyumbu), all being carefully watched by a pride of scary lions (simba), some very large elephants (tembo)  marching across the plains and of course some  more very graceful and elegant giraffes (twigas).

“This is fantastic” shouted Peter “tourists will be willing to pay a lot of shillingi (Kenyan money) to be taken on a great flight like this”

“You’re always thinking of business” said Gloria while rolling her eyes, this made Victor and Emmanuelle laugh.

Eventually they reached the Mara River and Peter controlled the balloon so that it was floating in the air just above the river, while Marty and the other giraffes caught up stood on the banks of the river looking up at the balloon as it gently flew by.

“I think your friend is on to a good thing, they must be getting some fantastic views of Africa, in that balloon” George said to Marty.

Meanwhile up in the balloon high above the river, Victor was looking down and the water and became very excited when he noticed there was a herd of hippopotamuses (kiboko) swimming in the river

“kuangalia! kuangalia! kuna mengi ya viboko katika mto” (Look! Look! There are a lot of hippos in the river), Shouted Victor excitedly, but as he leaned forward to get a closer look he tripped over Emmanuelle’s foot and fell out of the basket.

“Oh no Victor” shouted Peter and Gloria screamed in fright.

Marty and the other Giraffes looked up in shock and terror as Victor started to tumble from the sky towards the fast running Masai River.

But there gasps of horror soon turned to roars of laughter, when Victor’s trousers snagged on to a tree hanging over the river bank, which left hanging above the river by the seat of his pants.

“Come on Marty” laughed Gary we had better help your friend.

So Marty and Gary walked up to where the tree was and Gary stretched out his neck and grabbed the branch Victor was hanging from and pulled it away from the river and Mary gently pulled Victor free and then let go and pulled his head away as Gary let the branch spring back across the river an much to everyone’s amusement Victor fell to ground landing on his backside on the soft grasslands of the Masai Mara.

Soon afterwards Peter landed the balloon and everyone stood around talking about the flight and teasing Victor about his fall.

“You will certainly do some good business and have some adventures with that balloon” commented Geraldine

“There’s always an adventure when Uncle Marty is around” chirped little Georgina excitedly

“That is very true” smiled Gillian.

This made Marty blush and a big silly smile came across his face.

“Come on you too, stop that, we have work to do” laughed Peter, “we have to get the balloon loaded back onto my van”

As they lifted the heavy balloon and basket, Marty thought to himself that this has been quite an exciting day and wondered what the next adventure will be for

Marty the Motorcycling giraffe.

Dont forget to check out next weeks adventure in Story 46 Marty rides the rapids (Marty and Kevin the Kayaking monkey)

Marty the Motorcycling giraffeStory 44 Marty’s exciting European adventure Part 3 Marty in Minsk and Moscow

Marty the motorcycling giraffe, is on one of his most exciting adventures yet, Marty is touring Europe and after a lovely couple of days in Berlin in Germany, Marty is taking a very long train journey to Moscow the capital city of Russia.

To reach Russia and Moscow the train will have to pass right through Poland and Belarus first, so Marty had decided that he will have an over night stop in Minsk  the capital city of Belarus.

Marty brought some books and magazines about the things to do and see in Moscow and Minsk and settled down for the long train ride

It was early evening when Marty arrived at Minsk so he booked himself into a hotel, opposite Victory square, where he had a good view of the monument in the centre of the square from his hotel room.

Marty then headed off to find Gorky Park, a large park with a fairground that he had read about.

At the park, Marty wandered round its lovely gardens and couldn’t help have a little nibble at some of the twigs and leafs from the top of the many trees there. Marty then came across the fairground and saw that it had a really big, “big wheel” ride.

“I must have a go on that big wheel” Marty thought to himself “it’s a bit like the one I went on when I visited London”

Marty joined the queue for a ride on the big wheel and it wasn’t long before he as sat high above the tree tops and getting a wonderful view of the park and beyond into the city of  Minsk.

After he finished riding the big wheel Marty headed for the parks observatory and planetarium.

Marty enjoyed looking up at the stars in the planetarium as it reminded him of the night sky in the Masai Mara, where stars are not hidden by the bright lights of any city. But this did make Marty feel a little home sick, as he did miss being in Africa with all his friends, in particularly his special friend Gillian Giraffe.

“Pull yourself together Marty” he said to himself “you’re here to enjoy yourself and have an adventure”.

It was soon time for Marty to had back to his hotel, to get a good nights sleep, before catching the early morning train to Moscow.

