Family Excursion to Masai Mara

Now the part where we expand to 13, the original 8 plus Emma, husband Chris and children William (9) Grace (6) and Alfie (3). The excitement (and argument) who would sit where! The boys "bagged" the 2 spare seats in the truck. Again a journey that should have taken 4 to 5 hours took us 7+. Bad roads, the truck missing a turn, drink and "loo" stops all contributed but we did find a camp site before nightfall and had an amazing time. We had planned to spend 3 nights and then move onto Lake Nakaru. A lovely camp site, just outside Talek Gate - Crocodile Camp, masses of game and lethargy persauded us all that we really didn't want to see lake Nakaru. Although we knew we were late to see the migrations we went in pursuit anyway and amazingly nearly managed to see one group of wildebeest and zebra go over the river. We had followed them down to the rivers edge then they decided to amble on. After a few  hours sitting, driving etc we came upon another group which actually did start to go over the river bank. Again not to be - the animals suddenly decided to come back and started running away. You can imagine the childrens reactions. William and Thomas really disappointed that they didnt actually manage to see the crossing. The girls - Florence and Grace, age 6,  upset at the thought of any of the animals being killed by the huge crocodiles waiting, cheered up. Well you can't please them all! I had been a bit sceptical about the Masai Mara - too many tourists etc but was proved wrong. Yes, there were a couple of occassions when there were so many white mini buses viewing some spectacle that it looked as if we were at a bus station, but it was possible to get away from the main tourist groups and we saw so much -
Mating lions (or copulation as the boys describe)
Large prides of lions
Lioness with cubs and kill
Lions with giraffe kill
Cheethas and cubs
Large herds of wildebeest and zebras
Hippos
Enormous crocodiles
Large numbers of hyenas and hyena kills
etc etc

We have been on safari many times in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana etc but as I read in one guide book  "if you can only have one day of doing a safari in your life time then spend it in the Masai Mara".