Acacia House is a small, fairly simple private house at the foot of Kipileo Hill in the Olchorro Losoit valley, one of the community conservation areas just north of the Maasai Mara Game Reserve. This area also houses the operating base for Rekero camp as well as the Rekero Trust and home to the Beatons who've long been involved in this area.
Perched over the Rekero waterhole it has two spacious bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms and a third attic bedroom which works well as additional childrens accomodation. There is a large sitting & dining room with cosy fireplace (surprisingly you are up at an altitude of more than 6000ft here) a small TV room with DVD player (strange but true) and a lovely verandah overlooking the waterhole. There is a newly built swimming pool which rounds it all off as a most perfect spot for a family safari.
You have your own chef and housekeeper with whom you can plan meals and, crucially your own private car & guide is at your beck and call. This allows you to pretty much dictate the order of events, whether that be game drives (day or night), short walks & visits to the local villages or community projects as well as lots of picnic and sundowner options. Most activities are in the immediate area where there is normally plenty of resident game but longer days game driving within the game reserve itself can be arranged at minimal additional cost.
Access is straightforward with schedule flights in/out of Ngerende airstrip (about 45 minutes away) and a private strip, available only to private charters hardly 15 minutes from Acacia House.
There is nothing flash about this place but everything works, it has a simple settler charm to it and the real value lies in having your 'own home in the Mara' for a few days. Its not hosted in anyw ay but your private Maasai guide is on hand as much or as little as needed and the Rekero management team are close by and keep a watchful eye from a distance.
We're finding Acacia House very popular with families on a tightish budget who combine a few days here with some time on the Coast as well as some time upcountry in one of the beautiful Laikipia camps.
The Masai Mara Reserve constitutes a relatively small part of the whole Mara eco-system, which is in turn, a tiny week piece of the larger eco-system which includes the vast Serengeti. While best known for the great wildebeest migration, the Mara is an extraordinary wildlife destination. Scenically, it epitomises the Africa of childhood imaginings: the lone Acacia tree against the cobalt sky, rolling plains that positively heave with life, the sluggish curves of the Mara River choc-a-bloc with hippo and crocs and the odd red "shuka" of a Maasai herdsman who carry on their normal pace of life, largely oblivious of all the commotion around them. Read more?
Kenya is the most established safari country, and consequently you have to step a little off the conventional route to find real wilderness, but it’s certainly there. Kenya also has much going for it as a family destination, and also a good number of very individual safari camps and lodges with a personal approach that makes your experience very special. Kenya also has a particularly diverse ecology which ranges from snowy mountains to true desert, rolling grassy plains filled with wildlife to craggy scrub intersected with dry riverbeds, sparkling beaches and volcanic ranges. Read more?
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Catherine's long experience of, and enthusiasm for Africa, makes her a mine of travel information. Add to the mix her vivacious character and inscrutable attention to detail and there are few people you'd rather have plan your holiday.
At Natural High, we've had long experience putting together trips in Africa that really work. Whether it's intimate bushcamps in out of the way places, or a private lodge in one of Africa's top-billing wildlife areas, light mobile camping or remote island escapes, we know there is a lot to choose from. We're absolutely confident that we can recommend the right places for you.
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