Have landrover, now for a safari

After some top gear inspired debate and much searching we have settled on a second hand Freelander as our car here. And after many years of deriding mums who do the school run in 4x4s I have now become one - although the road quality and standard of driving here is a little different from Chelsea (at least that is how I justify myself).

And the Easter holidays and Tim's birthday seemed the perfect time to take it, and us on our first proper African Safari. Taking some advice from new found friends here we chose Amboseli, on the border with Tanzania and with Mount Kilimanjaro as a backdrop, as our destination.

We stayed in a really friendly hotel just outside the park and pretty much had the lovely pool there to ourselves so no anxiety about noisy splashing kids disturbing the tranquility. Jamie befriended the bar man and spent his down time inventing non alcoholic cocktails to sell to thirsty safari goers whilst Matthew and Katie went off exploring in the bamboo and sugar cane (when they weren't munching the latter by the pool.) And on our first evening we sat round a camp fire ostensibly learning about Masai culture but in reality star gazing - must remember to get the great star map app for our next trip

For our first venture into the park itself we went with a Masai guide who completely looked the part (sorry no photo - I'm not entirely comfortable taking posed shots of people i don't really know) and had a nasty looking scar from a struggle with a lion when he had been tending his cows a few years ago. He was great and helped us spot loads of elephants - Matthew abandoned his attempts to keep a tally in the first few minutes when we saw three huge groups in quick succession and tim and I got a little nervous when an impressive bull elephant started walking right towards us - photo is on my other camera and I don't have the right lead to upload it but take my word it was huge and I wasn't being a bit feeble! We also saw zebra, hyena, buffalo, wildebeest, warthogs, gazelles and finally a real treat of four lions stalking a wildebeest. The male in the group walked right past the freelander - it was good to be high up! Here is Jamie's photo - now his screensaver. Fortunately the wildebeest clocked what was happening and made its getaway. But, as Matthew observed, "that was very special".

Anne