Mary got up bright and early the next day, ate a large breakfast of twigs and leafs and headed to the train station.

At the station Marty got on board the train to Moscow, and found a window sit, so the could look out across the Belarusian and Russian country side as the train makes its way to Moscow.

By the time the train arrived at Moscow, Marty was feeling quite sore from being cramped up in the train’s seats and was very happy to get out onto the platform where he could have a good stretch

 “Ooh that’s better” exclaimed Marty and added “now lets go and see what adventures can be found in Moscow.”

Marty booked himself into a nice hotel and straight away went out to start exploring Moscow.

Marty made his way to “Red Square” in the centre of Moscow, so that he could visit Saint Basil’s cathedral.

Marty stood outside the cathedral for a while before going inside as he was in awe at the wonderful building with its very colourful dome topped cylindrical towers. Inside the cathedral was just as amazing, with its arched corridors with ornate murals leading to large places of worship.

Marty was amused to learn that the cathedral had been build over 400 years ago on the order of the then Russian leader with the rather scary name of Ivan the terrible.

After he had finished visiting the cathedral and Red Square, Marty took a boat trip along the River Moskva, which was a lovely relaxing way of seeing the city.

After he had finished his boat trip, Marty passed some time wandering around the streets of Moscow admiring all the buildings, some of which were very tall and full of glass

Marty was just thinking how busy a window cleaner could be in this city, when he came across a team of window cleaners, who were using hydraulic lifts and platforms to reach the high up windows.

“I hope Peter doesn’t buy one of those lifts, I would be out of work” thought Marty to himself.

The he noticed that one of the lifts seemed to be stuck on the ground with a rather worried window cleaner stood next to it scratching his head and looking rather worried.

“Jambo” said Marty to the window “I am Marty the motorcycling giraffe and I am a window cleaner's assistant, back at home in Nairobi in Africa

“здравствуйте жираф господина добро пожаловать в Москву”  (Hello Mister Giraffe welcome to Moscow) said the window cleaner, who told Marty his  name is Andrei and that his hydraulic lift was broken and that he would not get paid if he didn’t get all the windows on this tall building clean.

Marty then explained how he helps Peter clean the windows on the tall buildings in Nairobi and offered to help Andrei.

Andrei was delighted with Marty’s kind offer and climbed on to his head and very soon they were quickly getting all the windows nice and clean.

When they were finished Andrei was so pleased with Marty for helping him, he offered to buy Marty a ticket to go and see the ballet at the Bolshoi theatre.

“Oh asante sana" said Marty “that sounds wonderful”.

Marty had never been to the ballet before and he didn’t really understand what was happening, but he still enjoyed himself and thought that the dancers were very elegant, graceful and glamorous.

At the end of the show, Marty said kwahari to Andrei and they agreed to keep in touch. Marty then headed off to his hotel to get some sleep as he had to be up early in the morning to catch an aeroplane flight back home.

Marty has had a very exciting adventure in Europe and thought that the places he had visited (Paris, Berlin, Minsk and Moscow) were all wonderful but he was looking forward to getting home to Africa to see what more adventures there could be for

Marty the motorcycling giraffe

Look out for next weeks thrilling encounter of Marty's year of adventures in Story 45 Marty and the hot air Ballon, to be posted on Sat 21st April 2012

Marty the motorcycling giraffe Story 43 Marty’s exciting European adventure Part 2 Marty goes to Berlin

Marty the motorcycling giraffe

Story 43 Marty’s exciting European adventure Part 2 Marty goes to Berlin

Marty the motorcycling giraffe is having a very exciting adventure in Europe and is currently on a train leaving Paris, where he met up with his friend Jean-Pierre, climbed the Eifel tower and saved some school children from a coach that had crashed into the River Seine, and heading for Berlin in Germany

On the train Marty sat by the window looking at the French countryside as he whizzed by. Because the train went so fast, it wasn’t long before it had left France and entered into Germany.

As Berlin is on the Far East side of Germany, there was still along way to go and Marty enjoyed watching the world fly by through the train window.

The train passed through the cities of Dortmund and Hannover on the way to Berlin and Marty thought that they both looked exciting places for adventures if he ever gets chance to get back to Germany again.

By the time he arrived in Berlin it was getting quite late and Marty was hungry and a little tired. So Marty checked into a hotel and then went to a nice café and sat outside while he ate his dinner (a rather large portion of twigs and leafs).

