I hate getting up in the dark, but it’s so worthwhile when you get to do morning safari. Our first treat was cheetah! We first saw one to the right of our vehicle, and then it walked right past us and wandered through the long red oat grass. Fergus thought it was Christmas!

Here’s our first cheetah sighting.

This male ostrich has a really pink neck which means it’s ready for mating. A female was just nearby.

This grand lion was one of three males we saw this morning. He was sitting in the middle of the track.

And check out those teeth!

Isn’t this a great pic? I love to see the animals in their own environment.

And I couldn’t resist at least one elephant photo for the day. I just love them.

Our man for the whole of our Kenya trip is William. He is a great guide, and seems to know the obligatory mountain of information required for these safaris. You can tell when they are just winging an answer – they begin with “well, it depends”.
We start this afternoon’s safari around 4pm, and enter the gates of the Masai Mara National Park, which is right next to our lodge. Before long, we see a group of at least 20 giraffes spread across the open plain, right near a Balonite tree. William tells us it is unusual to see such a large group of giraffes and thinks we are in for a lucky safari.
Fergus is yearning for a lion sighting, and I come up with our first lioness very soon after the giraffes. With just a head popping up over the long grass, she is hard to see well.
We move on and see more new animals for our visit to Africa: wildebeest, gazelles, ostriches in the wild – both male (black) and female (grey), hyena and new antelope species we haven’t seen before.
The countryside here is so very different to the Chobe area we went to in Botswana. It is open, with few trees. The name “Masai Mara” means dotted plains. The dots being the Balonite trees that stand alone across the vast open land.
We see a group of other safari vehicles gathered near some trees and join them to see what it is they are all watching. Well OMG, OMG – it’s a lion devouring a zebra. Wow, wow, wow. Every person watching this was in awe of the spectacle. The lion was so exhausted after feasting on the zebra, it was puffing. Check out the pics below. None of us will ever forget this afternoon.
William said we were VERY lucky to see this!
We meandered back through the park, and saw large groups of wildebeest, zebra, impala, gazelle and several buffalo and elephants. It’s quite surreal to see all these wild animals quietly cohabiting the countryside.
Then we found the lioness. She had reappeared from the site we had first spotted her, and was downwind of her prey. She was watching zebra in the distance. But alas, we had to exit the park gates by 6.30pm, so left her to hunt in peace. More tomorrow!
Here are some of our memories for today:

This is one of my favourite giraffe photos. And I have many!

Just half a dozen of the many giraffes we saw on the plain.

OKay, so the giraffe photo tally might start to rival the elephant photo tally.

Kissing giraffes!

And time for a neck rub.

A male ostrich and a muscly antelope (can’t remember their name right now)

A typical view of the plains, with some zebra.

Impala, zebra and elephant – all in one!

And here’s the majestic lion tucking into a zebra. He didn’t care that there were about 15 vehicles surrounding him.

You can even see the black and white stripes on the leg of the zebra.

Then he went looking for privacy.

He was a gnarly old thing, with lots of scars and old war wounds.

He sat down right here for a while, puffed out from his feasting.

The lioness looking for dinner.

The lioness was really hard to spot, and can’t be seen at all if she sits down.

A female ostrich.

Haven’t had a bad sunset yet!

