|
10 DAYS TURKANA TRUCK VIA SWEETWATERS / SAMBURU / MARSABIT
/ CHALBI DESERT / LAKE BARINGO
Areas to Visit: Mt. Kenya, Sweetwaters,
Samburu Game Reserve, Marsabit, Kalacha, Chalbi Desert, Lake
Turkana (Jade Sea), Loyangalani, Turkana Manyattas, Tuum,
Lake Baringo.
Activities: Culture, Ethnic, Wildlife, Camping,
Boat Ride, Scenery, Photography, Camel Walk, Camping and Traditional
Turkana Ba ndas,
Bird Watching.
Price: $705
Local Payment: $170
Departures: Every Wednesday
Country: Kenya
Northern Kenya is lightly populated, untamed and often barren.
Setting foot in these parts is like leaving the 21st century;
it is an explorer’s heaven, and the tribes that live
here are some of the most captivating people in the world.
They include the Samburu, Turkana, Rendille, Boran, Gabbra
and El – Molo.
This rugged 1,800-km expedition is run in land cruiser or
Landrover, as trucks are not allowed into the Sweetwaters
Private Game Ranch. This means a maximum group size of 9.
It takes you up into the heart of the Northern Frontier District
via the Sweetwaters and Samburu Game Reserve. You will traverse
along some of Africa’s worst roads; see beautiful mountain
forest surrounded on all sides by hot dusty deserts, eventually
arriving at our camp on the shores of the Jade Sea (Lake
Turkana).
This Safari has been a consistant best seller over 21 years
and is aimed atthose true explorers and travellers who want
to get off the beaten tourist track.
The camp is situated right on the beach of the lake with
spectacular views of the South Island. The camp comprises
12 double traditional Turkana palm leaf huts, a  dining/lounge,
kitchen, showers and toilets which are all available for use,
if not, we pitch tent nearby. Our 20-seater boat is based
here and is available for sunset cruises and exploring the
surrounding areas. You will see a great variety of tribes
during the tour and cross the Chalbi Desert if dry. During
the rains it becomes an enormous shallow lake. At Tuum we
spend time camel walking with Samburu local guides on the
foothills of Mt. Nyiro.
WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE PRICE:
• Transport by special safari vehicle
• Services of an English speaking driver/tour guide
and cook
• All campsite fees
• All camping equipment including use of our three-person
tents (each tent shared by 2 people), stools, foam mattresses
except sleeping bags
• Three meals a day while on safari whether vegetarian
or non-vegetarian prepared by ur safari cook
WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE PRICE:
• Gamepark entrance fees shown separately as 'local
payment'
• Personal travel insurance
• Sleeping bags [available for hire in the office at
US$15 per bag per safari with US$ 40 refundable deposit]
• Hotel accommodation in Nairobi.
• All airport/hotel/airport transfers [but can be arranged
at extra cost]
• All airport taxes and visas
• All personal expenses and toiletries; e.g. mineral
water, toilet tissue, laundry, telephones, beverages, tips,
portage, etc.
• Any other extras not stated as included above
Itinerary:
Day 1 – Mt. Kenya
Depart Nairobi in the morning and proceed towards the slopes
of Africa's second largest mountain at 5199m - Mt Kenya. Afternoon
game drive at Sweetwater’s game ranch to see the wildlife
including rehabilitated chimpanzees. We spend the night at
Mountain Rock Campsite.
Mount Kenya was shaped by volcanic action linked with the
creation of the Rift Valley and is thought to be older than
Mount Kilimanjaro; geologists believe it previously stretched
at least 1500m above its present height of 5199m (17,057ft).
The private ranch at Sweetwater’s is the only sanctuary
for rehabilitation in Kenya of these widely abused chimpanzees
with two groups living in an environment as close to their
natural habitat as possible. The site is also a dedicated
black rhino breeding area.
Day 2 – Samburu
Depart in the morning for Samburu game reserve to arrive there
in time for the afternoon game drive in the park. Accommodation
in our semi-permanent campsite beautifully set under a canopy
of trees or pitch tents on the edge of Uaso Nyiro River
(meaning Brown in Samburu language). Cold showers are available
which are amazingly refreshing in the hot, dusty climates.
Samburu is part of a lava plain that includes a diverse landscape
of thorn scrub, red dirt, dried river beds, broken volcanic
rock, steep hills, and rocky outcroppings - some large enough
to be called mesas. This reserve is becoming one of Kenya's
most admired stops after the Mara.
The region is home to the uncommon Grevy’s zebra with
huge fury ears, gerenuk antelope standing on hind legs to
feed, Somali ostriches with distinct blue legs and the shy
Oryx. Elephant and crocodile are guaranteed sightings and
excellent bird watching is available here with numerous varieties
of weaverbirds and the martial eagle to be seen. Leopard sighting
is also a special feature here.
Day 3 – Marsabit
Sometimes waking up to the sounds of splashing elephant in
the river we head north again along the Trans-African highway
to Marsabit. Marsabit (meaning place of cold) is an astonishingly
cool, green and hilly oasis rising high above the dry heat
of the surrounding desert lands.
The local Rendille people in their bright red outfits, beads
and earrings make it a vibrant place. After setting up camp,
we visit the lodge inside the National park and so long as
the roads are dry we drive to Lake Paradise and Little Lake
- an indigenous forest and a desert that come together to
create the most compelling landscape on earth. Elephants and
greater kudu abound. The dense forest in the park is also
home to a variety of birds.
