Kenya’s Desert, Wildlife, and Beaches in 15 Days – Day 4
We started our 2-week Kenya safari with spending the first two nights in Nairobi. Then we headed to the north, south and finally west. We explored various national parks, reserves, conservancies, beaches, and more of Kenya. We created our own itinerary and hired a customized 4 x 4 pop up top Land Cruiser jeep along with a driver and a cook – John and Jumah. First, we headed to Nanyuki, a market town located in Laikipia county, and visited Ol Pejeta Conservancy (OPC). It is home to the largest population of black rhinos in East Africa, and conversely, the last two northern white rhinos in the world. You can read about that day here. Then on the next day, we headed to Marsabit National Park and Reserve. On the way, we enjoyed game drives in Buffalo Springs National Reserve and Samburu National Reserve. Hope I can make you feel the excitement of that here.
Highlights of the Day
- Drive from Nanyuki to Buffalo Springs National Reserve
- Game-drive in Buffalo Springs National Reserve and Samburu National Reserve
- Drive from Samburu National Reserve to Marsabit National Park and Reserve
- Overnight in Marsabit Lodge
Getting Ready for the Adventurous Day
In Nanyuki, we spent a night at Town and Country Guesthouse. The rooms were small but they were neat and clean. The bed was comfortable, hence the sleep was sound. We already had brought groceries the previous day, so breakfast was not an issue. The hotel staff was kind enough to allow us to use their kitchen. We had toasts with peanut butter accompanied with sattu drink. Sattu is roasted gram powder that we got from India – just mix it with, water, rock salt and roasted cumin, it is as tasty as it is healthy.
After breakfast, we quickly packed our bags and put them back of our vehicle. We discussed our plan for the day with John again. John would drive us to Marsabit today. It is around 400 km away from Nanyuki. On the way, we will enjoy game drives in two of the three national reserves of North Kenya. They are Samburu, Buffalo Springs, and Shaba National Reserves.
National Reserves of North Kenya
Buffalo Springs and Shaba are often treated as if they were just part of Samburu. But they remain distinct reserves with their own entrance fees. However, they allow common game drives across them, which means you will only have to pay 70$ once. The entrance fee of an adult citizen like John or Jumah is 500 ksh. For our vehicle, we had to pay 500 ksh.
The hot, scorched lowlands beneath Mount Kenya close to the Equator has Ewaso Nyiro river flowing through. The combination of near-permanent water and forest shade on the banks draws abundant wildlife in the dry season and maintains many of the less migratory species all year round. This has given rise to Samburu, Buffalo Springs, and Shaba National Reserves spread out in Isiolo and Samburu counties. Samburu National Reserve is the most popular among the three. Buffalo Springs National Reserve is the continuation of Samburu on the south side of the river and Shaba National Reserve is further downstream to the east.
These national reserves have an unsurpassed beauty with a population of creatures that you may not see in the major Kenyan parks and reserves down south. These species include the endangered Grevy’s zebra, beisa oryx, blue-legged Somali ostrich, reticulated giraffe, and gerenuk – gazelles who really wish to be giraffes.
Buffalo Springs National Reserve
Buffalo Springs sits on the southern side of the Ewaso Nyiro river. It has a wide variety of animals and surprisingly few safari-visitors. Hence it is a joy to go on a game-drive in this national reserve.
Samburu National Reserve
Samburu National Reserve is the most popular national reserve in northern Kenya. It came to news worldwide when in 2001, an unusual lioness Larsens adopted a baby oryx. She raised her as her own cub. She adopted few more of them in the later months. This showed complex emotions in animals, and the news shocked many animal behaviorists and conservationists. We enoyed a full hour of game-drive there.
From Samburu to Marsabit
Like the Maasai, the Samburu are nomadic pastoralists, moving from one place to another. They follow patterns of rainfall in search of fresh pasture and water for their cattle, camels, goats and sheep.
After the game-drives, we were too hungry. So we decided to go the nearby village to taste some local food. There were many local Samburu women selling their handmade traditional jewelries. The Samburus are considered even more traditional and remote than their Maasai kin, and have maintained the authenticity of their culture by sticking to their ancient traditions and defying modern trends. It is a great idea to meet the people from Samburu tribe if you have time in hands. For a small fee of
20-30$, you can take pictures with them, get to know their culture and lifestyle, and more. This is another way for them to earn money from tourists to support the tribe.
Marsabit National Park and Reserve
Far to the north of Kenya, lies the Marsabit National Park. It is a densely forested mountain having three crater lakes in it. It is an oasis of green in this arid, desert region of Kenya. The lakes provide a haven for a variety of birdlife, mammals and reptiles. The park is known for its huge, impressive tusked-elephants. However, this national park is not much known for game-drives. If you are heading up to Lake Turkana, this acts as an interesting site to spend a night in.
We paid 30$ as an entrance fee for a non-resident adult and 350 ksh for an adult citizen. There was a separate fee of 25$ as a special camping site fee for each of us. John and Jumah, being citizens, had to pay just 200 ksh each. There was also a separate vehicle fee of 400 ksh.
As we entered the park, the sky went dark and we could not reach the campsite. So the forest officials allowed us to put up in the Marsabit lodge in front of Crater Pan Lake just few km away from the national park headquarters. The lodge was non-functional since a month or more, so there was no electricity, but it was warm inside. There was a hall for us, with a fireplace, a kitchen with a dinner hall, and also bathrooms. We did not have to pay anything extra, but we decided to tip the lodge caretakers. We paid them 1,500 ksh overall, for allowing us to stay there for the night.
