June 12-15: Samburu National Reserve

Next stop, Samburu National Reserve, with a short excursion to the adjacent Buffalo Springs National Reserve, located approximately 190 miles north of Nairobi.

The drive betwee Mugie and Sambura was spectacular. We crossed over and through two rugged mountain ranges:

Samburu and Buffalo Springs Reserves along with the adjacent Shaba Reserve collectively cover roughly 205 square miles. The Reserves are community-based and run by local councils, much like the Conservancies, the main difference being that the former are dedicated solely to wildlife conservation whereas the latter are generally multi-purpose and include a variety of economic enterprises such as ranching and farming (e.g. as in our previous visit to the Mugie Conservancy). The native people are the Samburu people who are closely related to the Maasai of east Africa and share similar customs such herding cattle and consuming a traditional diet of milk and blood.

The ecosystem is characterized by desert and semi-desert, as shown below. The critically important feature of this ecosystem is the Ewaso Nyiro River, which forms the border between the Samburu Reserve on the north side of the river and the Buffalo Springs and Shaba Reserves on the south side of the river. The river provides the only permanent source of water in the Samburu, and thus it serves as a magnet for wildlife, especially during the dry seasons. Buffalo Springs is named after an oasis of clear water at its western end, but the main feature is the Champagne Ride in the southeast, an ancient lava-terrace. The Shaba Reserve is dominated by the Shaba Hill volcano.

The Reserves are noted for their scenic landscapes as well as the presence of rare species of animals such as the Grevy Zebra, Somali Ostrich, Reticulated Giraffe, Gerenuk and the Beisa Oryx, not to mention the three big cats (lion, leopard and cheetah) and wild dogs. Watch the composite viddeo below for a cool video of the Gerenuk. The highlight of our Samburu visit was almost certainly all the close elephant encounters. We had numerous occasions where the elephants, either lone bulls or entire family units, came right at us and passed by within touching distance. Here’s an example photo, but see the composite video for more action:

Samburu gained fame around the turn of the century when a lioness named Kamunyak adopted a baby Oryx. Samburu is also famous as one of the sites for filming the movies Born Free and Out of Africa. So, for many people, this is the quintessential landscape of Africa. Here are some favorite wildlife photos from Samburu:

We camped for four nights in the public campsite located right along the Ewaso Nyiro River under a dense canopy of huge Acacia trees. This was a truly beautiful campsite. We spent many hours sitting on the bank above the river watching the water flow past and the occasional elephant herd come down for a drink. We hired a camp guard to help ward off the daring baboons and vervet monkeys, who, despite our best efforts and the guard’s slingshot, still managed to abscond with some trash and a bag of clothes pins.

We also had a nice excursion to Buffalo Springs for a dip in the refreshingly clear, cool spring waters:

For the video viewers, here’s a Youtube link to a composite of our Samburu visit:

Samburu National Reserve composite video (16 minutes)