We left the smog of the city early this morning. John had his morning run first, and thinks his running prowess has catapulted to dizzy heights just because he passed some Kenyans also out for a run!
After the smog, it was the morning fog. We rose up to 2100m elevation where it was pea soup thick, and the taste of diesel at the back of your throat is diluted, minimally so.
We passed the slums of the outskirts of Nairobi, mixed with some impressive buildings. Commerce is alive and well in any third world country. Some signs of local traders I liked we’re: “Good Hope Dry Cleaners” (keep your fingers crossed), “Blessing Butcher” (bit late now for the beast), “First Born Christians” (was there a second born Christ that I haven’t heard about?), and the “You and I Bar”.
We have reached the open plains of the Rift Valley now, where the Balonite (need to check the spelling on that one) trees stand tall with their flat topped foliage – you know, the classic photo of Africa. Everything is lush and green. It’s a huge contrast to the dry and dusty landscape of Botswana and Zambia. There are huge fields of crops of maize and corn, and herds of cattle being moved around to drink at dams.
Another sign: “Miracle fashions”. Speaks for itself really.
We have left the main road, and the blue sky has finally appeared from behind the overcast gloom. We just stopped the car to let a Leopard Tortoise cross the road! Photo below.
Now the road turns to dirt, and for the next two hours we endure a bone rattling drive over the plains to our lodge. The landscape has lost its lush green vista, and returned to dry and brown. We pass a multitude of Masai people in their traditional clothing (it seems they wear this anyway, and not just for the tourists) herding mainly goats and some sheep and, to a lesser extent, cattle. The government is discouraging cattle as they are hit harder by times of drought.
There are so many villages of Masai people, and we constantly see them walking the countryside. We saw one car parked outside a village. They leave these bumpy (and I use the term loosely) roads to the tourists. Smart move.
We arrive at the lodge and after a late lunch head out for an afternoon safari. We are now at 1640m elevation, and one degree latitude. So the equator is about 100km away, but it isn’t that hot, or even humid. I guess the elevation takes care of that. We have travelled 240km from Nairobi, and it took 6.5 hours. That tells the story of the roads here.

Things haven’t got off to the best start here in Nairobi. We stopped at the airport to get some cash (this time it’s Kenyan shillings) and the ATM ate my card. It took about 45 minutes to get it back, and I won’t be using Barclays again! We found another ATM that doesn’t completely suck your card out of sight, and now have some shillings.
But now, we sit in the smog of peak hour in Nairobi. We remain stationery for 10-15minutes at a time, then charge ahead and change lanes a few times in first gear. Been on the road for at least an hour so far. It reminds me of Delhi, although there is barely a horn hoot to hear. There are road side sellers wandering between the cars as we sit still, very still, offering maps (like big ones for the wall), macadamia nuts, jumper leads, soccer balls, tea towels, tennis racquets, Tupperware, tacky souvenirs . Everything you could need in a traffic jam. Passengers randomly get out of cars, realising it is quicker to walk.
The haze of pollution is so thick, it’s hard to see more than 500m ahead. Glad none of us are asthmatic. I think the elevation here is 1400m, so add the pollution to that, and I’ll be sending John out with a Ventolin for his run tomorrow.
And another gem of a name for today’s man who picked us up at the airport….Benson. I love Africa.

We leave in the morning for the Masai Mara area, and then Lake Nakaru. I’m told by others we have met that we will be lucky to have power, let alone Internet. So if you see no new posts for a while, we are still here, just out of range. Just like the old days. I’ll send a postcard.

We’re on the plane to Nairobi as I write. This time on Kenyan Airways. For a while I was thinking they were the worst airline out there, when the seating allocation we chose at the self check in kiosk was abandoned, because it doesn’t actually match the seats that are on the plane. Nice touch. So it ended up being “grab a seat”, the old Jetstar style. Which, in fact, turns out to be a blessing. The plane is not full, so we are spread out with spare seats between us. But it gets better. There are little fold down foot rests for short people! Like me! Now I’ve been around the world a few times or more, and used a lot of airlines, but this has been my first time sitting comfortably. So Kenyan Airways gets my tick. All short people should use them.
I leant this morning that Johanessburg is at an elevation of around 1700m. This, of course, courtesy of John. Mr.Geography. Wearing his new Suunto watch/GPS/computer/still can’t make you run or ride faster gizmo. At least the font size of the time is big enough that neither of us need our “old man/lady glasses” to read it. And having still not recovered fully from his man flu, developed during the flight over, his two runs over the past 12 hours around the picturesque environs of our airport hotel (read industrial heartland) have produced a heaving cough of epic proportions, thanks to the altitude. (Sam – you will note that was the first use of the word “epic”. And I haven’t gone near “iconic”. Yet.)
Fergus and Harry are becoming quite the expert travellers. They have learnt that if you turf everything out of your suitcase, then you have a lot to repack in the morning. Hence, many photos will show them in the same clothes, day after day. I do insist on the socks and jocks changeover. They can find Disney Chanel in an instant when presented with pay tv, and we are teaching them how to find our departure gates at various airports. That was easy at Livingstone – just the one. Next it will be the customs forms each time we change countries.