The Captain was honking at the horn already at 5 a.m. He said there was a long day of driving and by now we could well believe him. We had breakfast in darkness and then the usual hassle of loading all the tents and equipment. The first couple of hours we followed the shoreline of Lake Turkana and it was one of the most uncomfortable rides I have ever had. There was no track as such and we jolted over the lava stones and I almost fell out of the truck on more than one occasion. The Captain was going much too fast for some reason. I was beginning having motion sickness and also to my horror started to feel pain in my kidneys. In addition there was an extremely strong wind, whipping up lava dust in our faces.

But then we reached some sort of track and I recuperated. We followed the same way as we had come up through the oasis of South Horr and eventually after endless crossings of ravines, the town of Baragoi. There we had lunch among throngs of souvenir peddlers. We then detoured into the Kaisut desert. It was very bleak and desolate with no life, human or otherwise, except for the occasional Samburu who amazingly could find an existence for themselves and their herds of sheep.

We were to camp out in the wilderness as there was no recognised campsite within hundreds of miles. Our first campsite had to be abandoned as it was infested with siafu, or soldier ants. I saw black bands meandering for hundreds of yards through the bush and a close observation showed a wholesale massacre of spiders, cater-pillars and even a snake. I was bitten by a few bastards and it stung like hell!

We moved a mile or so and the place seemed to be free from ants or any other creepy crawlers. There were of course no amenities and I could not wash myself. But the campsite was quite beautiful in its forlorn location, sprinkled with the acacia thorn trees.

We usually put up our tents wherever we fancied and were a bit surprised by the Captain's strict order that we had to erect them in a circle around the fire. We also thought he was joking when he said we had to stand guard in shifts throughout the night. But the camp had been raided by Samburu warriors a couple of times a few years back and the safari company was taking no chances.

Even so we regarded the idea of us being watchmen as a big joke and the next hour was spent trying to organise the roster in a fair manner. Not surprisingly it was Tammy the Soldier who took command. In the end it was decided that the watch should be organised tent-wise and Derek and I were assigned the watch between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. I never asked on what grounds but I did not protest either.

We had another excellent dinner, I was surprised the cooks could do as well considering they had to cook for 30 people. It was nice to sit around the campfire and gaze at the amazing sky with the full moon and I was almost hypnotised by the Southern Cross. I had still an unopened tax-free bottle of Southern Comfort and I thought it was high time to make use of its contents as I was going to "help" Jim & Cyndy during their watch. Derek was also helpful and I managed to trick Laura into having a few sips as well.

We had a very merry time, reinforced no doubt by the effects of the whisky. One theme of the jokes was of course how we were going to fend off the impending ambush of the Samburu warriors that supposedly were lurking in the darkness. Hyenas were howling far away and we roared with laughter when it was suggested that it rather was the battle cry of the Samburus.

Laura took the Samburu threat seriously enough. She did not dare go out in the bush to the toilet by herself and asked me to escort her. Gallant as I am I complied, not being fearful of the Samburu. If confronted, I would breathe in their faces!

After she had performed her needs we took a walk through the bush not letting the campfire out of our sights. I was quite tipsy and overwhelmed by the romantic atmosphere of the warm night and starstudded sky. Laura was quite attractive and as far as I could gather she had given me the famous Green Light.

So I took her in my arms and gave her a long kiss, abandoning any restrictive thought about her dangerous youth. She responded as I thought she would and the situation might have become "serious" if not for Derek's shouting at us across the desert. We had been gone for quite some time and in his drunken state he had feared the Samburus had abducted us! I cursed him the next day but maybe his interference was divine. On the statute books my relationship with Laura would not be viable. On the other hand you'll never know. Perhaps one should not let conventions rule every time.

Back at the campfire the party continued with Derek, Jim & Cyndy and Laura as there still was some whisky left. Tomorrow night there would be a farewell party and each nationality was expected to do the performance of a song or any other skit. I was at loss as to what I would do as I had an F in music!

Instead we discussed various options as to what the American contribution would be. Cyndy had worked as a child nurse and had a treasure of songs to fall back on. She had a very good voice too and I'm sure the Samburus would have enjoyed it, if they listened. It was decided they would do a medley of songs including a variant of the evergreen "The Lions Sleep Tonight". In their new version it would of course be "The Samburus Sleep Tonight". They also promised, at my behest and despite Laura's blushing protests, to do a rendition of "Tell Laura I Love Her".

One who was not impressed by our singing was the Captain who rather brusquely told us to shut up because he wanted to sleep. So the party mood dissipated and I went to bed and into a very deep drunken sleep.

I was not amused when Derek woke me up at 4 am to commence my guard duty. I thought the whole idea of being a sentry was rather silly but it was a warm night and I was sober enough to enjoy the fantastic night sky. The hour passed quickly in conversation with Derek and I returned to my sleeping bag.

