Marin Freemans Migration Diary
Rekero Camp regular Martin Freeman first visited in August 2004. He recently returned for a third visit. Here is an extract from his camp diary.
8th August 06
“…A lot of the guides have become fathers again. Salaash (now fluent in French and learning Flemish!) has a second set of twins (bringing his total to five), Jimmy has a second daughter, Daniel’s first child, a son, was born only a couple of days ago. I suggested to them all that they got too much home leave !
The migration is here in full force with wildebeest and zebra in abundance. There have been some spectacular crossings with lots of predator action. Just after lunch today we witnessed a crossing of about half an hour right in front of our lunch table. That spot on the Talek river in front of camp is really beautiful.
After a superb lunch (up to the usual Rekero standards) I’m ready for my first game drive. My guide is Henry with “Lolly” (Olologero) doing the spotting. They are both great and Henry is one of the new bronze badge graduates from the Koiyaki Guide School set up by Gerard’s father Ron. Have a look at the website to see what a great project this is (www.rekero.com/koiyaki/news.htm). We saw a cheetah (not easy to find in the long grass), a solitary male lion, who Henry thought was the male from the marsh pride who was successfully challenged and thrown out by two younger male brothers. The marsh pride has now been split in two with each brother taking around half giving each a pride of fifteen or so. Another guest came back to camp with news of seeing a lion attack on a hippo. Of course everyone had seen wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, gazelles of all varieties, topi, hartebeest and eland. No sightings of leopards yet or of dung beetles….”
9 August 2006
There was a full moon last night. The animals went crazy! A zebra woke the whole camp up at 2:00am braying as loudly as a zebra can. The hippos in the river outside tent 5 didn’t stop grunting all night and, as is always the case at this time of year, the wildebeest were mooing (or making whatever noise they make) constantly. At 3:00am I was just dozing off when I heard noises outside my tent. Some animal was eating the grass. In the morning the evidence was there – a buffalo had been grazing outside for over an hour.
Another day of spectacular viewings. A crossing at the Lororok river which lasted almost an hour. No predator action but to see so many animals stampeding across is truly a magnificent site.
10 August 2006
Another noisy night! This time I woke at 2:30am only to find two hippos grazing outside my tent. Ah well this is Rekero and why I keep coming back….. Another eventful day of game drives. We watched three of the cubs from the marsh pride stalk a wildebeest. Their first mistake was that they were down wind so could be smelt immediately. Their second was that they were too impatient. The leading cub got up and ran at the wildebeest far to soon causing a stampede. Still they are only a year old so they’ve got a lot to learn.
Down at the main Mara crossing point there has been carnage. There must be thirty dead wildebeest in the river. The crocodiles are too full to be interested. We wonder what must have happened. We were soon to find out. At another crossing point a short way along the river more wildebeest were preparing to cross. They start their crossing heading across the strong current of the Mara to a spot where there is clearly no way out. When they get to the other side panic sets in and they have to swim up the river against the current to find a way out. They are exhausted and start swimming back only to turn around in midstream to try again. At last they find a spot to climb out. They jump on each other and scramble out but more keep coming on behind them. Surely more will die adding to the dead animals we saw earlier. Thank goodness this time they all got out safely earning a generous round of applause from all who observed this hour long crossing.
11 August 2006
Had a leisurely morning in preparation for my transfer to Ol Kiombo for my transfer to Kidogo…. Kidogo, which opened on 1 July 2006, is very different from Rekero. It is situated in the newly formed Olare Orok Conservancy which is approximately 20,000 acres and borders the Masai Mara Reserve. The location is ideal for walking in and around the nearby Ntiakitiak Gorge. Night drives are also on the agenda here and are well worth doing. The tents are slightly smaller than at Rekero but have switches and light bulbs which I found an advantage. The landscape is vast. Just miles and miles of open countryside with game eating on it. Elephants wander by at will. The camp is spread out more than Rekero and all tents are visible because there are far less mature trees here. The same Rekero trade mark food, service and attention to detail are to be found here with Jackson and Daisy making sure that guests are looked after superbly.
We went on a night game drive and witnessed a pack of hyenas take a kill away from a lion and then devour it. What a noise! We also saw two porcupines. There are wildebeest everywhere around camp so it looks like another noisy night.
13 August 2006
My last day. We set off on the usual morning game drive and I ask to go on another walk. This time we do two hours and cover over 10Km. We climb a small hill (seemed like Kilimanjaro to me) overlooking Kidogo. We can see for miles. Wow this is wonderful.
I can’t recommend a visit to both camps highly enough if you like walking and fancy some night game drives go to Kidogo. Both camps feature the “Rekero” service, food, hospitality and superb guides. For two very different experiences (and they are very different) try them both. My preference would always be to go to Rekero Camp first followed by Rekero Kidogo as, having seen so much action at Camp, I was ready for the slightly slower pace which I found at Kidogo. I also found the walking as much of a highlight as the crossings.
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