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February 2nd – 5th, 2022

To Samburu

It is still cold camping in Aberdare National Park, even when in the lower campsites of The Salient. This kept us from getting going too early, the tent being toasty warm and outside being the opposite. The route from Aberdare to Samburu Nature Reserve didn’t look too bad on Tracks4Africa but we’d been warned it was an all day affair.

This warning finally convinced us to leave the tent, but we still broke camp without a rush. On the way out of the park we hoped to see some dang elephants, who so far had completely eluded us. We made it to the Treetops gate and amazingly had not seen any elephants, which I am considering something of an accomplishment given their obvious presence.

After checking out we drove a couple kilometers on a dirt road, passing by verdant green small hold farms. Then we burst out onto the tar and the roads from here on were all in excellent condition. After airing up the tires we zipped along with only moderate traffic to contend with. There is some zigging and zagging but we eventually ended up on the A2, which if followed would bring us all the way to Ethiopia.

On this broad shouldered road we made our way north past increasingly larger and larger farms. These were no small hold farms now, but the big agriculture operations on the Laikipia plateau. The scenery was attractive and most crops appeared to be growing well in these famously productive lands below the slopes of Mt. Kenya. 

On our way to Nanyuki we crossed the equator for the first time of the trip. There is a sign and a few roadside curio shops, as well as performers waiting to demonstrate some tricks, water swirling one way or the other depending on which side of the sign they stand on and that sort of thing. We stopped for a quick snapshot but otherwise did not partake.

The equator is on the outskirts of regional hub of Nanyuki. We stopped at the mall to stock up for our big Turkana leg. We thought this would be our last big chance for a proper supermarket before heading out into the great unknown of frontier land. One curiosity of Kenya is that we’ve seen less boreholes than earlier in our trip, makingit a little harder to fill up on drinking water. I’m sure they’re around if we looked harder, but a couple times we’ve resorted to buying a few 20 liter bottles of water at the supermarket to fill our 60 liter tank. I hate to generate more plastic, but we’ve found the big bottles are always snapped up to be reused by someone. 

The Foodplus at the mall here had a nice butchery and all the other sundries. We picked up a couple meat pies for the road (do not get the masala chicken), thank goodness they don’t sell these at home, I’d be as big as a house.

Back onto the A2 we continued north, after Nanyuki traffic thinned out a lot. We rolled along listening to a new audio book, Sapiens, by Noah Yuval Harari, and right away he started talking about Homo Rudolfus, an early species of human. The evidence of Homo Rudolfensis was discovered at Lake Turkana (previously known as Lake Rudolf) by Richard Leaky’s team in 1972. Those Leakys are busy people.

The A2 dove north, steeply down the contours of Mt. Kenya and we engine braked our way down a steep grade, losing over a thousand meters of elevation. Suddenly the green fields and cool climes were gone, replaced by familiar acacia scrub land. The occasional camel was grazing on thorny bushes and we found ourselves in a different world entirely. This brought us to Isiolo, the last reliable fuel stop on our route. 

Isiolo is nothing like the cool climes of Nanyuki. Hectic streets greeted us, gregarious looking busses with exotic destinations painted on their windows flashed by and many army green and desert tan Land Cruisers rumbled through the streets. These vehicles are either army, police, or representing one of the many conservancies that forms the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT). Isiolo is a frontier town and has that “last stop” feel, make no mistake. 

We filled up on diesel, topping up the Cruiser and jerry cans to the brim. This takes no urging, most station attendants in Africa take pride in filling tanks and jerries right up to the lip. 

Jerry cans all have a “fill to” line that leaves one or two liters of air at the top, carefully calculated to allow the appropriate level of expansion or something like that. This fill line is always disregarded by the attendants. That last liter could be the one that lets you roll into town, preventing you from being stranded, so any concerns about appropriately calculated expansion goes out the window. We’ve never had any issues with our jerries, and one of them is a cheap second hand one of the type sold at supermarkets in Southern Africa. 

