Last chance safari, then it is back to Blighty

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We were woken by a breezy "jambo" again at 6am today so that we could enjoy our last early morning safari. However, we had to become stealth warriors on our way to our vehicle as there were three elephants blocking our path to the reception area of the camp. We had to duck and dive around varying tents, waiting for the go ahead from the security guards before crossing open spaces in the camp.

Having survived our short walk without disturbing the elephants we set of to see what awaited us outside the camp. Our first sighting was of the buffalo herd, who seemed to be escorting a fair few frsiky new born calves that were very endearing. We then stopped for a while by the waterohole nearest the camp to view the 11 species of birds feeding there. Two different types of kingfisher; the chocolate (not Cadburys!) and the pied kingfishers who were taking it in turns to hover, swoop and dive into the water to catch their breakfast. There were also varying different stalks and herons all trying to avoid the huge catfish (or possibly lungfish) that were swimming in the shallowest parts of the pool.

We moved on to see the marsh pride who were playing around with some left over bones of an old kill before finding three other female lions who were noshing quite happily on a dead wildebeest. The kids were quite fascinated with the gruesome spectacle and oohed, aahed and eurghed at the sight of intestines, the heart and an eye being eaten. Once we had taken in enough of this feast, we rattled off once more, this time for a litttle while, until we reached the entry gate and small settlement that marked the start of the Masai land. As a boundary it was more cosmetic than anything - no fences existed, just a huge gate (with a little shop, and toilet). We paused for some party members to "mark their territory", and then went through to the Masai land. There is an agreement that park vehicles can go through Masai territory, and people can get out of them to actually walk around, which we couldn't in the national reserve (not that we did though). We could see the Masai cattle dotted about in the distance, and on this stint came across some more hyena, a few more zebra, the obligatory warthog (aerials up) and another corpse, this time of a buffalo that was very smelly but surprisingly intact, obviously having escaped the attention of the scavengers for now.

With one last stop at a river viewpoint (nice and restful, hippos and crocs), we went back to camp for our last brekkie.

The next outing was a little bit more subdued, almost as if we were saying goodbye to the wildlife and having a laid back bimble around rather than hunting for anything new. So we saw another beautifully serene giraffe (indifferent chewing of cud), another lazy river scene (hippos and crocs with babies), and a troop of baboons - they scarpered once they saw the vehicle, but had been up an African Pepper tree where they'd been eating fruit. Apparently this fruit also had an intoxicating effect on elephants, but none were around (unless they were hiding). Rounding off with vultures on a wildebeest corpse, we were fairly quiet as we returned to camp because we knew that our last real encounter with the Savannah had come to an end.

Our goodbyes to Mandila were almost emotional - our time on safari had been truly awe inspiring and he was largely responsible for the depth of the experience we had. The mundane process of packing went painlessly and we ate a hearty last lunch before checking out, hanging around camp for our flight to call in and remembering our time spent away. Eventually transfer time came and we went taken out to the airfield for a reflective flight back to Nairobi.

Once back at Nairobi we were taken by our driver to the Holiday Inn to collect our stored luggage and then on to the Kenya Museum, the viewing of which filled a two-hour gap in the afternoon. This was followed by a quick tour of the city showing us the main sites; the government building and the site of the previously bombed American embassy being the most notable.

A boring, stuffy, sticky wait awaited us at Nairobi airport for our 23.25hrs flight to Heathrow.

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Photos

Jack and Ellie outside Kenya Museum
Roaaaarr