Not being a traditional tourist circuit, this area is relatively unknown. It has a number of permanent rivers with woodland fringes and salty springs.
Fact File
Altitude 2,000 – 6,780 ft.
Area Samburu 1,091 sq. kms
Distance from Nairobi 565 kms
Airstrip at Turkwell Dam
Opened October 1979
Scenic landscape & Mountain vistas, Hot springs
Game: Elephant, Buffalo, Oryx, Lion, Crocodile
Things to See
There is plenty of wildlife, including elephant, giraffe, buffalo, eland, oryx, impala, bushbuck, greater kudu, Grants and Thompson’s gazelle, lion, leopard, cheetah, spotted hyena and jackal. There are crocodiles in rivers and abundant birdlife much of which gathers on the banks of the Kerio River. There are no lodges or roads within the reserve.
Nasalot National Reserve covers an area of only 92 sq. km. It is mainly plains broken up by the impressive Sekess Hills, a continuation of the Cherangany ridges. To the north, it is bordered by a section of River Turkwel and Wei Wei River, to the east. It has an important eco-system with river valleys and floodplains which support evergreen forests dominated by fig and acacia trees and many types of papyrus and sedges.
The wildlife include the elephant, hippo, giraffe, impala, grant and Thompson’s gazelle, plains, zebra, eland, lesser kudu, bushbuck, duiker and dik dik and their predators – lion, leopard, spotted hyena and jackal. There are olive baboons and vervet monkeys and crocodiles. There are more than 150 species of birds. There is a murram airstrip at the Turkwel hydro-electric dam and two campsites.
