Samburu, Buffalo Springs and Shaba: frequently asked questions

Is a Samburu ticket also valid in Buffalo Springs?

No, as far as anything published shows. Samburu National Reserve is charged by Samburu County under its own Finance Act at $85 for a non-resident adult. Buffalo Springs and Shaba are charged by Isiolo County under a separate schedule at $70. Two counties, two laws, two amounts. Neither document mentions the other reserve, a combined ticket, a reciprocity arrangement or a drive-through rule at the bridge, and no county statement to that effect has been published either.

Guides disagree loudly about what happens in practice. Some say rangers check both tickets at the river crossing, one says a 24-hour ticket covers all three reserves, and travellers report driving out through Buffalo Springs on a Samburu ticket alone. Budget for paying twice and treat anything cheaper as a bonus. Within Isiolo County one ticket may well cover both Buffalo Springs and Shaba, since the law prices them under a single heading, and the text stops short of saying so.

What does it cost?

A non-resident adult pays $85 a day in Samburu National Reserve and $70 in Buffalo Springs or Shaba, with children at $50 and $40. Kenyan residents pay KES 1,600 in Samburu and KES 1,000 in Isiolo, and Kenyan citizens pay KES 1,600 in Samburu and KES 500 in Isiolo. A vehicle with fewer than six seats costs KES 800 in Samburu and KES 500 in Isiolo, charged in shillings whoever is driving.

Camping is charged on top of entry, at $25 per non-resident adult per night in Samburu and $30 in the Isiolo reserves. That makes the cheapest legal night inside Samburu National Reserve $110 per person. Two people self-driving from Nairobi with their own tent for three nights come to roughly $854 including about $175 of diesel.

One caveat sits over all of it. No tariff document exists carrying the year 2026 for any of these three reserves. Samburu's figures come from its Finance Act 2023 and two later bills proposing identical charges, and Isiolo's come from a bill from 2023, because the county assembly's website now returns Account Suspended.

Is it a KWS park?

No. None of the three is a Kenya Wildlife Service park. Samburu National Reserve is run by the County Government of Samburu through its tourism department, and Buffalo Springs and Shaba are run by the County Government of Isiolo. The rates come from county finance legislation passed by each county assembly and published in the Kenya Gazette.

Three consequences follow. A KWS price list does not apply here, a KWS annual card buys you nothing, and the eCitizen booking system that covers KWS parks is not the route in. Operators who describe these reserves as managed by the counties under a KWS framework are wrong on the point that matters, because KWS sets no tariff here and collects nothing.

What are the Special Five?

Five dry-country species that this corner of northern Kenya has and the southern parks do not: Grevy's zebra, gerenuk, beisa oryx, Somali ostrich and reticulated giraffe. It is a marketing label rather than an official designation, and it happens to be an accurate one, because each of the five genuinely reaches the edge of its range somewhere around here.

Your odds are good on four of them. Grevy's zebra is the most reliable, with the 2021 national census counting 2,561 of them in the wider Laikipia, Samburu, Marsabit and Meru ecosystem, which is the great majority of the national total of 2,649; the most recent census puts Kenya's population at 2,465. Reticulated giraffe are close to guaranteed, gerenuk are common and actively looked for by guides because of the way they stand on their hind legs to browse, and beisa oryx favour open ground. Somali ostrich is the least certain of the five, though still a fair bet across several drives.

When should I come?

June to September is the dry window, and June to August is the comfortable part of it. On the 1991 to 2020 climate normals those four months bring between one and five millimetres of rain with no rain days at all, while daytime means sit at 30.2 to 30.9 degrees in June, July and August. September is the driest month of the year at one millimetre, and also the hottest at 32.4 degrees, so midday is genuinely hard work.

Avoid November if rain would spoil your trip. It is the wettest month at 91 millimetres over 11 rain days, and also the mildest by day at 28.9 degrees. The long rains fall in March and April at 68 and 70 millimetres. Rain matters here for more than comfort, because the sandy luggas inside the reserves run as rivers after a storm and the tracks to the gates are graded murram.

Can I self-drive?

