Today we sadly had to leave but the good news was our flight wasn't until 4.00pm. This enabled us to get up at 6.00am - I trogged the long and winding path to the camp
pool for an early morning dip while John packed and pottered. We then had breakfast and settled our bills before leaving at 0930ish for a days game drive and lunch before catching our flight.
Most of our morning was spent following a cheetah mum (today's photo) and 3 cubs as they played and she was intent on hunting.......that said she couldn't find an unwary calf that she could bring down and all her attempts were sadly to no avail!
The wildebeest were pouring over the sand river and this end of the Mara was clearly where all the migration activity was focussed.
We also saw a dark chanting goshawk pink legs and pink beak - the pale version has a yellow beak - but it was difficult to see clearly and took several minutes with binoculars to get the light right - luckily it sat still! We also saw a family of banded mongoose and a little mouse - the food of the slender tailed mongoose we saw yesterday.
Lunch was on a hill overlooking the vast expanse of the Masai Mara.
At 3 ish we made our way to the airport and waited for the plane - it arrived on time so we said our goodbyes and headed to Wilson airport after stopping at 2 other airstrips to collect passengers.
We took a taxi to Ole Serenei hotel to freshen up and have some dinner before our flight home.....the taxi driver waited for us which was great it saved us calling another and at least he missed the traffic returning to the centre of Nairobi and had a confirmed fare.
With new modern car X-rays and body searches at the airport the entry through the airport perimeter took a fair while even though they had several lanes open - we didn't get out and transit by foot like most as the driver told the officer we were tired which was a relief.
Once at the airport everything else was straightforward but with no lounge since the fire we went straight to the gate and BAs makeshift lounge for a drink pre take-off as we intended to sleep immediately we got on board. Our departure was at 2330 and who wants to eat at that time!!
We had a great holiday and it seemed far longer than a week!