Samburu National Reserve
Samburu was one of my favorite stops. It was very dry, the river was actually dust. But, it was a scrubby environment with vehicle height bushes and huge River Acacias. This was great because it hid the animals and you could be surprised with every turn.
From Wikipedia:
“The Samburu National Reserve is located on the banks of the Ewaso Ng’iro river in Kenya; on the other side of the river is the Buffalo Springs National Reserve in Northern Kenya. It is 165 km² in size and 350 kilometers from Nairobi. Geographically, it is located in Samburu District of the Rift Valley Province.
In the middle of the reserve, the Ewaso Ng’iro flows through doum palm groves and thick riverine forests that provides water without which the game in the reserve could not survive in the arid country.
Samburu Reserve was one of the two areas in which conservationists George Adamson and Joy Adamson raised Elsa the Lioness made famous in the best selling book and award winning movie Born Free.
Samburu Reserve is also the home of Kamunyak, a lioness famous for adopting oryx calves.”
Grevy's Zebra Canon 50d, Lens (mm): 500 ISO: 400 Aperture: 4 Shutter: 1/2000 Exp. Comp.: +0.3
The Grevy’s Zebras were beautiful. They made the Burchell’s Zebra almost seem plain.The Grevy’s have a tighter striping and larger ears.
Canon 5d2, 100-400, Lens (mm): 310 ISO: 400 Aperture: 6.3 Shutter: 1/500 Exp. Comp.: -0.3
Reticulated Giraffe, Canon 5d2, 100-400, Lens (mm): 220 ISO: 250 Aperture: 8 Shutter: 1/800 Exp. Comp.: -0.7
Canon 5d2, 100-400, Lens (mm): 340 ISO: 400 Aperture: 7.1 Shutter: 1/1600 Exp. Comp.: -0.7
The giraffe subspecies in Samburu is the Reticulated, which has a more defined pattern. At first I liked it best but have come to appreciate each for their differences.
Vervet Monkey, Canon 50d, 500 f4, ISO: 400 Aperture: 4 Shutter: 1/100 Exp. Comp.: +0.7
These guys were running around most lodges we stopped at. Always getting in to trouble. Local Masai “warriors” were even hired as monkey chasers in a few places. They were pretty good with homemade slingshots made out of tires and such.
Red-Billed Hornbill, 5d2, 500 f4, 25mm ext. tube, ISO: 800 Aperture: 4 Shutter: 1/160 Exp. Comp.: -0.3
Superb Starling, 5d2, 500 f4, ISO: 800 Aperture: 4 Shutter: 1/160 Exp. Comp.: +0.7
The birds knew when meals were and always came to the lodge looking to steal some bread.
Little Bee Eaters, 5d2, 500 f4, 1.4x, Lens (mm): 700 ISO: 800 Aperture: 5.6 Shutter: 1/200 Exp. Comp.: -1.0
Oryx, 5d2, 100-400, Lens (mm): 400 ISO: 400 Aperture: 7.1 Shutter: 1/2500 Exp. Comp.: -1.0
I was happy to see the Oryx, as they aren’t the most common or accommodating animals.
Grant's Gazelle, 50d, Lens (mm): 500 ISO: 200 Aperture: 5 Shutter: 1/2000 Exp. Comp.: -0.3
The vast landscape
The gingerbread or doum palm is one of the few that has a branching trunk
We also visited the a Samburu tribal village. They make their huts out of goat dung, mud, and branches. It was actually nicely insulated to the heat.
5d2, 16-35, Lens (mm): 16 ISO: 3200 Aperture: 2.8 Shutter: 1/80
Elders doing the wedding dance
Muy buena serie, mi favorita los tres pajaros.
Muy buena experiencia!!
Juan C Aguero said this on May 19th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Thanks so much Juan, it was a great experience.
Paul said this on May 19th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Haha, nope, as you know they are nocturnal, and they don’t let you into the parks after dark.
Paul said this on June 23rd, 2009 at 7:57 pm