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Flights and airstrips

Flying to Samburu: who flies, what it costs, and whether it is worth it

Two scheduled airlines serve Samburu from Nairobi Wilson, both on northern circuits with several stops, both landing at the Samburu and Buffalo Springs strip or at Kalama. Safarilink publishes its fares, AirKenya does not. The flight takes one hour to an hour and a half against six to seven hours on tarmac, and the Dutch travel advice for this region asks you to fly by preference. Schedules and fares below are from the official 2026 timetables, read on 18 September 2026.

If you only want the answer

Safarilink and AirKenya both fly Nairobi Wilson to Samburu daily. Safarilink runs two flights a day, three in high season, at a published 289 dollars one way and 473 dollars return before taxes, with flight 21 out at 08:00 and down at 09:30. AirKenya runs one rotation a day, P2 871 out at 09:45 and down at 10:45, and publishes no fares at all, so treat the figures circulating on blogs as unsourced. Both are multi-stop northern circuits through Nanyuki, Lewa, Loisaba and the conservancies, so arrival times move by 40 minutes or more, and both need minimum passenger numbers to operate. Flying costs you roughly a night's lodge rate each way and buys back most of a day. Driving is entirely feasible on good tarmac; the Dutch advice for Samburu and Isiolo, yellow since 9 September 2026, asks you to fly by preference, which is the strongest argument for the aeroplane. Governors' Aviation does not serve Samburu, whatever you have read.

Safarilink: the one that publishes its prices

Safarilink flies from Nairobi Wilson two to three times a day, every day. The official 2026 timetable gives flight 21 departing Wilson at 08:00 and arriving Samburu at 09:30, flight 23 at 10:20 arriving 11:20, and flight 25 at 13:30 arriving 14:50 in high season only. Coming back, flight 24 leaves Samburu at 11:25 and reaches Wilson at 13:15. Flight 31 runs Samburu to the Masai Mara daily, 09:05 to 11:00, which is how a northern leg gets stitched to a southern one without returning to Nairobi.

Fares are published and identical in high and low season: 289 dollars one way and 473 dollars return, before taxes. Samburu to the Masai Mara is quoted separately at 467 dollars one way. Children aged 2 to 11 pay 75 per cent in Y and M class. Baggage is a strict 15 kg per person in soft bags no larger than 60 by 45 by 30 cm, and check-in at Wilson closes 60 minutes before departure.

Read the routing note before you plan a tight arrival. The timetable says, in its own words: 'Flight Nos. 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 31, 37 & 38 serve Nanyuki, Kamok, Lewa Downs, Loisaba, Sasaab, and Samburu (Kalama strip), so arrival and departure times can vary significantly by 40 minutes or more. All flights except Flight Nos. 25 & 38 will operate subject to a minimum of 4 passengers per service and 2 passengers per airstrip throughout the year. Flight Nos. 25 & 38 will operate in the high season only.' This is a northern circuit with several stops rather than a point-to-point hop, and the minimum passenger rules mean a quiet day can move you.

Safarilink's own website disagrees with its own PDF, and both are live. The website has flight 024 leaving at 11:30 instead of 11:25, flight 025 at 13:00 arriving 14:35 instead of 13:30 and 14:50, describes the service as two daily flights, and its booking calendar shows a base fare of 327 dollars rather than 289. The season dates differ too: the website gives high season as 16 December to 31 March and 1 July to 31 October, while the PDF gives low season as 1 April to 15 June and 1 November to 15 December 2026, and high season as 1 January to 31 March, 16 June to 31 October and 16 to 31 December 2026. The PDF is the official 2026 document. Book against the website price you are actually shown, and reconfirm times with the airline.

FlightRouteDaysTimes
Safarilink 21Nairobi Wilson to SamburuDaily08:00 to 09:30
Safarilink 23Nairobi Wilson to SamburuDaily10:20 to 11:20
Safarilink 25Nairobi Wilson to SamburuDaily, high season only13:30 to 14:50
Safarilink 24Samburu to Nairobi WilsonDaily11:25 to 13:15
Safarilink 31Samburu to Masai MaraDaily09:05 to 11:00
AirKenya P2 871Nairobi Wilson to SamburuDaily09:45 to 10:45
AirKenya P2 872Samburu to Nairobi WilsonDaily11:00 to 13:10
AirKenya P2 862Samburu to Masai MaraDaily11:00 to 13:00
AirKenya P2 871Meru to SamburuDaily, one direction only11:00 to 11:15

Times are from the official Safarilink and AirKenya 2026 timetables, read on 18 September 2026. Both airlines warn that published times reflect the first stop on a multi-stop circuit.

AirKenya: daily, and silent on fares

AirKenya runs one rotation a day in each direction. P2 871 leaves Wilson at 09:45 and lands at Samburu at 10:45. P2 872 lifts off Samburu at 11:00 and reaches Wilson at 13:10. P2 862 takes the same 11:00 slot straight to the Masai Mara, arriving 13:00, and there is a one-directional Meru to Samburu leg at 11:00 arriving 11:15.

