Samburu National Reserve is among Kenya’s finest and one of the busiest national reserves with the incredible services and products it offers. It is located in the northern region of Kenya in the far southeastern corner of the Samburu district along the Ewaso Nyiro River. It spans approximately 165 square kilometers. Samburu National Reserve ranks among the most popular national reserves in Kenya regardless of its size. The reserve is more popular in the northern region of Kenya than in the southern yet harbors extensive wilderness and beauty. The Ewaso Nyiro River bisects the Samburu National Reserve and forms a border with the Buffaloes Springs National Reserve. Though Samburu National Reserve is popular, it attracts fewer visitors and is the best place to bond with nature and for those clients who would not want to be in a crowded environment.
The Samburu people are the Indigenous people in the land of the reserve and their villages border the reserve and it was named after these people. The Ewaso Nyiro River is also significant to the people of this village as it is the main water source for the reserve and the villages. The Samburu people have managed to coexist with the wildlife for many years. Samburu National Reserve was established in 1985 with an elevation of about 800 meters to 1,230 meters above sea level.
The Samburu National Reserve came to the world stage after a famous lioness named Kamunyak the locals meaning the blessed one adopted and raised about 6 oryx caves. Kamunyak became a heron and visitors from far and wide flocked to the reserve for a chance to spot this usual behavior that was even hard for the scientists to explain. Kamunyak the lioness heron was seen defending the calves from other predators and this caught the attention of filmmakers who crafted a beautiful film after Kamunyak called “Heart of the Lioness”.
Samburu National Reserve was not out of the adventures yet as it also hosted Joy Adamson a naturalist and adventurist who raised a lioness cub after the mother of the cub had tragically died. This story also became sensational and Joy Adamson wrote a book documenting her experience with the cub lioness who later grew into a huge lioness. She named her book “Born Free” and it sold across the world.
What to see at Samburu?
Samburu National Reserve does not stop at the historical adventures it hosts but rather has incredible scenes and spectacular species to encounter. Some of the many things to see in Samburu include the following.
Wildlife
Samburu National Reserve is richly gifted with incredible savannah wildlife species. These harbor the reserve and entertain the visitors upon encountering them in their natural environment. Samburu boasts of having some of the unique wildlife species that are rare in other protected areas in the country but common residents here. These include the Samburu special five animals such as the Grevy’s zebra, Somali Ostrich, Reticulated Giraffe, Gerenuk, and the Beisa Oryx. Other animals like elephants, are very common and easily spotted in the Samburu National Reserve. The Laikipia-Samburu ecosystem a home to various animals like gazelles, impalas, waterbucks, dik-diks, hippos, olive baboons, warthogs, lions, leopards, cheetahs, cape buffalo, hyenas, elands, jackals, klipspringer, mongooses, and bats. This ecosystem is a semi-desert on the foothills of Mount Kenya in central Kenya and Samburu.
Bird species
Samburu harbors over 450 bird species scattered across different vegetation zones in the reserve. Like other protected areas, Samburu hosts resident endemic birds and migratory seasonal birds that visit the reserve in November and April. Some of these birds include White-faced Whistling-Duck, Knob-billed Duck, Egyptian Goose, Somali Ostrich, Helmeted Guineafowl, Common Quail, Scaly Spurfowl, Rameron Pigeon, Dusky Turtle-Dove, Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse, Blue-headed Coucal, the taita falcon, lesser kestrel, and vulturine guinea fowls to mention but a few.
What to do while at Samburu National Reserve
Samburu National Reserve offers a wide range of activities that can interest visitors. Below are some of these activities.
Game drives
With the variety of wildlife species in Samburu National Reserve, game drives are ideal to explore the reserve and encounter these species in their habitat. Samburu’s climate and geography favor a lot of wildlife, especially during the dry months of the year. Game drives in this national reserve are done in three sessions and depending on the visitors’ choice, one may opt for the morning, afternoon, or night sessions. The night session enables visitors to have a rare chance of encountering nocturnal mammal species. Big five mammals including buffaloes, rhinos, elephants, leopards, and lions can be spotted during the game drives in Samburu.
Birding
Several bird species harbor Samburu approximately 450 of them. Thus the reserve is an important birding area and one of the best bird watching destinations in the country. Several bird species can be sighted including Egyptian vulture, white-headed mouse bird, Kori bustard, falcon, eagle, and egret, to mention but a few. Several birding trails are designated to ease the process and also take you to the best birding areas in the reserve.
Best time to visit Samburu
Samburu can be visited throughout the year but the dry season remains a great time for all tourism activities in the park. The dry period of December to March and July to October is when the lush vegetation dries out providing spectacular views of the Samburu’s exceptional wildlife.During the dry season, wildlife in Samburu tends to congregate on the only remaining water source River Ewaso. Hence offering visitors clear views of the wildlife of Samburu National Reserve.