Day 2 dawns. Better weather. All day safari. See lions stalking antelope. More elephant. Ostriches, incongruously by a football pitch at a village in the middle of the park.
A long drive near the Tanzanian border and Mara River. Hippos wallowing in the water as the mid-day sun bakes down. A crocodile and hippo face off on the opposite bank.
We cross the bridge over the Mara to enter the TransMara part of the reserve. More open plain. Gone are the trees and low scrub. Herds of giraffe, zebra and wildebeest.
Idyllic picnic lunch under Acacia tree. then head further uphill with views back across to the Serengeti Plains of Tanzania. Swing off the track and follow tyre marks through the grass. Circle round and make out a small rocky outcrop where a family of cheetah are resting. Mother and five half-grown cubs. They are unperturbed and we get within 10 metres to take photos. Magical moment.
Lions at the roadside...blase. More herds of elephant.
The saga of the balloon flight! The local rep's suposed to have booked it but apparently couldn't get through on the phone. Then the weather was so bad that the operator said he couldn't get his 4x4 to the launch site or get to oick s up. Not good. A champagne breakfast is less appealing when you are on the menu. Some (esp. Morgan) are very upset. We're more sanguine. If the operator is turning down the better part of US$3,000 for a day's work he must mean it when he says it is too difficult and dangerous. And anyway, we won't see much if the weather's bad. We do drive round to another operator but he's fully booked. Who wants to waste a day hanging around for a flight that may never happen?
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