The timetable section is headed 'SAMBURU BUFFALO / KALAMA' and its note reads 'Daily service to Samburu Buffalo and Kalama airstrips; minimum of 2 pax per strip to operate.' The same P2 871 and 872 serve Nanyuki, Lewa Downs, Loisaba and Meru, all leaving Wilson at 09:45, so this is a northern circuit as well. The return connects onward to Arusha at 13:30 and the Masai Mara at 14:15. AirKenya's own advice is to call operations on the day of departure, because the published times show the first stop rather than yours.

AirKenya publishes no fares. Its official timetable PDF carries none, and the 150 to 280 dollar one-way ranges floating around on blogs have no source behind them, so we will not repeat them as fact. Ask the airline or your lodge for a quote.

The airstrips, and one airline that does not fly here

The scheduled strip is Samburu / Buffalo Springs Airport, IATA UAS and ICAO HKSB, at 0 deg 31 min 09 sec N, 37 deg 31 min 48 sec E. SkyVector files the same code as Samburu South Airport, which is worth knowing if you are checking charts. Buffalo Springs Airstrip sits on the southern bank of the Ewaso Ng'iro at 0 deg 32 min 06.5 sec N, 37 deg 31 min 47.0 sec E.

Kalama Airstrip, at 0.694630 N and 37.612912 E, is the private strip at the headquarters of Kalama Conservancy, and both airlines call there. If you are booked at a conservancy property, this is very likely your strip rather than the main one.

Two names in circulation we could not stand up. Samburu Oryx Airstrip is named by secondary sources with no coordinates and no confirmed status. And no source we read confirms a scheduled service to any Shaba airstrip, so assume Shaba is reached by road from the Samburu or Buffalo Springs strips.

One correction. Governors' Aviation does not fly to Samburu. Its official 2026 schedule, valid 1 January to 31 December 2026, has a northern route from Wilson to the Laikipia region leaving at 08:00 and arriving 09:30, serving Mugie, Loisaba, Lewa, Kamok and Nanyuki, returning 09:45 to 11:00, seven days a week. Samburu does not appear anywhere in that document.

Landing charges are set by the county rather than the airline and are billed county-wide: KES 3,200 for a 3 to 6 seat aircraft and KES 4,800 for 7 to 20 seats, under the Samburu County Finance Act. On a scheduled ticket this is the airline's problem; on a charter it is yours.

The honest comparison: fly or drive?

The flight is one hour to an hour and a half, depending on how many strips come before yours. AirKenya's timetable gives a clean 1 hour 00 on the 09:45 departure, Safarilink gives 1 hour 30 on flight 21 and 1 hour 00 on flight 23, and secondary sources land between 1 hour 20 and 1.5 hours. The drive is six to seven hours over 320 to 350 km, almost all of it on continuous tarmac up the A2. So the aeroplane buys back roughly five hours in each direction, at 289 dollars one way with Safarilink for two people, which is close to a night in a mid-range camp.

There are two costs beyond the fare. The first is baggage: 15 kg per person in a soft bag is a real constraint if you are combining Samburu with anything other than safari. The second is the vehicle at the far end. A fly-in guest has no way to move around the reserve without a lodge vehicle, so airstrip transfers and game drives have to be in your rate. Confirm that before you pay for the flight.

Driving has the advantages people forget. Your own vehicle is your game-drive vehicle, nothing depends on a minimum of four passengers per service and two per airstrip, and the road itself is good. Nanyuki, Timau and Isiolo sit on the way, so the day has structure. Against that: the gates close at 18:00, the Marua to Nanyuki to Isiolo dual carriageway announced in February 2026 means roadworks on your exact route, and a late start turns a comfortable day into a rush.

The argument that tips the balance for many visitors is not about time. The Dutch travel advice, yellow for Samburu County and Isiolo County since 9 September 2026 and still current on 18 September 2026, asks travellers to this region to travel by plane by preference and, if they must go by road, to travel with several people or with a local guide. The FCDO does not advise against travel to either county, and the US State Department is at Level 2 for Kenya as a whole without naming either county at all. Our getting there page quotes all three in full so you can weigh them yourself. If you are Dutch, insured through a Dutch policy, or simply inclined to follow the most cautious of the three, the aeroplane is the advice you have been given.

Practical rules of thumb, in the order they usually decide things:

  • Fly-in lodge package, especially in a conservancy: fly, and check that your strip is Kalama rather than the main one.
  • Combining Samburu with the Masai Mara: fly, on Safarilink 31 or AirKenya P2 862, both departing Samburu mid-morning.
  • Self-drivers: drive. You need the vehicle inside the reserve, and the A2 is tarmac the whole way.
  • Two passengers travelling alone in low season: check the minimum of 4 passengers per Safarilink service and 2 per airstrip before you count on the date.
  • Anyone weighing the Dutch travel advice: it asks you to fly by preference, and to travel by road with several people or a local guide.
  • Anyone quoted an AirKenya fare from a blog: get it from the airline. AirKenya publishes nothing.
  • Anyone offered Governors' Aviation to Samburu: it does not serve Samburu in the 2026 schedule.

Something this page does not answer?

Schedules here are thin and change by season. If the dates you want are not covered, ask.

Ask us. We answer questions about the park itself, and we can usually tell you which camps work on one route and who to write to. If what you want is a trip someone else arranges, we will say so and hand you to an operator we know, and we earn a commission if that becomes a booking.

Nothing on this site sits behind the form. Every figure we have is already on the page.

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Sources