Samburu National Reserve: An Oasis of Wildlife in Arid North Kenya

Remote, thinly inhabited and practically unknown to outsiders, Northern Kenya is one of Africa’s last great wilderness areas. While the Lake Turkana and the Chalbi desert are areas that even the locals have not visited, there lies a belt in Northern Kenya that is fiercely popular with locals and tourists alike.


That stretch is the Samburu National Reserve that is situated near Isiolo and offers exceptional wildlife viewing. Samburu is an unfenced reserve that protects semiarid savannah land flanking the Ewaso Nyiro river. It’s ecology is defined by the contrasting habitats of riverine forest along the Ewaso Nyiro and austere acacia scrub and rocky slopes extending from it.


This reserve along with the neighboring Buffalo Springs reserve (that is currently inaccessible due to a broken bridge) probably offers the best chance of sighting the leopard in Kenya, and lion, elephant and buffalo are also quite common. The main attraction, however, is a host of dry country specials absent or rare in most other East African parks.


This includes mammals such as Beisa Oryx, Grevy’s Zebra and Gerenuk, and a long list of birds of which the cobalt-chested vulturine guinea fowl is the most spectacular. The star attraction is however the Grevy’s zebra, which is larger than the more widespread plains zebra and with a narrower stripe pattern. This endangered species is more or less endemic to North Kenya. I tried hard to spot this beautiful mammal, but luck was not on my side on those game drives.


The Samburu landscape is dominated by the Ewaso Nyiro river, a place around which most of the wildlife action happens especially with the elephants and the crocodiles. This river rises in the Aberdare mountains and arcs through the Laikipia plateau before eventually emptying into the expansive Lorian Swamp in Kenya’s remote northeast.


Although it has been known to cease flowing in the dry years, the river is essentially perennial and its name, which means muddy water or brown water, refers to the rich red-brown top soil it carries down from Laikipia.


Within the reserve, the river supports a lush ribbon of palm studded riparian forest that contrasts pleasingly with the surrounding aridity. The jeep tracks that run parallel to both the north and south banks offer the best wildlife sighting opportunities during game drives.


Hippo and crocodile are resident and easily seen as are a host of water associated birds like fishing eagles, kingfishers and spoonbills. The riverine vegetation also attracts plenty of elephant and buffalo. The reticulated giraffe is also seen close by.


The other special area in Samburu National Reserve is the Ol Doinyo Koitogorr, a 4,100 feet high mountain that supports a tangled cover of dry thorn scrub dominated by stunted acacia trees. It is on these acacia trees that the buffalo weaver and the sparrow weavers build innumerable nests.


Wildlife concentrations are lower away from the river, but one can spot some unique species here. Like the rubber-necked gerenuk that can be seen in family parties foraging on acacia canopies. The dik diks and larger antelopes such as the eland, impala, lesser kudu and Grant’s gazelle are also very visible.


This northern scrubland is especially rewarding for birders who are on the lookout for dry country birds such as vulturine guineafowl, yellow throated spurfowl, blue legged Somali ostrich, Egyptian vulture, golden pipit, golden-breasted starling, black capped social weaver, white-headed mousebird, Somali bee-eater, bristle-crowned starling and more.


Personally, I loved the wildlife experience that Samburu offered to me during my 4 game drives here. In my mind, it is possibly the prettiest wildlife reserve in Kenya and the most interesting part of this forest is the rich abundance of birds in spite of most the terrain being semi arid.

Seeing a rich haul of hornbills here was the main highlight. This is one place that you should try and add to your Kenya Wildlife itinerary that I am sure includes Maasai Mara, Amboseli, Nakuru and Tsavo.


Distance from Nairobi: 400kms or 6-7 hours by road. Nanyuki can offer a short, yet entertaining pit stop.

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Samburu Music and Dance

The Samburu People of North Kenya have some very unique and interesting traditions and they really look colorful against the dry arid land tones. In my earlier posts, I had showed how colorful they are through some tight portraits and had also explained in detail their complex traditions, behavioral patterns and lifestyle.



