8 Days: L. Turkana | Chalbi Desert | Samburu

Pick up from your hotel as early as 0630am after early breakfast then depart heading to Maralal via Nyahururu (stop at Thompson falls briefly for lunch. After lunch proceed on up north where we step in on the muram road which becomes bumpy as we proceed on north.

The drive normally takes not less than 8-9 hours to get to Maralal, on arrival we will check in lodge/campsite in Maralal town for refreshments.

Maralal is the unofficial capital of the Samburu people and has a distinctly frontier feel about it. It is also home of the Maralal International Camel Derby that happens once a year between July and October and attracts riders and spectators from all over the world. Dinner and overnight at lodge/campsite.

After breakfast, we start the long journey driving via Baragoi and South Horr to arrive at lodge/campsite which make it a perfect place to relax protected from the scorching sun and heat characteristic of the climate of this remote area, enjoy lunch on your way.

Lake Turkana is the largest desert lake in the world and extends for 288 kilometers up to the Ethiopian-Kenyan border surrounded by volcanic rock and desert.

Dinner and overnight at lodge/campsite.

The day is spent relaxing and you may visit the local or hire a boat to visit the surrounding area (at an extra cost). In addition, we may visit Loiyangalani and the community settled there while in the evening visiting one of the Turkana Manyattas [optional] for traditional dances at an extra cost if clients wish. We can even visit the Elmolo tribe which is the smallest tribe in Kenya and have good time with them. Turkana, formerly L. Rudolf is now named after one of the tribes who live on its shores and it is in this area that Richard Leakey uncovered the three million year old fossils of ‘Homo Erectus.’  This pre historic site is now known as the “Cradle of Mankind”.

The Lake is also known as the “Jade Sea” because of its remarkable blue – green color. This is a result of algae particles, which shift with changes of the wind and light, so that the water surface shifts from blue to grey to fabulous jade. The lake is home to the largest population of Nile crocodiles in the world.  If the weather permits we take a short sunset boat ride to the surrounding areas. Dinner and overnight at the campsite/lodge.

After an early breakfast, we cross the Chalbi desert (if dry) via North horr towards Kalacha. If it has rained, we shall use another route avoiding the desert. Kalacha is a small settlement on the edge of the Chalbi Desert inhabited by the Gabbra people (pluralists particularly attached to their camels).

We enjoy lunch and evening sunset, swim at the campsite or watch a Gabbra performance in the evening (optional cost) (windy night).

Dinner & overnight at the campsite/lodge.

Break camp in the early morning as we head south towards Marsabit (meaning place of cold); an astonishingly cool, green and hilly oasis rising high above the dry heat of the surrounding desert lands. En route we stop to enjoy views of the massive Gof Redo crater and desert landscape.

The area is home to the local Rendille and Samburu people abundant in their bright red outfits, beads and earrings. This will be a cold night. After setting up camp, we visit the lodge inside the National park and as long as the roads are dry we drive up to Lake Paradise and Little Lake.

Here, an indigenous forest and a desert come together to create the most compelling landscape on earth. Elephants and greater kudu abound. The dense forest in the park is also home to a variety of birds.

Dinner and overnight at the lodge/campsite.

Depart early morning along the trans-African highway towards Samburu with lunch en route.

Afternoon game drive at Samburu National Reserve, enjoy your lunchalong the edge of Ewaso Nyiro River (meaning Brown in Samburu) if they are occupied. Cold showers are available which are amazingly refreshing in the hot, dusty climate.

Dinner& overnight at lodge/camp

The day is spent game viewing in the park having carried packed lunch from the lodge/camp. Samburu is part of a lava plain that includes a diverse landscape of thorn scrub, red dirt, dried river beds, broken volcanic rock, steep hills, and rocky outcroppings, some large enough to be called mesas.

The region is home to the uncommon Grevy’s zebra with huge fury ears, gerenuk antelope standing on hind legs to feed, Somali ostriches with distinct blue legs and the shy Oryx.

Elephant and crocodile are guaranteed sightings, excellent bird watching with numerous varieties of weaverbirds and the martial eagle. Leopard sighting is also a special feature here though we have to search for it especially in the morning when hunting for its meals, you either spot it early in the morning or in the afternoon because most of the day, it spend its time under the rocks or trees to shed its self from the hot sun.

Dinner and overnight in the campsite/lodge.

Early Morning game drive as early as 0600am, then return to the camp for the main breakfast, there after check out the Camp and proceed back to Nairobi with a stopover for lunch in Nanyuki.

After lunch leave for Nairobi arriving late afternoon with a drop off in your hotel or airport for your flight back home.

INCLUSIONS

• Ground transport in a comfortable safari vehicle for game viewing, photography and touring
• Full board accommodation, meal plan as mentioned in itinerary
• All park entrance fees to include government taxes
• Service of an English speaking professional driver
• All game drives as will be detailed in the itinerary
• 2 litres of bottled water each for the Safari.
• Start and end of Safari in Nairobi.
• Airport Transfers between the airport and your hotel in Nairobi

EXCLUSIONS

• International flights from home and back
• Money for tips,
• soft drinks or alcoholic drinks,
• visit to the Masai village