Best place to see the elusive leopard!
Our trip to Samburu, a county in Northern Kenya, took us to one of Africa’s more remote wilderness areas.
This is a region that is far less visited than the more famous parks such as Masai Mara, Amboseli or Tsavo. Compared to the high and lush Laikipia plateau that lies just south of Samburu and gets its water from Mt Kenya, Samburu is dry and hot. It’s even too dry for buffaloes and wildebeest so we didn’t see any of these here. Samburu was the second stop on this trip and the transfer from Lewa Wilderness Conservancy with Jasfad, a fun loving driver and a big fan of Arsenal (he and Aaron had plenty to discuss 😊), took around 2 hours. Heading off the main road onto the track towards the lodge was beautiful and the red sand and bushland totally reminded us of Australia… we were almost expecting some roos to jump out of the bush!
The landscape is flat plains surrounded by rocky cliffs and high hills. Our first view of the lodge we were staying at - the Saruni Samburu – was just jaw-dropping! This beautiful lodge has been built on the top of a huge rock formation about 100m up – a truly breathtaking location. It’s within the Kalama Conservancy and borders on the Samburu National Reserve. The views from up here were just stunning – on a clear morning you can even see Mt Kenya (5199m) rising up in the background.
Conservancies like these are extremely important in allowing the wildlife to move freely across vast areas and not have to stay within the borders of the national reserves. The Kalama Conservancy that opened in 2004, is a crucial migratory corridor between northern and southern conservation areas of Northern Kenya. Thanks to the exceptional work of the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) large herds of elephants can now cross Kalama along their migratory routes and the poaching has been pretty much brought under control.
We read this heartbreaking story about Monsoon a 57-year-old matriarch elephant who survived being shot five times by poachers. Thanks to the NRT, there’s been a 96% drop in the number of elephants killed for ivory in NRT member community conservancies since 2012.
As we arrived late afternoon, we decided to just do a short sundowner tour. On the way down just passing the very bumpy rocky section we spotted Clare’s favourite type of antelope: dik-diks! They get their name from the sound the female makes when she feels threatened. These animals are soooo cute and also very romantic as they mate for life. In Samburu there are two different types of dik-diks - the Kirk dik-dik and the Günther’s dik-dik with a long nose.
Another special but common sight are flocks of vulturine guineafowls. These are beautifully blue coloured with heads a bit like a vulture. They are the largest guineafowls and can only manage short flights at a time, i.e. up into a tree, either for sleep or to escape predators.
The Saruni Samburu Lodge has a small man-made waterhole which we visited next. We were lucky to watch the antics and way of life of different herds of elephants. The first herd there was with their matriarch protecting their babies and youngsters. Seeing them playing in and with the water was just amazing – getting in the basin was usually no problem, but getting out again proved a bit more challenging… It was so much fun to watch! They are such intelligent animals - one little one had a big struggle getting out of the deeper side he’d gotten in, so the next time he went in, he knew exactly where it would be easier… how cool are they!
Suddenly we saw another herd of elephants approaching. We could really feel the tension increasing. The matriarch started to flap her ears and began moving towards the other herd. There was a bit of a rumpus and scuffle between the two leaders but after a short ‘debate’ it was clear who had the say in the matter of drinking first. The other herd had to wait for their turn.
Amazingly, soon after this a third herd arrived on the scene. We couldn’t believe what was happening! It was quite chaotic with some of the bigger ones bouncing off into the bush and the little ones running around trying to find the herd they belonged to. But in the end, everything was sorted and all of the elephants got their time and fill at the waterhole 😊.
We spent so much time just watching these beautiful and amazing animals and we almost forgot our original mission: the sundowner 😊. Our Samburu guide Simon drove us to a lovely spot in the dry riverbed with an acacia tree full of weaver bird nests. These birds are very clever – they build their nests with the opening at the bottom to keep predators from getting in.
Simon told us a bit about his culture and way of life. The Samburu people are are nomadic and as a child Simon used to walk the land with the family’s goats. Because the area is so dry and water is so scarce, these people don’t drink water… only goat milk and goat’s blood. They also only eat the meat of ruminant animals. In the past, the Samburu people had found no benefits in sharing their land with wildlife. But now thanks to the efforts, work and training by the NRT and their community plan to enable life of wildlife alongside life of humans, they have been able to find the balance and adapt.
Back at the lodge we heard that the resident leopard ‘Ugali’ had been seen around the swimming pool area. Wow! Seeing a leopard was really high on our wish list since we’d never seen one on any of our safaris we’ve done over the years. Simon was sure he would find one for us the next day as the Samburu National Reserve is probably the best place in Kenya to see these elusive cats in the wild. The national reserve is about an hour’s drive from the lodge and the safari guides usually drive along the river Ewaso Ngiro in search for these cats. Animals need water and big cats know that here is the best place to catch dinner.
