Big cat diary

Tim and I started the week before last with a reception sponsored by Save the elephants and hosted by the British High Commission here focussed on raising awareness of the huge increase in poaching in Kenya and across Africa over the last couple of years. And we ended it with a family weekend away in the Massai Mara to celebrate Jamie's birthday. So, a very wildlife focused week (with the inevitable elections backdrop).

The poaching figures are pretty grim, with ivory from elephants and rhino horn the two most sought after items. Recent research suggests illegal killing of elephants has more than doubled in the last three years and its an equally sad story for Rhinos. Prices of ivory and horn are soaring and a culture of corruption and impunity mean the profits are high and the risks low for want to be poachers. But alongside these salutary figures and some horrible video footage of dead and mutilated elephants, the reception did give Tim the chance to chat to Saba Douglas-Hamilton again and put him in the right big cat frame of mind for the Mara....

After a year in Kenya we still hadn't made it to this world famous spot and as soon as I told the kids they could each choose a birthday destination Jamie was very clear he wanted to go to the Mara. It's between a 6 and 9 hour drive from Nairobi or just under an hour in a small plane - no contest I thought, despite a pretty significant price difference. The fun of a small plane, the speed of travel, the "free" air safari over Kenya including a fab view into a volcano just outside Naivasha.....but I hadn't quite factored in the impact on travel sick kids (even after lashings of stugeron all round). And by the time we arrived at our tranquil camp on the river (seeing elephants from the window as we came into land) there was a family consensus that we would drive next time.

Having recovered from the flight and had an evening chilling on the veranda by our tent and eating a delicious (and in Jamie's case huge) supper we were all restored and ready for our 6am wake up call complete with tea, hot chocolate and biscuits. And then it was a pattern of game drives, leg stretching and jumping in a pool, more drives, recharging camera batteries and eating lunch, more safari and then a cold beer or soda, a slide show about the animals and dinner before doing it all again on Sunday. And it was great.........

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We saw so much, relaxed completely and had fun planing for a return trip with granny in October when its the migration. Luckily a combination of early starts, long days and plying the kids with larger doses of anti sickness drugs on the way back meant they slept rather than threw up. And Tim got the seat next to the pilot so it looks like a short flight is on the cards again for our next trip.






Anne