Month by month
Samburu in September
September is the driest month of the year here at 1 mm, and also the hottest at 32.4°C. Those two facts belong to each other: four rainless months put every animal on the Ewaso Ng'iro, and the same cloudless sky that emptied the bush is what makes the afternoon hard work.
If you only want the answer
The best month to see animals and the hardest month to be outside, and there is no version of September that gives you one without the other. Game concentration on the river is at its peak, midday is for shade, and the whole month sits inside the high season that ends on 31 October.
Driest and hottest at the same time
September's normals are 1 mm of rain, days of 32.4°C and nights of 19.3°C. Both extremes belong to this month: the least rain of any month and the highest afternoon temperature of any month. February comes closest on heat at 32.1°C, and it carries 29 mm of rain to go with it.
The four months from June take 11 mm between them, and September is where that run ends up. There is no seasonal water left anywhere in the bush country, which is exactly why the game viewing works and exactly why the middle of the day is unpleasant.
How to use the day
Drive the edges of it. The gates open at 06:00, and the first three hours are cool, active and worth getting up for. Take the middle of the day out of the schedule, then go again from four until the gates close at 18:00. Water, shade and a slow midday are not a luxury in a 32.4°C afternoon.
The reward is the river. Save the Elephants has more than 900 individually identified elephants using these reserves and has been reading that traffic since 1997, and in September the daily drinking and crossing routine is at its most predictable. Crocodiles are in the water, and the riverine doum palms hold the best odds of leopard you will get in any month, which is still a matter of luck.
The end of the window
This is the last of the four dry months. October brings 44 mm and four rain days, so the shift from rainless to first storms happens across a few weeks. If you want September's concentration with October's cooler feel, the first ten days of October are usually still dry-season country.
Nothing about the price eases yet. High season on the Nairobi flights runs to 31 October, and the gate charge is fixed by county law in any case: $85 for a non-resident adult at Samburu National Reserve, $70 at Buffalo Springs or Shaba.