8/22/2008 Flight Nairobi to Samburu, game drives, Samburu Intrepids Tented Camp

We are up at 5:00 am.  Breakfast buffet at our hotel.  Check out.

Brian from Pollman's meets us in the hotel lobby at 7:45 am.  We drive to Wilson Airport and arrive at 8:45 am.  Our Samburu Safarilink flight is at 10:20 am.  We are each only allowed 15 kg weight luggage.  Our bags (camera gear and clothes for our stay) are weighed and we are ok.  Camera gear we will have with us on the plane.  At this airport I can't resist buying something!  I get 2 Tusker T shirts and an Africa magnet.  The flight was smooth.  Unfortunately it was too cloudy to see Mount Kenya.  We make a stop at Lewa Downs to drop off other passengers.  We reach our destination around 11:30 am.  We are met by Jelly  who will be our driver/guide.

Nairobi

Nairobi

Wilson Airport

Our plane

Richard

Lewa Downs

Our pilot

I have booked this for 2 nights, from 8/22-8/24/2008.  Very popular as only available for those 2 nights, not the 3 nights I would have preferred.  I really wanted the experience of staying in a tented camp.  We will be staying at Samburu Intrepids Tented Camp.  It's located right inside the Samburu National Reserve.   It is perched on the banks of the Uaso Nyiro River.  It's touted as one of Africa's most remote and untamed wilderness.  Samburu is famous for their "special 5"  Rare reticulated giraffe, long-necked gerenuk antelope, Somali ostrich, Grevy's zebra, and Beisa oryx.

Jelly asks if we want to do a short game drive on our way to the lodge and this is fine with us.  We see vulturine guineafowl, gerenuk.  The Wasineryo River.  Gerenuk, buffalo resting by a tree. We will meet at 4:00 pm for a late afternoon game drive.

Vulturine guinea fowl

Gerenuk

Wasineryo River 

Young male generuk

We arrive at Samburu Intrepids Camp.  We check in, given cool towels, and a welcome drink and are told how to secure our tent any time we leave it.  This is so the monkeys can't get in to steal stuff or make a mess!  I never made note of our tent number.  This is very luxurious.  There are 27 tents in this camp with views of the river.  Inside our tent are four poster beds, mahogany furniture, and ensuite bathroom.  While here all our meals are included as well as all the game drives.  While having lunch-buffet- we are treated to some music and singing.

Our tent

Desk

Shower

 Bathroom-toilet

Closet

Tent ceiling

View of the river from our tent

Monkeys on the camp's grounds

Entertainment at lunch

Back at our tent to get ready for this afternoon's game drive we view some women from the nearby village at the river getting water.  We were told this is what they do.  Before using it for drinking they boil the water over fire.

 

Before we know it it's time for our game drive.  I wonder if we will see all the special 5?  We've already seen one-the gerenuk.  First we will be in Samburu National Reserve.  Right away we see several elephants and one came pretty close to our safari jeep.  Jelly says the elephants have a brownish color due to the dust.  Then I think an acacia tree.  Yellow necked spur fowl and a gerenuk stretching up on its hind legs to eat from the tree!  Some olive baboons, dik diks, a bull elephant, cape buffalo, male impala, common/toilet seat waterbuck also known as defasso waterbuck, some more olive baboons by the river.

Elephants

Acacia tree

Yellow-necked spur fowl

Gerenuk

Olive baboons

Male dik dik

Bull elephant

Cape buffalo can barely be seen

Male impala

Common waterbuck

More olive baboons by the river

A bit of a scuffle

Then we cross into the Buffalo Springs Reserve.  We see the reticulated giraffe, superb starling, marabou stork, moss tree, cape buffalo.  So now we've seen 2 of the special 5.  We come upon some other vehicles.  This is because a cheetah has been spotted.  It's nice that the driver/guides help each other out like this using walkie talkies to communicate.  Eventually all the other vehicles left but Jelly wants to stay.  "Wait a bit", he says.  Then out from the grass another cheetah comes out to join the other right in the road in front of us.  They roll around on the ground, playing with each other.  So cute!  But the sun is starting to set and rules are we have to leave by 6:30 pm.  As we're leaving we spot Beisa oryx.  Got 3 now!  Lucky us to see 3 of the special 5 on our first day here.  The sunset was spectacular.  Last, more cape buffalo.

Reticulated giraffe

Superb starling

Marabou stork

Moss tree

Cape buffalo

Elephant

Cheetah

Sunset

Beisa oryx

Beisa oryx by acacia trees

Cape buffalo

Dinner is not buffet like most other places.  It's a set menu and I could kick myself for not taking pictures!  On future trips I won't make that mistake.