We left the Hilton at 8.15 am, as promised last nights taxi driver was there ahead of time so we loaded up and headed to Wilson airport going to the old Safarilink building before finding their brand new one right by the terminal.
We checked in and they weighed our soft bags and hand luggage which was over the 15kg limit, consequently we paid excess baggage for the two legs we fly in the next 8 days with Safarilink - 4400 Kenyan Shillings @ £30 - well worth it as we need the camera lens, binoculars and suntan cream which were the really heavy things. However next time we will need to rethink our packing strategy!
We set off early as all the passengers were booked in - we actually took off at 0945 flights stead of 1000am - 3 stops later and the last 2 on the plane we arrived at Mara North around 11ish.
We left Nairobi in the rain and clearly the Mara had had lots of rain - water was lying in puddles everywhere, it was grey and rain was definitely in the air.
We were collected by Steve our Masai guide who told us it had been raining for last week. The good thing was that the brown parched landscape was turning green and waste paper flowers abounded - so called because they are white and look as if waste paper has been scattered on the ground. The difficulty was that driving was more difficult - deep ruts and mud make for a sticky journey.
On our drive to camp we saw an elephant & baby, ( today's photo - the little male elephant couldn't decide whether to suckle or pee - peeing won but he comically tried to run to keep up as he was peeing!) topi, Thompson's gazelles, zebra, wildebeest and hyena.
The camp and our tent overlooked the Mara River, but not at a crossing point for wildebeest, and opposite us was the escarpment edge of the Rift Valley.
We met out hosts Emily and Fraser, and the other guests a British family. We quickly went to out tent then joined them for a late lunch.
We met Alex Walker again as he was visiting his Kenyan camps....amazingly he remembered us - we must have left an impression of some sort!
We finished lunch at 2.45 and we're back again at 1530 for tea and our afternoon drive at 4.00pm. We saw a hyena den, and searched for an elusive leopard which had been spotted earlier.
We returned at 7pm in a torrential thunderstorm - luckily it only started 10 minutes before our arrival but we stayed in the vehicle to allow it to subside. Eventually we made it to the mess tent with the aid of an umbrella and we warmed ourselves the by fire until dinner@ 8pm. The staff were busily mopping the stone floor as it had been deluged by a small river caused by the storm and run off from the slope above the camp. By the time we sat down all was dry.
During our first night back in the bush we were serenaded lion roaring and hyena whooping.....it's great to be back!