John's birthday started with his much needed cup of tea as always! We then had our last early morning walk - it was unusually very misty and damp with spots of rain. When we returned to Sultans house I had my swim before breakfast which was outside. Luckily it brightened and stayed fine and warm but for the whole day it looked like much needed rain was coming. As our flight was not until 4pm we were able to have a last massage and John 'unpressured' was able to ...

We had our usual start to the day - tea followed by a walk - a bit longer today - as the terrain is undulating it always feels like great exercise while enjoying the wildlife - today I got a great picture of a white bellied 'go away' bird. The walk always ends with a steep uphill section which really sets you up for the day. We arranged for breakfast at 9.15 which enabled me to have a swim before showering so I had a really refreshing start to the day. At 11am ...

Another walk to start the day - it is really dry and they are desperate for water. On our first night they had 1mm or rain,last night, it doubled, they had 2mm - but still a mere drop in the ocean and it left the tiniest of puddles in the dam they have built to collect more of this seasons rainfall in. Even though the rain was light the damper conditions seemed to bring out the bird & wildlife. I got good pictures of a red billed hornbill, an augur buzzard an...

The 6 am wakeup call, with tea, was followed by a brisk walk around the conservancy, with Timothy, we finished at about until 0745am - great exercise as its very up and down and the walk back to the lodge is definitely up! At 0930 we met Timothy again and headed to Nkiloriti school to see how it was progressing - when we first went it was operating as a nursery school in one classroom ( prior to that it had been under a tree.) It now has 4 classrooms and child...

Today was the day to spring my big surprise - for months now John has thought the last part of our leave was 4 days in Amboseli - and the reason there was no paperwork was because I had arranged it privately and it was on my iPad - which was true. Indeed last week whenever asked he would say we were going to Amboseli next and I would have to tell a white lie and confirm it so as to keep the surprise intact. After a great quality breakfast selection at the Eka w...