Samburu National Reserve
The hot and dry country in the central part of Kenya, north of Laikipia, is the home of the Samburu people, who are closely related to the Maasai. Central in the area is the permanent Ewaso Nyiro river, a reliable source of water for both the herds of domesticated animals and wild animals. The Ewaso Nyiro is a large river of 50-100 m wide and for the biggest part of the year, animals can walk across. It provides a source of water for most of the year, although the river can dry up in the months before the start of the long rains. During the rainy season however, it is equally prone to flooding.
Samburu National Reserve is a small reserve of 104 square kilometer on the north bank of the Ewaso Nyiro river. It is one part of a pair of reserves, together with the slightly larger Buffalo Springs National Reserve on the south side of the river. Samburu is the key area for seeing the northern varieties of animals such as the Grevy zebra, Beisa oryx, Reticulated giraffe, Somali ostrich and gerenuk antelope. The small park also has around 900 elephants and is the home of Save The Elephants, the research camp of Iain Douglas-Hamilton. STE together with AERP in Amboseli are the two major elephant research camps in Kenya.
In Samburu we offer Elephant Watch Camp and Elephant Bedroom Camp.