Lake Turkana has certainly been traveled to by plenty an overlander, but I feel safe in saying it is not on the regular itinerary so I want to spend some time outlining the logistics of this mini expedition. 

Most of the independent travelers that do make it to Turkana are on the Cape to Cairo route, visiting on the way to or from Ethiopia.  We on the other hand are headed to Turkana for it’s own sake. Normally I would constrain myself to putting all this stuff in the Nitty Gritty section, but this is one of those times where the careful planning and calculated risks form an integral part of this leg, so you will have to suffer through this detail.

I calculated our fuel consumption, endurance, and route and was concerned. I had calculated our route between known reliable fuel stations at 988 km. This would be Isiolo > Samburu NR (Public Campsite No. 1) > Ngurunit (Lasamu Camp) via the new Laisamis Road > South Horr > Loyangalani (Palm Shade Camp) >  Sibiloi National Park (Koobi Fora) > Kalacha > Marsabit, to where fuel would be reached at last.

This 988km does not include any game drives, getting lost or whatever else might cause us to need reserves. The Cruiser tanks 130 liters of fuel and we have another 40 liters in jerry cans on the roof, so 170 liters in total. We have kept a detailed fuel log of every fill up since we bought the cruiser in 2017. This gives us a pretty good idea of what our consumption is in varied conditions. For example, through all of our recent Zambia trip, 6182km, we averaged 6.9 km/l, or if you prefer, 14.5 l/100km, or 16.2 US mpg. 

In theory, 1173 km of range, but even that would not even allow 200 km of game driving or error. And that was a mix of tar and gravel with little heavy 4×4 work, where our consumption drops. Even with these detailed records there is always a seed of doubt that we haven’t accounted for some variable. 

I dug further back in the records for a more representative sample and landed upon a Namibia riverbeds trip we did in 2019. For those in the know, the route was Uis > Ugab Save the Rhino Trust Camp > Twyfelfontein > Palmwag > Sesfontein > Marienfluss > Etanga > Opuwo. On this trip, with a lot of 4×4 driving in deep sand, though rarely in low range, we averaged 5.9 km/l. If this was our Turkana fuel consumption then we’d barely role into Marsabit on fumes, without any reserve at all.

What to do? We dove into our resources, Tracks4Africa and iOverlander, and derived that Archer’s Post, Laisamis, South Horr and the new Lake Turkana Wind Project all had fuel stations of questionable reliability and quality. On the quality front I wasn’t too worried, we wouldn’t be getting a full tank from any of these places, thus diluting the potentially poor fuel with our presumably good Isiolo sourced fuel. The 1HZ engine is notoriously tolerant of bad fuel. As far as availability, we only needed one of these stations to have fuel. It seemed improbable that none of them would have stock. 

Another thing to keep in mind is that running out of fuel isn’t the end of the world. After all, if we miscalculated its not like we’d run out in the middle of our journey, but probably fairly close to the end. Africans are well familiar and sympathetic with running out of fuel, they have all been there. If worse came to worse we’d hitch the kilometers needed to a fuel station, fill up our jerry cans and catch a boda boda back to the cruiser. 

I say this with blithe confidence, but of course a mild current of unease runs underneath. I will feel much better when at least one of the intermediate fuel stations proves to actually have fuel. 

North from Isiolo the road is perfect tar, nearly new. This was the very last stretch of tar to be paved on the entire Cape to Cairo route. If you stick to the main route you can now drive the entire thing in any old car, no 4×4 required. There was hardly any traffic and we were able to reach greater speeds than in the previous weeks, even up to the lofty speed of 100 kph. 

This dusty scrubland is an enormous and confusing patchwork of conservancies, trusts and reserves. They seem tantalizing when I read about them online, but most charge quite high fees and cater to high end private safari guests. I think with a bit more research you could find a nice way to sample what is on offer up here, but we settled on the Samburu Nature Reserve. 

