Safari in Samburu National Reserve, Kenya

Samburu Reserve: Day 2

In Samburu we stayed inside the park at a lodge called Sentrim Samburu Lodge. As is the custom here in Africa we were met with a hot, wet towel to and a cool fruit juice as we arrive to refresh ourselves after the long ride. My sister and I stayed here once before and as I remembered it was rustic and quiet. The generator came on in the morning and in the evenings so you could charge up you devices, but during the night it was just the noises of the surrounding wildlife and nature. Everyone had standalone bungalows with ensuite bathrooms, mosquito nets draped over the beds, and a hammock on the front porch. Our first night here we had the entire place to ourselves, which meant very attentive service at dinner. For example as I brought the last morsel of food to my mouth my plate would be swept away by our waiter out from under me. The staff was incredibly nice, as they have been at all of our lodges. Richard was our go-to guy here this time and we even ended up giving him a ride into town on our last morning.

Chris outside our bungalow in the bush.

We even had wild animals like genets come visit us at the dining area. We could see elephants at the waterhole as we ate.

Little Bee-Eater

Vulturine guinea fowl

We had beautiful bird sightings, like this little bee-eater pictured on the left. We also saw some carnage from an unlikely source. Check out the photo below of an olive baboon feasting on a baby dik dik antelope. This was a first for me.

The animals sightings in this park are always some of my favorites. Because the park is so far north, and not a national park, I feel like it gets skipped by many people who safari in East Africa. It also gives you a chance to get up close with the local Samburu tribe...another can't miss opportunity when you come on safari with me.

Olive baboon eating a dik-dik antelope

We notice a huge male baboon down near a stream eating what first looked like a bright red fruit. I thought it may be the fruit from some cactus (its very desert-like here.) After Becca and David busted out their powerful binoculars (a must have for any African safari), they informed me that it was eating some kind of animal. I knew baboons were omnivores, so they eat both veggies and meat, but this was a first for me to see. Once the prey shifted into sight David exclaimed, "It's eating a dik-dik!" Sure enough when I zoomed in on the picture above you could see the front half of what remained of the little antelope. The circle of life continues here in this eat or get eaten world.

As the sun was getting low on our last game drive in Samburu we came across one of my favorite animals. In fact, it was five of my favorite animals! A mother cheetah with her four yearling cubs were perched on a termite mound near the road, eyeing the plains below. We could tell that she was looking for possible prey and crossed our fingers that she would spot something soon, as you are not allowed to drive around these parks after sunset as a general rule.

The cubs followed their mom's lead, looking down the hill for movement. The must not have seen anything too interesting because they sauntered around looking pretty relaxed. While we didn't get to see the fastest land animal in the world live up to its name, any encounter with this incredibly endangered big cat is always top of my list. And as Erica pointed out, with these babies the threatened population is hopefully continuing to rise. In fact I had never seen cheetah in this park before so this was a great sign.

Try to Find all Five Cheetah

It was a great way to end our final game drive in Samburu. We stayed with the cheetah family until the last possible second. Then our driver James finally had to pull us away as we bolted back to Sentrim Camp to get there before too late.

One of my favorites

As always, keep traveling and exploring.

• Dai Mar