Shaba, Samburu and Buffalo Springs National Reserves

The National Reserves of Shaba, Samburu and Buffalo Springs, situated 350 kilometres north of Nairobi, cover an area of more than 500 sqkm, and are traversed by the Ewaso Ngiro River, which is named after its brown waters. Unlike many other reserves in East Africa, these have characteristic landscapes of volcanic cone hills and Doum palms, growing along the banks of the river. The varied landscapes and the low number of visitors make these reserves a place of choice for safari connoisseurs.

Far from the traditional circuits, these three reserves offer, as well as their landscapes of great beauty, the opportunity to observe African oryx, Grevy’s zebras, reticulated giraffe, and gerenuks (antelopes-giraffes), in addition to the more common wildlife of Cape buffalos and hippopotamus, plus predators such as lions, cheetahs and leopards.

There are also over 350 species of bird. These include grey-headed kingfisher, sunbirds, bee-eaters, Marabou stork, tawny eagle, Verreaux’s eagle, bateleur, vulturine guineafowl, yellow-necked spurfowl, lilac-breasted roller, secretary bird, superb starling, northern red-billed hornbill, yellow-billed hornbill, and various vultures, including the palm-nut vulture.

These reserves are also famous for offering visitors the opportunity to observe elephants crossing the river and playing in the water, and for having hosted George and Joy Adamson, the conservationists who raised Elsa the Lioness of the award movie Born Free in the 1960s. More recently Kamunyak, a lioness who adopted oryx calves, attracted the attention to this region.