I have 2 long haul trips on my radar for 2019. One only goes twice and one of the dates clashes with something else so that means I would be doing that trip in the autumn.

The second trip is the Kenyan safari with the option of January 2019 or February 2019.

There are lots of useful reviews (thank you people) which speak highly of the trip but these (or at least the more recent ones) refer to trips later in the year. So, questions:-

• From those who have been before are there any particular advantages/disadvantages from going early in the year? I am thinking weather although this looks fairly similar on the different times and are there particular times of year when you are more likely to see specific wildlife, and,

• How close do you get to wildlife? I am thinking of photographs and I am constantly surprised be people saying how close wildlife was! Photographically I use pro spec equipment but the longest lens I have is (film equivalent) 300mm and wondering if that has enough pulling power for this trip.

Thank you, Ian.

This was the first JY trip I did, sorry I can't answer about the time of year as I went in November but I can answer about how close to the wildlife.......Very close!! I was really looking forward to seeing elephants and on our first game drive we saw a herd walking towards us, we stopped, they literally bumped past the jeep - they were close enough to touch!! We got just as close to a Lion who seemed to be quite interested in the jeep. Most other wildlife could get to a matter of meters away. The only thing I really needed to put my camera to work on (Canon Powershot SX60 HS) was a Leopard sleeping in a tree. Some people only had very simple compact cameras and managed to get some amazing shots.

Paula

That is (sort of) what I expected but good to hear it first hand from someone who has been there. I guess that JY would not organise a trip at a "bad" time of year and with wildlife nothing is guaranteed but any input from anyone who knows Kenya at that time of year would be welcome.

Ian