Lake Turkana Safari. Chalbi Desert is a small desert in northern Kenya near the border with Ethiopia. It is east of Lake Turkana and contains North Horr. Marsabit is the closest major urban center. Chalbi desert is composed of saline and alkaline sediments and stabilised sand dunes; a resulting formation of the old bed of Lake Chalbi.
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 the semi-permanent campsite which beautifully set under a canopy of trees or we may pitch tents on the edge of Uaso Nyiro (meaning Brown in Samburu) River.
Cold showers are available which are amazingly refreshing in the hot, dusty climates. Dinner & overnight at the camp
Day 2 – Samburu
The day is spent game viewing in the park. 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.
Visitors can enjoy some lovely scenery, including permanent springs, and view animals like the giraffe, Grevy’s zebra, elephant, Oryx, Somali ostrich, hippo, crocodile, gerenuk, buffalo, lion, leopard, cheetah and hyena. Moreover, there are over 365 species of bird. Diner & overnight at the camp
Day 3. Samburu – Marsabit – Lake Turkana Safari
After breakfast we head north again along the Trans-African highway to Marsabit, 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.
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 on earth.Elephants and greater kudu abound. The dense forest in the park is also home to a variety of birds. Diner & overnight at the campsite
Day 4 – Kalacha – Lake Turkana Safari
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.
The Gabbra are an Eastern Cushite people related to the Somali-Rendille in their historical origins in the southern Ethiopian highlands. 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. Dinner & overnight at the campsite
Day 5. Kalacha – Lake Turkana Safari
We depart early in the morning 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. Diner & overnight at the hut
Day 6 – Lake Turkana
The day is spent relaxing and you may visit the local lodge to swim or hire a boat to visit the surrounding area (at an extra cost). 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 you wish.
An unforgettable experience under a star studded sky so close you can almost touch it. This pre historic site is now known as the “Cradle of Mankind. The lake is a 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. Diner & overnight at the hut
Day 7.Lake Turkana – Maralal
After breakfast we journey via the Horr Valley situated between Mount Nyiro and Ol Doinye Mara viewing the breath taking scenery as we continue to climb on torturous, rocky hills to Maralal. Near Maralal is one of the most breath taking scenes in all of Kenya – the Losiolo escarpment, an endless stretch as land drops down to the Suguta valley. Diner & overnight at the camp
Day 8. Maral – Nairobi – Lake Turkana Safari
After an early breakfast we will head 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.
Price:
Price includes:
Accommodation in camps or low budget hotels,
game viewing in a 4×4 truck or land rover,
all meals,
park and camping fees and transport.
Does not include:
Tips,
cigarettes,
sleeping bags and things of personal use.
Ringo Safaris
