Howard and Sue had been on safari a few times before they travelled with us, so we had a few expectations to live up to. Though they were interested in everything, Sue particularly wanted to see elephants, and Howard enjoyed birds more than most. They wanted a simple itinerary, offering both quality and quantity, so we chose to visit Samburu and the Masai Mara. We stayed in two super permanent tented camps - Larsens in Samburu (18 tents), and Rekero in the Masai Mara (just 7 tents). With a private vehicle throughout, we could do as we pleased when we pleased, and I hope the the experience exceeded their expectations.

On our first evening in Samburu, we watched this large buffalo herd retreat to the hills in their own cloud of dust, being trailed by a large pride of hungry looking lions

Sue saw her elephants early on, and relatively close up. She would have liked to see more elephants during the trip, but we kept being distracted by lions!	A female gerenuk, or giraffe-necked antelope, standing on her hind legs and feeding high up in an acacia tree. These are extraordinary animals, only found in the arid horn of Africa.

This young male lion was one of a large pride that we met almost every day, and which kept us entertained through our entire time in Samburu.	This lioness, another of the same pride, passed us in this crouched position, stalking waterbuck. She missed her quarry this time, but caught another just an hour later.

Grevy's zebra are a rare northern species, now only found in the north of Kenya. A beautiful animal, much larger than other zebra and with finer stripes, there are only around 4000 left in the world.	One less Grevy's zebra! This one being enjoyed by a lioness and her two young cubs.

Male lions can have a tough life, constantly fighting off competitors who wish to take over their prides. This fellow looked like he had been in his fair share of battles, but was still in control	When food is plentiful, lion cubs are particularly playful - this one was wrestling with a large elephant dropping!

The yellow billed hornbill, or "Banana Beak", is a distinctive bird synonamous with the nothern dry country of Samburu	A male olive baboon drinking from the dwindling Ewaso Nyiro river that flows through Samburu.

Reticulated giraffes are subspecies of giraffe that are adapted to arid country, and are only found in the North of Kenya. They are marginally smaller than other sub-species of giraffe, but are probably the most beautiful.	Sue watching elephants crossing the river from our coffee spot high on the banks of the Ewaso Nyiro.

An unusual sighting of an Egyptian Vulture, here ruffling its feathers on a doum palm branch. These bird are very intelligent, and have learned to open abandoned ostrich eggs with the use of stones.	Vulturine guineafowl, yet another species only found in the north of Kenya, are not nearly as intelligent at Egyptian vultures, but they make up for it with their strange beauty!

With the drought that has affected the north of Kenya, Greater Kudu, which are usually hard to find, have come down to the river to look for better browse. We were thrilled to see this beautiful male so close up, but were not so delighted when it became this lions lunch just an hour later!

Some of the smaller stars of the african bush - a Kirk's dikdik on the left and a genet cat on the right

Howard, Caroline and Sue watching some bird or other. Caroline flew in to spend a few days with us in Samburu.	The long drought broke while we were in Samburu, where we enjoyed a downpour - this pale chanting goshawk was a little damp after a long awaited bath.

At only 20 cm in length, Pygmy Falcons truly are pygmy.	The gregarious white-throated bee-eater is a non-breeding migrant and is commonly seen in Samburu in the months around Christmas.

From Samburu we flew to the Masai Mara, and Rekero Camp. Our first afternoon game drive yielded a spotted hyena suckling her cub, and a pride of lions including several females and 4 boisterous cubs. One cub, christened "naughty George" by Sue, showed his leadership potential by insisting on chasing zebra!

Early one morning we came accross this spotted hyena with its recent kill - a zebra foal.	Bat-eared foxes are always a favorite sighting. Shy and nocternal, it is rare to get a good a look at one. Interestingly they are the only canid to have largely abandoned mammalian prey in favour of insects.

Saddle-billed storks, like this female, are one of the tallest birds, growing up to 58 inches in height. Storks differ from other birds in that they have no muscles in their voice boxes. They communicate by rattling their bills	With the rivers of the Mara almost dry, and distances to good grazing ever increasing, this hippo decided not to return to the river when a surprise downpour filled a waterhole. This waterhole was part of our road!

We came accross this cheetah female just after she had killed a young Thompson's gazelle. "Tommies" make up the vast majority of a cheetahs diet in the Mara, and with lots of fawns around at this time of year, life is relatively easy for the fastest land preditor on earth.

Leopard are always hard to find in the Mara. We were lucky to have an amazing sighting of this young male on the the rocks overlooking the Talek River.

The crested crane (the national bird of Uganda) is one of the most spectacular birds to be seen on safari,	as is the yellow-billed stork, this one standing amongst the rocks in the Talek River.

"Lolli", our Masai spotter, took us to see this giraffe carcas hanging in a tree. Evidently the giraffe had slipped while feeding high in the tree, got its neck caught, and hung itself. Bizarre!	Sundowners in the Mara on Howard's birthday. We were joined for the afternoon by Daisy, one of the hosts of Rekero Camp.

Lolengero, or "lolli", our Masai spotter for our time in the Mara.	D'Arnaud's barbet sitting on top of a termite mound.

Impala females running across the savanah grasslands of the Masai Mara.