Samburu Wildlife Safari

Depart Nairobi at 7:00 AM heading north through Nanyuki, with Mount Kenya often visible on the horizon, before descending into the drier, more rugged landscape of Samburu -- a striking contrast to Kenya's southern parks. The roughly 5-6 hour drive ends at your riverside camp in time for lunch. An afternoon game drive along the Ewaso Nyiro River introduces you to species found almost nowhere else in Kenya: Grevy's zebra, reticulated giraffe, and the gerenuk, an antelope that feeds standing upright on its hind legs.

Accommodation: Samburu Lodge / Tented Camp (3-4 star)

Meals: Lunch, Dinner

A dawn game drive catches the Special Five at their most active around the river, alongside elephant herds coming down to drink and the chance of lion or leopard along the rocky outcrops. Midday brings an optional visit to a traditional Samburu village, where the community's beadwork and pastoralist traditions remain vividly intact. An afternoon drive and a sundowner on a riverside kopje close the day, the doum palms turning gold in the fading light.

Accommodation: Samburu Lodge / Tented Camp (3-4 star)

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

A final sunrise game drive before breakfast and check-out, then the return drive south through Nanyuki and the Mount Kenya highlands, arriving back in Nairobi by late afternoon. Three days in one of Kenya's least-crowded and most distinctive reserves, with a set of species you won't have seen anywhere else on a typical southern safari.

Accommodation: N/A (return day)

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch