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I recently returned to the Masai Mara for a five night safari staying at my favourite camp, Rekero, on the River Talek, a tributory of the great River Mara. This is the fourth time I have visited Rekero and, without doubt, it was the best from a wildlife and enjoyment point of view. My usual guide Fred together with Risa the spotter (right)

were brilliant in finding the range of wildlife I wanted to see and for showing the varying topography of the Mara. Naturally I wanted to see the "big five" and by the end of the first game drive I had seen the Ronkai Pride of lions, some 14 in number, and the leopard Olive who's mother, Bella, I had seen in 2006. In addition I saw the usual array of zebra, topi and gazelles and much else. The usual camp fire G&T's was followed by a candlelit dinner in the mess tent. fell asleep to the sounds of frogs and crickets in the Mara. Next morning brought the incredible sight of  5 very large male lions (Notchi and 4 of his 5 sons) who were encroaching on Rekero Pride territory. Notchi has a huge dark mane (see homepage) but his sons are equally huge;  we followed them for some time but they failed to make contact with the females of the Rekero Pride who we later came across. If they had, it could have been fatal for the cubs. We moved to the main migration crossing as there were streams of wildebeest heading for the Mara; the migration although late was still very much on. after a couple of false starts we watched one of nature's most magnificent sights: wildebeest crossing the Mara.  Nearly a thousand crossed before a lioness came out of the bushes for a kill. There were so many animals she didn't know which way to turn and in the end missed all of them! More lions in th afternoon made it another great day. Day 3 was cheetah day! After passing some of the Rekero Pride with a kill we came across Shakira and her three "teenage" cheetah cubs obviously looking for a kill.  Cheetahs are fascinating to watch and will use everything at hand to gain a height advantage including vehicles! Eventually they killed a Thompson's Gazelle. As well as the normal big cats there are other "cats" who are less well known and very rare. We came across a couple of Caracal, small cats with very pointed ears. We followed a pair of them (mother and cub) for some time before they disappeared down their burrow. We later found the the 3 honeyboy male cheetahs resting under a tree. More Rekero lionesses and a male cheetah finished day 3 off. All in all 8 cheetah in a day, very good.

Day 4 brought another female cheetah which was obviously hungry and right in front of us we saw the cheetah accelerate to full speed and then bring down another Thompson's Gazelle and then slowly throttle it! We'd also seen some huge buffalo herds and elephants by then and so four out of five had been achieved but one final one was needed. Day 5 brought more cheetah. lion and another leopard this time Binti, daughter of Olive and granddaughter of Bella who I'd seen in 2006. We spent many hours looking for a rhino and even tracked one but lost the trail; day 5 evening we returned to Lookout Hill and searched a bushed area for an hour before stumbling, literally, on a very large Black rhino, success at last! We spent an hour sitting alongside taking many photos from different angles, the rhino seemed quite relaxed until Fred decided to get in close, he seemed a bit tetchy then! My final morning saw a number of lions and another crossing by wildebeest at the main Mara crossing, a good way to end a safari.

  

 

 One rhino, many buffalo, elephant, over 50 lion, 9 cheetahs, three leopards, gazelle, topi, eland, hartebeest, some fabulous birds made the safari my best ever as well as the trusty Fred and the camp staff and, of course, Gerard and Jackson. I also met the new managers at Rekero, Jonathan and Dudu and wish them well in their forthcoming marriage.  

 

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