Any narrative that Barbara wrote for the remainder of the trip must have been lost over the years. So, for the remainder of the trip my memory will have to suffice.
Rekero Farms brings back a number of memories. One of the most vivid was our introduction to the Mara. We were met at the plane by our convoy of Land Rovers. As I recall there were about 6 of us all going to Rekero. With our luggage, we required a couple of vehicles. We started off and the roads seemed somewhat lacking. In fact there didn't seem to be much road at all. They had had a bit of rain earlier and the mud of the Mara becomes EXTREMELY slippery when wet. Most of the time we had to drive where no car had gone before. If you got into tracks made by another vehicle, you couldn't get out. We were slipping and sliding, almost 360s. It was quite an experience
Rekero accomodates about 10 guests in 5 "cottages". Nowhere near as plush as Lewa Downs but not quite as rustic as the tents in Aerobebe. Each day we would go on a game drive. The Mara is wide open spaces with streams running through it, some outcroppings of vegetation and grassy plains. We saw a wide variety of animals and sights we hadn't seen before on our trip. .
On one excursion we saw a herd of hippos. The proper expression is a pod of hippos, but that doesn't have the alliterative quality as herd of hippos. These animals are HUGE!! There OK as long as they are in the water or as they seem to prefer the mud. But when they are on land, they can be very dangerous. We did see a number of them out of the water but we were very careful not to disturb them. Because the hippo has no sweat glands, they need the mud and water to keep cool.
Another Mara experience was watching the "pecking" order in action. In the field, we spotted a hyena that apparently had a kill. A vulture was attracted and it bounced around for a bit until a couple of fox came along. The pair of fox would charge the hyena from different directions until he eventually left. The fox fed themself until there were enough vultures that even they couldn't stay. Then the vultures went to work to finish off the kill.
