
Where is Samburu National Reserve Situated
Where is Samburu National Reserve Situated : Samburu National Reserve is incredible national reserve in Kenya located in Kenya’s Samburu county on the banks of Ewaso Nyiro River neighboring Buffalo Springs National Reserve on the other side of the river, from Nairobi the reserve is situated about 350kilometers.Samburu National Reserve was established in 1985 covering an area of 165 square kilometers, the reserve is famously as one of the two areas in which conservationists George and Joy Adamson raised Elsa the lioness which was made famous in the best selling book and award movie’ ’Born Free’ Samburu national reserve is also a home to Kamunyak, a lioness famous for adopting Oryx calves.
Samburu National Reserve is located in Samburu county, the reserve is made up of the scrubby, open bush land and savannah, with the fringing riverine forest of acacias and large doum palms extending along the edge of the Ewaso Nyiro, the reserve is situated in Samburu county. The Samburu National reserve is situated at the southeastern corner of Samburu District in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya, in south of the reserve there is Ewaso Nyiro River which separates it from the Buffalo Springs National reserve.

The reserve covers an area of 165km2 and is located around 345km from Nairobi. Within the Samburu county there are towns like Maralal which is the capital and the largest town, Baragoi, Archers Post, South Horr, Wamba, Lodosoit and Kisima towns, it also includes the Bisanadi National Reserve, Buffalo Springs National Reserve, Mount Ngiro, Ndoro Mountains, Mathews Range (Ol Doinyo Lenkiyo), Kirisia Hills and the Loroki forest. The main access road to Samburu county is the A4 road from Rumuruti Maralal-Baragoi which as of 2019 was being tarmacked from Rumuruti up to Maralal. Note that (there is atone named Samburu Kwale County also situated in Kenya but it is not related to Samburu county or the Samburu people)
The Samburu county has got three constituencies that is the Samburu East, Samburu West and the Samburu North, the headquarters of Samburu central is Maralal, Samburu North is Baragoi and the headquarters of the Samburu East is Wamba. The Samburu county government is headed by Governor Moses Kasaine Lenolkulal, referred to within Samburu county, he was the first governor following Kenya’s devolution to county administrators. Samburu county is a county in the former Rift Valley Province, Kenya the county covers an area of roughly 21,000km2 (8000mi2) in northern Kenya where the Samburu is, Turkana and many other tribes live there, it stretches north from the Ewaso Nyiro River to the south of Lake Turkana, according to the 2019 census, the county has a population of 310,327.
The Samburu tribe lives in the north of the equator in the geographically fascinating Samburu County of the Northern Kenya, the Samburu people are closely related to the Maasai tribe who also live in East Africa and both these tribes speak a similar language derived from the Maa. The Samburu tribe, just like the Maasai are a semi-nomadic people, they are the only Samburu people are still very traditional and have not parted with old customs as compared to the Maasai, cattle as well as goats, sheep and the camels, play a vital role in the Samburu way of life and culture. The Samburu are highly dependent on their livestock for survival, their diet comprises mostly of milk and occasionally blood from their cows. Then the wound is then sealed with the hot ash, meat is only served on the special occasions and the Samburu people’s diet is also supplemented with the vegetables, roots and tubers that are made into a soup.
Samburu national reserve has aplenty of wildlife which includes the big three like the lion, cheetah and the African leopard which is highly spotted in the reserve, the reserve also has the elephant, cape buffalo and the hippopotamus other mammals frequently seen in the reserve are the olive baboon, warthogs, Grant’s gazelle, Kirk’s dik-dik, impala and the waterbuck, the Samburu National reserve is commonly known for its special five or the rare species which are only found in the Samburu national reserve that is the Reticulated giraffe, Beisa Oryx, Gerenuk, Somali ostrich, and Grevy zebra, Samburu national reserve has abundant with over 450 recorded bird species, the reserve is known as the unique wildlife conservation.

Samburu as wildlife ecosystem now it also comprises a number of conservancies and group ranches bordering the main reserve such as the Kalama conservancy, West Gate Community Conservancy the Namunyak wildlife conservancy, Samburu National reserve is considered among the best wildlife reserves not just in Kenya but also in Africa.
Best time to visit Samburu National Reserve.
The dry months of the year that is December through March and July through October are the best months to visit the Samburu National Reserve when the various activities like the wildlife viewing, nature walks, hiking, camping are at prime.
