•08:41
Having visited the Mara, Amboseli and Tsavo, the only National Park I wanted to tick off my list in Kenya is Samburu. Although Samburu is not as well known (or rather not well publicized) like the Mara, if you have the chance, I strongly recommend you to pay a visit to this National Park.
First lesson I learnt from this trip was the difference between, National Park and National Conservancy. A National Park is the government’s responsibility and the national conservancy is the local Government’s.
Unlike the Mara, I was more keen to see the “northern hemisphere” animals such as the Grevy Zebras (where the patterns were so well defined that the made the usual zebras looks quite horrendous), Gerenuk (Giraffe antelope) , Oryx, Somali Ostrich (Blue neck and legs instead of pink), Vulturine Guineafowl (Blue lined feathers instead of dot, again made the usual guinea fowl we see quite ugly), reticulated Giraffe (apparently the patterns are larger but I fail to notice) and many different kinds of colour birds.
Grezy Zebra
Gerenuk
Somali Ostrich
The landscape is completely different from Mara where large plains are not seen at all. Instead, it is hilly and dense with scrubs/tree. Similarly in Shaba, the whole area looks extremely dry, despite the fact that the Ewaso Ngiro river cuts through both of these two parks. The interesting sight I caught was that there seems to be an oasis in the midst of the dryness where you can see a lustrous green patch of tree and grass right the in the middle of the vast brown scrubs.
Green pasture in the midst of the "drought"
We decided to lay our heads at Joy’s Camp which is situated at the Shaba National Conservancy. The torturing rocky ride from the smooth main road to the camp site was all worth it. The camp site has only 10 luxury tents so you can imagine the pleasure of being a guest in this place. I have absolutely no complains about the food (desert was to die for) and for the first time, the packed lunch is not in paper box but a picnic with proper cutleries and mugs for your hot coffee. That was such a treat!
Joy's Camp
Although the road trip from Nairobi to our camp in Shaba was about 7 hours but the long and tiring journey was compensated with a scenic drive (especially around Mt Kenya region) and the comfort of the luxury tent.
First lesson I learnt from this trip was the difference between, National Park and National Conservancy. A National Park is the government’s responsibility and the national conservancy is the local Government’s.
Unlike the Mara, I was more keen to see the “northern hemisphere” animals such as the Grevy Zebras (where the patterns were so well defined that the made the usual zebras looks quite horrendous), Gerenuk (Giraffe antelope) , Oryx, Somali Ostrich (Blue neck and legs instead of pink), Vulturine Guineafowl (Blue lined feathers instead of dot, again made the usual guinea fowl we see quite ugly), reticulated Giraffe (apparently the patterns are larger but I fail to notice) and many different kinds of colour birds.
Grezy Zebra
Gerenuk
Somali Ostrich
The landscape is completely different from Mara where large plains are not seen at all. Instead, it is hilly and dense with scrubs/tree. Similarly in Shaba, the whole area looks extremely dry, despite the fact that the Ewaso Ngiro river cuts through both of these two parks. The interesting sight I caught was that there seems to be an oasis in the midst of the dryness where you can see a lustrous green patch of tree and grass right the in the middle of the vast brown scrubs.
Green pasture in the midst of the "drought"
We decided to lay our heads at Joy’s Camp which is situated at the Shaba National Conservancy. The torturing rocky ride from the smooth main road to the camp site was all worth it. The camp site has only 10 luxury tents so you can imagine the pleasure of being a guest in this place. I have absolutely no complains about the food (desert was to die for) and for the first time, the packed lunch is not in paper box but a picnic with proper cutleries and mugs for your hot coffee. That was such a treat!
Joy's Camp
Although the road trip from Nairobi to our camp in Shaba was about 7 hours but the long and tiring journey was compensated with a scenic drive (especially around Mt Kenya region) and the comfort of the luxury tent.
Kenya
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