Mama Laurel here… This morning Elaine was feeling better than yesterday & joined us for breakfast, but Kevin and Nick weren't feeling too well. We set off anyway into the Serengeti National Park, but after an hour or so had to turn around to bring Kevin back as he was really unwell. Nick opted to continue with us and seemed to be on the improve… well, until lunch time anyway, then he really started going downhill and was quite unwell by the time we retur...

Bwana Nick here… We departed Lukuba Island, picked up by a dhow fishing boat, the passage was very calm across Lake Victoria spanning some 28kms. We encountered our first sighting of the day, being a huge cluster of flies numbering in the millions, 'no bull'! Took the highway towards Musoma, along which the landscape is nice and lush with rolling hills. We encountered many small tribal villages along our journey. We passed thru Bugima, which is where Tanzania...

Mama Judy here… A great start to the day with a sighting on the Mara of the rare endangered black rhino, a family of four. Then began the four wheel drive trek for several hours over the worst dirt roads we have travelled on in Kenya, literally a goat track, so we got a "free massage" as the locals call it. On our way to the Tanzania border we passed Masai in their striking red clothing, herding their flocks of goat/cattle. After clearing immigration we tran...

Bwana John here... We had a 4.30am start this morning as Laurel, Nick, Judy and I had a balloon ride over the Mara savannah. We were picked up from our hotel and saw some jackals and a hippopotamus on the way to our balloon launch site. On the briefing from the pilot we discovered that take off and landing would be in the astronaut position with the balloon basket on its side - oh s***! Take off was at dawn and a bit bumpy. We glided on the wind up to a 1000 fe...

Bwana Kevin here… We embarked on a long and dusty trip to the Mara after witnessing a "cheeky" show by a wayward family if monkeys. We toiled long and hot to Mara which is famous for the large herds of elephants and buffalo that meander the plains and also for the fat pods of hippo that wallow in it's mud rivers. Offering an abundance of herbivores, the Mara makes an ideal hunting ground for Kenya's big cats and hosts her larger population of lions. Boy, we sa...