The Samburu Nature Reserve shares a border with the Buffalo Springs National Reserve, and the permits for one allow passage through the other. We hoped to do a quick turn through Buffalo Springs on our way to Samburu NR, but unfortunately the bridge between them recently washed out. Instead of going through Buffalo Springs we drove to the small town of Archer’s Post and turned off to the Reserve. This track bumps along and in just a few kilometers we arrived at the gate. 

There was some consternation at the gate because we didn’t have the preferred payment system of Mpesa, the mobile money system, on our phones. Unlike the Kenya Wildlife Service Parks they do not accept credit cards here. Samburu Nature Reserve is managed by Isiolo county, not KWS, and has different standards. Instead we tapped into our diminishing reserves of US cash. We paid, handsomely, for two nights and received official receipts and a stack of fancy little tickets torn out of a book. There was a ticket for each of us for each day, for each of us for each night of camping and for the each of the Land Cruiser’s daily vehicle permits, amounting to quite a stack of tickets.

A large map is painted on the entry gate and the rangers advised us on the best places to look for animals. Heading into the park we found the main track to be horribly corrugated so we took the first branch possible.

In not too long we ran into our first of the “Samburu Five.” A Grevy’s Zebra, which are very good looking zebras, having more finely striped coats than their brethren. I think I’m spoiled for future zebras now, the Grevy’s being a new favorite. The remainder of the “Samburu Five” are the Somali Ostrich, with it’s unusual blue legs; the gerenuk, previously described with it’s long graceful neck; the reticulated giraffe, which has an unusual coat and is found nowhere else other than northeast Kenya and perhaps the western edge of Somalia; and lastly the besia Oryx, which we saw before in Tsavo. 

Not much further into our efforts at Samburu and we saw a small herd of gerenuk, our first reticulated giraffe, and besia oryx. This left only the Somali ostrich which I’m sure we’d see soon enough.

I don’t think you could describe it as “busy” but there were a half dozen or more game viewing vehicles working the same part of the park, more than we’d seen since Amboseli. We chatted with one of them and apparently the leopard that had been lounging in a tree had just decided he’d had enough attention, disappearing. All the guided vehicles were zooming around trying to find the leopard.

The maze of tracks in this central part of the park weave through and around dense scrub about a meter high, such that any cat who wants to disappear can do so easily. We made a half hearted attempt to go to the scene of the leopard’s last sighting and on the way got a surprise, bumping into a scarred old veteran of a lioness with four cubs bouncing along behind her. They disappeared into the brush quite quickly, but it was a great sighting. Samburu was certainly off to a good start.

It was getting late in the day and we drove to our campsite. The public campsites in Samburu are numbered, but it is a bit misleading as they are in a string along the same piece of riverfront, maybe 50 meters from one another. So going to the public campsite No. 1 is not so different than No. 3, for example. We had been assigned No. 1, but upon arrival found that this large site also had a mobile safari company setting up a sizable camp for their guests. 

As we pondered this a camp attendant and ranger materialized and suggested that we were welcome to pick any of the other sites. We inspected them all and settled into No. 2, which shares ablutions with the unoccupied No. 3.

This site is not as expansive as number one, and perhaps the trees were not quite as majestic, but the view was excellent and we had it all to ourselves. The camp attendant offered firewood at the price of 1000 KSH for two nights. This seemed a bit overpriced, particularly since the rangers at the gate said it was included in the camping fee and that we should just offer a small tip on departure. 

The camp attendant had clearly not received this memo, but not wanting to ruin the evening by haggling we accepted his terms. He could sense our annoyance and set about trying to make up for it by cleaning up the ablutions somewhat and promising an unlimited supply of firewood.

The ablutions are located unobtrusively behind the campsite. They’re fairly basic, and after the camp attendant had made a pass at them they were tolerably clean. One of the toilets flushed and one of the showers, the one with a door, even had a shower head on it. They were fine enough, though at the prices paid to stay here we certainly feel that they could be better. Still, a cold shower at the end of a hot day is luxurious and all those complaints faded away under the splash of cool water. 

