Map of Kenya › Samburu
Samburu National Reserve shares its river and its wildlife with two neighbouring reserves, Buffalo Springs and Shaba, and together they form one dry, wild ecosystem along the Ewaso Ng’iro. This is where we run our walk-in bush camp: no vehicle track to the site, gear carried in on foot, camped in the reserve with the least crowding of the three.
Gold shapes mark all three reserves, split by the Ewaso Ng’iro river running through the middle. The blue pin is the Samburu airstrip; the dark pin is Archers Post, the region’s gateway town. Tap any shape for the details.
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You can still use the guide and tables below, or open the area on Google Maps.
Samburu, Buffalo Springs and Shaba sit either side of the Ewaso Ng’iro river and share the same dry, red-earth terrain and the same wildlife, including the Special Five species found nowhere else on this map: Grevy’s zebra, reticulated giraffe, Somali ostrich, gerenuk and beisa oryx. We run our walk-in bush camp specifically in Samburu, the largest and quietest of the three for a foot-based safari.
| Reserve | North or south of the river | Why we chose it |
|---|---|---|
| Samburu National Reserve | North bank | Largest, best walking terrain, our bush camp site |
| Buffalo Springs National Reserve | South bank | Freshwater springs, denser bush |
| Shaba National Reserve | East, across the highway | Quietest of the three, rockier terrain |
There’s no vehicle track to a walk-in site. Guests and gear go in on foot with the guiding team, and the camp is struck the same way when it’s time to move. Archers Post, on the main road north from Nanyuki, is the gateway town most transfers pass through, with the Samburu airstrip the nearest option for guests flying in.
This region sits well north of our other circuits, drier and less visited than the Mara or Amboseli. See how it connects on the Map of Kenya if you’re combining it with a second circuit.
Samburu, Buffalo Springs and Shaba share the same river and the same wildlife, so they’re effectively one ecosystem split by administrative boundaries. Our walk-in bush camp sits specifically in Samburu.
No vehicle track to the site. Guests and gear go in on foot with the guiding team, and camp routines — pitching, striking, moving — are built around that from the start rather than adapted from a drive-in camp.
Yes, run by licensed guides who know the terrain and the animal movement patterns. Walking safaris here follow the same safety protocols used across BestCamp’s other walking circuits, like Laikipia.
June to October is driest and best for game viewing; February is a strong secondary window before the long rains.
Tell us your dates and fitness level, and we’ll build a walking pace that suits your group.
Plan Your Samburu SafariPark and reserve boundaries © OpenStreetMap contributors, licensed under ODbL. Basemap © OpenFreeMap, © OpenMapTiles, data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Satellite imagery © Esri. Terrain tiles by Mapzen and AWS Open Data. Boundaries for Shaba National Reserve from UNEP-WCMC and IUCN (2026), Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), Cambridge, UK. Available at protectedplanet.net.