About Samburu National Park

Samburu National Park was gazetted in 1985 and lies in Samburu County, northern Kenya, roughly 350 kilometres north of Nairobi. It occupies the northern bank of the Ewaso Ng'iro River — the "river of brown water" — which rises on the slopes of Mount Kenya and flows east into the Lorian Swamp. Its official designation is Samburu National Reserve, managed by the county rather than the Kenya Wildlife Service; the two names describe the same place.

Landscape and geography

The park sits at around 800 to 1,230 metres above sea level, considerably lower and hotter than Kenya's southern parks. The land is semi-arid: open plains of red soil, thick riverine forest of doum palms, acacia and tamarind along the watercourse, and rocky hills including Koitogor and Ol Donyo Koitogor, which give the park its distinctive skyline.

Rainfall averages just 350mm a year, which is why the river matters so much. During dry months the Ewaso Ng'iro can reduce to sand, and elephants dig wells in the riverbed that other species then use — one of the great wildlife spectacles of northern Kenya.

The greater Samburu ecosystem

Samburu is one of three adjoining parks. Buffalo Springs National Reserve lies directly across the river to the south, and Shaba National Reserve sits to the east. Together they protect more than 500 square kilometres, and wildlife moves freely between them. Beyond the parks, community conservancies including Kalama, Westgate, Namunyak and Sera form a much larger conservation landscape managed with the Northern Rangelands Trust.

History and community

The park is managed by the Samburu County Government on behalf of the Samburu people, a semi-nomadic pastoralist community closely related to the Maasai. Livestock herding remains central to Samburu life, and revenue from tourism supports schools, clinics and conservancy ranger teams.

Samburu is also internationally known as the home of Save the Elephants, founded by Iain Douglas-Hamilton, whose research camp has monitored individual elephant families here for decades. It was here that Kamunyak, the lioness who famously adopted an oryx calf, was recorded in 2002.

How Samburu compares

• Versus the Masai Mara: far drier, far quieter, and home to species the Mara does not have. There is no wildebeest migration, but there are also no queues at sightings.
• Versus Amboseli: similar elephant focus, but with more varied terrain, better leopard chances and northern specials.
• Versus Tsavo: much smaller and easier to explore in a short stay, with more concentrated game viewing along the river.