Northern Kenya

Depart Nairobi at 07:00 hours and proceed towards the slopes of Africa’s second largest mountain at 5199m – Mt Kenya. Afternoon games drive at Ol Pejeta conservancy to see the wildlife including chimpanzees and rhino. We set up camp for the night at Mountain Rock Campsite on the foothills of the mountain (cold night).

Depart in the morning after breakfast for Samburu game reserve to arrive there in time for the afternoon game drive in the park.

Animals to look out for include the uncommon Grevy’s zebra, gerenuk antelope standing on hind legs to feed, lion, Somali ostriches with distinct blue legs and the shy Oryx. Elephant and crocodile are also sighted along the river bed.

Accommodation in our semi-permanent campsite beautifully set under a canopy of trees or pitch tents on the edge of Uaso Nyiro River (meaning Brown in Samburu language). Cold showers are available which are amazingly refreshing in the hot, dusty climate.

Sometimes waking up to the sounds of splashing elephant in the river we head north again along the Trans-African highway to Marsabit. This is an astonishingly cool, green and hilly oasis rising high above the dry heat of the surrounding desert lands. Lunch en route before proceeding towards the amazing Lake Paradise and you may also visit the lodge. Overnight camping at the base of Marsabit (cold night).

We visit Marsabit town and another volcanic crater before descending back into the desert and lava flows. Lunch en route passing the Kaisut and Chalbi Desert (impassable if wet) as we proceed towards Kalacha. This is a small settlement on the edge of the Chalbi Desert inhabited by the Gabbra people (pastoralists particularly attached to their camels).

Enjoy an evening sunset, swim at the campsite or watch a Gabbra performance in the evening (optional cost) (windy night).

We break camp and depart early, crossing the outskirts of the Chalbi Desert transiting North Horr before arriving at Loyangalani town; the base of Lake Turkana. (It is the largest desert lake in the world and extends for 288 kilometres up to the Ethiopian / Kenyan border surrounded by volcanic rock and desert).

We arrive at our semi – permanent beach village where we have our traditional Turkana Huts (if still available; if not we pitch tent at an alternative campsite) which make it a perfect place to relax, protected from the scorching sun and heat characteristic of the climate of this remote area.

The day is spent relaxing. Optional activities (payable direct) include visiting the Desert museum, enjoying a swim at the nearby lodge, hire a boat, and visit to Turkana and El molo villages and exploration of Loyangalani town by foot.

Departing Lake Turkana via the very rocky road out of the Rift Valley we head south to Tuum, situated on the west of Mt. Nyiro which stands to the East of the Suguta Valley. This is a very scenic but rough drive through lava flows to the broken sands on the edge of the Kaisut desert.

After a picnic lunch, you get the chance to walk with camels and Samburu guides in these breath-taking landscapes for a few hours to the foothills of Mt. Nyiro where you set camp together with the guides and camels.

After breakfast we have an early morning walk in the cool and spectacular African sunrise for a couple of hours after which we proceed to Maralal via Baragoi where we spend the night (cold). Maralal is the unofficial capital of the Samburu people and has a distinctly frontier feel about it.

Heading south we visit Lake Baringo where we spend the night at a campsite sleeping amongst the grazing hippos. L. Baringo is the most Northerly of Kenya’s small Rift Valley lakes; creased with papyrus and well developed acacia forest. Hippos, crocodiles and monitor lizards, numerous birds are effortlessly seen from the shore.

After breakfast we go on an early morning boat ride in search of hippo, crocodile and numerous bird species. Drive back to Nairobi after breakfast to arrive at 16:00 hours ready for the next leg of your journey.