aowens

Has anyone ever stayed here? Price is really good and I am just trying to get more information about how it compares to some of the other more well known properties. Anyone????

Thanks,

Ann

spassvogel

I can only comment on Rekero:
PRIME location at the river, great guiding!

ovenbird

Rekero Tented Camp is our favorite camp in the Mara. Have not stayed at the other two places.

kimburu

ovenbird... it's all one place - a 'bush home' type place up in the hills an hour or two's drive north of the reserve. Never been there, but have previously heard of it.

Ann... By well-known properties do you mean places like Governor's, Rekero, Intrepids, Serian, Kicheche, etc.? If so, I don't think they are directly comparable, but hopefully someone who has been there can be more specific.

aowens

Kinburu - yes - am trying to decide if after Kichwa Tembo or Little Govenors would one be disappointed in Acacia House. I know the guiding will be great, but just curious about the actual property itself. Will it be a letdown. Is it more primitive/simple?? I am certainly fine with that - but trying to figure itinerary and dynamics. I am interested in the wildlife - but don't want to let down my friends who haven't been before. should we do this first or last??

Shikati

Rekero Homes has been rebranded Nomadic Encounters, there are three houses in Mara that they offer, Topi House bordering the Game Reserve and Olare Orok Conservancy and Mara / Acacia House's in the Lemek hills within the Mara North Conservancy. Check out the new site www.nomadicencounters.com

Sapphire

Shikati, thank you for letting us know that Rekero Homes has been rebranded and directing us to the new site. Aowens, we have book Acacia House for three nights for 6 adults and I will write a review after we stay there.

aowens

Sapphire - when are you going??

Sapphire

We will be there toward the end of July, getting home around July 26th - so it will probably be right around the end of July before I will be able to write a trip report.

There is a review of Acacia House on Trip Advisor:

(http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...ber-Kenya.html)

I asked the author for input on the home and the food and she responded toward the end of that thread.

aowens

Thanks for the post Sapphire - will be very interested to hear your impressions when you return! I will be in South Africa when you get back, and will be back in the US on the 10th of August. Will check in then and see if you have had a chance to post your report! Thanks so much!

Sapphire

We had a wonderful stay at Acacia House. In just two and a half days, we saw over 25 different species of mammals and 35 different kinds of birds. We saw 4 leopards within a 30 minute period, a cheetah, wildebeest crossing the Mara River, hyenas, lion cubs with lioness, and so much more. We could not have been happier with sightings of wildlife and the information supplied by our excellent guide, Saalash.

The home itself is absolutely beautiful with 2 large bedrooms and luxurious bathrooms, a study, living and dining areas, and a veranda looking out over the Rekero waterhole. We found the food to be delicious and the service superb. In other words, we could not have asked for anything more.

We are in Nairobi just now, about to head home. I will try to follow up with a trip report but wanted to post something about Acacia House for those who may be interested in staying there in the future.

Sapphire

P.S. I want to add that there is also a loft area with one double and one twin bed. Also, we had 2 vegetarians in our group of 6 and they were very happy with the alternative entrees prepared for them.

aowens

Sapphire - thanks so much for the post. I am in Cape Town now - but went ahead and booked Acacia and Mara house for next August. Am so happy to see what you wrote. 4 Leopards - wow!!! Thanks,

Ann

Sapphire

Haven't had time to write a full trip report but thought I would add a bit more info about Acacia House and our time there. It was perfect for us. We all thought the house and its setting were beautiful. It is a bit further north than many of the other lodges/camps but we didn't find that a problem. In fact, it put us a bit closer to where we saw the leopards on an evening drive.

Seeing the Leopards (First Full Day) We went on an early morning game drive and then relaxed in the afternoon, eating lunch outside and then swimming in the pool. Some of us kept an eye on the Rekero watering hole which is not far from Acacia House. In the late afternoon we went on another game drive, planning to watch the sunset over cocktails, etc. We enjoyed the antics of a large troop of baboons as we drove to an overlook to watch the sunset. It was lovely to look out over the valley and the colorful sky while sipping beer, wine, or cocktails. It was dusk when we started to drive back, and I didn't expect that we would see anymore game. It wasn't long before we spotted a male leopard with a spotlight. We had a good long look at this beautiful creature! Then we saw a mother leopard nearby with her baby. They walked along the dirt road ahead of us, giving us ample opportunity enjoy seeing them. After we lost sight of them, we find another leopard in another area.

[Note to photographers: We could have taken some video or shot some photos using very high ISO (as several of us had relatively new cameras that could handle low light situations) but we didn't have enough light to change the camera settings.]

Will write more later....

aowens

Thanks - look forward to hearing more. Can't wait!!

