Here's a day by day review of this trip. Our Tour Manager was Barbara Eastlake and we shared 3 land rovers/jeeps and 3 drivers throughout the tour. There were 17 of us on this trip; 2 men and 15 women. Each group stayed with the same driver and jeep. I shared the vehicle with Gary, Becky, Sue and Clare; our driver was Kilonzo and we had a lot of fun along the way. Kingori was one of the other drivers (I think), but I can't remember the name of the 3rd driver. For once, I did not make any notes so may miss out something. If this is the case, then hopefully someone on the trip will add to or amend any inaccuracies.
Day 1 - 12 September
I did not meet the Just You Rep at the airport since I arrived very early. After checking in, I purchased my water and made my way to the lounge. I was fortunate in that I was allowed in early. The food was being served upstairs so I made my way up there and had a nice leisurely lunch. I mete some of the fellow travellers and Barbara when I came downstairs. Barbara gave each one of us a copy of some notes she had prepared with a day by day outline of the anticipated daily programme. She had also included her mobile number in case of any emergencies. The Kenya Airlines flight was on time, the service and food were good - I had ordered a Hindu vegerarian meal so not sure if the other food too was good or not. In my personal opinion, Kenya Airlines was so much better than British Airways and given a chance, I would not hesitate to fly with them again.
Day 2 - 13 September
On arrival in Kenya, we were met by the drivers and the vehicles and driven to Somak lounge where there was time to freshen up and have some refreshments before starting the long journey to Amboseli National Park. There were also showers available, but no one in the Group took advantage of this. We arrived at Ol Tukai Lodge around lunch time. There were lots of monkeys in the grounds of the Lodge and other animals behind the electric fence. After checking in, we had lunch and then left just before 16:00 for our first game drive. We saw baboons, elephants, wildebeest, zebras, antelopes, Thompson gazelles, cape buffaloes, hippos, hyenas, wathogs and lots of different birds. Everywhere was green and there were lots of water filled 'marshes'. We returned to the lodge after witnessing a beautiful sunset. It was a pleasure getting under a hot shower after a very long night and day. Dinner was at 19:30 and most of us had an early night.
Day 3 - 14 September
We departed for the morning game drive at around 06:30 after having tea/coffee/biscuits in the reception area. We came across a herd of elephants soon after leaving the lodge and shortly after came across two lionesses having a feast. They had killed two wildebeest. Jackals and hyenas were waiting for a chance to get their share; jackals being more daring than hyenas. We saw a third lioness a bit further away from the kill. It was interesting to watch the jackals and hyenas after the lionesses walked away, but one soon returned sending the hyenas running though it did not deter the jackals who kept on eating. The fish eagles and vultures soon joined in once the lioness had left, though one came back again briefly before all 3 walked away. We soon left them all and carried on with the game drive before arriving back at the Lodge for breakfast. After breakfast, an optional excursion to the Masai village was organised for those wishing to go whilst the rest of the group enjoyed some leisure time. I joined the small group for the visit and am glad I decided to go as I found the visit very interesting. We were able to go inside one of the Masai huts. We were back in time for lunch and soon it was time for the afternoon game drive. We saw lots of different birds in the marshes. There were lots of elephants too feeding on the marsh grass, which meant they were knee deep in the water. Before returning to the lodge, we went to the viewing point. You have to climb a small hill, but there were steps so it was not too hard. It was worth the climb as the views from the top were fantastic. You could see the Kenya/Tanzania border and there were a lot of pelicans and flamingos in the distance.
Day 4 - 15 September
After an early breakfast we departed for Nyeri via Nairobi at 07:30. We arrived for lunch at Eka Hotel in Nairobi around 13:30 and left for the Mountain Lodge after lunch. It rained on the way to the Lodge, but stopped when we arrived around 18:00. The weather was much cooler. There were some water bucks around the watering hole when we arrived. None of the other animals visited the waterhole whilst we were there. We were told that elephants stayed away when it was wet and slippery. After dinner we went to see a slide show presented by the hotel naturalist - he was very good. I had always wondered what the difference was between white and black rhino and this was when I found out! It was comforting to find a hot water bottle in the bed when returning to the room.
