Acacia House
The private bush home, Acacia House sits in the Ol Chorro Losoit valley within the Lemek hills, far from the tourist trail and within the 70,000 acre Mara North Conservancy area from where the Nomadic Encounters team have operated their wilderness expeditions for more than twenty years.
The living spaces dominate Acacia House beginning with a large, open-air verandah looking out over the famous Ol Chorro waterhole. This leads into an open-plan dining and seating area complete with log fire for those cooler nights in the bush. Beyond are two spacious double ensuite bedrooms and a third attic room, created specifically for younger guests. As with all the Nomadic Encounters bush homes Acacia House comes with a full complement of well-trained and experienced staff at guests’ disposal to ensure all you have to do is enjoy the space and setting. To the side of the house, raised above the waterhole, there is a pool and a barbecue area which provide a place to relax, dine and socialise between safari expeditions, particularly around sunset. This pool is shared with nearby Mara House.
This private bush home comes with a full complement of well-trained and experienced staff at guests disposal including a chef and wildlife guide to ensure a seamlessly-run safari experience which delivers the very best the Mara has to offer. It is an opportunity to explore this wilderness in the company of your personal Masai guide on your own terms.
A fully qualified safari guide and vehicle will be on hand to assist with a wide range of activities which include walking, day or night game drives and visits to local villages and trading centres. Game viewing is done both in the game reserve and in the conservancy and so offering a wide range of safari experiences. Guests interested in community conservation are very welcome to participate in our projects, including the computer training for local villagers at the nearby Trust classroom.
Game drives – day and night to see the wildlife and beauty of the conservancy & the Masai Mara Game Reserve
Bush walks - get up close with the landscape and wildlife on guided walks
Cultural & village visits
Participation in community projects
Visits to rhino sanctuary
Bush breakfasts & lunches
Sundowners
Swimming pool
The areas in which the houses are located are important animal corridors and combined with the surrounding lands making up the Masai Mara Conservation Area. This extended eco system is vital to the preservation of the wildlife within Masai Mara National Reserve itself and indeed of the whole Mara/Serengeti eco system. We are clear that the welfare of the Masai communities with whom we are partnered and the conservation of the regions flaura and fauna are inextricably linked. Based on a shared philosophy we have over three decades embarked on a mission to play an active role in protecting the game reserve and empowering its immediate community while at the same time delivering a tourism experience unlike any other – Nomadic Encounters is the result of that collective vision.
Nomadic Encounters actively challenges the historical way of delivering cultural tourism. All the guides are exclusively Masai or Il Dorobo and we encourage all employees to retain and practice the traditional Masai values such as traditional dress. In line with this the Nomadic Encounters team have helped build up and continue to support the Koiyaki guiding school.
All village visits are to exclusively non-commercial Masai villages on a strict rotational basis to help foster a positive approach to the local community which sometimes means travelling considerable distances to ensure we are accessing the most genuine and unreachable communities. These visits are in depth explorations of a way of life not a simple activity. They are designed to not just contribute to the prevention of western ways of life eroding local customs but to maximise the visitors understanding of the local values and traditions. All waste is removed by and returned to Nairobi for recycling or destroyed as required. Last year we recycled 14 tonnes of waste and through improved solar technology we reduced the amount of electricity generated from fossil fuels. All our campfires are built using sustainable gum firewood which we bring in from outside the region. As part of our commitment to water conservation, the Trust have installed a 50,000-litre water tank and guttering system to provide clean drinking water for the children at Ngousani School, as well as a 6,000 litre tank on the Trust Computer classroom.
Our strategy continues to moves with the times but above all we know that collectively the next generation of Masai and Il Dorobo will be the custodians of the Masai Mara. They will be responsible for the protection of the unique flora, fauna, and wildlife of this unique region and they must have a strong voice in how it is delivered today.
Jackson has been with the Beaton family since he was a young boy. His Ndorobo bushman father was Ron Beaton’s tracker and so Jackson went along on safaris to translate between his Father and Ron. Jackson has grown with the business and became one of the very first Maasai guides in the Mara and a shareholder in the business. Today he has a huge following and has not only presented wildlife documentaries and Big Cat Live he was nominated in the Good Safari Guide 2011 Awards and was recognized as one of the top ten guides in the World.
Fred has been part of the team for fourteen years and is part of the same age set as Jackson – they together transformed the face of guiding in the Mara and Kenya as a whole. Fred has grown to be a brilliant guide with a wealth of experience. His knowledge is incredible and he is very experienced particularly with photographers as he has worked with many professionals, not just with the Disney Nature film Big Cat but with well known individual professionals. He also has a great following with repeat guests requesting him year after year.
Salaash joined the team slightly more recently eight years ago as a waiter but very quickly climbed through the ranks to become the incredible guide he is today. He understands people and will always go the extra mile to create success after success hence the huge demand for him. A wonderful host and natural linguist, his French is almost fluent. He is known for his sense of humour and amazing knowledge, he is an all round person who really can turn his hand to most things.
Rainee grew up going on safari and always enjoyed the bush. She started living in the Mara fourteen years ago with Gerard, her husband and was a wildlife artist before getting involved with the business. With the team they created the successful Rekero Camp where they lived for nearly ten years and where they brought up their two sons. Gerard is now busy with another business while Rainee now runs the new business Nomadic Encounters with the support of Salaash, Jackson and Fred.
The Nomadic Encounters team have been working together for many years, the key members being Jackson, Fred, Salaash and Rainee all of who share the same vision and passion in what they do. Jackson, Fred and Salaash are not only phenomenal guides they help Rainee run the whole operation and can turn their hands to most things. There are other key members of the team who have been with the family for over thirty years and the newer members are carefully selected as they need to be team players. We feel that every group of guests is different and it is our job to be flexible and to adapt to their desires and needs in order to create the best guest experience possible.
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Acacia House
