We then intended to book our safari through the holiday rep. on arrival. But three weeks before we left Anne and Neel sent us an e-mail concerning their new business venture 'Eco-Resorts' and we asked them to book this safari to the Masai Mara, flying in from the coast. Hence we found ourselves flying out of Mombasa early on the 13th September with Anne as our guide - their very first customers! We can hardly fault their personal service!
By this time Alison had invested in a 175-500mm zoom lens, allowing her to zoom closer in to distant animals on her Canon EOS camera ( Note this isn't the most convenient size camera/lens configuration for a Land Rover with 4 passengers ). This equates to a 10:1 zoom for a normal 35mm camera. I continued to use my Sony Mavica FD7 digital camera with its internal 10:1 zoom lens and the x2 converter. In principal this sounds superior but without an optical viewfinder is difficult to operate, focus and centralise the figure. Having said this the enclosed pictures *'t that bad, but have been retouched in places to enhance the subject - Oh! The magic of digital photography!
As we were flying into a rough airfield we had to use a small 20 or so seater aircraft. The flight was reasonably uneventful and gave us some good views of Mount Kilimanjaro as we flew over Amboseli.
After landing we had to register and submit our entrance tickets to the local Kenya Wildlife Service officer who appeared out of the bush about 10 minutes later, with a few Masai tribesmen in tow. To stamp our tickets he had to drain the Land Rover's radiator - thank God! I hate to think what he would have used otherwise!
The Land Rover then transported us to the lodge in relative comfort. The journey took about an hour, skirting the edge of the reserve.
After checking in and lunch we joined another group for our first safari, doing a short circuit of the local plains and following one of the dried river beds towards Sekanani Gate before returning to the lodge at dusk.
On this morning we had breakfast before dawn. Our fellow passengers wanted to pursue their search for rhinoceros on this safari as it was the only large game they hadn't seen. We ended up at Keekerok Lodge to pick up the other two passengers who had done a morning balloon safari, before travelling westwards to the Mara River in the hope of seeing the migrating wildebeest crossing the river. This was an ambitious drive as we had to return to the lodge for lunch.
In the evening we were joined by a French couple, as the others had left at lunchtime. Again we did a short circuit around the plains before returning to the lodge. We were rewarded with our efforts just as we got back, but you'll have to view the other pages to understand!
The following morning Anne joined us and the French couple as she was disappointed at having missed our 'treats'. The driver wanted to pursue the rhinos but we weren't willing to miss all the other animals at their expense - a safari is the complete experience and shouldn't be a simple hunt for the 'Big Five'.
After lunch we had a shorter safari around the lodge, before returning for our departure. I left the French couple with the following advice - 'The art of spotting animals is to find the rocks that move!'.