The public campsites are wonderfully situated on the banks of the Ewaso Ngiro river, which only had a trickle of water running down it. The sandy riverbed looked hard packed and wet. In chatting with the ranger we learned that the river had run strongly about two weeks ago and had just recently come down. 

Evening in camp was sublime. The fire crackled away, we grilled chicken and butternut squash over the coals, the stars came out overhead and we could hear the whoop of hyenas in the distance. There are special campsites at Samburu, but it is hard to imagine how you could improve on this wilderness spot. 

A ranger patrols the campsites at night in Samburu. This is something we’re not that familiar with. Further south you’re left to your own devices, free to annoy elephants or get eaten by a lion at night when you head to the bushes for a nighttime pee. In practice this is never actually a problem, of the very few people hurt/killed by wildlife I cannot recall a single incident being related to the nighttime call of nature. None the less in many reserves in Kenya and Uganda a ranger is required. 

Our ranger for the evening accepted our offer for a cup of tea and we chatted a bit. He had been in the military, and after completing his service had been a ranger at Samburu ever since.

He was a pleasant fellow, but he trod heavily at night during his patrols and walked very close to the vehicle, waking us up at night. 

Dawn came and we got an early start for game viewing. We saw fresh elephant dung less than 10 meters from the Cruiser, we must have had company last night. 

After getting going we found a dizzying amount of tracks to be explored in this small reserve, many not on Tracks4Africa. We suspect this is because the “no off-road driving” rule does not appear to be enforced. We witnessed many guided vehicles pushing deep off-road into the brush, and after these tire tracks are followed a few times, Presto!, there is a new track. 

After a few hours of searching around we found lions. One mating pair and again the veteran old lioness from the previous day. We hoped the cubs would be about but we never saw them, perhaps they weren’t hers? She did not seem at all happy about the mating pair, pacing around the perimeter and disrupting their plans. It was fascinating to watch and we wondered about the drama we could not understand.

I will note that, again, we are the ones who found these lions, not the guid vehicles. Don’t let anyone tell you that you won’t see anything without a guide, as other overlanders have told us several times. After one of the guide vehicles joined us they put the call out on the radio and six or seven vehicles showed up.

At one point our old lady paced around behind the Cruiser and then walked right along the car, practically brushing her golden coat on the paint work. I could have easily reached down and pet her, but better sense prevailed.

The rest of the day was a pleasant day of game driving, along with a leisurely lunch by the river back at camp. At lunch we watched a herd of grevy’s zebras come down to the river to drink, with one zebra causing all kinds of ruckus with the others. Warthogs, impala and water buckalso came to drink and some very brave bee eaters sat quite close to us. 

Interestingly we also saw herds of cattle within the reserve. My understanding is that these herders are violating the reserve boundaries, unlike some multi use wildlife areas. However they were outside the prime game viewing zones and my guess is there is some informal agreement with the park management that if they stay outside the peak use zones they’ll be left alone. We waved and received a lazy wave back.

This also explains where the dead cow we saw in the morning came from, lying by the side of the road. Oddly there were no scavengers on the carcass. We went back later to check and the  carcass was gone, presumably removed by the park rangers. 

In the afternoon we saw lots of nice birds and more of almost everything else. We particularly liked the crisply patterned coat of the reticulated giraffe. The air remained annoyingly hazy. There are scenic mountains in the distance that I longed to see clearly, but they remained stubbornly blue on the horizon.

Two cheetah lazed in the riverbed in the very last hour of daylight. Notably absent, the Somali ostrich. Would we draw a miss on the Samburu Five?

With a Somali ostrich on the goal list we got an early start for our last morning game drive on the way out. As we packed up our riverside camp we noted to each other that the ranger that had paced around our camp the night before had been totally absent this night. We didn’t mind and appreciated the quiet, but it was odd that this required protection never arrived. 

