Thanks!

Well, that's us back home in Scotland again.  It was a shorter safari this year and there were many things that happened on this safari which were not in the plan...but that is Africa; things don't always go the way you think they will, so in Africa you make a new plan and that's what we did.

The late arrival of some of the luggage forced us to spend some time at the Ndololo Safari Camp instead of the nearby campsite, so we got to experience the lovely charm of a place we have long intended to visit.

The flash-flood forced us to abandon plans to camp in the Masai Mara and instead we spent a night in Siana Springs lodge and returned to Nairobi, where we visited the Nairobi National Park and the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust; both places we have also been meaning to visit for several years.

It has been yet another wonderful adventure and we have come home with plenty of tales to bore our friends with.  We also have many people to thank for their contributions to our adventure:

1. Patrick Muigai at Roving Rovers supplied the "Mystery Machine", which survived a drowning in the flash flood at Siana. 
2. Tiju Aziz, our good friend in Voi, sorted our internet connectivity problems again for the second year and also gave us a lovely coffee mug each (currently being used as we type!).  If you need any tech help in Voi, then Ashtech Systems is the place to go!
3. The staff at Ndololo Safari Camp, who went out of their way to make us feel welcome and ensure we had somewhere to sleep when some of the tents took three days to arrive.
4. Everyone at Ngutuni Safari Lodge.  A wonderful friendly place, with excellent food, beautiful rooms and everything overlooks a busy waterhole.  A fine, relaxing place to sit with a cold Tusker and watch the many visitors to the waterhole.
5. Whoever the safari guide who told us about the Leopard near Kuldip's Ponds in Tsavo West was, asante sana!  You ended a six-year hunt for us :-)
6. All the staff at Rhino Valley Bandas in Tsavo West National Park, who made our short stay in this stunning setting in the beautiful Ngulia Hills a delight.
7. All the staff at the Milimani Backpackers, who are always friendly and welcoming.  This is a delightful place to stay, with simple but clean accommodation, helpful staff and a great atmosphere in the restaurant/bar.  See you next year!
8. The Masai community around Siana, who helped us when the Mystery Machine succumbed to a flash-flood; especially the families in Julius's village, who looked after the Rav4 that Lockhart and Pam were driving, as it could not get all the way to Siana Springs Lodge.
9. Ray and Gail Damazo, who stopped to help us out in the flash-floods.  With their driver William, they winched the stricken Land Rover onto drier land so that it could be recovered by the engineers at Siana.  They also gave us a lift through the treacherous conditions to Siana Springs Lodge and checked up on us to make sure we were ok the following day before we left.  Ray and Gail founded the Masai Dental Clinic, which provides important dental care to the Masai communities in the Mara and beyond.
10. Everyone at Siana Springs Lodge, who went out of their way to make us welcome after our "dooking" in the flash-flood.  We'd especially like to thank Emanuel, who made sure they had accommodation to fit us in and all the lads in the Land Rover Workshop, who toiled through the night to get the Mystery Machine back on the road.
11. We'd also like to say a huge thank-you to the men and women of the Kenya Wildlife Service and the Community Rangers, who put their lives on the line daily to protect the amazing flora and fauna of this incredible country.

The Mystery Machine as the floods subsided.

Two days later we were driving round the Nairobi National Park in the same Landy!

We now have thousands of images to sort through, so watch out for further updates with images from some of this year's safari adventures.

If you have not already, please consider making a donation to our fund-raising for Save The Elephants, through the link on the right to our Just Giving page.