Africa 2012 Live Diary: Last day and UK return

AFRICA PHOTO SAFARI LIVE DIARY

DAY 19, A day full of surprises!

Hello!

Well here is the diary entry for our last day in the Mara.

As most of you know I am now back in the UK and settled back into normality. Planning for my first appearance at the Birdfair is not under way as well as the usual catching up with friends, bills and so on.

I have started work on the D800 report a lot of you are asking for, please bear with me as I am very busy at the moment but rest assured it’s coming, pictures and all!!

Well, the Lions gave us a great send off with a sighting just near where we left them on the top of the hill. The light and grass was against us sometimes but the young ones were in a playful mood and it made for fun viewing and a great way to see in the last drive in the Mara…

 Low or flat light can sometimes give you a good opportunity to try out some B&W developing techniques

Here she is drinking from this small lake for the minerals. You can see the salt that is staining the surrounding ground white.

This was a new area for this pride and as such they were a little more on edge than some of the others we had seen who are in their own territory.

..although that doesn’t stop the young ones from checking us out after building up the nerve!

Giving the occupants of the strange green metal object a good look.

Then the pride up and moved on to a more open grassy area.

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Both cubs and mums were in playful moods for a short while.

The pride watching the nearby gazelles which in turn were keeping a much closer eye on them.

Well, again a super thanks to our group 2: Tony Cheryl and Gordon! We had a bit of a rushed exit to the airship from camp so we unfortunately didn’t grab a group shot this time. Also thanks again to Darren and Emma with their amazing camp crew at Kicheche Bush for pulling out all the stops and making it a fantastic stay. And of course Mary and the whole Safari Consultants crew for keeping it all smoothly ticking under the hood.

Thanks to my guide and friend Daniel! Of course for your guiding skills  but perhaps more admirably for putting up with me for 22 days in a row!! It’s always good to see you my friend and you did a fantastic job. Not forgetting Joe who helped guide the larger vehicle with group 1, as always you delivered the goods and I look forward to working with you both next February!!

To everyone who has followed the blog and especially those who have sent me messages, comments or Facebook likes; thank you so much. You are the driving force that helps me do things like this!

I am putting together a slideshow and image round-up post from the trip for those of you after the technical details of each shot (there are a lot of you judging from the emails), so check back soon. Please swing by to my stand at the bird fair and say hi if you are visiting. Art Marquee, stand 26.

Bye for now! Rich.

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