Total distance covered: 350 km.
NET EXPENSE FOR 1 PERSON (IN USD)
Let us have a look at the expenses of Day 4 in Kenya – Buffalo Springs and Samburu National Reserves.
- Camping site fee: 25
- Entrance fee to the national reserves: 100
- Entrance fee and camping site fee for driver and cook, vehicle fee, and tip to stay at the lodge (1 night) shared among 3: 10
- Food: 10
- Petrol: 15
Total expense (roughly): 160 USD
For a more customized itinerary, whether for solo or couple or group of any number of people, feel free to contact me on Contact Us page.
If you are planning for a much-organized, tastefully-curated, stress-free yet exciting vacation, consider booking your holidays at Travel Love Repeat. It is going to be a treat for sure!
You saved some of your best animal pictures for last, I love that 🙂 The dik-diks are SO CUTE and wow such beautiful elephants and giraffes! You’ve made me want to go to Kenya so bad and do a safari like this! It looks like an amazing time.
Dik-diks are really cute.
Great overview of the wildlife in Samburu. The giraffe especially look glorious. Must have been a great drive on the A2 highway as well. Seems like a wonderful and affordable adventure to make plans for!
Yes Namita.
I think everyone should an experience a safari at least once in their lives. It’s such a magical experience to see beautiful animals roaming around. I enjoyed reading through your Kenya experience and seeing the animals! I’ve been to a safari in Tanzania so some of the animals are similar. The dik dik is one of my favorites!
Dik-diks are naughty and cute, and super fast.
An African safari is on my long list of things I want to do. You got to see a great deal in just one day and have some awesome shots of the animals. That must be so exciting to see them up close in nature.
True that.
I love how you guys are intrepid explorers of Kenya. Where other people are scared to travel and explore Kenya, you guys are in your own vehicle (with a driver) exploring so many different parts of Kenya. I loved how you were able to simply drive through a couple of games parks on your way somewhere else. Amazing. We go back to Kenya in March to do a couple of safaris but wish we had a little more time to explore like you.
Do contact us, Nicole, for any help in Kenya.
Now this is something I’d love to do! Kenya looks stunning, and seeing animals in their natural habitat is a must for me. I can’t believe the Buffalo Nature Reserve doesn’t have as many visitors; but this would be perfect for me, as you can have the animals and landscape all to yourself. A lovely post and great photos too!
Thanks Lisa.
Wow! Our kind of place! We haven’t seen zebras, antelopes, deer, and other creatures in the Kenyan savannas. And we would love to get the opportunity to do that. But trekking and camping there isn’t allowed, right?
You can camp in the camping area, but can certainly not trek.
Oh wow! What a fantastic experience. You saw some fantastic animals that you would never be able to see outside of a zoo regularly. I think I would like the Buffalo Springs Reserve because there are less people. So nice for the park to allow you to stay in their lodge, even though it’s closed. I would love to take this trip!
Yes, it’s less crowded.
It’s always a good idea to customise your own trip instead of taking it from a travel agent/portal. One can do much more in the same amount of money. Your pictures are breathtaking, wildlife has always been a passion of mine and seeing your pictures makes me feel i hv missed out on a lot. Gonna visit soon.
Yes, there are many positives on drawing your own itinerary.
WOw, that is quite affordable considering how crazy expensive most safaris are and beautiful wildlife and landscape that you covered, even loved the cool gates that you photographed.
Glad you like them, Noel.
Yes, you created the excitement in me. Have been dreaming of a safari and I have come across many posts about it. You seem to have seen everything at Buffalo Springs National Reserve and Samburu National Reserve…at a cost of US$160. Is that pp or total for three of you?
Safari is the best!
Wow, I can’t believe how many animals you saw. I was obsessed with Zebras as a child, so to see Grevy’s Zebras would be a dream. And how amazing you got to see elephants so close. Your safari adventures look incredible.
Thanks Hannah.
This place looks incredible, the number of animals you can see in amazing. Definitely somewhere I would visit if I made it to k
Kenya!
Sure Tom.
Ooh, we’re going to Kenya in October, but I don’t think we will be in the North at the mo so we will sadly miss out on this safari! It looks amazing, somewhere I’ve always wanted to go.
Oh, you are going to have a lot of fun.
We did a game drive in Kenya and were really lucky we saw a lot of animals in the middle of the day. But we really want to do a proper safari and get the early morning and sunset experience. It certainly looks like you got close to the animals. The giraffes are always my favourites.
Giraffes are my favorites too.
Kenya is still the epitome of an African safari – it is just so cultural. I’ve been there long ago applying for a job so I didn’t have the time to see a lot – therefore I’ve enjoyed reading your post a log: Introducing me to a place where I’ve missed out on a lot…
You must visit Kenya once.
How exciting it would be, the anticipation of heading off on your first game drive experience. The lack of other safari visitors would have been so wonderful.
I’ve never seen a dik-dik before. OMG the cutest!
Yes, true.
Wow I didn’t know safaris could take as long as 2 weeks! I have always wanted to try these. I am sure I will always looks forward to the evenings for the food and the peace of the area. But I might add a little dancing. Great experience!
The country is huge, so it may take more if you want to see more.