A weekend in Samburu National Park
Samburu is another famous destination for a safari in Kenya. We went there as a group of 8, hitting the road from Nairobi on a Friday afternoon to make it a great weekend! We planned to visit both Samburu National Reserve and Buffalo Springs National Reserve, which are just next to each other and using the same 24-hour entrance ticket you can visit both. From Nairobi to Samburu National Reserve it is almost 6 hours. So it made a lot of sense to leave around that time.
As we were a group of 8, we had two cars. The first car reached the destination earlier as they left Nairobi 2 hours before us. And luckily our car started the journey with low-pressure tires – which is not big trouble at all. So we camped at the Umoja Camp Site on Friday. The dinner was delicious actually and it was 800 kes per person, which included butternut squash soup, nyama choma, french beans, and some potatoes. The price is very normal for this menu.
I cannot recommend camping other than the food though. The camping site was okay and it was very close to the park gate, that was the reason we chose this place. However, we paid 1,000 kes per person for camping and the restrooms and showers were not in good condition. But anyway.
We entered the Samburu National Reserve on Saturday at 6 am sharp. The sunrise is always poetic for sure. All started well, beautiful, endless wild nature always amazes me.
The first shock of the day was the huge elephant so close to our vehicle. Which indeed was not the main problem. But if you know the basic rules of safari, when you are that close to an elephant you should just stay still, no voice, no movement. Our driving friend knew that too! However, he was still not quiet and he was out from the window until his hips. I was freaking out more with every step the elephant took towards us. In the end, I put my head down and I want to skip those minutes in my life, thinking that the car will be upside down in a second. After a nervous wait, the elephant walked away not finding us dangerous or interesting enough.
Second, which I can call “trouble” but not a shock was again a car-related matter: a weird piece of metal fixed under the engine fell off partially. Our driving friend, very adventurous, wanted to go “off-road” which ended up hitting the bottom of the car and making this piece of metal unscrewed. Since we did not have the proper tool to get it out completely, we started to drive 10 km per hour with a horrible noise coming under the car. That trouble of driving made us miss the leopards, which were very close but impossible to drive to. It’s okaaaay, we still had fun in other ways. After driving in that condition for some kilometers, not sure how long, a truck stopped to help us out. And they saved the day! We showed our gratitude by sharing some of our food with them, better.
Besides that, we saw the “macho eagle”, crocodiles, many more elephants, many birds and some birds that looked like chicken, some different types of giraffes, many zebras, ostriches and so on. No lyons, no leopards though. That was sad.
We left Samburu National Reserve around 6 pm and entered the Buffalo Springs National Reserve. Since we wanted to camp again and this time in the wild, we had to get two rangers to look after us. So at the gate, we agreed to have two rangers and one of them came with us to show us the camping spot and to assist us. We set the tents, it was a wild camping spot, lookin gover the river. There was this little pool nearby the camping site, so we said that we want to go take a quick look and shower. The ranger said that he will stay at the camping site and will go look for another ranger in the next camping site in the meantime. So we went to the pool. The pool is nothing fancy. You can see among all the other pictures below. But still, it was good for some of us to take a quick dip and refresh. Hanging out at the pool around half an hour, we hit the road back. The second car got stuck in the sand this time since they took the wrong way – which is easy to do because there are no signs on the road, there are even not real road either. Trying to pull the car out from the sand, we were struggling a lot indeed, a proper 6x6 safari car showed up. It was magic! Or just the time they were going back to their nice lodges. That safari car successfully pulled the car out from the sand after a few trials. Another one to save the day for the second time!
Happily, we went back to the camping site. Ups, another surprise: the ranger was not there anymore and it was getting dark! So we said, let’s start the fire. While trying to do so, we hear some voices behind the bush and started to run back to the cars. That fear was real. In 5 seconds, I pictured myself killed by a hippo – which seems very cute from a distance. Anyway, we stayed in the car for a beer, and it started to rain. After the rain stopped, all my friends left the car, started the fire, while I refused to leave the car knowing that we had no idea how to protect ourselves in case of a wild animal situation. Maybe I am being dramatic, but if it happens, there is no way back from that…
We did not take the rangers number, mistake. I called Kenya Wildlife Services in case they can help us out, but their callcentre operates from 8 am to 5 pm, so no luck with that. In the end, I called the nearest lodge to our location to ask their advice on what to do in this situation. Their answer was beyond my expectations. The receptionist said, “the rangers are here indeed, they will be there in 10 minutes”. No comment. The rangers showed up, maybe not in 10 minutes but 20 for sure. And they kept feeding the fire all night long. Sure I woke up plenty of times during the night. Sleeping in the tent was another question for me if we should or not because I did not trust the rangers that they will stay awake the whole night. What can you do if an animal attacks to your tent anyway? Everyone says the same that the animals do not attack the tents unless there is meat kind of food inside bla bla bla. People – at least my friends, they all have this same response that the animals see these tents as rocks or stones. How do we know? We don’t! However, instead of sleeping in the car on my own, I preferred to sleep in a tent with others. And in the end, it was okay.
I truly enjoy camping, I am fine with all the discomfort that it brings. Just not feeling safe is not my thing. I freak out very easily if you read this whole experience of mine in Samburu.
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