Digital SLR camera for beginners - what would you recommend?

[AbbyMumsnet]

Am off to Kenya in a few weeks and need an easy-to-handle camera that will be up to taking cracking pics of animals and such but won't take me so long to work out that by the time I've focused they've left on their great migration... or been eaten. Any ideas?

Mine is a Olympus 810 and I love it...it's prob been upgraded by now- mine is almost 3 yrs old.
I was told by laddo in John Lewis that they always recommend Olympus cameras (of whatever style/type) as they only do camera-y things, therefore are more expert-y IYSWIM?

Is it easy to get hang of?

I've got an olympus - around 5yo so not made any more but it is absolutely fantastic.

DH uses the basic fuji for grab-and run, with a Samsung pro camera which you probably need a Geek Degree to work, so ignore that one

didn't mean to go on the first line - if anything it would be

have you already got lenses that you'd want to use? Could be worth taking into account.

If you're buying camera plus a lens or two (perhaps a wide-angle and something for close up's) then there are some fantastic package deals going atm, have just had some emails to that effect from pixmania or someone

I have no lenses or anything other than my teeny weeny Sony cybershot which is great for quick snapshots but not quite up to dramatic landscapes or great close-ups. Am a learner, essentially, but with a rough idea of what's involved!

have a look here for clues, and perhaps take a look at some reviews? (sorry, biased link as I picked the Olympus page )
My mum uses a Pentax, she paid around £300 for it, but she was a pro photographer in her day - and I remain amazed that she has made the step to digital in her seventies.

The geek DH says go for image stabilisation, either in the camera or the lens.
Also wondering what you want to do with them afterwards - do you need them saving in RAW format as well as JPEG?
geeks forum that dh uses

I've got a Canon 1000d. It's really easy to use and I can take some really fab pictures with it. I chose it after reading a lot of reviews and am very happy with my choice!

one of my fave sites here

Well, a nice person has offered to lend me a new Olympus Sp-590 UZ. So not an SLR, but supposedly a super-dooper compact with 20X optical zoom. Am going to give it a try out and see how things go. Will report back.