In this post, I wanted to share a video which showcases a short dance of theirs with some of their own music. This dance looks similar to the jumping dance of the Maasai people, but has its own unique flavor in some places and especially in the voice over and background music.

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An Iconic Wildlife Moment from East Africa

There are some sights, sounds and smells that always remain etched in memory. And the moment you hear it, sense it and connect to it that memory automatically flows from the sub conscious. Such a memory is that of gerenuks standing on their hind legs and reaching out for the leaves in the upper parts of the thorny trees just like how the giraffe do. The only difference being that the giraffe doesn’t need to get on its hind legs to reach that height.


The Gerenuk (giraffe-necked in Somali language) is a slender build, small headed, but pretty tall antelope with slim and long necks that occupy the semi-arid and arid landscapes of East Africa that account for dry thorn bush scrub and desert. They prefer the tender leaves and shoots of the tall acacia trees and thus use their giraffe necks to good effect. Their feeding on leaves while standing on just their hind legs is an iconic East Africa wildlife moment and that can be treasured forever.

P.S. I saw these gerenuks like this at the Samburu National Reserve in North Kenya.

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Common Beisa Oryx: A Beautiful Antelope from Samburu National Reserve, Kenya

The Common Beisa Oryx is a sub species of the ‘Oryx beisa’, a species of antelope from East Africa. It is found in the steppes and semi desert areas north of the Tana river in Kenya.


This very beautiful antelope is quite a sight with its grey coat and black and white stripes. But, its best feature is its thin and straight ringed horns that are found on both sexes. The horns measure an impressive 75-80 cm on an already decently sized body making it a potent combination.


I found large herds of these Common Beisa Oryx in the semi-arid grasslands of the Samburu National Reserve in North Kenya where they eat grasses, leaves, fruit and buds. These antelopes survive the harsh dry conditions by harnessing their ability to store water by raising their body temperatures.


These antelopes are mostly seen in medium sized herds (5 to 30 members) as how I saw them during my various game drives. And like most other antelopes, they can run pretty fast too.


The Beisa Oryx is classified as ‘Near Threatened’ in the IUCN Red List of threatened species. Poaching (for meat and hides) and encroachment by  settlement and livestock remain the major threat to this species, especially since the majority of the population remains outside protected areas.


Their name is based on the following: Orux (greek) for gazelle or antelope and Beisa is from Beza (Amharic: an Ethiopian language from the Amhara district where this Oryx lives).

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Red-Headed Rock Agama from Samburu National Reserve, Kenya

The Agama is a lizard species that is pretty common across Africa. There are 37 sub species and I was lucky to see one of these colorful reptiles while I was on a game drive in Samburu National Reserve, North Kenya.


The Red-Headed Rock Agama (scientific name is Agama Agama), a sub-saharan species is also known as Common Agama or Rainbow Agama. The one that I saw was a male with a orange head and neck, a blue body and a nicely striped tail.


When I saw it, it was basking in the sun on a rock just before noon. It’s primary food is insects and mature males such as this one are territorial claiming small to medium patches of land which they defend against other males.

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Understanding the Samburu Tribe of North Kenya

The Samburu tribe is one of the more dominating tribes of north-central Kenya. The Samburu developed from one of the later Nilotic migrations from the Sudan, as part of their plains Nilotic movement. They are related to the Maasai, share a few traditions, but are overall pretty distinct from each other. I got a chance to meet them in their society, talk to them, interact with them and understand their culture when I was at the Samburu National Reserve in North Kenya.


The Samburu are semi-nomadic pastoralists who herd mainly cattle, but also keep sheep, goats and camels. They live north of the equator and live in very diverse and beautiful landscapes that spans high altitude forests, open plains, semi-arid grass and bush land to complete desert.


The elders occupy a very important place in the Samburu society and all the power rests with them. They have a polygamous system where the elders decide who can marry and have how many wives. This kind of control helps keep trouble at rest or at least that is the belief.