Wildlife was also getting a slow start this morning, seemingly dispersed and sedate. Again we found our old lioness, regally perched on the river bank. We never did find those four cubs though. Later in the morning we saw more of those graceful gerenuks, standing and feeding in the thorn scrub, and finally a Somali ostrich. They are striking, the males being very black with blueish legs, while the females are all grey. This rounded out our “Samburu Five” and we could leave with our heads held high. We also got a good sighting of a flock of red bellied parrots, and another gander at a pygmy falcon.

Checking out at the gate we had a nice exchange with the ranger there. He had been to Turkana many times and was enthusiastic about our visit. He was also fascinated by our air compressor as we aired up our tires for the tarmac road, even asking if he could be the one to push the button. Of course we invited him to do so. He was happy to participate in our strange process, as I’m sure no guide vehicles have compressors or fuss with their tire pressures.

Since leaving Nanyuki, every town we’ve passed through gives more and more of a frontier impression. Isiolo was the last hub, full of eclectic energy and dusty beat up Land Cruisers. Now leaving Samburu Nature Reserve we went through Archers Post. Any town with “Post” in its name has that outpost feel, and Archers Post certain fit the part, a dusty stop on the road north. Perhaps the last of many things we thought, mobile signal, fresh vegetables (limited), and fuel. 

We were lucky that the basic Archers Post fuel station had diesel, so even though we had filled to the brim in Isiolo, we topped up. As Jenny says, “There are two things in Africa you should never pass up, fuel stations and a shower.” This helped a lot to relieve my range anxiety about the Turkana loop. We had already over extended ourselves on Samburu game drives, eating up our paltry reserve.

Heading north the road continues to be pristine new tarmac. You could easily zoom along at any speed here, but I drove more slowly, taking in the views of the mountains and terrain. The very impressive Mt. Ololokwe dominates the horizon, the road heading straight for the monolith’s base. 

As the road wraps around the base of the mountain and more impressive rock formations came into view we were stopped at a police road block. They were very serious here, though not rude, and checked our passport and asked our destination. They were satisfied, and I asked about security concerns. He assured there were no problems ahead. 

This was a relief. The northern frontier zone of Kenya experiences sporadic security issues. Cattle raids between tribes, bandits attacking travelers and who knows what else. Fortunately you have to try fairly hard to get yourself into trouble. The authorities have periodic road blocks and this provides a chance to frequently check in about the road ahead. If things are particularly hot it’s unlikely they would allow a tourist to proceed, or you might be required to join a convoy or police escort. 

I had read of a recent trip to Turkana that had experienced just such a re-route to their plans. It was possible that we’d get as far as Loyangalani, the southern town on the lake, and have to turn back the way we came. Or perhaps forgo our furthest north destination, Sibiloi National Park, instead heading straight from Loyangalani to Marsabit. We were flexible and also prepared to adjust to these vagaries as we went.

I am not an expert, but my understanding is that the road north of Marsabit, not in our plans, is particularly known for security problems. Also the road between Maralal and South Horr, and some areas in the Chalbi Desert. For example, near Baragoi in 2012 there were clashes between tribes and the police were sent in to settle things down. The locals did not like that, preferring to handle their own disputes I suppose, and they killed over 40 police.

I worked in Kenya in 2008/9 in West Pokot, southwest of Turkana near the Ugandan border. Before heading out on my assignment I Googled up the area and a dramatic article kept popping up, describing the lawless district of West Pokot that had needed helicopter gunships to be sent in to restore order between tribes fighting over cattle. My eyes were a bit wide over this, but in the head office of the NGO I worked for they regarded it as “a nice place,” relative to other assignments. 

Arriving at my post in West Pokot I found that lawlessness was hardly the order of the day. There was a large local police and army detachment not far away. Our vehicles roamed the country side daily in the six months that I was there, during that time there was a single incident of cattle disputes that was settled by the elders the next afternoon. 