The goal for today's drive was the Samburu National Park, only a three hours' drive through the desert, just north of the shoulder of Mount Kenya. We first went to the adjoining Buffalo Springs National Reserve. Just as we had entered through the gates we saw the first herd of elephants, only 15 yards from the road. There were about ten of them including a cute baby elephant, not the slightest perturbed by the roaring trucks and our clicking cameras. They are really majestic animals, weighing up to seven tons and it is of course a shame that their numbers are decreasing rapidly. I read in the guidebook that in 1925 90 % of Kenya's land area was elephant range and this is down to less than 20 % today.

Very close to the elephants was a group of reticulated giraffes with their beautiful jigsaw markings. They also are quite majestic being 20 feet tall and weighing one ton. They looked very funny, like submarine periscopes, when they peered over the acacia tree tops. And it was a mystery how they could eat the thorny branches. They are very timid creatures and having no natural enemies they are quite numerous. Next on parade was a family of warthogs. They looked very funny too with their tails erect high up in the air, wiggling constantly.

There were also numerous herds of Grevy's zebra and an amazing variety of antelopes like oryx, kudu, impala, Thomson's gazelle, eland and hartebeest, all very graceful when they took off in a sprint when the trucks came to close. There were plenty of gerenuks, a small antelope that stands on its hindlegs to reach the foliage. In the beginning I snapped my camera at just about everything that moved but I got more restrictive later as some species, like zebra and antelopes were very common.

We continued driving through the high elephant grass towards Buffalo Springs and we were soon rewarded with the highlight of the day. In the grass, only 10 yards from the truck a pride of lions was resting. One would have believed that the roaring trucks would scare them off but they were lying in the grass looking at us with cool disdain. I think I took half a roll of film of the playful cubs, the proud lionesses and the yawning male. I learned that lions are resting 20 hours a day and one would be very lucky to see them actually do something.

Contrary to popular belief they rarely attack humans although I had just read in the Kenya Times that one lion had turned man-eater in Maasai Mara a couple of days ago. It had called at one of the lodges, seized a waiter by the head and dragged him off. Maybe the lion was displeased with the service!

We reached Buffalo Springs and had lunch as well as a refreshing swim in one of the wells. In the nearby Buffalo Springs Lodge, beautifully located by the Ewaso Nyiro River, we had a couple of beers, very refreshing too after the hot and dusty roads earlier. I was shocked to hear that a bottle of whisky cost £30 and instead I invested in a bottle of papaya wine for the more reason- able price of £3.

We crossed into Samburu National Park and found it to consist of vast scrubby bush country with occasional acacia thickets. The Ewaso Nyiro River meandered through the middle of the park and was lined with a green ribbon of acacia, doum palm and tamarind trees full of chattering monkeys. We made camp by the river and it was a very beautiful campsite but I was disappointed to learn there were no showers.

We went on another drive game in the late afternoon and saw large numbers of zebra, antelopes and another herd of elephants. We saw no lions, cheetahs or the elusive leopards and it was slightly disappointing.

Tonight would be the group's last together. Those of us who would continue on the Wildlife Bus would be transferred to another campsite and the others would return to Nairobi. Although most of the time had been spent on the bumpy and dusty truck, it had been an interesting experience visiting these remote regions that otherwise would not have been possible. Only 1 % of all tourists to Kenya venture north of Maralal and the catch phrase "Vanishing Africa" had some ring of truth to it. I also enjoyed the international company, particularly of course Laura's.

After another excellent meal by the campfire it was time for the highly touted entertainment. The Captain and his crew started off with very soulful renditions of those Swahili evergreens "Jambo Jambo", "Malaika" (Angel) and "Hakuna Matata" (No problems) and they sang quite well.

Then it was the Americans turn and they did a medley of songs including "The Samburus Sleep Tonight" and pointing in my direction and to general amusement, "Tell Laura I Love Her". Laura was blushing sweetly and did not sing.

Next up was the Anglo/Irish contingent and they had by far the best act. They were singing in chorus with Steve as a very good lead singer a medley of folk songs from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland accompanied very cleverly by the beating of sticks. I can still hear them belting out "It's A Long Way To Tipperary" and they got a well-deserved applause.

The six Aussies took the centre stage next and did a rather unrehearsed version of. They broke into laughter all the time and were booed off the stage. The New Zealand contribution was far better. Gregg and Anne sang a Maori song and although we could not understand one thing, it was beautifully sung.

Equally incomprehensible was Daniel's Belgian contribution. He was singing a song in French and tried to translate it for us in his broken English but we never got the gist of it.

Erick from France had a popular act. He made us all sing "Alouette" in French. At the progression of the verses we had to make all sorts of silly movements with our arms and our legs. After each verse we had to sing from the beginning and it took well over half an hour before we had gone through every verse. It was great fun.

