On the banks of the Talek River, holding a prime location within Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve, sits Rekero Camp. One of the oldest camps in the Mara, it was created by the Beaton family and Jackson Looseyia, pioneering the way for further development in the early days of the Masai Mara’s safari offering.
The beginning
In the 1970’s, Ron and Pauline Beaton owned a wheat farm within the farming district north of the Loita Hills, just beyond the northeastern borders of where the Mara North and Lemek conservancies are today. Their friends in the UK would regularly contact them, looking to visit the Masai Mara for a safari. Staying with Ron and Pauline, Ron would drive them to the Mara and guide their safari, before returning to the farm each evening. They built a couple of small cottages on their farm overlooking the dam in order to better accommodate their friends, and friends of friends, who were beginning to arrive more frequently during the 80’s. In 1991, after 17 years of hard farming, they recognised the opportunity tourism was delivering and made the decision for a change of lifestyle. They leased a piece of land on the outskirts of the Masai Mara, that Ron used to regularly camp on for his walking safaris, and established a purpose-built tourism site, in a location that would later become the Mara Bush Houses. This was the start of Rekero Cottages. They built mud and wattle cottages with thatched roofs overlooking a watering hole. The development quickly gathered a following as word of mouth spread news of this well-placed accommodation offering which, paired with Ron’s guiding, resulted in a steady stream of repeat travellers through the cottages.
In 1995, Gerard returned to Kenya, driving overland from the UK where he had just completed university. Ron, his father, had started operating walking safaris across the Mara with guests, leading multi-night expeditions that would spend up to 14 days in the wilderness. Eager to get involved, Gerard filled the role of running supporting logistics for these walking safaris, using an old Land Rover with a trailer. Or, when the route went over the Loita’s where vehicle access became impossible, they would be forced to use donkeys as the support vehicles, carrying everything for a complete camp. While the guests walked, Gerard would ensure the new camp was ready and setup for the arriving guests, as well as collect the old camp and prepare to install it in the new location the following day. A repeated cycle, leap-frogging the guests and ensuring that a new camp was always prepared where it should be. As the walking product evolved, a seasonal camp developed, which was named, Rekero Camp. Offering a more “permanent” base than the true mobile nature of the walking camp, Rekero would move within what is now the Lemek Conservancy, spending 3 or 4 months in one location before moving to a new site for another 3 to 4 months. Offering a more authentic, under canvas safari experience, it paired exceptionally well with the comfort of the cottages.
Through the early 90’s, Ron had been providing training and mentoring to a young Jackson Looseyia, the son of his Ndorobo tracker. Born in the Mara and raised in the bush surrounded by wildlife, Jackson was already an adept tracker with an excellent knowledge of wildlife. By 1997, Jackson had completed his training under Ron and was a capable and professional guide with a passion for the Kenyan wilderness. Ron, recognising the potential in Jackson, as well as the bond of friendship between Jackson and Gerard, gave a quarter of the company to Gerard and a quarter to Jackson, creating the start of an important and lasting partnership.
Jackson
The story of Rekero cannot be told without Jackson Looseyia. Jackson was probably the first professional Maasai guide, and also the first Maasai to become a host and owner of a camp in the Mara Reserve. He apprenticed Ron for seven years through the early 90’s, working out of the Rekero Cottages and assisting with the walking camp. His valuable guiding expertise and knowledge was later a key element in training the core guiding team behind Rekero Camp. Fondly referred to by Gerard as the “dream team”, this group of Maasai guides were recognised by the Responsible Tourism awards in 2005, picking up the best guiding award and stamping their mark on the Masai Mara safari scene. In 2006, with Jackson’s assistance, Ron founded the Koyaki Guide School, which has since produced over 400 qualified guides. In 2009, the opportunity arose for Rekero to partner with Asilia, followed closely by a developing interest in the establishment of a new conservancy adjacent to the Masai Mara, the Mara Naboisho Conservancy. Jackson played an instrumental role in mapping game drive routes through the new conservancy, as well as developing a guiding team to operate Asilia’s new camp. For the next few years he managed Nomadic Camp, an exclusive use mobile camp Asilia operated around the Masai Mara, but Jackson’s fame and reputation had spread, and he was increasingly in demand as a private guide. The decision was made to wind down Nomadic Camp, allowing Jackson to focus on private guiding and assisting a friend who was running a camp bordering the Mara Reserve overlooking the Mara River.
More recently, Jackson was involved in the formation of a new conservancy – Mara Ripoi – where he has also opened a camp named Mara Siana. The three directors of the camp are all members of the original Rekero guiding team, and each renowned for their experience and guiding skill across the Masai Mara. Ron Beaton was instrumental in the creation of the original Mara Conservancies, with Gerard later too playing a role within the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association. Seeing Jackson go on to not only pioneer the formation of a new conservancy, but also open a camp with his old Rekero colleagues, Fred and Salaash, to use tourism as a mechanism to empower local people and protect wilderness and wildlife, is an enormous personal moment for these longtime friends. As Gerard says, “They’re not one of these pop-up camps on the edge of the reserve causing misery for everyone, they’re actually contributing to the whole conservation landscape.” Jackson still holds close ties to Asilia, both as a friend and a shareholder, and remains a good friend of the Beaton family.