No gunships darkened the horizon, nor could anyone remember that they had in the past. There are certainly areas that have their troubles, that I don’t dispute. My experience reminds me to temper the rumors. This is not to say that nothing ever happened, just that there is a lot of nothing between happenings.

You might be interested in what other preparations we have made for this sort of remote travel. Jenny and I both have first aid training, though hers is quite a bit more extensive than mine. This is backed up by a pretty good first aid kit, complete with some fairly heavy antibiotics and painkillers.

On top of this we also have good medical evacuation insurance, provided by Ripcord. They provide medical evacuation, including for covid, from any country in the world to a hospital of your choice. Unlike many policies they have no exclusions related to State Department or CDC warnings, or Red List exclusions like they have in the UK. For a significant sum more, which we did not pay, you can also pay for the “security evacuation” which includes civil unrest, terrorism, war, etc.

To contact Ripcord, or someone else, we have an Isatphone 2 satellite phone with 300 minutes of talk time provided by Sat4Rent Namibia. A sat phone doesn’t do you any good if you don’t have a number to call, so we keep a list of embassies and other numbers in case we get into trouble.

For several reasons we do not have the other option, a Garmin InReach. First, I loath subscription based services. Second, they do not make clear how much the rescue they offer is actually going to cost. Probably because it depends a lot on who does it, but this level of uncertainty I feel they gloss over too much. Lastly I think it’s far more likely that we’ll need a simple mechanic or other assistance, not a full blown evacuation. Perhaps this can be coordinated on an InReach, but I think if I’m calling KWS or some other local authority I’d rather just speak on the phone. 

In the event of vehicle related problems we carry a selection of spares and a pretty good tool kit. I have a copy of the Australian Hanes Land Cruiser manual that covers all aspects of the vehicle except the engine. To address that I have a digital shop service manual for the 1HZ on my laptop, though it is a scanned document and a total pain to actually use. 

For spares we carry a set of radiator hoses, a set of belts, fuel filter, oil filter, fluids (brake, transmission, gear oil and engine oil), fuses, rear leaf spring bushes, two spare tires, and a few other odds and ends like bits of wire, electrical connectors, and things like that. For tools we carry a set of box wrenches, ratchet and sockets, allen wrenches, screwdrivers, pliers, hacksaw, Leatherman, wire strippers and crimpers, a multimeter, and I’m sure a few other things. We are both reasonably mechanically inclined, though neither of us is by any means an auto mechanic. 

In a mechanical pinch I think we’d be inclined to call either of our fathers, both knowledgeable in vehicle mechanics, or the Chief Engineer on the ship I usually work on (heads up Matt..).

On top of all this our experience is that pretty much everyone we meet is helpful. Remember how I said you can hardly stop for a pee without someone popping by to see what you’re up to? This also means it is not hard to find someone who at least isn’t going to let you starve to death or die of thirst in the desert. All this stacks up to up to make us feel pretty confident about heading up to Turkana and across the Chalbi. I’m sure we are far more prepared than the locals who routinely ply these routes, but their appetite for risk is greater than ours.

Continuing north we saw herds of goats and cows being grazed along the roadside. These Samburu herdsmen were often dressed traditionally, with beaded necklaces and short wraps, holding a herding stick and not much else. Some of the herders held up empty water bottles and motioned, asking for water. Reluctantly we sped on. It’s hard to pass by people asking for water, but we can hardly stop for all of them, we’d be out of water ourselves. They must bring their animals to drink nearby somewhere. We also did not see any other vehicles stopping.

This grazing is being done sometimes within the boundaries of the reserves, at times causing tension between the herders and the concession holders. One more example of tensions that can arise in these northern areas that at times has become violent.

Another road block marked the boundary into Marsabit county. The tire spike strips were drug aside and we were waived through. Now we approached the small town of Laisamis. Here we found fuel again, and topped up again. We were joking that we were getting so much fuel that we wouldn’t even need the jerry cans, but of course you could easily come this way and have these stations be empty, waiting for their next delivery.

