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Samburu & Buffalos Springs are small game reserves in Kenya’s hot and arid north. They are contiguous reserves and should be considered one unit even if they are separated by the Ewaso Nyiro River. There’s a bridge over the river that links the reserves. Permits are valid for both, Samburu and Buffalo Springs. The river is the area’s lifeline, which provides water for the animals including the goats and sheep of the local Samburu people. Vegetation is characterized by riverine forests, doum palms, acacia woodland, hills and scrubland which offer a dramatic and rugged landscape.
 

The remoteness of the reserves means you will see species that are endemic or almost impossible to see in other game reserves. Included here are species like Grevy's zebra, reticulated giraffe, gerenuk, Beisa Oryx or Somali ostrich. Apart from them you’ll definitely see many elephants, waterbucks, crocodiles and possibly lion, cheetah and leopard which is more regularly seen here than in other reserves. The birdlife here is also unusually prolific.
 

During my visit in July 2009 Samburu was alarmingly dry. The Ewaso Nyiro known as a big flooding river was completely dry. The locals told me that the river has never been that dry for at least 30 years. The only sources of water were the springs on the Buffalo Springs side which therefore harboured much more animals than the Samburu side. People and wildlife had to struggle badly with the drought. Some of the Samburu herdsmen lost their whole livestock apart from their camels. A good and basic place to stay is Umoja, a community run camping site with bandas on the edge of the Samburu park gate.
Just a few km east of Samburu and Buffalo Springs lies Shaba, another beautiful game reserve that is famous for the association with Kenya's most renowned conservationists, George and Joy Adamson. Unfortunately it wasn't possible to visit Shaba due to conflicts between KWS rangers and some Samburu cattle herders in 2009.