Samburu National Reserve

Located in the Laikipia Plateau, north of Mount Kenya, on the way to the Ethiopian border, lies Samburu National Reserve, an "off the beaten path" safari destination.   It is regarded by some as the best reserve in all of Kenya - and it was amazing!!

The drive here was over the very rough Northern Highway that was under construction in several spots.  We saw a whole new meaning of road construction:  men digging the ditch by hand, people hand hoeing a trench for fiber optics lines,  bags of soil cement, waiting to be opened, laid out in rows on the packed dirt and men moving rocks by hand.   We drove through the Highlands, an area where large foreign, corporate farms have been developed to grow pineapple, tea, and flowers for export.

And then we came to the area that's been hard hit by the months long drought in Kenya.  In its dry and barren spaces there was beauty and a multitude of animals for us to enjoy.

Buffalo Springs Game Reserve is found on one side of the river and the Samburu Reserve is on the other side.  We were lucky to spend time in both areas.

We had just driven a few miles and then we spotted our first giraffes!  They are just amazing - so graceful, so very tall and so gentle.  This is the Rothschild's giraffe, distinguised from the others by the way his very precise patches all fit so neatly together.  

These young ones were eating near the older crew.

 

This is the front of our vehicle so you can see how they were so close to the road.  Can you spot the little one to the left of his mother?

We also saw giraffe impalas, who stand up on their back feet to reach the leaves and branches.

Giraffes are the tallest living animals  and aren't great mothers.  Chris said that the young ones are often left alone during the day and are susceptible to predators.  Only about 1/4 of them survive to their first birthdays.  

And we saw herds of Grevy's zebras with big rounded ears and white bellies.  

These were the animals we saw during the first hour, as we drove through the reserve, heading for our hotel.