BOAB 090 - Turkana Via Chalbi Desert (8 Days)

Day 1: Nairobi – Samburu After breakfast, you will be picked up from your Nairobi hotel. Thereafter depart Nairobi for Samburu Game Reserve via Nanyuki town, lunch enroute. On arrival, set up camp. Dinner and overnight at the campsite which is set on the upper banks of the Ewaso Nyiro river which rises in the Aberdares and drains in the Lorian Swamp north of Shaba.

Day 2: Samburu. Morning and afternoon game drives in Samburu with a lunch and leisure break at the camp in the mid afternoon. Samburu is home to rare, drought animals that go for long periods of time without water these include the reticulated giraffle, grevy's Zebra, the blue-shanked Somali ostrich, gerenuk (or giraffe gazelle) and the Beisa Oryx. The vegetation her in desert rose, desiccated grass and acacia trees or bushes. The Samburu nomadic tribe who are distant cousins to the Masai inhabits this area. All meals and overnight at the campsite.

 

Day 3 Samburu – Marsabit After breakfast, depart for Marsabit National Park via the singing wells of the Boran people who form a long chain and sing and ululate in their mother tongue as they fetch water and water their livestock simultaneously. Proceed to Marsabit for an afternoon game drive in the park. Elephants, buffalo and kudu can be seen next to the Marsabit Lodge at the water filled crater. Marsabit is an oasis and extinct volcano, which is densely forested on the upper slopes while the lower slopes are scorched and dry. The park is home to jumbo elephants and was home to Ahmed, the elephants' whose statue is outside the National Museum in Nairobi who was one of the largest elephants ever seen in Kenya . Access to some parts of the park is hampered ever seen in Kenya . Access to some parts of the park is hampered b extensive dense forest and undergrowth. All meals and overnight at the campsite.

Day 4: Marsabit - Kalacha After breakfast make your way past the lava flows to Kalacha, a small settlement at the edge of the Chalbi Desert where you will camp for the night. Mara. Overnight at Mara Safari Club.

Day 5: Kalacha – Lake Turkana After breakfast, depart for Loiyangalanik, the name used for the southeastern shore of Lake Turkana, arriving in the mid afternoon, across the Chalbi Desert cannot be crossed in wet weather as the whole of it becomes a shallow lake but alternative roads are available around the north and south. Rest of the day at leisure, dinner and overnight at the campsite.

Day 6: Lake Turkana A full day at leisure by the lake. Swimming is not permitted, as the lake's waters are crocodile infested. At extra cost, you can visit the village of the El Molo tribesmen who are said to be the smallest tribe in Africa . All meals and overnight at the campsite.

Day 7: Lake Turkana Maralal After breakfast, depart Loiyangalani for Maralal, which is the administrative center for the Samburu people. The town is used as a transit point enroute to or from Lake Turkana . Lunch will be served enroute. Dinner and overnight at the campsite.

Day 8 Maralal- Nairobi After breakfast, depart for Nairobi , lunch enroute. You will stop at the scenic Thompson Falls , which are named after Joseph Thompson, one of the first European explorers who walked from Mombasa to Lake Victoria in the 1880's. Arrive in the mid-afternoon.