To Ngurunit via the Laisamis Road

At Laisamis we turned off the A2 towards Lake Turkana. This was a new road, put in by the Lake Turkana Wind Power project, a large wind farm near the eastern shore of the lake. This new road makes Lake Turkana more accessible than before. Maybe this accessibility removes a bit of the adventure of heading up here but it was adventure enough for us.

To our surprise the road was still tarred, running through many small luggas (sandy riverbeds, usually dry). The road is flanked by dry acacia scrub land, and we passed by herds of goats and camels, Samburu herders dressed in traditional beads and garb, frequently complimented by a jersey from a favored sports team.

Eventually the tar petered out to gravel, heavily corrugated and rocky. To soften the ride we aired down the tires as far as we dared and forged ahead. There were sandy tracks flanking the actual road in places, made by others looking for relief from the corrugations. We tried these a few times but frequently the plunged into deep pools of the ultra fine bull dust. In our mirrors you could see nothing and we could feel the engine working hard.

Not wanting to deal with getting stuck in this incredibly fine dust we got back on the gravel road and bumped our way along. Impressive mountains loomed and it felt very wild out here, somewhat reminiscent of the stark landscapes in parts of remote Namibia, but a camel would wander by, or a Samburu herdsman would remind us that we were very far from there.

The GPS instructed us to turn off this road towards the village of Ngurunit, towards our destination for the night, Lasamu camp. This less used dirt road was smooth and headed straight into the valleys between the Ndoto mountains. 

On our way a driver from a water truck flagged us down. He asked if we knew the area. Laughing, we said we did not. He was lost, looking for a tiny village where he was supposed to deliver his load of water. It turned out this village was on our offline maps.me app on my phone and we gave him directions, for which he was very grateful. I hope they made it.

As we got closer to the village of Ngurunit the mountains became more impressive, with tall slabs of metamorphic red rock, green growth tucked into all the cracks and crevices. The village the campsite is in is situated in a spectacularly scenic spot. We followed the GPS on increasingly small tracks, and to our relief finally seeing a sign for Lasamu Campsite. 

We were welcomed and shown to our spot. Due to drought the river was dry. There is a large shady riverside camping area, and then further back a bit another spot for groups. They gave us this group site, comprised of showers, a basic but clean pit toilet and two containers at right angles supporting a shaded platform. Apparently people set their tents up in this sort of loft, protected from the sun.

Ngurunit is known to have a fantastic natural pool and swimming spot. Spring fed, this stream flows down small pools worn in granite rocks. These rocks are polished smooth and form natural water slides between the pools. Far out here in the desert this oasis appealed to my imagination and I was keen to visit. 

After a break in camp we got back in the cruiser and followed our map on a convoluted track towards to the pools. At some point we got lost, the GPS not being up to date, and a little girl offered to guide us. We took her up on it and made our way to the pools. 

To my great disappointment the pools were not running. The drought had seen to that. Instead there were a few green pools of tepid water with some garbage and animal feces in it. Our guide was not deterred, and after splashing some of the remaining water on the rocks she laughed as she zoomed down the face of the rocks, plunging into the gross green pool at the bottom. We demurred, but it was nice to see the potential. 

We’d seen elephant dung on our walk. Tony, the manager of the camp, said that yes, there are resident elephants in the area almost always. And giraffes further south. 

It was hot and dusty and back at camp we looked forward to a shower. The shower head leaked a tiny bit, and in the drought this had attracted the attention of bees. Jenny, being generally braver than me, followed our bee keeper friends advice and slowly reached among the bees to turn on the shower. She had a reportedly pleasant shower, bees buzzing overhead but leaving her alone. I attempted this but they must be able to smell fear, every time I reached for the tap they seemed to excite, buzzing furiously and swooping for my head. Every time I retreated. 

