We left the UK on Monday 9 March for an 8 night holiday.

The taxi arrived 10 minutes early (prefer that to them being late) and we made really good time to Heathrow so we had to wait to check in.

Once through, we could use the Plaza Premier Lounge so plenty of power points, food etc. Jonathon was clearly giving a lot of thought to whatever he was doing.

We flew Kenya Airlines - really good service and the food was lovely. I managed to get some sleep but not very much. We went through some turbulence but nothing major and landed on time (on the 10th).

We had to wait on the plane for a technician to come and take Jonathon's seat to pieces to retrieve his glasses. Thankfully he arrived quickly and the glasses were undamaged.

We were met airside at Nairobi and guided through then handed over to Boyd to drive us via the Great Rift Valley (or part of it) to Karen Blixen Camp in the Mara North.

We stopped a couple of times on the way. First for a drink and to look round a tourist shop then later for brunch. We still got to the camp earlier than we expected, and that was despite the flooded roads along the way.

With arriving early, we were offered a bonus game drive so, of course, we said yes. Our driver was Francis and he had a trainee called Jack. The drive was excellent with loads of sightings (and lots of mud to get stuck in!)

I used my iPhone for photos whereas Jonathon had his proper camera gear with him. Most of the animal photos and all the bird photos on here are his.

The first safari animal we saw was a zebra.

There were loads and loads of Topi to be seen.

We saw this elephant family on our drive - they weren't at all interested in us (apart from the youngest one who did a mock charge for about 2 meters).

Warthogs and acacia trees are both signs that we are back in Africa.

There was a pack of Black-backed Jackals - always up to something, They seemed to get on quite well with Hyenas but were a bit more circumspect near the Cheetahs.

This Jackal was in big trouble. He'd been play fighting with one of the other pack members and had gone a bit too far so was now paying for it.

Jonathon is pretty keen on photographing birds - big ones, little ones and any size in between.

The safari guides soon get used to him asking them to stop because he's seen a feathered friend in the vicinity.

Crowned Plover

Grey Heron

Lilac Breasted Roller

Black Shouldered Kite

We got drenched coming back from the drive - We knew it would be the wet season when we booked but they had had an exceptional amount of rain this season.

Dinner was nice and easy and bed was nice and early to try and catch up from the previous 48 hours.

The animals didn't wait for the sun to come up but it's a lot easier to photograph them when it's light!

My usual view as we're driving around Mara North was the back of three heads.

One of my main aims was to take some photos of the landscape today - it's quite varied and, yes, we did drive over the rocks!

We didn't see much in the way of flowers but these pretty paper tissue flowers are prolific.

Needless to say, the Jackals made an appearance.

The male Cheetah looked really hungry - I dread to think when he last ate.

We sat with him for quite a while (he was doing a lot of sleeping when we first came across him).

Eventually, he got up, after having a good stretch and a roll, and walked off. Francis explained that the Baboons at the top of the hill were the reason.

... and now to the birds, of which there were many this morning ...

Thrush

Black Bellied Bustard

Superb Starling

Helmeted Guinea Fowl

Weaver Bird

Long Tailed Starling

Saddle Billed Stork

We got back to camp in time for brunch (far too late to call it breakfast). Lots to choose from, all very tasty and served with a smile by Solomon.

By then, the sun had decided to come out for a while but the hippos were resting and there was no sign of the crocodile.

Had a lovely surprise when I was going through my photos on our balcony - a giraffe walked past on the other side of the river - too far away for me to photograph but lovely to see.

I checked out the River Lounge, just to say I'd seen it. It was surrounded by Banded Mongoose but they were far to fast to be photographed.

We set out on our afternoon game drive in torrential rain, complete with thunder and lightning. Francis offered us ponchos (we were already wet so declined) and also offered to put the plastic sides down but we might as well go back to camp if he does that because it's hard to see through thick plastic and impossible to photograph through it.

Tawny Eagle

Cattle Egret

Yellow Throated Longclaw

Tawny Eagle

Back for dinner and rather than the quiet affair it was yesterday, it was quite noisy as a party of Danish students had arrived. They weren't creating any noise but their teachers stood regularly and addressed the party, and anyone else in the dining room. It didn't stop us enjoying our food but we would have been happier without their announcements.

We had an all day safari today. I thought that would mean a 9 a.m. start but, no - Francis had other ideas and off we went just before 7.30 a.m. It did mean we caught the last of the sunrise which was really pretty.

We drove over to the main Maasai Mara Reserve. It is enormous and had a completely different feel to the Mara North Conservancy where we'd been for the other drives so far.

There were loads of elephants - some of them huge and ancient and some really tiny.

The elephants seemed to like being in and around these trees.

I'm not sure what spooked the Impala but they certainly galloped across the road. The male was careful to ensure all his females were rounded up.

As usual for this part of the trip, there were Topi everywhere we looked.

The Baboons seemed to think they own the place and sauntered around accordingly;

The Wildebeest didn't seem to care one way or another;

We had packed lunch on the top of the Mara. The sun shone, the food was good. Francis and Jack had dressed up in Maasai clothing for our safari - I'm not sure if they are of Maasai descent but they looked good.

Red Bishop

Hamerkop

Red-Cowled Widow Bird

Brown Snake Eagle

Meyer's Parrot

This is what a Lilac Breasted Roller looks like when it's flying straight at you