Lake Turkana Budget Safari
Overview
Discover the rugged northern Kenya on a budget safari traveling to lake Turkana. Undoubtedly the wildlife parks and reserve offer unique experiences in terms of wildlife encounters, Chalbi desert, lake Turkana & the islands.
Apart from this, tourists visiting this region experience first hand the rich culture of the Masai, Samburu & Pokot people. The interaction with the locals offers visitors a humbling experience as they travel deep into the semi arid northern Kenya & Chalbi desert.
Budget Accommodation
We will accommodate you in tents which will be mounted in the campsite right in the various parks and reserves. This allows us greater access to remote areas and allows us easy access to the locals in order to socialize and embrace an authentic bush safari.
We buy fresh produce and other food stuff locally, and to ensure high standards of hygiene; the meals are prepared by our own cook additionally we also cater for special diets [Vegetarian/Vegan meals] on request.
Transport Logistics
Transport will be facilitated by 4×4 safari vehicles that are customized for the ultimate safariing experience. The vans / jeeps are accessorized with pop up roofs ideal for game viewing, hifi radio communication gadgets and comfortable seats.
While safariing Lake Turkana, you will enjoy the services of our experienced driver guide who has enormous knowledge on wildlife as well as different sceneries you will be visiting.
The thrill of touring various wildlife gems is an adventure that should be on every tourist’s bucket list. Our budget safari to Lake Turkana gives you the opportunity to experience first hand the diversity in terms of culture as you engage with the locals as well as epic game viewing encounters in parks & reserves in this region.
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Eight Days Budget Camping Safari To Lake Turkana. [Itinerary]
Day One: Nairobi – Samburu
A representative from Kenya epic safaris will meet you at your hotel or pick you up from the airport and after briefing you he or she will hand you over to your assigned driver guide to facilitate the best lake Turkana budget safari.
You will be driven to the northern frontier by your driver guide who will keep you entertained and informed on different sceneries as you journey to Samburu; a semi desert and thus very dry most of the year. We shall have lunch en route arriving at Samburu game reserve in the afternoon.
On arrival the camp staff will usher you to your respective tents. Enjoy your afternoon at leisure or interacting with the locals; not long after, head out for the evening game drive.
Game to view includes the Big five, antelopes, gazelles, baisa oryx, grevy’s zebra, reticulated giraffe, Somali ostrich, gerenuk and abundant bird life. Dinner and overnight at Umoja campsite.
Day Two: Samburu
On this day you will have morning and evening game drives. A visit to the Ewaso Ngiro river is most rewarding because it’s the only source of water that sustains the wildlife in this reserve. Wild animals converge at the river to quench their thirst.
Samburu people and their culture is another attraction and on request the driver guide can take you to the samburu village to experience their culture. All meals and overnight at Umoja campsite.
Day Three: Samburu – Marsabit
After breakfast and hit the road; travel north along the Trans-African highway to Marsabit national park. Upon arrival, lunch will be prepared while you pitch your tent at the campsite. Our afternoon will be spent visiting the park, Lake Paradise and Little Lake.
There is where an indigenous forest and a desert come together to create the most compelling landscape on earth. Elephants and greater kudu abound are among the wildlife we will encounter. The dense forest in the park is also home to a variety of bird species. Dinner and overnight at the campsite.
Day Four: Marsabit – Kalacha
First we shall have an early breakfast and then depart; you will be driven through the scenic landscape of the arid north with views of picturesque hills arriving at Kalacha, a small Gabbra settlement on the edge of the Chalbi Desert in time for lunch.
The Gabbra are an Eastern Cushite people related to the Somali-Rendille in their historical origins in the southern Ethiopian highlands about AD 1000.
The men wear traditional shorts and a blanket-cloak and the women wear a wrap-around and head cloth. They are pastoralists, particularly attached to their camels.
Day Five: Kalacha – Lake Turkana
We will depart early after breakfast and drive across the Chalbi desert to Lake Turkana which is the largest desert lake in the world and extends for 288 kilometers up to the Kenyan-Ethiopian border.
It is surrounded by volcanic rock and desert. We arrive at our semi – permanent beach village where we have our traditional Turkana huts, making it a perfect place to relax, protected from the scorching sun and heat characteristic of the climate of this remote area. Dinner and overnight stay at the village.
Day Six: Lake Turkana
Wake up bright and early as the African sun rises on the horizon, intoxicating our senses as we have breakfast. We shall spend our day relaxing. Alternatively, you may visit the local lodge for a swim or hire a boat to visit the surrounding area.
In addition, we may visit Loiyangalani and the community settled there and in the evening we can visit one of the Turkana Manyattas and indulge in traditional dances at an extra cost.
