The following day we were transported to the airport for our short flight to the Mara.  The flight was uneventful and our arrival at the Mara brought a real sense of excitement and anticipation.  We had no idea what to expect from the camp we were going to only that it was the Governors Camp so named as it used to be the British governor's weekend retreat during colonial days.  We were met by our guide and driver for the week Simon and taken to the camp; on the drive we saw our first animals (Zebras) in the wild and of course the inevitable joke about zebra crossing (in front of our safari vehicle).  On arrival at the camp we were greeted by the 'Gate sargeant' who gave us a salute and a massive ear to ear grin.

The camp was everything we hoped for within completely natural surroundings; there were no constraints on animals wandering into and through the camp.  During the day it was perfectly normal and quite safe to walk anywhere.  At night we could hear elephants walking around, rubbing against the tent but were perfectly safe with our own personal guard outside the tent throughout the night to warn them off.  The next day we would see evidence of elephants visiting the camp during the night looking for food (broken branches and trampled bushes).  The tent itself was of course without any power but had every mod con you could desire including hot shower, large comfortable bed, toilet, somewhere to hang your clothes and heating and lighting provided by calor gas.  The view outside the tent was across the river about 20feet below where we could see crocodiles, baboons and hippopotamuses, all at a safe distance (we were told!).

The camp center was superb with a bar and reception area, dining facilities and a raised terrace where we could relax and drink and watch smaller varieties of wildlife wandering through the camp.  The format for our safari holiday was to get woken up at 4am with a large silver tray of tea and a light breakfast, after which we went on our first safari.  This is the best time to see the animals as they are actively looking for food and there's always a possibility you might see the 'chase' although we didn't.  After around 3 hours we would return to the camp for breakfast and to relax before going on our second safari in the afternoon.  Evenings would consist of dinner (the food was varied and excellent) and drinks in the bar during the evening.  The early start meant we would usually retire to our tents fairly early although we were entertained by native dancers and musicians on our second evening in the camp.  It was nice to see the Maasai ladies and men dancing with their families including children and we saw a demonstration of the Maasai men 'jumping'; the higher they could jump by springing off two feet simultaneously supposedly meant they got the pick of the women (!).