19thFeb – maasai village - Nairobi A very lazy start for us with breakfast at 8am and leaving the camp at 8:45 after saying goodbye to Peter, Patrick and the others. We also gave one of the older villagers a lift to a local town to save him a long walk. Our first stop for the day was a Maasai village where Raphael, the son of the chief, greeted us and showed us around. First we were shown a couple of traditional items – one was a lion’s head skin from the days when to get married a man had to go and kill a lion. If he wanted to get married a second or third time he had to go and kill 2 or 3 lions. This no longer happens and instead he pays a ... read more

Slept very well, up & ready to leave for the Maasai Mara at 7:30am with a packed lunch and joined by Wilson who was going to help Simba find us a leopard! On the way out of camp we passed a dik-dik and once in the park we saw: Black rhino Elephants (incl. more babies) Cheetahs (a single one in the grass then a group of 5 in the shade under a tree) Vultures Great bustard Secretary bird Shrike Warthogs Ostrich Baboons Buffalo Impalla Topi Gazelles (Grant’s & Thompson’s) Hartebeest Hippos Lilac-breasted roller Maasi giraffe Vervet monkey Although I think Chavaunne spotted more than out two guides! Lunch was eaten under the shade of an acacia tree keeping a close eye on a nearby herd of elephants in case they decided to come our way! ... read more

A bit of a lazier start since we didn’t have to pack up our gear then out at 8am to hire a couple of bikes on the road to Hell’s Gate National Park. As Hell’s Gate doesn’t have any resident big cats its considered safe for tourists to walk and cycle here. We cycled along the 2km of road leading to the park gate dodging potholes and avoiding traffic all whilst remembering exactly how to ride a bike! Moses followed us in the minivan to the gate, paid for our park entry then bunny hopped past us whilst we cycled through the park. It was nice to get out of the van for a bit and get some fresh air during the 8km ride through Hell’s Gate and see some wildlife from our own feet. Impala ... read more

After breakfast and admiring the little red-rumped birds that were flitting about the lodge grounds we set off driving past the Aberdares. We had originally wanted to visit the Aberdare National Park and it did look beautiful, but we saw similar habitats whilst hiking on Mt Kenya and apparently it is very hard to see the wildlife here – unsurprising give the dense forests. It was a long drive today but we stopped for lunch by Nyahururu Falls (Thomson's Falls) where we had to fight off shop owners and traditionally dressed posers! We did have one worrying moment when the minibus engine seemed to misbehave – but after poking it a bit all seemed fine. From here it wasn’t much further round to Lake Nakuru National Parkwhere we went straight into a game drive. It was ... read more

Up at 4:15am to pack & get breakfast in time to leave at 5:15am to hike the few kilometres up Point Lenana (4985m). Very steep and had to do a lot of scrambling over rocks with the help of steel cables – this is the highest via ferrata in the world! It was bitterly cold (our water bottles started freezing over!) but the stars were amazing! We made it to the summit after an hour arriving shortly before sunrise with a thin band of orange light along the eastern horizon. Watching the sun come up over Kenya was rather epic, it was even a clear enough day to spot Mt Kilimanjaro on the southern horizon! From here we had a long hike down the Chogoria route, starting with a stretch of rather nasty scree on which ... read more