Return of the game hunters

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As our van hurtles along a dirt road, a voice in urgent Swahilimixed with static comes over the radio. "Madoadoa ya china,madoadoa ya china." Jonnes Mwarema, our driver, takes the receiverand answers calmly. Without explanation to the six Australians inthe back of the people-mover, he swings into reverse and spins itaround. We're heading back in the direction we came. "What'shappening?" someone calls from the back.
The vehicle squeaks and rattles over stones like a dodgy shoppingtrolley until we come to a halt beside a van just like ours. In thelong yellow grass we can just make out the faces of the "madoadoaya china", which translates as "spotted animals". It's a cheetahand her two cubs, as big as dogs, as fluffy and silly as kittens.They play hide and seek under our van, jumping up the sides,picking at the tyres, fascinated and confused by everything.
This is the sort of controlled danger that travellers on safariwant to find. This year, however, tourists have been worried aboutfinding more serious trouble when venturing to Kenya. Afterdisputed elections in December, more than 1000 Kenyans died duringtwo months of tribal violence, concentrated in the west of thecountry and Nairobi. The leaders of the opposing parties signed anagreement to share power on February 28, quelling the violence.Even so, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade advisesAustralians to exercise a high degree of caution when travelling inKenya, citing terrorism, civil unrest and crime as risks.
Tourists, like wildlife, are skittish and easily spooked. Whetherit is a coup or a cyclone or a disease, they catch a whiff ofdanger and baulk. Kenyan tourism operators are quick to point outthere were no tourists harmed in the post-election violence, eventhough there were 40,000 of them in the country at the time. Still,tourists fled. Jake Grieves-Cook, who chairs the nation's tourismboard, says in the months after the election visitor numbersslumped by two-thirds. And when our group journeys on safari inMay, we're the first group Mwarema has led since the election. Thisis serious for a nation heavily reliant on international tourism.
From Nairobi we head for the cool rainforests of Mount Kenya,two-and-a-half hours' drive away. Then we head to Lake Nakuru,known for its flamingo population, which has dwindled along withthe size of the lake in recent years. This is the closest we cometo an area affected by the violence.
After leaving Lake Nakuru, where we see plenty of rhinos, we joltalong eight hours of bumpy road to the savannah of the Masai Marain the south-west of the country, by far the highlight of the trip.The Masai Mara comprises 1510 square kilometres of goldengrassland, where masses of animals live together in garishabundance.