In the Samburu society, the men take care of security and cattle-herding, while the women take care of things like building houses, collecting firewood and food from forest, cooking food, taking care of young and in doing craftsmanship. In their own terms, a Samburu woman is much more hard-working than a Samburu man.


Since the Samburus’ practice polygynous marriage, their settlements or manyattas mirror this setup. Each manyatta might have 4 or 5 families and within each family, there might be multiple wives who live in their own house, which they build on their own using sticks, mud, dung and plastic (for waterproofing).


The entire manyatta is surrounded by a acacia thorn bush fence to prevent the people and their cattle from predators. The cattle are again surrounded by a second layer of thorn fence in the center of each manyatta. One or two Samburu men would keep watch every night and protect the entire village.


Traditionally, the Samburu people have completely survived off the products of their herds. However, decline in cattle numbers, less rains and increased tourism has meant the  Samburu people have gotten more into the tourism industry working with various wildlife resorts, the forest department and related companies. Some of them have also gone out to large cities such as Nairobi and Mombasa to find other sources of employment.


The Samburu people speak the Samburu language, which is a Nilo-Saharan language. Their language is more or less similar to Maa (the language that the Maasai speak). The Samburu tongue is also related to Turkana and Karamojong and more distantly to Pokot and the Kalenjin languages.


Today, a lot of them speak Swahili and English to make utmost use of the opportunities to make money. Slowly, but steadily, schools are being developed for a cluster of villages to ensure that the Samburu kids get quality education in both Swahili and English.


The standard food of the Samburu is milk from their cattle, blood taken from their cattle without killing them and wild foods. During festivals and certain times of celebration, they kill some of their cattle and eat their meat. Today, they consume some agricultural products like maize too. Tea with milk and sugar is their staple diet.


The Samburu clothing is something that I found real interesting. Both men and women wear extremely bright colours. This may be because they want to add some life to the otherwise barren landscape or to make their dark skin glow. They adorn themselves with necklaces, bracelets and anklets.


The warrior men cover their head in red ochre. The elders (both men and women) were clean shaven. The women wear numerous necklaces and bracelets and these ornaments are made from colorful beads (used to be colorful seeds a long time back). It is said that the more beads or necklaces are there on a women, the more beautiful she is considered. Another point on the same line of thought is that, women were more necklaces as they get richer. Therefore, the number of beads or necklaces indicate status in society, richness level and beauty.
 

During my visits, most of the men wore red cloths either around their waist or over their shoulder. Women, on the other hand wore floral and pastel designs. Though, with increased tourism and westernization, the Samburu people are also slowly taking to western attire.


The Samburu love to sing and dance, but traditionally use no instruments. They have dances for various occasions of life. The men dance jumping and high jumping from a standing position is a great sport. Most dances involve the men and the women dancing in their separate circles with particular moves for each sex, but coordinating the movements of the two groups. A lot of their dances include elaborate movements of their
chest.


If you do get to visit them, you will come across this statement: Do you wish to marry one of our Samburu girls? All you have to do is give the chief of the village 2 cows. That is how weddings happen in the Samburu culture.


Girls get married pretty early. Sometimes before they turn 18. Both boys and girls go through an initiation into adulthood, which involves training in adult responsibilities and circumcision for boys and clitoridectomy for girls. Ouch!! 


The Samburu people are very homely and kind and it hurts me to see them struggle. So if you do visit them, be your generous self. Any donation, however small will help this community give good education and food to its kids while keeping its traditions intact.

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Samburu Sopa Lodge, Kenya: A Review

The Sopa (‘Hello’ in Maa – Maasai language) group is one of the older and more well known hotel chains in Kenya. They have properties in Kenya and Tanzania. During my recent trip to Kenya, I got to spend 2 nights at their Samburu property called the ‘Samburu Sopa Lodge’.



Following points make up my review of this wildlife resort:

1) They probably have the biggest rooms (keeping standard rooms as a benchmark and assuming that the price points are more or less same or lesser) when compared to their other hotel chains. Their bathrooms are bigger than rooms in other lodges/hotels/tented camps.

