Samburu National Reserve

Samburu National Reserve is a jewel of northern Kenya, where the arid semi-desert landscape along the Ewaso Ng'iro River supports an extraordinary concentration of unique wildlife species found nowhere else in southern Kenya. Known for the 'Samburu Special Five' — Grevy's zebra, reticulated giraffe, Somali ostrich, gerenuk, and Beisa oryx — the reserve offers a genuinely different safari experience. Covering 165 square kilometres, Samburu's stark beauty is defined by the contrast between the life-giving river corridor and the surrounding ochre-red plains dotted with doum palms and acacia. This was Elsa the lioness's homeland, made famous by Joy Adamson's Born Free. The reserve is also central to the Save the Elephants research programme.