Kenya 30 December 2006

Getting immune to Masai women pressing their wares on us at the park gates. Getting amused by the taciturn teenagers. Too old to wave like the children; too young to smile with the aduts. Cool is the same the world over.

Follow the herd (of white vans) and find not game but a bogged down truck. Tow out three or four white vans that are stuck and a Japanese 4x4. A great advert for the Land Rover. All we lacked was Zara Philips to add glamour. Rewarded for our good deed by the sight of a cheetah. Then off the beaten track we find a herd of 500+ buffalo (Jenny's audit skills at counting animals from a moving truck - honed on the Devon moors - come into their own).

Afternoon game drive. Different part of the park. Hilly. In among a large herd of elephant. Then, tipped off by radio, we race to join a herd of white vans surrounding two lions sleeping off a meal - looks like a buffalo and calf. Then we all surround another big, male lion with half a buffalo carcase. Less than 20 ft from the lion but he's not interested in us. Too interested in the buffalo. Wonder what happened to the rest of it. Looks a very clean cut. No scattering of bones or messy edges. Sense a set up.