Day 77 Serengeti 19/12/12

None of us could recall waking up to pouring rain on this holiday, but today was the definite exception. Brilliant timing, as this was the day of our dawn balloon flight over the plains but by 07.00 it had been cancelled. Great disappointment all round, but we tried hard to overcome our feelings and went off for a game drive in our 4x4s, where the highlight was a leopard on a branch up a tree, having first stashed its kill even higher up. Added crested black eagle and Maasie giraffe to our list.

Our campsite is unfenced, so is open to all sorts of wildlife (take good ears and a torch if going to the loo during the night!). At mid afternoon, a family of elephants paid us a visit - so close we could easily hear them as they tore young branches off nearby trees. We all just stood there, almost motionless - except for clicking camera shutters.

Our evening game drive brought another highlight - not just a leopard up a tree, but right close by us. We watched, dumb struck, as he warily observed us, then got up, turned round and - defying the laws of gravity - slowly crawled down the trunk and disappeared into the grass. And a cheetah as well.

Another boring day - as we went to bed with fingers (and everything else) crossed hoping for good weather for tomorrow.