Monday 12th September 2016: Bags out and breakfast at 6 to leave at 7 - it is dark and cool when we get up. We are on our way to Masai Mara, which takes us over 5 hours as the last 70 k's is the reputed worst road in Africa - it is stony, corrugated with huge pot holes - Alex does a sterling job, going from one water table to the other to get a better ride, but most others have done this also, so it's not much better. At our first stop, the usual curio shop - full of wooden African animals - with toilets out the back - there are 4 men cutting, paring etc making the ornaments of sandalwood, rosewood and ebony, we haven't seen this before. It takes 4 days to make an elephant about 40 cm x 20 cm. 
 
We go through some good agricultural country, the first big section owned by Lord Delamere and then smaller holdings that are leased and the header also leased - saw lots of green John Deere - somewhat smaller than we are used to. In one village there was corn laid out on sheets to dry. We went through the main Masai town of Narok which has a good university building, a mixture of good buildings, roadside stalls, cars, bikes, people and cows on the road. Surprised to see a really good grandstand and oval on the outskirts. One more stop and then we were on the bone shaking road and the country changed immediately to stony, sandy with low scrub with tribal huts along the way and quite a lot of shepherded stock - they just use a stick to guide them. 

 
We arrive at the Sarova Mara Game Camp and are housed in 'tents' - pretty special ones, we certainly aren't slumming it. At 4 we go out on a game drive, there's been light rain for the last half an hour, which is perfect to lay the dust. We see the usual zebra, giraffe etc and then come upon 10 lions, some of them feeding on a bit of buffalo. We get the call that a cheetah has been spotted - he is quite close, but a bit behind a log - then another call and this one is amazing - a female lion and cub feeding on a giraffe with another female laying nearby. The Masai Mara park is African Savannah with dead grass, and just shrubs, with sections of it very undulating with creeks and wet areas - they must get some heavy rain at times as the gutters certainly gave us a rocking and rolling ride. What more could we ask for than what we have seen today.