The Samburu

The three reserves north of Kenya’s highlands, Samburu, Buffalo Springs and Shaba, which together cover around 500 km2, have a couple of things in common: from their beautiful dry savannah landscapes, on a clear day you can see the jagged peaks of  Mt. Kenya over 5,000 meters in height, plus the fact that they are all home to a range of rare animals, whose colour, shape or patterning is very different from their relatives to the south. The reticulated giraffe is genetically speaking, the subspecies that differs most from other giraffes, while the Grevy´s zebra is larger and has much thinner stripes than other species of zebra. The local gazelle, the gerenuk or giraffe gazelle, has a longer neck than the other species of gazelle, and often stands on its backlegs to feed on leaves in the higher up branches of the trees. The ostriches found here are of the species Somali ostrich, which differ from the Masai ostrich found to the south of the Kenyan highlands by the males having blue legs rather than red. The helmeted guinea fowl, which is commonly found all over East Africa, can be seen living in company of the vulturine guinea fowl, which can be recognised by its glossy blue neck.

In these reserves you will many other classic big game animals, that are no different from those found elsewhere. For example here you can find good populations of baboons, meerkats, elephants, buffalo, lions, cheetah, leopard and hyena. The common plains zebra is also seen here – often together with its local thinner striped relative. The beautiful species of a large antelope, the East African oryx or Beisa oryx is a speciality of the north, and can be seen together with a wide range of other antelopes in this area. In recent years the rare African wild dog has made a comeback and is now regularly seen in this area.

The three reserves lie next to each other and are only separated for administrative purposes. As well as the animals the reserves share the life giving waters of the Ewasi Ngiro river, whose name means “the brown river”. Part of the year the river appears dried up and can only be seen as a broad strip of sand with denser vegetation and bigger trees and palms than the surrounding area, but the water is there, hidden under the sand, in which Elephants and other animals are able to dig “wells”. Only during the rainy season, when the water falling on the highlands further south arrives here, is it possible to see why the river gets its name. The river water has a strong red/brown colour, reflecting the colour of the surrounding land.

The colourful local people, the Samburu, are often seen in the area and are related to the more famous Masai who live further south. They share a language and way of life with the Masai, they are both nomadic people, who traditionally herd cattle and goats. The Reserves lie circa. 350 km north of Nairobi and can be reached on good, tarmac roads.

Highlights:

   •      The districts many special animals with different forms, colours and patterning

   •      The picturesque dry, hilly savannah, with its beautiful birds and trees

   •      Classical African safari with good, and relatively easy to see, populations of lions, leopards, cheetah and elephants

High Season: Januar to March and July to October