8-Day Lake Turkana Adventure Safari

<p>A transfer from the airport (or hotel) can be arranged for an extra cost.</p><p></p><p>Accommodation before the tour starts can be arranged for an extra cost.</p><p></p><p>Depart Nairobi in the morning heading north via the shoulder of Africa's second largest mountain, Mt Kenya to the Samburu Game Reserve. Accommodation in our semi-permanent campsite is beautifully set under a canopy of trees or we may pitch tents o¬n the edge of Uaso Nyiro (meaning Brown in Samburu) River. Cold showers are available which are amazingly refreshing in the hot, dusty climates.</p><p></p><p>Main Destination: <a href="/product/samburu-national-reserve/">Samburu National Reserve</a> </p><p></p><p>Accommodation: <a href="/product/serena-beach-resort-spa/">Serena beach resort</a></p><p></p><p>Meals & Drinks: Lunch & dinner (Breakfast not included)</p><p></p><p>Drinks not included</p>

<p>The day is spent game viewing in the park.</p><p></p><p>Samburu is part of a lava plain that includes a diverse landscape of thorn scrub, red dirt, dried river beds, broken volcanic rock, steep hills, and rocky outcroppings, some large enough to be called mesas. This reserve is becoming one of Kenya's most admired stops after the Mara.</p><p></p><p>The region is home to the uncommon Grevy’s zebra with huge fury ears, gerenuk antelope standing on hind legs to feed, Somali ostriches with distinct blue legs and the shy Oryx. Elephant and crocodile are guaranteed sightings, excellent bird watching with numerous varieties of weaverbirds and the martial eagle. Leopard sighting is also a special feature here.</p><p></p><p>Main Destination: <a href="/product/samburu-national-reserve/">Samburu National Reserve</a> </p><p></p><p>Accommodation: <a href="/product/new-palm-tree-hotel/">New Palm Tree Hotel</a> </p><p></p><p>Meals & Drinks: All meals included</p><p></p><p>Drinks not included</p>

<p>We head north again along the Trans-African highway to Marsabit (meaning place of cold), an astonishingly cool, green and hilly oasis rising high above the dry heat of the surrounding desert lands. The local Rendille and Samburu people in their bright red outfits, beads and earrings make it a vibrant place.</p><p></p><p>After setting up camp, we visit the lodge inside the National park and as long as the roads are dry we drive to Lake Paradise and Little Lake. Here, an indigenous forest and a desert come together to create the most compelling landscape o¬n earth. Elephants and greater kudu abound. The dense forest in the park is also home to a variety of birds.</p><p></p><p>Main Destination: <a href="/product/marsabit-national-reserve/">Marsabit National Park</a> </p><p></p><p>Accommodation: <a href="/product/budget-camping/">Budget camping</a> </p><p></p><p>Meals & Drinks: All meals included</p><p></p><p>Drinks not included</p>

<p>We depart after an early breakfast through the scenic landscape of the arid north with views of picturesque hills. We arrive and camp at Kalacha, a small Gabbra settlement on the edge of the Chalbi Desert.</p><p></p><p>The Gabbra are an Eastern Cushite people related to the Somali-Rendille in their historical origins in the southern Ethiopian highlands about AD 1000. The men wear traditional shorts and a blanket-cloak and the women wear a wrap-around and head cloth. They are pastoralists, particularly attached to their camels.</p><p></p><p>Main Destination: <a href="#">Kalacha</a></p><p></p><p>Accommodation: <a href="/product/budget-camping/">Budget camping</a></p><p></p><p>Meals & Drinks: All meals included</p><p></p><p>Drinks not included</p>

<p>We depart early crossing the Chalbi Desert to Lake Turkana which is the largest desert lake in the world and extends for 288 kilometres up to the Ethiopian / Kenyan border. It is surrounded by volcanic rock and desert. We arrive at our semi - permanent beach village where we have our traditional Turkana Huts; making it a perfect place to relax, protected from the scorching sun and heat characteristic of the climate of this remote area.</p><p></p><p>Main Destination: <a href="/product/south-turkana-national-reserve-park/">Lake Turkana</a></p><p></p><p>Accommodation: <a href="/product/budget-camping/">Budget camping</a></p><p></p><p>Meals & Drinks: All meals included</p><p></p><p>Drinks not included</p>

<p>In addition, we may visit Loiyangalani and the community settled there while in the evening visiting one of the Turkana Manyattas [optional] for traditional dances at an extra cost if clients wish. An unforgettable experience under a star studded sky so close you can almost touch it.</p><p></p><p>Turkana, formerly L. Rudolf is now named after one of the tribes who live on its shores and it is in this area that Richard Leakey uncovered the three million year old fossils of ‘Homo Erectus.’ This pre historic site is now known as the “Cradle of Mankind”. The Lake is also known as the “Jade Sea” because of its remarkable blue – green colour. This is a result of algae particles, which shift with changes of the wind and light, so that the water surface shifts from blue to grey to fabulous jade. The lake is home to the largest population of Nile crocodiles in the world. If the weather permits we take a short sunset boat ride to the surrounding areas.</p><p></p><p>Main Destination: <a href="/product/south-turkana-national-reserve-park/">Lake Turkana</a></p><p></p><p>Accommodation: <a href="/product/budget-camping/">Budget camping</a></p><p></p><p>Meals & Drinks: All meals included</p><p></p><p>Drinks not included</p>

<p>We journey via the Horr Valley situated between Mount Nyiro and Ol Doinye Mara viewing the breath taking scenery as we continue to climb o¬n torturous, rocky hills to Maralal. Near Maralal is o¬ne of the most breath taking scenes in all of Kenya – the Losiolo escarpment, an endless stretch as land drops down to the Suguta valley.</p><p></p><p>Maralal is the unofficial capital of the Samburu people and has a distinctly frontier feel about it, like something out of a ‘wild west’ movie. It boasts a colourful Samburu market and a game sanctuary that lies just outside of town. Maralal is also home of the Maralal International Camel Derby that happens o¬nce a year between July and October and attracts riders and spectators from the four corners of the world.</p><p></p><p>Main Destination: <a href="/product/maralal/">Maralal National Sanctuary</a> </p><p></p><p>Accommodation: <a href="/product/budget-camping/">Budget camping</a></p><p></p><p>Meals & Drinks: All meals included</p><p></p><p>Drinks not included</p>

<p>Heading south again via Laikipia Plains and Nyahururu we may stop at the Thomson falls named after Joseph Thomson who walked from Mombasa to Lake Victoria in the early 1880s. Shaped by the waters of the Ewaso Narok River, the falls plunge over 72m into a rift, spraying the dark forest below. After lunch we drive back into Nairobi by mid-afternoon.</p><p></p><p>Main Destination: <a href="#">Nairobi</a></p><p></p><p>Accommodation: No accommodation (End of tour)</p><p></p><p>Meals & Drinks: Breakfast & lunch (Dinner not included)</p><p></p><p>Drinks not included</p><p></p><p>End of tour</p><p></p><p>Additional accommodation can be arranged for an extra cost.</p><p></p><p>A transfer back to the airport (or hotel) can be arranged for an extra cost.</p>