Day 4 – Kalacha
We visit Marsabit town and another volcanic crater before
making our way back into the desert and lava flows. We camp
at Kalacha, a small Gabbra settlement on the edge of
the Chalbi Desert.
The Gabbra are an Eastern Cushite people related to the Somali-Rendille
in their historical origins in the southern Ethiopian highlands
about AD 1000. They are pastoralists, particularly attached
to their camels.
Day 5 - Lake Turkana
We depart early, crossing the Chalbi Desert. Lake Turkana
is the largest desert lake in the world and extends for 288
kilometres up to the Ethiopian / Kenyan border and is surrounded
by volcanic rock and desert. We arrive at our semi - permanent
beach village where we have our traditional Turkana Huts (if
still available; if not we pitch tent at an alternative campsite)
which make it a perfect place to relax, protected from the
scorching sun and heat characteristic of the climate of this
remote area.
 Day
6 – Lake Turkana
The day is spent relaxing, basking and bathing only
interrupted by a short boat excursion to visit the surrounding
area.
In addition, we may visit Loiyangalani and the community
settled there while in the evening visiting one of the
Turkana Manyattas [optional] for traditional dances at an
extra cost if clients wish. An unforgettable experience under
a star studded sky so close you can almost touch it.
Turkana, formerly L. Rudolf is now named after one of the
tribes who live on its shores and it is in this area that
Richard Leakey uncovered the three million year old fossils
of ‘Homo Erectus.’ This pre historic site is now
known as the “Cradle of Mankind”. The Lake is
also known as the “Jade Sea” because of its remarkable
blue – green colour. This is a result of algae particles,
which shift with changes of the wind and light, so that the
water surface shifts from blue to grey to fabulous jade. The
lake is home to the largest population of Nile crocodiles
in the world.
Day 7: Tuum camel safari
Departing Lake Turkana via the very rocky road out of the
Rift Valley we head south to Tuum, situated on the west
of Mt. Nyiro which stands to the East of the Suguta Valley.
This is a very scenic but rough drive through lava flows to
the broken sands on the edge of the Kaisut desert. After a
picnic lunch, you get the chance to walk with camels and Samburu
guides in these breath-taking landscapes for a few hours to
the foothills of Mt. Nyiro where you set camp together with
the guides and camels.
The Suguta valley is a huge sector of the Rift Valley between
Lake Baringo and Lake Turkana. At the north end, the valley
floor is only a few hundred metres above sea level, making
it one of the lowest parts of the Rift Valley structure. It
is one of the hottest parts of Kenya with deserts, volcanic
cones, salt lakes and uneven lava fields.
Mt. Nyiro is encircled by desert but its upper slopes are
covered in forest and small springs surface lower down to
nourish the villages of Tuum and South Horr and numerous other
small settlements in the foothills. From the top of Mt. Nyiro
to the bottom of the Suguta, the land drops over 2500m in
less than 20km. This vicinity is sliced through by bottomless
ravines, called luggas; which are regularly dry but become
soaked with sudden flash floods after rain.
Day 8 –Maralal
After breakfast we have an early morning walk in the cool
and spectacular African sunrise for a couple of hours after
which we proceed to Maralal where we spend the night. Maralal
is the unofficial capital of the Samburu people and has a
distinctly frontier feel about it.
Near Maralal is one of the most breath taking scenes in all
of Kenya – the Losiolo escarpment, an endless stretch
as land drops down to the Suguta valley. Maralal is also home
of the Maralal International Camel Derby that happens once
a year between July and October and attracts riders and spectators
from the four corners of the world
Day 9 – Lake Baringo
Heading south we visit Lake Baringo where we spend the night
at a campsite sleeping amongst the grazing hippos. L. Baringo
is the most Northerly of Kenya’s small Rift Valley lakes;
creased with papyrus and well developed acacia forest. Hippos,
crocodiles and monitor lizards are effortlessly seen from
the shore.
Likewise, this is Kenya's bird watching centre with over
1200 different species native to the country and more than
450 sighted here and is thus a bird watcher's haven but beware
as this is malaria land.
Day 10 – Nairobi
After breakfast we go on an early morning boat ride in search
of hippo, crocodile and fish eagle. Drive back to Nairobi
after breakfast to arrive in the late afternoon.
WHAT YOU NEED TO BRING ON SAFARI:
• Sleeping bag [available for hire in our office
for US$ 15 per bag per safari plus a refundable deposit of
US$ 40 after the safari; Tanzania/Uganda - US$ 30].
• Money for personal spending and tipping approximately
Kshs.1000 a day
• Only a small case or rucksack, as storage space is
limited [maximum 20kgs].
• A pair of long trousers and jersey for the cool mornings
and evenings in addition to plenty of light clothes for hot
days (do not forget a hat), swim suit, a pillow, good walking
and biking shoes and sweets
• Torch, sunglasses, suntan lotion, insect repellent/spray
but not mosquito coils
• Mineral water for drinking (available for sale in
our office)
• Camera, films, binoculars, maps, guide-books and also
darts for our dart board at Maasai Mara
• Toilet paper, towel, soap and toothbrush/paste
• All personal travel insurance
• It is good idea to bring any drinks you might want
around the campfire as they are not always available on route.
Like to know more?
Enquire about this |