2) Their food is good and pretty decent. But, nothing extraordinary like some of the other hotel chains.

3) The Samburu Sopa Lodge is tucked away deep inside the Samburu National Reserve. For some, this is slightly irritating as it means longer game drives to reach the key wildlife spots, like for example the Ewaso Nyiro river. But, I kind of prefer such remoteness.

4) This property is fantastic for birding. A lot of hornbills, barbets,starlings, sunbirds and more can be regularly seen here in huge numbers. Some even come real close to the common dining area.

5) Even small mammals like the Kirk’s Dik Dik, Impala, banded mongoose, etc. can be seen next to the dining area.

6) For those who like a swimming pool in their resorts, this place offers both shallow and deep waters in its pool.

7) May be, it is the semi-arid landscape, but the Samburu Sopa Lodge offers great views of the sunrise and the sunset.

8) The service is pretty decent and I especially liked the friendliness of most of the Samburu people.

9) Since this is the drier part of Kenya, the lodge has very close to zero mosquito menace in spite of being surrounded by forests. Hence, even in the night, one can comfortably sit in the verandah and either listen to the sounds of the forest or indulge in some star-gazing.

10) Samburu gets pretty hot during the day, but the lodge does not have any fan or electricity supply during certain day hours. I kind  of prefer this since it is not at all forest friendly to run a generator in the middle of a wildlife reserve. The best way to avoid this situation is to go on both your morning and evening game drives.

11) Like most of the wildlife lodges in Kenya, this place is also built in traditional style. The rooms in Samburu Sopa Lodge mirror the construction of Samburu huts.

Overall, I would recommend the Samburu Sopa Lodge for the traveller who is looking at value for money. For those who are looking at new age facilities and real fine dining, the Sarova, Serena or Ashnil properties would be a better bet.

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D’Arnaud’s Barbet: Birding from Samburu, North Kenya

It was a warm afternoon and I was waiting for our safari vehicle outside the reception of our Samburu Sopa Lodge. It was during this wait that I saw an amazing series of events orchestrated by the D’Arnaud’s barbet.


This very pretty looking bird was initially hiding in the bushes and it was difficult to photograph it, but soon it came out into the open sun. This is where I began clicking. Each of its moments were a sight. First, it stood on the edge of trash bin. Then, it started scratching itself on a concrete pole, then made loud calls and then I was lucky to catch it in flight too.


These photographs are those amazing series of events. Technically, we were inside the wildlife lodge property, but logically, we were inside the forest as the Samburu Sopa Lodge is deep inside the Samburu National Reserve of North Kenya.

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Grey-Crowned Crane from Samburu National Reserve, North Kenya

Samburu National Reserve in North Kenya with its semi-arid landscape is an excellent place for birding. Every game drive will ensure a rich haul of birds. It was during one such game drive that I saw these grey-crowned cranes feeding on the grasslands.


Now, I have seen a lot of cranes in India. Even the Sarus Crane. But, the grey-crowned crane looks majestic with its crown that totally glows in the sun. Its red colours are a total contrast to its grey coat and make it look even prettier.


This bird, which is the national bird of Uganda feeds on insects and other invertebrates, reptiles, small mammals, as well as grass seeds.The male and female look similar, though the male is slightly taller than the female.


They are one of the few crane species to roost in trees as they have a long hind toe that can grasp branches easily. It has a booming call, which involves inflation of the red gular sac.

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Samburu Tribals: Some People Photographs

The Samburu tribals are semi-nomadic cattle herders who live north of the equator in Kenya. They are related to the famous Maasai of Maasai Mara, but have their own traditions. Recently, I got to meet them while exploring the Samburu National Reserve. And I have to say that they are quite a sight with their bright attire, hair-do, bead work and customs.



Here are some people photographs I took during that visit. I plan to write in more detail about them in my upcoming posts. Do stay tuned for that.

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