Yes. Self-driving is allowed in all three reserves and a guide is not compulsory. You can hire a ranger at the gate to help you find game if you want one. Be careful with one misleading claim in circulation: a rental company writes that self-drive safaris are not allowed past Archer's Post, which is that company's own hire policy rather than a reserve rule. Several rental firms cap their vehicles at Archer's Post, so check your rental agreement.

Take a 4x4 with high clearance. Game drives follow sandy tracks along the riverbanks and through dry bushland, and the county's own description of its internal road network is good to decent with washboard ridges on the main routes. In the dry season a high-clearance 2WD will probably reach the gate and cope with the main tracks, and the sandy luggas and anything after rain need four-wheel drive. Gates open at 06:00 and close at 18:00, and there is no fuel inside any of the reserves, so fill up at Isiolo or Archer's Post.

Is it safe?

None of the three governments advises against travel to Samburu County or Isiolo County. All three name the wider region in connection with banditry, cattle rustling and conflict between communities, and all three ask for extra care.

The Netherlands places both counties in the yellow band, ordinary travel with particular security risks, and notes that violent conflicts between herders and farmers occur in Laikipia, Samburu, Turkana and West Pokot. It advises asking about the current situation, flying where you can, and travelling by road with several people or a local guide. That advice was last changed on 9 September 2026. Marsabit sits in the orange band, and the reserves lie well south of it.

The UK FCDO does not advise against travel to either county. It lists them under regional risks alongside Turkana, West Pokot, Elgeyo-Marakwet, Baringo, Laikipia and Meru, notes that security operations continue because of banditry, cattle rustling and intercommunal violence, and singles out remote areas of Samburu as a hotspot. It never names Samburu National Reserve, Buffalo Springs, Shaba or Archer's Post.

The US State Department keeps Kenya at Level 2, Exercise Increased Caution, refreshed on 28 July 2026, for crime, kidnapping, terrorism, unrest, health and traffic safety. Samburu County and Isiolo County appear nowhere in the advisory, so only the country-wide Level 2 applies. The nearest Level 4 area is the 50 kilometre strip along the Ethiopian border in Marsabit County, hundreds of kilometres north of Archer's Post. The advisory does warn that tourists have been seriously injured and killed in accidents involving safari vehicles, which is the likelier risk on a six to seven hour drive up the A2.

How do I get there from Nairobi?

Drive the A2 or fly from Wilson. By road it is 320 to 350 km and six to seven hours through Thika, Sagana, Karatina, Nanyuki, Timau, Isiolo and Archer's Post, on tarmac that continues well past Archer's Post towards Marsabit. Isiolo to Archer's Post is 34 km and the main Samburu gate is about 13 km further. Expect roadworks: KeNHA announced a 147 km dual carriageway between Marua, Nanyuki and Isiolo in February 2026.

Flying takes about an hour. Safarilink runs two to three flights a day from Nairobi Wilson, departing 08:00 and 10:20 with a third at 13:30 in high season, at $289 one way and $473 return excluding taxes, with a strict 15 kg soft-bag allowance. AirKenya flies once daily, leaving Wilson at 09:45 and arriving at 10:45, and publishes no fares in its own timetable, so the prices circulating online have nothing behind them. Both are northern circuits with several stops, so arrival times move by 40 minutes or more, and both need at least two passengers per airstrip to operate.

Can I camp inside the reserves?

Yes, in all three. Samburu National Reserve has a public campsite on the Ewaso Ng'iro near the lodge now called Soroi Samburu Lodge, plus special campsites allocated by permit, with Naiburta and Koitogor the names that appear in guides. Buffalo Springs has a public campsite at Ngaremara Gate with drop toilets and minimal facilities, and Shaba has public campsites with basic facilities. Special sites in Samburu are booked through the county offices in Maralal or Archer's Post, which issue a written permit naming the site and the dates.

Two things to plan around. The campsites sit on a river that holds Nile crocodiles in considerable numbers, and none of them is fenced, so keep off the bank, seal food in the vehicle overnight and do not walk beyond the site after dark. And a good deal of the booking detail has never been published, including the rate for a special campsite, how to reserve one in Buffalo Springs or Shaba, and which payment methods the gates take. Confirm all of it with your camp, your operator or the gate before you rely on it.