Day 5 - 16 September
After an early breakfast, a few of us went for an optional forest walk organised by the hotel. We were accompanied by the naturalist. We left at 07:00 after being kitted out in green wellies and rain coats. Unfortunately we did not see any animals, but learn a lot about the forest and animal habits. There was evidence of elephants having been there. We returned to the Lodge at 08:45 and departed at 09:00 (one hour later than the original time) for Nakuru National Park. On arriving at Lake Nakuru Lodge, we went straight to lunch whilst Barbara arranged for our luggage to be taken to our rooms and delivered the keys to us. The grounds of Lake Nakuru Lodge were beautiful and there were baboon families lounging in the grounds whilst we were having lunch. It was nice having lunch whilst enjoying fabulous views. We departed for the game drive around 16:00. By the time we reached Lake Nakuru there were only a few flamingos and we were really lucky to see them as they soon took off and went away. We saw three white rhinos grazing the the distance and there were quite a few zebras too. Soon we came across a mother and baby rhino grazing at leisure and spent quite a bit of time watching and photographing them. We then decided that we wanted to get a bit closer to the 3 rhinos we had seen, but then Kilonzo asked if we wanted to go to the rhinos or lions and we opted for the lions. There was a lioness and her cubs - I am not sure if there was more than one lioness. The lioness climbed the tree and entertained us for some time by stretching and posing. One of the cubs tried to climb the tree without success. It was enjoyable to watch them all. After we left them, we came across some giraffes. We were back at the lodge in time for a shower and dinner.
Day 6 - 17 September
Today we departed Lake Nakuru Lodge for Masai Mara at 07:00. Barbara had organised an optional boat ride on Lake Naivasha and this was taken up by the entire group. We were in 3 boats. It was great to get close to a pod of hippos and we saw lots of birds and wildlife - water bucks, zebras, warthog, pelicans, maribou storks and a lone giraffe in the distance. We all enjoyed the hour long boat trip. We had a late lunch stop and went straight on a game drive en route to the Ashnil Mara Tented camp. This was an interesting drive. Due to some rain fall, some of the trails were very muddy and two jeeps had got stuck. One managed to get out and was covered completely in Masai Mara mud and so were some of its occupants, whilst Kilonzo had to go and get the other one out. Soon we spotted leopards feasting on a kill. It was not easy to see them as they were hidden from view by branches, but I think it was a mother and her cubs feasting on a kill. One leopard climbed up on the tree and Kilonzo moved further so we could get a better view and to make room for the other two jeeps which arrived and we soon found out that we too were stuck. For a moment we thought we will have to spend the night with the leopard family, but Kilonzo's driving skills got the vehicle moving again though he had to 'flatten' a couple of shrubs in the process. There were lots of wildebeest and zebras as far as the eye could see and we also saw ostriches, eagles and hyenas. We reached the lodge at around 18:00 and, after checking in, it was time for a hot shower and dinner. Another long day came to an end!
