Buffalo Springs National Reserve

Few places announce themselves as honestly as Buffalo Springs. Named for the pools of fresh, clear water that bubble up from the ground in the middle of one of Kenya's most arid landscapes, it is a reserve built around a simple and ancient truth; where water is, life follows. Buffalo Springs National Reserve sits in the rugged, hot and arid badlands of north-eastern Kenya; vast, magnificent and still largely unexplored in terms of safari holidays. Constituting more than a third of Kenya's total land area, the region is home to less than five per cent of Kenya's people, most of whom are hardy nomads. Those springs and pools of fresh clear water that give the reserve its name act as a powerful magnet for large congregations of wildlife, especially during the dry season.

Buffalo Springs National Reserve shares its northern boundary with Samburu National Reserve, separated only by the Ewaso Ng'iro River. Together, the two reserves form a single, seamless wildlife ecosystem and the animals that live here recognise no boundary between them. Elephant herds cross the river freely between the two reserves, following ancient migratory routes that predate the reserves themselves. Predators range across both, and the Samburu special five move fluidly through the shared landscape in search of water and pasture. 

It covers 131 square kilometres of semi-arid wilderness, sitting at altitudes between 850 and 1,230 metres above sea level in Isiolo County, approximately 340 kilometres north-east of Nairobi. The reserve is characterised by vast Commiphora bushland, open lava rock plains scattered with grass and shrubs, and alkaline grasslands dotted with springs and swamps. Two seasonal rivers; the Isiolo and the Ngare Mara, drain through the reserve before flowing into the Ewaso Ng'iro, the great river that forms the reserve's northern boundary and sustains its wildlife year-round. Along its banks, a lush ribbon of riverine forest shelters magnificent Acacia elatior, Doum Palms and Tana River Poplars. The uniformity of the khaki scrubland is broken by the occasional brilliant pink bloom of the Desert Rose, a bulbous indigenous succulent that is one of the reserve's most distinctive and beautiful surprises.

Wildlife watching in Buffalo Springs is defined by the famous northern rare special five, species found only in the Samburu region of Kenya. The reticulated giraffe, with its bold jigsaw coat markings, moves elegantly through the acacia woodland, while Grevy's zebra broader, more rounded and more striking than the common Burchell's zebra, graze the open plains. The gerenuk, known in Somali as "camel head," is regularly spotted standing upright on its hind legs to browse the highest acacia foliage. Beisa oryx and Somali ostrich complete the special five. Large herds of Elephant roam the reserve freely and are best seen crossing or bathing in the Ewaso Ng'iro at dusk, while Buffalo, Leopard, Cheetah and Lion are also present. The river itself is home to pods of Hippo and enormous Nile Crocodiles basking on raised sandbanks.

With over 320 bird species recorded, Buffalo Springs is one of northern Kenya's finest birding destinations. The rare Somali Ostrich, distinguished by its blue-grey legs, is among the most sought-after sightings, alongside Secretary Birds, Vulturine and Helmeted Guinea Fowls, Red-billed and Von der Decken's Hornbills, and large concentrations of Sand Grouse gathering at the river at dusk. The reserve's rugged terrain is ideal raptor area, with regular sightings of Pygmy Falcons, Martial Eagles and Verreaux's Eagle Owls. On a good day, it is entirely possible to record approximately 100 species before noon.

Originally established in 1948 as part of the Samburu–Isiolo Game Reserve, Buffalo Springs was gazetted in 1985 and is today managed by the Isiolo County Government. A 4WD vehicle is strongly recommended for travel to and within the reserve, particularly during the rainy seasons when the tracks become challenging.