Sapphire

Not sure that I will be able to post a detailed trip report so I will try to say a bit more - in stream of consciousness style.

The people at Acacia House were wonderful. We had great service from everyone, and we enjoyed getting to know them. I have the business card in front of me just now and our guide's full name is Salaash Ole Morompi. He is very knowledgeable and did a great job of answering our many questions. My husband has a keen interest in bird watching (as well as seeing the mammals, etc.) and Salaash seemed to enjoy helping him identify everything we saw. Salaash has a lot of experience in the Masai Mara reserve and this was very helpful when we spent our second full day there - hoping to see a river crossing. We were not disappointed in this and also had many other great sightings.

Before reaching Masai Mara, we saw a pride of lions walking through the grass and later we stopped and watched 3 cubs with their mother. I am skipping over the more plentiful animals that we saw before and after reaching Masai Mara Reserve - elephants, topi, gazelle, eland, etc. - but will note that we saw about 50 hippos, beautiful Masai giraffes, a female cheetah lying under a tree, 2 male lions sleeping under another tree, cape buffalo, crocodiles, etc. This was after watching the wildebeest and zebras stampeding down to the riverside. They took a long time deciding whether or not to make the crossing, so we explored other parts of the reserve in the interim. After seeing the cheetah, hippos, sleeping lions, etc., we came back to where the wildebeest and zebra were now crossing. We had a good view of them but this was one of the few times that I wished I had a much longer lens! (My husband did have a 100-400 lens and there were many times when he could get a shot because we were very close, so it all worked out.)

Back to the crossing: There had been a disastrous attempt to make a night crossing so the crocodiles were not hungry. Wildebeests and zebras went right by them without any consequences. After watching the crossing for quite a while, we move a little further down the river and saw evidence of the doomed night crossing before turning to head home. We were a bit tired at this point, but being able to see the crossing and so many other sightings (like the cheetah) made it all worthwhile - in our opinion. (Our group included 2 twenty somethings and 4 fifty-somethings.)

Back at Acacia House we could go for a swim, take a nap, use the internet, sip cocktails while watching the Rekero watering hole, etc. (Note: At the time of our visit, they were having trouble with the wireless connection but we could go to the office and get the connection there with our own laptops or their computers. (This was much appreciated by the two young women from Australia as they had had little opportunity to contact their family and friends back home.) This was our last night at Acacia so we also wanted to get a few photos of this beautiful house to show family back home.

To be continued...

Sapphire

Aowens, we are traveling again soon and I may not have time to cover the final day until after we get back, but I did want to mention the safari vehicles. We had six people in our group and three of us brought a DSLR and hoped to take a lot of photos. (The others each brought a P&S.) We decided to rotate where we were sitting so that everyone had a chance to sit nearer the guide or in the middle seat where it was easier to stand up and take some photographs through the open hatch of the roof. It was harder to stand up in the front seat beside the guide and in the back seat. We did find ways to make it work for us.

I'm not how many avid photographers you will have in your group, but this may influence how many vehicles you arrange to have for your stay. (We had six people in our group and just one vehicle so someone had to take a turn in the middle of the back seat.) With your vast travel experience, you probably have that covered already but I didn't want to forget to mention it.

Ironically, in some ways it was almost more difficult to take photos when we took a quick trip through the Nairobi National Park in a more open vehicle, even though there were just the two of us then. It was much more sensitive to movement than the ones used by Rekero.

aowens

Sapphire - thanks so much for all the details! I am enjoying reading them all. Question - did you use Rekero vehicles or did you have others from a different company???

Sapphire

We used a Rekero vehicle when we were at Acacia House - one vehicle for six of us and the guide. I think we might have been able to arrange for a larger vehicle or multiple vehicles. And there may be some variety in how the seats are aligned in their vehicles. Our vehicle gave the people in the middle row of seats plenty of room to stand up. There is an open hatch over each row of seats but the alignment of the seats in the front and the back made it a little harder to stand up straight. It did work out for us but they may have a vehicle (or vehicles) that would work better for your group.

I am going to qualify this by saying that we have done safaris in open land rovers in South Africa, and I rather liked having the window ledge and/or roof in the Rekero vehicle to help steady some shots (with a bean bag). I like to avoid cranking up the ISO if I can manage without it. Another plus is that this vehicle was well suited to getting us up into the hills where we spotted the leap of leopards!

We will be going back to one of the Rekero Homes sometime, I'm sure. We are already talking about it with friends!

Sapphire

Here is the URL for the website for Nomadic Encounters:

http://www.nomadicencounters.com/home.html

This company was in the process of changing their name and their website when we stayed with them last summer. Hope we have an opportunity to stay with them again!