Year: 2016

Samburu National Reserve is located on the banks of the Ewaso Ng'iro river in Kenya; on the other side of the river is the Buffalo Springs National Reserve in Northern Kenya. It is 165 km² in size and 350 kilometers from Nairobi and ranges in altitude from 800 to 1230m above sea level. The presence, however, of the river - and its shady trees - attracts plenty of wildlife. Giraffe, buffalo, waterbuck and zebra (including the endangered Grevy's zebra) from the surrounding savannah plains trek to the water.Lion, leopard and cheetah are also quite easy to spot, thanks in part to the lack of grass cover. Samburu is also home to large herds of elephants, and the reserve is well known for providing the opportunity to see wildlife that only lives in the dry north of Kenya. Be on the look out for gerenuks - these odd, yet distinguished looking, gazelle have long necks, and stand on their hind legs to feed. For the birders, around 365 species have been recorded and the river area is particularly rewarding. Across the river is the Buffalo Springs National Reserve. A bridge connects the two, and they are often grouped together by tour companies. Nearby is the swampy wilderness of the Shaba National Reserve. There is a good selection of safari lodges and luxury tented camps in the Samburu Region. Samburu Intrepids and Samburu Lodge are just two of them. The Samburu National Reserve was one of the two areas in which conservationists George Adamson and Joy Adamson raised Elsa the Lioness made famous in the best selling book and award winning movie Born Free.

Mount Kenya is Africa’s second highest mountain at 5,199m (17,058 feet) and the highest of all Kenya Mountains. Mount Kenya is roughly circular, about 60km across at the 200mm contour, where the steep font hills rise out of the gentler slopes of the centered highlands.At the centre of the massif, the main peaks rise sharply from around 4,500m to the main summit of Batian 5,199m, Nelion 5,188m and point Lenana 4,985m. Other major summits on the mountain include Point Piggott 4,957m, Point Dutton 4,885 and Point John 4,883m. Of the three main peaks (Batian, Lenana and Nelion), only point Lenana can be reached by trekkers and the other two being only for technical climbers. Mount Kenya is the second highest peak in Africa and stands somewhat unjustly in the shadow of it's taller neighbour Kilimanjaro, which lies some 320km away in the south and is visible on a clear day. Kili may see much more traffic - due to the possibility of summitting via several non-technical trekking routes and due to the sometimes dubious honour of being one of the Seven Summits - but Mount Kenya offers a wealth of excellent and diverse climbing possibilities on rock, snow and ice. The rock on Mount Kenya can be of variable quality but is at it's best high on the mountain where the syenite rock is similar to granite - rough, hard and well endowed with features. Apart from the superb climbing potential on Mount Kenya, its tarns and alpine meadows; exotic, equatorial, high-altitude vegetation; sunbirds, hyrax and soaring eagles make the walk around the peaks one of the most beautiful expeditions in the East African mountains. After the cultivated farmlands on the lower slopes the trails pass through the rain forest, rich in trees of many species but noticeably camphors, then