Finally I beat them by waiting for dark. They went back to their hive and I finally managed my very much appreciated shower. These small battles with nature are typical in our travels, but this night I was tired of them and just wanted a shower.

Lasamu Camp is more or less in the middle of a dispersed village, and we had several children come along the fence to quietly watch the mzungus for a bit. Not that it isn’t a pleasant campsite, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that on some nearby hill there was the potential for a campsite with a million dollar view of the surrounding mountains. Still, ours wasn’t bad and we were happy.

Morning came slowly at Lasamu Camp. The chorus of the village campsite begins in darkness, lead by the crowing of roosters. In the very early dawn the weaver birds add their song. Then the rest of village life makes up this early orchestra, the braying of donkeys, the bleating of goats, the rough running engine of a boda boda. As the sun breaks the horizon the roosters and birds have settled a bit, but we hear children laughing, crying, and playing as the warm morning sun lit up the face of the Ndoto mountains. 

We had a nice long chat with Tony this morning. We carry a little album of photos from back home and he loved flipping through it and seeing photos of California. 

As we were getting ready to go, and after we had paid for camping he asked us for more money. We thought maybe we’d misunderstood, hadn’t we paid for camping? He said yes, we had, but that was for the owner. He explained that he doesn’t get paid by the owner and that we should give him some money. This turned into a discussion, the end of which was us advising him to take it up with the campsite owner, he should be paid for his services. He wasn’t thrilled with this suggestion but in the end accepted it. 

Constantly being hit up for money is routine, but also tiresome. Mostly we have a thick skin and say no. When appropriate we tip generously for various services. But we get asked for money a lot and usually we just have to say no. Sometimes is hard to know what to do, such as in Tony’s case, and we hope we are making the right decisions as we go along.

With that behind us we set off from Ngurunit, weaving through the scenic valleys of the Ndoto mountains towards South Horr. Today was the day we’d see the Jade Sea.

The Nitty Gritty

Aberdare NP

To check into the park at the Treetops gate there is still a sign posted that you need to load a Safari Card with the desired amount at the Aberdare HQ, a few kilometers away, then bring that card to the gate. Why you need to do this at Treetops gate but we did not at the western gate is a mystery. Perhaps a legacy of when there was no mobile reception here.

Samburu Nature Reserve

Fees to visit Samburu were $70 USD pppd plus $30 USD pppn to camp. Fees are as posted here, sadly no KWS covid discount. We found the fees for foreigners to be high in all the northern conservancies. I wouldn’t go as far as to say this makes them not worth visiting, but it does make it hard to consider sampling several of them. 

If you are planning a visit to the north the Kenyan Camper’s blog is indispensable. The Northern Rangelands Trust website also has an excellent interactive map, link is earlier in the blog post. 

There is not an up to date guidebook for Kenya, or I have not found one. Sadly the Bradt guide for Kenya hasn’t been updated since the mid 2000s, something to do with a copyright dispute. The Rough Guide, which is what we have, isn’t bad, but is a few years out of date. Even equipped with the guidebook and the Kenyan Camper’s excellent blog I found it hard to find a way to tackle the North that is friendly to independent travel. 

Lasamu Camp

You can read the Kenyan Camper’s good write up on Lasamu Camp here and here. We paid 1000 KSH pppn. There is a 200 KSH community fee to visit the pools, whether there is water or not. You’ll also need to pay a guide to visit the pool or surrounding mountains, fees are reasonable.

Route

Aberdare National Park, Prince Charles Campsite to Samburu NR Gate, 197km, 6h 33m with lots of stopping to air up, air down, provision, etc..

Nanyuki has anything you could want as far as provisions, shops, vehicle repair, etc..

One day of Samburu game driving was 60km, coming out of our fuel reserve. We also drove the day before and morning after, but just to give a sense of what we used on a moderate day of game driving here.

Archer’s Post fuel station to Lasamu Camp, 200km, 4h 53m