Month by month
Samburu in November
November is the wettest month of the Samburu year, 91 mm across eleven rain days, and the coolest by day at 28.9°C. The short rains are heavier here than the long rains of March and April, which is the fact that catches most visitors out.
If you only want the answer
The wettest month, the coolest month and the start of the migrant bird season, all at once. Rain falls on roughly one day in three, the game spreads away from the river, and the Nairobi flights drop to low season on 1 November. Come for birds, newborns and empty tracks, with a 4x4 and a loose schedule.
The wettest month is also the coolest
November's normals are 91 mm over eleven rain days, days of 28.9°C and nights of 19.3°C. It carries more rain than April's 70 mm and more rain days than any other month, and at 28.9°C it is the only month of the year that stays under thirty degrees in the afternoon.
The pattern is frequent rather than violent. Ninety-one millimetres across eleven days averages a little over 8 mm when it rains, against roughly 10 mm a time in April, so November interrupts drives more often while doing less damage to the tracks in one go.
The birds arrive
The Palaearctic migrants leaving the northern winter are here from November through to April, and they land on top of a resident list that is the reason many birders come north in the first place: vulturine guineafowl, Somali ostrich, golden-breasted starling, superb starling, lilac-breasted roller, white-headed buffalo weaver and both red-billed and Von der Decken's hornbill.
Be careful with totals. Wikipedia gives more than 350 species for Samburu National Reserve without citing a source, and the higher figure of 450 that circulates in the travel trade has no independent source we could trace, so 350 is the number worth quoting.
Roads, game and what it costs
A 4x4 with high clearance is the vehicle for this month, since the sandy luggas run after a storm and the tracks follow the riverbanks. The approach itself stays easy: the A2 from Nairobi through Nanyuki, Isiolo and Archer's Post is tarmac the whole way, with only a short murram run to each gate.
Game viewing is the trade you are making. With water everywhere the animals no longer depend on the Ewaso Ng'iro, so sightings per hour drop compared with the dry months, and what you get instead is green country, newborn game and reserves with almost nobody in them.
The pricing helps. Safarilink runs low season from 1 November to 15 December, with the festive premium only from 16 December, so the first six weeks of the short rains are the cheapest slice of the year to fly into. The gate charge does not move: $85 at Samburu, $70 at Buffalo Springs and Shaba.