The new site
In 2000, Ron was approached by County Government with an offer to open a seasonal camp at a site on the Talek River. At that point, there was only Mara Intrepids as the closest neighbour, and Governors Camp a little further away. The site was being used as a ranger station, had a fence around it, and a few low metal huts for accommodation, however the rangers had abandoned the location and moved to Mara Intrepids. Ron knew the location and the area well, as he would often drive guests to the same spot when the migration was crossing, knowing it to be the site of a favoured crossing point for the migrating herds. The opportunity was too good to refuse and Ron, Gerard, Rainee (Gerard’s soon-to-be wife), and Jackson jumped at the offer.
By 2001, the ranger’s equipment and the fence had been removed, and work had begun on clearing the site for the new camp. Ground needed to be levelled in preparation for a mess tent, a lounge, and 4 guest tents. Later that year, Rekero Camp opened on the banks of the Talek River, where it still is today. Jackson held the position of manager and host, whilst also providing training to the guiding team. Ron continued to operate the Mara Bush Houses, while Gerard and Rainee moved between the two locations, providing management cover and support as needed.
At this time, there was a lot of bush meat poaching still happening in and around the reserve, and many of the staff were terrified of venturing out of camp for fear of encountering poachers. These poaching operations were not just a couple of guys, but armies of men emptying hundreds of snares a day, building enormous drying racks for the meat, and constantly traversing the escarpment as the meat was carried beyond the reserve. South of the Talek River there were no other operators, just an open wilderness rife with poaching. Gerard recalls driving the area in the early 2000’s and pulling out over 200 wire snares in just one day. Fortunately, for the Rekero team, the new Mara Conservancy had been formed around the same time in an area previously known as the Mara Triangle. Close to Rekero, on the other side of the Mara River, the Mara Conservancy was performing a similar cleanup operation and working to eradicate poaching in the area, allowing for a two-pronged attack as Rekero Camp established a presence on the eastern side of the Mara River. However, by 2006, the cleanup operation had been so successful that there were now new camp operators arriving on the scene in the surrounding areas both along the Talek River, and to the south where there had previously only been wilderness.
The wildlife in this area has always been remarkable. From the late 90’s, when Ron would bring his guests to this crossing point to witness the Great Migration, to today when river crossings are still enjoyed from the comfort of the deck. There are nearly always elephant or buffalo around camp, and it’s consistently been an amazing spot for leopard. From the dining table, they’ve witnessed rhino, leopard kills, lion kills, and of course huge river crossings. The only species to elude the view from camp are wild dog.
Evolution
Before Rekero Camp reached its site on the Talek River, the tents had been large camping tents with aluminium poles, that could be packed up and moved without too much trouble given the more mobile nature of the original camp. Alongside this tent, there was a little bathroom and shower tent sperate from the main. For the new Rekero Camp, the decision was made to invest in four, brand new tents, which featured en suite bathrooms. Bucket showers were installed, but the real revolution was the introduction of a flush toilet. Rainee’s father had designed fibreglass toilets, which Gerard described as “pretty hideous looking”, but they made them as nice as possible with wooden armrests and canvas covers to make them slightly easier on the eye. In 2001, this was the height of luxury camping and Rekero Camp, offering a flush toilet inside your tent, was leading the way. All guests were thrilled with the development, it was only Ron who questioned what the world was coming to when you have a toilet in your tent.
For approximately the first 5 years of operation, there was no power to the tents. The camp relied on rechargeable lanterns that would be placed in the guest tents for use each night, then charged up again the following day. One of the camp’s repeat guests from the UK was researching inverters and brought one over to Rekero on his next visit. They connected it up to a couple of batteries, and electricity into the guest tents soon followed. Gerard recalls this as a big moment in the evolution of the camp, but it brought with it a lot of grumbling from some of the guests that had followed Rekero from its mobile days and who felt that the introduction of power into a safari tent was simply a step too far.
While some things changed, others remained the same. The mess tent, an enormous canvas tent housing both the lounge and the dining area, was built in 2006 and delivered to camp amidst pouring rain in a very wet November. The same tractor and trailer we still use today had to bring it across the river, with just inches of clearance before the trailer got flooded. The team struggled to get it into camp and level sufficient space on which for it to stand, but they eventually managed, and that mess tent lasted 18 years. The canvas was changed a few times, but the original structure remained the same. In other areas of the camp the evolution continued. At some point a suggestion was made to offer family tents. A quick solution to simply park two tents next to each other and stitch them together seemed like a good idea. In theory it worked, but the layout was not practical with the shared bathroom, and the tent interiors were long and dark. One of the best developments coming out of the 2024 refurb of Rekero Camp is the new layout of the family tents. Gerard describes them as, “superb, huge, light and bright.”
Over the years, the camp grew and slowly expanded. Additional guest tents were added along the bank of the river, taking the total up to the nine tents we have today. A wooden deck was built in front of the lounge, offering spectacular views over the river. With the high density of wildlife in this area, it was not uncommon for guests to simply enjoy an afternoon on the deck with a book and a cold drink, and binoculars close at hand. Despite the change of ownership in 2009, Rekero retained its intimate family-feel, with a close-knit team of staff and excellent guides.
Today, Rekero continues to go from strength to strength, with the 2024 refurbishment elevating the quality of the in-camp experience to new heights. The soul of Rekero is still there, the unmistakable charm of the camp that long-time repeat guests will still be able to feel but not quite give name to. It’s somewhere between the feeling of returning home and the sense of lightness that true hospitality delivers. Gerard, now Asilia’s Head of Operations, and Rainee remain close to Rekero, watching proudly from the sidelines as their creation continues to flourish.
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