Driving along this area, we saw several vehicles in one spot, meaning something exciting was going on there. As we drove up they mentioned they’d sighted a leopard in the bush but it had now disappeared again. Simon wasn’t one to give up and he began to track the leopard. Suddenly he spotted fresh footprints in the sand and it didn’t take long and there she was… A brilliant sight just for us!
The next day gave us another encounter with these gracious cats. We were able to follow a leopard on the hunt. At one stage she even snuck under our car to better approach a harem of impalas.
These cats must move in pretty close to their prey before they actually attack. They are brilliant hunters but nature itself has a natural alarm system: monkeys start shouting, birds give off warning sounds and warthogs start panicking – all signalling danger to the antelopes.
And it’s these sounds that a good safari guide will be listening for when he’s searching for the animals. Simon was listening to the sounds, checking for footprints and observing in which direction the monkeys were looking. We would always recommend using a guide for your safari – not only are you giving something to their income and helping them sustain their livelihoods, you would most likely miss the signals and end up seeing only very little.
The guides are also well connected so as soon as somebody sees something exiting, he calls his mates. The problem with this is that you end up with a load of vehicles all trying to spot it! On one occasion someone had spotted leopards cubs and Simon got the call. We waited patiently for a quite a while and were fortunate to see one of them on a rock when Aaron could get this shot 😊.
Later on we met the cub’s mum. She was right in front of the sun so we decided to drive to the other side of the hill. Just as we reached this spot, she moved along and then posed in front of us in the beautiful late afternoon light! Our dream was to see a wild leopard but what we experienced here was just so much more – absolutely unbelievable and totally unexpected. Samburu is the place to go if you too want to see a leopard! Of course, there’s a bit of luck and right timing involved…
On one of the days we were there we had some rain showers. This is amazing when it happens in such a dry area. The next day plants and flowers came alive again and the elephants then moved on to different places where they found new water, possibly better hidden away from the safari tracks. When talking to some newly arrived guests at the lodge, they told us they hadn’t been able to see any at all. It made us realize again how lucky we had been only 2 days earlier with our amazing encounter of three herds just for us.
Samburu has so much to offer – here you can observe the Northern Five which can only be found north of the equator. Firstly, there’s the Grevy’s Zebra: larger than the common zebras, their stripes don’t go all the way around their belly and they have bigger ears which they use to protect them from the sun light!
The second is the gerenuk: and it’s no wonder these antelopes are also called giraffe gazelles. Unlike other gazelles, they can stand erect on their hind-legs, elongating their long necks up to 2m in order to pick off their favourite leaves from the trees.
The third is the Beisa oryx: these can store water by raising their body temperatures to avoid perspiration. We found this baby in the shade with its little blue horns – so cute! He was sitting very quietly just looking up at us.
The fourth of the Northern Five is the reticulated giraffe or Somali giraffe: there are only about 15’000 left in the wild and were therefore added to the IUCN Red List and listed as Endangered. Their patterned patches are clearly defined by the striking white lines.
Finally the fifth one is the Somali ostrich: they are also known as the blue-necked ostrich and the picture shows why 😊! This is the difference to the southern species with pinkish necks and is only seen in the males.
The Northern Five are not as famous as the Big 5, but they are just as amazing, interesting and beautiful! And of course you see many beautiful birds. There are over 350 species and many of them are incredibly colourful!
Thanks to Simon’s guiding and tracking skills we also found this beautiful lioness. He’d been watching the Thompson’s gazelles and said they are aware of something dangerous lurking around…. So he drove in the direction of what they were looking at and here she was: a beautiful lioness was relaxing near a bush! She reminded Clare of a TV series and books she loved as a child: Elsa the lioness from Born Free. It was one of the reasons we chose to come to these areas in Kenya – part of Elsa’s life was spent here in Samburu!
Samburu is a truly wonderful place and beautiful wildlife stories have been written here too. In addition to that, the local people still live a very traditional life and we had the opportunity to visit Archer’s Point on market day. Many people walk to town from far away for this important market so they can sell and negotiate their products such as goats and even camels!
We really loved Samburu and the Saruni Samburu lodge 😊!
Our other African blogs so far:
"One crowded hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name"
(The Call - Thomas Osbert Morsdaunt, 1730-1809)
"It's better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life "
(African Proverb)
Travel blog and travel guide by Aaron Matzinger & Clare Walker
© 2021 by Aaron Matzinger & Clare Walker
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