Lake Turkana, formerly known as Lake 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 color. 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. If the weather permits we will take a short sunset boat ride to the surrounding areas. Dinner and overnight stay at the village.
Day Seven: Lake Turkana – Maralal
After breakfast, we journey via the Horr valley situated between Mount Nyiro and Ol Doinye Mara viewing the breathtaking scenery as we continue to climb one torturous, rocky hills to Maralal.
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 the unofficial capital of the Samburu people and has a distinctly frontier feel about it, like something out of a ‘wild west’ movie. It boasts a colorful Samburu market and a game sanctuary that lies just outside of town.
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 all the corners of the world.
Day Eight: Maralal – Nairobi
We embark on our journey after breakfast and head south via Laikipia plains and Nyahururu stopping at the Thomson falls named after Joseph Thomson who walked from Mombasa to Lake Victoria in the early 1880s.
Shaped by the waters of the Ewaso Narok River, the falls plunge over 72m into a rift, spraying the dark forest below. Subsequently after lunch we will travel back to Nairobi arriving in the afternoon. Drop off at a hotel or the airport where the Lake Turkana budget safari ends.
- Transport in a customized safari van with a pop up roof ideal for game viewing .
- Park entrance fees.
- Meals as described in the itinerary.
- Budget accommodation.
- Services of an English speaking driver guide.
- Complimentary Bottled water 1 Litre per person per day.
- All government taxes.
- International airfares.
- All expenditure of personal nature such as telephone calls, hard drinks, soft drinks and laundry.
- Tips.
- Visas.
- Travel Insurance.
Know Your Park, Reserve & Lake
Samburu game reserve is the most popular wildlife gem of the northern frontier. The Reserve occupies an area of 165 km2. The driving distance from Nairobi is 350 km. The reserve lies on the northern bank of Uaso Nyiro River, which flows from the Kenyan highlands to Lorian swamp, the river serves as the only source of water that sustains wildlife.
Samburu game reserve was one of the two areas in which conservationists George Adamson and Joy Adamson raised Elsa the lioness, made famous in the best selling book and award winning movie “Born Free”.
Samburu’s topography is composed of river Uaso Nyiro, scattered acacia, riverine forest, thorn trees and grassland vegetation.
There is a wide variety of animal and bird life seen at Samburu National Reserve. Several species are considered unique to the region, including its unique dry-country animal life.
All three big cats, lion, cheetah and leopard, can be found here, as well as elephants, buffalo and hippos, Olive baboon, gerenuk, warthogs, Grant’s gazelle, Kirk’s dik-dik, impala, waterbuck, Grevy’s zebra, Beisa oryx, reticulated giraffe and over 350 bird species.
The Marsabit National Park is a national park and nature reserve located at Mount Marsabit in northern Kenya, near the town of Marsabit. It is located 560 km north of Nairobi in Marsabit District in Eastern Province and its reserve is noted for its zebra population and bird sanctuary.
On the road south from Mount Marsabit to the rocky plains of Shaba, Michael Palin describes passing extraordinary Strangler figs in the mountain-top forest, a stark contrast to the dusty track below which is lined by low, flat-topped acacias.
The area is home to Sociable Weaver birds, which can be identified by their neater, tidier nests; Sparrow Weavers, with their “scruffier” nests; and white-bellied turacos.
Lake Turkana formerly known as Lake Rudolf, is a lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, with its far northern end crossing into Ethiopia. It is the world’s largest permanent desert lake and the world’s largest alkaline lake. The climate is hot and very dry.
The rocks of the surrounding area are predominantly volcanic. Central Island is an active volcano, emitting vapors. Outcrops and rocky shores are found on the East and South shores of the lake, while dunes, spits and flats are on the West and North, at a lower elevation.
Due to temperature, aridity and geographic inaccessibility, the lake retains its wild character. Nile crocodiles are found in great abundance on the flats. The rocky shores are home to scorpions and carpet vipers. Although the lake and its environs have been popular for expeditions of every sort under the tutelage of guides, rangers and experienced persons, they certainly must be considered hazardous for unguided tourists.
Lake Turkana National Parks are now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.Sibiloi National Park lies on the lake’s eastern shore, while Central Island National Park and South Island National Park lie in the lake. Both are known for their crocodiles.
The Lake Turkana area is regarded by many anthropologists as the cradle of humankind due to the abundance of hominid fossils.
- Do not Litter the park/reserve.
- Do not feed the animals, i.e. monkeys or baboons.
- Do give the animals the right of way and do not disturb wildlife.
- Do not take any plant or animals remains, dead or alive.
- Do not start fires or throw cigarettes in the parks/reserve.
- Do stay in your vehicle except at designated viewing points.
- Do not shout, laugh loudly, honk or play loud music as this will keep away the animals.
- Do not provoke any animals; it’s dangerous.