kicheche mara

Francis Saruni is a high plains sorcerer specializing in high carat spotted gems from the dusty but delightful plains of Mara North. Charming, funny and calm, he is on first name terms with seemingly every animal and indeed Maasai in this priceless Conservancy.    This week he has outdone himself as have the Mara Camp team as they have found their favourite daughter: Nelangu. On granite. With tiny cubs. Plural. Not content with that, Saruni then found her majesty bringing a huge lizard into her stony lounge.

'Twas the night before Christmas When all through the camp Every animal was stirring From lions to elephant (sorry) They had roared and they had sung And managers had glared In hoping that dawn's angel Would soon be there.

She ummed and ahed but finally made the right decision and grabbed ten days from London in her favourite back yard. Clare Bates we salute your decision and everyone else booked for this autumn, festive season and beyond.

Barry and Rachel, not for the first time this year, not a difficult choice Barry told me. Their words: 'We had a truly magical stay, across all three camps in the Mara. We adored the electric vehicle at Mara North and love the fact that Kicheche is so purposeful about conservation. The staff were astonishing as always, the perfect mix of attentive and relaxed. The safaris were action packed, we will never tire of watching these beautiful animals. Overall - magnificent.'

'And when they are done with trying to eradicate these noble horned creatures in the South they will turn their insidious but high-tech weapons East.' This is what a distressed guide told me last week.

Often it is a very fleeting moment, hard-earned, but brief, but a moment that is forever burnished into your memory mainframe, frequently beyond megapixels.

Out of the big smoke of a London corporate bank, meet Charlie - first day in the Mara ever. Try carry-on lion cub baggage, a cheetah and eland confrontation, breakfast with hippos, and then staggeringly, a full-on zebra take down from fifty metres away. In one day!

Three days ago an Air Kenya Twin Otter en route from Kicheche Laikipia kissed the burnished Olare airstrip and disgorged two couples. Sue Emery planted her feet firmly onto the dusty cotton soil and breathed deeply ... they had made it after fifteen years in the making.

This week I attended the celebration of the African Wildlife Foundation''s Sixtieth Anniversary and the Benjamin Mkapa Nature's Best Photographic Awards ceremony. The late Benjamin Mkapa, ex President of Tanzania, was an iconic supporter of conservation and the event was graced by the presence of his widow Anna Mkapa along with our CS Tourism Hon Balala. The importance of conservation organisations such as AWF, along with wildlife tourism, cannot be overstated, especially during critical recent times.

Karibu Jenny Brown, we've been expecting you. No time to die wondering with these lethal shots, they are right on the money. Penny for your thoughts everyone, are these not are utter gold?