The Best Kenyan Parks For African Safari Photography
Deep within Kenya’s lowlands lies a sanctuary where a lioness ‘Kamunyak’ once adopted a young Oryx calf. A land where nomadic pastoralists and their livestock co-exist freely with wildlife. Nyiro River meanders its course lazily across the milieu. These are the Samburu National Reserve, Shaba and Buffalo Springs Game Reserves – the best African Safari Photography parks for landscape and scenery lovers.
Samburu National Reserve is located in Northern Kenya along the Ewaso Nyiro River. On the other side of the river in Buffalo Springs Game Reserve. These are classified as arid and semi-arid areas rolling with open undulating savannah plains. They are dry, rugged areas characterized by very hot days and cool nights offering a unique and vibrant outdoor experience at the same time solitude for its visitors.
These two, together with the adjacent Shaba Game Reserve-to the east- form a great tourist destination in the northern Kenya frontier. Shaba reserve is also a semi-arid plain with dynamic scenery consisting of scattered woodlands and savannah grassland dominated by the Shaba Hill Volcano. Furthermore, It is notable for its bubbling hot springs; all these coupled together to provide a breathtaking and inspiring landscape.
The riverine forest and swamps along these parks are home to a wide variety of wonderful animals and over 350 bird species. You can enjoy ad libitum viewing of the Grevy’s Zebra, Somali Ostrich, Reticulated Giraffe, Gerenuk and the Beisa Oryx. In addition, you can also find lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, buffalos and elephants – not forgetting the crocodile and hippo infested rivers. The Ewaso Nyiro River attracts ample wildlife providing a one-in-a-life-time opportunity for viewing and photography of northern Kenya’s indigenous game.
The African Safari Photography reserves are also rich in history and culture of the local surrounding communities who add life and color to the landscape. You can enjoy the local cuisine as well as the Samburu cultural ceremonies and dances especially characterized by high vertical jumps in circular formations, quite an impressive spectacle indeed. Shaba Game Reserve, on the other hand, was for a time home to Joy Adamson – a naturalist and author is best known for her book ‘Born Free’ which gained many accolades the world over for her conservation efforts in the reserve. Her monument is erected at Shaba and has become a popular landmark and tourist attraction in the area and its environs. Other activities during an African Safari Photography include picnics, morning and evening game drives, nature walks, river rafting and bird watching.
There are lots of luxurious accommodations in Samburu, Buffalo Springs and Shaba Game Reserves varied from lodges, tented lodges and various camping sites, some of which are raised on platforms and built facing the animals’ watering holes. You can actually reach out for your branch of Salvadora Persica (natural toothbrush) and chew your way to oral hygiene as you watch the animals jostling each other for space to get an early morning drink – all at the comfort of your bed.
The Game Reserves are all accessible by tamarack road via Isiolo and can also be accessed either by Samburu or Buffalo Springs National Reserve airstrips, with daily scheduled flights from Nairobi. Therefore, whether you decide to drive over or fly in be sure to be received by northern Kenya’s most pristine and serene landscapes ever.
Further Reading: 100 Things to do in Kenya