Day 7 18 September
After having tea/coffee/biscuits in reception, we departed for the morning game drive at 06:30. Witnessed a beautiful sunrise before sighting some topis, mother and baby elephant, eagles, orstriches, vultures feasting on left overs, herds of zebras, hyenas, loads of wildebeest and some hot air balloons before coming across some cheetahs - I think there were at least 6 if not more. What a beautiful sight seeing them all huddled up, some fast asleep. We stopped for Bush breakfast arranged by the hotel and instead of returning to the lodge afterwards, the drivers decided to take us on an extra game drive - a big bonus. We saw a family of warthogs - parents and piglets, few mongoose playing around and lots of giraffes. Our vehicle had a very close encounter with an adult giraffe. Kilonzo told us that this was the first time this has happened in all his game drives and we were all very excited. She came very close and her head was almost inside the jeep. She would have licked my hand had I not moved it very quickly (we are not allowed to touch wild animals!). We left the giraffe behind and drove along the Mara river looking for hippos and crocodiles. We saw a pod of hippos and then came across a young lion and lioness. The lioness was snoozing peacefully, but the lion was wide awake and getting amorous. The lioness soon woke up and they did mate in the end! We left the happy pair behind in search of crocodiles and saw some huge ones. One was basking on the banks. We also spotted a mother and baby hippo and were lucky to spot a very colourful bee eater. We saw another big animal whose name I can't remember - a male and female - part of deer family. We returned to the lodge for lunch and some free time before the afternoon game drive. Some of the group saw a black rhino along the river by the camp, but unfortunately I missed this. This was the only chance as we did not encounter any during the game drives. The afternoon game drive was exciting as we saw a pride of lions. First we came across a couple of lionesses with some cubs and then we found the rest, including a huge lion, further down not far from the kill site. Apparently, the lionesses had killed between 6-8 wildebeest in the morning (I was informed of this by a tourist who saw this during their morning game drive), but when we got there not much was left. Some vultures were feasting on an almost eaten carcass whilst there was one dead wildebeest lying intact. No one had yet touched it. It was a sad sight. The cubs were playing and it was a joy to watch them. Soon the other two lionesses and cubs joined the rest of the pride. The lion had four lionesses and I think there were at least 12 cubs. One of the lionesses was limping a bit - she may have been injured whilst hunting. One of my dreams was to see a pride of lions and to be so close to one was an icing on the cake. We returned to the lodge on high despite not seeing any black rhinos.
Day 8 - 19 September
This was the day to return to Nairobi. For six of us, it was a very early morning start as we were being picked up at 05:00 for the hot air balloon flight over Masai Mara. The journey to the launch site was very exciting. It was pitch dark and eerily quiet. The sky was clear and the stars were visible. Two vehicles were travelling together in case one got stuck. The other vehicle had to be rescued by our driver twice. It was an hour's journey to the launch site. Getting in and out of the basket was an experience in itself! We saw lots of animals from the balloon and the scenery was really beautiful. You could see for miles. Things look different from above and I managed to get some good shots of the animals and the scenery. We saw lots of scattered elephants, one with a little baby, grazing and the icing on the cake was when we came across five cheetahs. After an hour, gently floating in the air, we landed and were then driven to the bush breakfast. A sumptuous spread was laid out and everyone enjoyed a truly delicious breakfast. We were then met by the rest of the group in the three vehicles at the breakfast site and soon were on our way to Nairobi. We were doing very well for time, but then hit a traffic jam at Rift Valley caused by a broken down lorry, which meant we arrived very later at our lunch stop. After lunch we made a very brief stop at Kazuri bead factory and shop - the factory was closed as it was past 17:00, but the shop was open. We arrived at Eka hotel around 18:00 so a very long day indeed.
Day 9 - 20 September
After 05:30 breakfast, we left Eka Hotel at 06:00 for the aiport. The flight departed on time and in fact landed half an early at LHR.
Summary
This was an amazing trip and personally for me the best 'wildlife' holiday ever despite very long days and the journeys along mostly bumpy, dusty roads. Since I did all the optionals on offer, I hardly had any time to relax, but enjoyed every minute of this trip. All lodges were great, food abundant with plenty of choice. This was one holiday where no one would go hungry whether you were a vegetarian or meat lover - you had three four course meals a day. We all got on well though obviously you gelled more with your fellow jeep passengers as you shared many hours with them whilst travelling and during game drives. This trip will always have a special place in my heart. If one wishes to see lots of wildlife without having to go searching for it, then this is the one trip which will fulfil your wish. Would I recommend this trip? Of course, 100%.