Then it was my turn. To everybody's disappointment I flatly refused. Not only because I do not have any voice and do not know any songs but I find it extremely embarrassing to be in such situations where I'm expected to entertain a large group of mostly strange people. A remnant from my school days I'm sure.I guess I was not drunk enough from the papaya wine!

It was now quite late and we were out of firewood so there was not much else to do but go to bed. I took a rather sentimental farewell of Laura whom I would not see again as she would fly home the following week. While I would not grade our relationship as too serious more like light-hearted friendship I found myself a bit sad that we would have to part ways. But that's life or so it seems!

I had some trouble getting to sleep, maybe because I was thinking about her and speculating about alternate progressions of my life. There was also a very noisy frogs' concerto from the river and the distant howling of the hyenas.

The next morning the Captain set a new record by honking on the horn already at 4.30 am. At breakfast I took another farewell of Laura and the others. Then I, Jim & Cyndy and Steve & Carolyn were transferred to another campsite a few miles away, also by the river. The campsite was even more beautiful than the other one, overlooking the river on one side and being partitioned to the savannah by a small forest of picturesque tamarind trees.

There were permanent spacious tents erected. The tents even had beds so I did not need my sleeping bag. But when I made a closer scrutiny of my bed I found a dead rat! It had made a nest in the blanket and suffocated for some reason and I notified Joseph, the caretaker, who let me have another tent.

I took a long overdue bucket shower and went for a couple of hours' sleep. Then I washed my clothes in the warm sunshine. The campsite was very quiet and peaceful. Today was Friday and we would have it all to ourselves until Saturday evening when the other people would arrive from Nairobi. There were an amazing variety of birds including a large number of almost tame bluebirds. One weird bird sounded exactly like a xylophone! It was very relaxing to sit in the warm sunshine reading "The Journey To the Jade Sea" and drinking coffee and I rate it as of some the best moments of my holiday in Africa.

In the afternoon we went with Joseph for a walk to collect firewood. It was quite exciting as we for once left our sanitised environment and were walking in the wilds and not even having the protection of the truck. We passed a big herd of zebras who looked at us suspiciously.

We then went down to the river and followed its banks for quite a while. The river was full of crocodiles but Joseph assured us that they did not "usually" hunt in the daytime. When I stooped down to feel the water I could not help associating to "Crocodile Dundee", the scene where the girl was dragged into the water by a croc. A bit later I almost soiled my pants as there was a sudden rustling in the undergrowth only five yards from where I was walking and a giant croc rushed down into the river. A few minutes later I almost bumped into a green tree snake, hanging from a branch. Joseph said it was poisonous but had its fangs so far back that one must put the finger in its mouth in order to be bitten. I did not test his statement!

The banks of the river were full of interesting tracks. Very recently elephants had been there which was also evidenced by fresh, giant heaps of dung. Joseph also spotted the footprints of a cheetah, very recent too. Perhaps a bit too recent, because all of a sudden the monkeys in a nearby tree made a terrible racket and according to Joseph they were warning against a predator. We picked up some firewood and I was rather happy to return to the comparable safety of the camp. I sent a thought to the first explorers who of course had to cope with far more serious situations constantly.

In the evening I enjoyed the spaghetti meal and then went to bed early at 9 p.m. The African night had many interesting sounds. There was the shrill frog concerto, a cricket serenade, the evocative howls of the not so distant hyenas and mysterious rustlings of nearby branches. There was also a very strong wind during the night. Because of the proximity to the river I had feared the place would be swarming with mosquitoes, but there were very few. I was still bitten by a couple of bastards. The mosquitoes were very small and in contrast to their Swedish relatives I could not hear the little devils when they were zooming around the tent.

In the middle of the night I got up to take a leak and almost had a heart attack. As I was making my way in the darkness I came suddenly eye to eye with a Samburu warrior with a big spear in his hand! But it turned out he had peaceful intentions. He was in fact an askari, a guard whose job it was to keep the camp clear of human as well as animal predators.

In the morning I woke up abruptly at six am by a terrible racket outside my tent. It sounded like a pack of angry dogs fighting over something and when I very cautiously opened the tent I saw that there was a band of monkeys fooling around with my hair shampoo! When they saw me they quickly scattered up the trees. Joseph told us at breakfast that they had a big problem with the monkeys who invaded the camp every night in order to steal food. It had also happened quite often that lions prowled around the camp that explained the existence of the Samburu askari.

We had another relaxing day in the camp. The weather was very nice and we admired the bluebirds and listened with amazement to the xylophone bird. In the afternoon we went on another walk with Joseph to collect firewood. We could enjoy the beauty of the riverine forest without the disturbance of any crocodiles although we saw a few floating in the river like soaked logs.

My Walkman had collapsed and I gave it to Joseph along with my four cassettes. He was very happy as it represented a small fortune in Kenya and it could be repaired with a little welding.