Samburu National Reserve – Empakaai Cultural Safari

Book your trip to Africa early with 20% discount

Not yet decided where to go and what to see in Africa this year? Here are some of our favorite places to help you out. And if you confirm your trip before May 1st 2015, for any departure date in 2015, we will give you a 20% discount per person on the trip price.

You choose your timing, places you want to see and you let us know what is important for you during your trip. The specialists of Empakaai Cultural Safari team will make a proposed itinerary and a price offer. We will include a 20% discount per person if you confirm your trip with Empakaai Cultural Safari before May 1st 2015.

Now just have a look at some beautiful places in East Africa that truly deserve to be on your must-see list for this year:

Maasai Mara National Park

Why go there: To get as far away from the hectic artificial world as possible. To be overwhelmed by the endless nature around you. To experience your best and closest encounters with the Big Five, and many others.

Lake Baringo

Because only here you can try to learn the names of the many tribes that live on the shores of Lake Baringo. Experience a gamedrive “Lake Baringo style”: you relax on a terrace with a cup of coffee or tea (or a glass of wine or beer), while animals and birds come close to you (beware of crocodiles!). Wake up at night because of a noisy hippo grazing right next to your tent.

Lake Nakuru

We love it here because rhino’s in the National Park are used to safari vehicles being around, so if you are careful, you can come really close to admire them. Because flamingo’s are back. Because some of our favorite lodges are close by (and they are affordable by guests with any level of budget).

Mount Kenya

Why we think you’ll love it here: pleasant cool climate and fresh mountain air, an endless choice of activities, a fascinating wildlife and you are still very close to Nairobi and to Nanyuki.

Samburu National Reserve

This place is an absolute must because local Samburu community runs really good camps next to the Samburu National Reserve, and they do not overcharge you for their perfect catering and simple chalets with all conveniences. Wildlife experience in this area is priceless (read more here and here).

Zanzibar

Why visit (or return to) Zanzibar: Place with an interesting past, excellent levels of service and some of the most loved diving and snorkelling locations in the world. Zanzibar is often offered as a final destination on the trip. And it is absolutely a wonderful place to rest after an exciting safari – read more here, here and here.

And these are just very few of the fascinating places in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Empakaai Cultural Safari will help you to plan your own unique trip – the choice is yours about the places you want to see (on our routes or nearby), how long you want to stay where, when you want to visit.

Contact us on info@empakaaiculturalsafari.com before May 1st 2015 to book your trip with 20% discount. Let the Empakaai Cultural Safari team take you on a well organized and exciting safari this year!

Elephants in Samburu National Reserve

What a powerful reality check.

On every holiday you have a moment when it really starts in your head.

I’ve been trying my best for a couple of years now to learn from some friends with an admirable ability to mentally check out and start their holiday sometime around lunchtime on the last day at work.

I still have a long learning curve to conquer.

My December holiday started on Day 3 of the Mount Kenya, Samburu and Maasai trip with Empakaai Cultural Safari, when I saw these elephants in Samburu National Reserve.

And when their slow pace, their peace and their fascinating beauty just knocked me down.

The most scenic stage was already prepared for them by the mother nature: green trees and flowers after some December rains, a soft just-before-sunset light, soft and hazy hill lines at a distance.

Views in Samburu National Reserve are of fascinating beauty.

Then we saw these males.

Then the matriarch and other females with young showed up, slowly and quietly moving into our view.

They must had taken their mud bath not so long before we saw them.

Having never seen elephants of this colour previously, I was watching in a complete state of surprise.

The purple-red-brown soil of Samburu National Reserve was covering their skins like the most delightful fake tan.

The way they look at you, as if they know something that you have forgotten.

What really got through to me at that moment is that the nature must have created us just like that as well.

Created to hurry only when you must save your or your baby’s life from an enemy.

Move with the sun.

Just eat, sleep and move along with your natural needs.

Stick together.

On every holiday you have a moment when it really starts.

I mean when something switches off in your head and you find yourself in a different dimension, you change your feeling of time.

These elephants found that switch in my head and turned it on.

My tiredness and hurry evaporated, as if these elephants had a remote control from a hustle center in my brain.

Their slow pace, their peaceful silent movement just changed it all for me.

I was fully present in Africa, there and then, with my body and with my mind.

Our Mount Kenya, Samburu & Maasai trip visits Samburu National Reserve. You can come and create your own unforgettable experience in this scenic place.

Just contact us at info@empakaaiculturalsafari.com.

We are happy to answer all your questions, discuss your preferences and help you to book your trip to Africa with us.

Meet the wild residents of Samburu National Reserve, Kenya

We visited the fascinating Samburu National Reserve in December 2014, during our Mount Kenya, Samburu and Maasai trip (see Journeys for the full itinerary).

The trip includes two game drives in the Samburu National Reserve: in the evening of Day 2 and in the morning of Day 3. So having left Mount Kenya behind, we arrived to the land of Samburu in the afternoon and proceeded straight away to the Samburu National Reserve to do an evening game drive.

No vehicles are allowed inside the gate after 6.30pm, but no worries, this timing is actually perfect. We were able to enjoy a fantastic sunset inside and return to the gate right on time.

This trip took place during the second week of December, when there were almost no other visitors in the Samburu National Reserve. So we were the only ones enjoying very close sights of its amazing wild residents.

A morning game drive which started just a few hours later, after a night at the community camp, felt as if we returned to a different place to meet old friends.

We were incredibly lucky to see the same elephant family in the evening when we just arrived, and in the morning the next day. Meet their youngest kids:

A small herd of impala were grazing nearby, females gracious and beautiful while males were noticeably feisty and eager to start a fight. This gorgeous creature stood aside as if he was waiting to be photographed (which we did with pleasure!).

The river of Ewaso Nyiro carries its waters through the territory of Samburu National Reserve, with dense bush and high grass on its banks. While young giraffe were enjoying some fresh green leaves close to the river, this impressive crocodile did not even think about hiding and was catching rays of morning sun right in the middle of the river bed.

We invite you to get your own experience of the Samburu National Reserve and other amazing places in Kenya. Visit our Journeys pages for more information and contact us at info@empakaaiculturalsafari.com

We will be happy to answer all your questions and help you to book your trip to Africa.