Samburu National Reserve

Day 1

After getting up early, we left Nairobi and headed north to Samburu, which is north of the equator. After about five hours of driving, we stopped at a souvenir shop to use the toilets and to have our lunch. The cook had packed chicken salad sandwiches, chips, juice and water for each of us and it was quite tasty.

A couple of hours more driving and we stopped at a Samburu village right outside the reserve. The Samburu tribe are related to the Maasai with some slightly different customs. Their wealth is determined by the number of cattle, wives and children they have. The women make their small homes from tree branches, mud and scraps of metal and cardboard they find. They are very poor and the women make jewelry to help purchase food in town. Their diets are poor and their average life span is around 55 years old.

After we left the village we entered the reserve and did a game drive while we proceeded to our bush camp. The first thing we saw were some ostriches and a lone zebra. Closer to camp we found some giraffes and a lone bull elephant near the river (he seemed to be quite old). The dirt roads were very bumpy and I had to use my legs and arms to brace myself in the seat.

Our bush camp was surrounded by trees and a rickety wooden fence to try to keep animals out, but it wasn’t a big deterrence. When I was shown to my canvas tent, baboons were sitting in front of it and had to be shooed away. My tent had two mattresses on the floor with sheets and one wool blanket on each. The pillows were very flat, so I snagged the second one to put under my knees later that night.

Close to my tent was the two flush toilets and two showers. The water was cool, but it felt good after getting so dusty on the drive and high heat.

After a quick shower, it was getting dark and we had dinner around 7pm. Francis, our cook, was really good at making us delicious food. The tour description didn’t make it sound like we would be having good meals, so I was delighted that the food was far better than I expected.

I was exhausted after dinner and I think we all went to bed before 9pm. I slept well, except several times I heard dogs barking a lot. I thought it weird that dogs would be allowed at the campsite, but thought maybe it was to alert us to danger. I learned in the morning that those barks were coming from the baboons and they were alerting that hyenas came through the camp. I was so glad I had been in the tent and chose a quiet time to use the toilet in the middle of the night!

Day 2

After a light breakfast we left camp around 6am to do a game drive before it got too hot. We got to see so many animals, including a female cheetah! I really didn’t think we’d get to see a cheetah, so I was so thrilled to be able to get some good photos of her.

We got back to camp around 1pm for lunch and rested until around 3:30pm when it started to cool off a bit and we went on another game drive.

One thing I learned was that Samburu National Reserve is where Elsa was released. When I was a kid, I was enamored with the movie, Born Free. It was based on a true story of George and June Adamson took in an orphaned lion and eventually released her back into the wild. No wonder the rocks and mountains of the park looked so familiar to me!

While waiting for dinner that evening, a bull elephant walked within feet of our camp. We were told to stay back and I didn’t have my camera handing, so I just stood there watching as he walked by, eating acacia leaves along the way.

In bed that night, I got terrible leg cramps and realized I didn’t drink enough fluids in the high heat during the day. Luckily we would be stopping at a shopping mall on our way to the next park the next day. I vowed to find some electrolytes for my water. I didn’t even think to bring any with me (and I have so many at home for my bike riding).