A raucous hadada ibis provided our early morning wake-up call, two hours early, and so we were able to set off quite early for our next destination, the Lewa Conservancy, again located in the Laikipia region. The total drive took 5 hours, and, shortly before our arrival in camp, we drove through the 'Safaricom Lewa Marathon' Village.

Run each year since 2000, the race attracts competitors from all over the world, and, in the process, raises considerable funds to help local projects. It takes place over a two lap course, entirely within the Lewa wildlife Conservancy. As somebody who has run over 70 marathons, I can tell you that a two lap course, offering the option of only running a half marathon instead of carrying on for the second lap, provides one of the toughest choices that there are (), opposite.

The race is run entirely through the open bush, with all its inherent dangers, as described below (). Indeed we came across a whole pride of lions as we drove through the area (), with one lioness situated only a few hundred yards from the start/finish line, (), opposite, taking a considerable interest in what was going on. Whether she returned a few days later when the race actually took place I cannot say.

On arrival at Lewa Safari Camp () we were warmly greeted by our hosts, together with their dog, Treacle. As always, the camp was a delight to stay in (), (), below, and contained an interesting collection of animal skulls displayed under a tree (), opposite.

     

On our late afternoon game drive we didn't initially see very much game, with the exception of a giraffe feeding from a tree ().

Then, just as we were about to stop for sundowners a radio message came through about a lion sighting, so we took off in that direction. We didn't see the lion, but did manage to spend about 15 minutes observing a leopard, just as the light was starting to fade.

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