While he was eating Marty noticed that the Berlin nightlife had started to get very busy, with all the bright lights from the bars and clubs, lighting up the night sky and all the young Berliners walking around in their trendy clothes, chatting, laughing and generally enjoying themselves

“Mmm Berlin seems like a very exciting place” thought Marty “I am sure to find some adventure in this city”

After he had finished his meal Marty went back to his hotel to get a good night’s sleep.

Marty woke up early the next morning, as he was very keen to start exploring the city of Berlin.

After he had eaten his breakfast, Marty headed out into the city with his first stop being a motorcycle hire shop, where he hired a very powerful German motorcycle.

“This motorcycle will be a great way to explore Berlin” Marty said to the man at the hire shop before whizzing off into the city streets.

Marty had a list of places, he had read about, that he wanted to visit in Berlin. First Marty headed for the Alexanderplatz in the Mitte area of Berlin to see the really tall TV tower called the Fernsehturm.

“Wow” exclaimed Marty as stared up at the mighty tower that reached up to the clouds “that is some building.”

Marty climbed the stairs of the tower up to the viewing gallery. Where he got to see a fantastic view of the magnificent city of Berlin. Once he had got back down to the ground, Marty got back on the hired motorcycle and was soon once again whizzing through the city streets of Berlin.  This time he was heading towards Grunewald Park by the River Havel.

Once he arrived at the park, Marty got off his motorcycle and decided to go for a nice walk through the forested area of the park. As he walked through the park Marty couldn’t resist taking a little nibble of some of the twigs and leafs from the top of the trees

“Yummy!! Haya matawi ya Ujerumani na majani ni nzuri sana” (these German twigs and leafs are very nice) Marty said to himself as he walked along the park munching away. After a while Marty came across the Grunewalden tower, a rather grand monument in the middle of the park. He enjoyed himself in the park but soon it was time to get back on his motorcycle as Marty still had some other places he wanted to visit in Berlin

Marty drove his motorcycle to the famous Brandenburg gate, (an ancient gateway into the city of Berlin) and then on to see the last few remaining pieces of the Berlin wall, which for 28 years divided the city between the East German and West German side.

“A wall to stop people moving around seems very silly”, thought Marty “there are now walls back home in the Masai Mara.”

As he was thinking about the Berlin wall and all the families that it separated a gentleman came up to speak to him

“Guten Tag Herr Giraffe willkommen in Berlin ” (good afternoon Mr Giraffe, welcome to Berlin).

“Asante sana” replied Marty

The gentleman then introduced himself a Herr Netzer , and told Marty that he is a school teacher and the his class are doing a project all about Africa and asked Marty if he would come to the school tomorrow to tell the children all about living in Africa

“I would love to come and speak to your class” replied Marty.

So Herr Netzer gave Marty directions to his school and they agreed that Marty would arrive to speak to the class at 09:30 the next morning

That night in his hotel Marty found it very difficult to get to sleep as he was feeling very nervous about having to speak to the children. And he could hardly believe that it was already time to get up when his alarm went off to wake him up in the morning.

After breakfast set off to the school, and when he arrived, Herr Netzer met him at the front gate and showed him the way to the classroom.

“The children are very excited that you are coming to talk to them today” said Herr Netzer

“Well I hope I don’t disappoint them” replied Marty “I am feeling rather nervous.”

“I am sure you will be wunderbar” laughed Herr Netzer

Herr Netzer the led Marty through the classroom door and said to the pupils

“Kinder heute haben wir einen besonderen Gast den ganzen Weg von Afrika, um mit uns zu reden. Dies ist Marty Giraffe aus Kenia” (today children we have a special guest all the way from Africa to talk to us. This is Marty Giraffe from Kenya)

Marty told the children all about life in Kenya, about the great plains of the Masai Mara and other game reserves, the rain forests in Aberdare , the wonderful shores of Lake Victoria, the beautiful beaches at Mombasa and of course about his job as a window cleaner’s assistant in the big busy city of Nairobi. When Marty finished the children all gave him a standing applause and had lots of questions to ask. They also told him a little about life in Berlin.

Marty said Kwahari to the children and Herr Netzer, before heading off to the Motorcycle hire shop to hand his motorcycle back before going to the train station to catch a train to the Russian capital city of Moscow for the next part of the exciting European adventure for

Marty the Motorcycling giraffe.

Don't forget to check out next weeks exciting installment of "Marty's year of adventure", story 44 Marty in Moscow to be posted on Saturday April 14th 2012