The journey begins in Nairobi and heads north through the highlands via Gilgil, crossing the equator near Nyahururu before continuing to Rumuruti. From there, the route to Maralal is now tarmacked, making the drive smoother and faster than the rough road it once was. This is the Kenya that most travellers never see—the vast, ignored north that lies beyond the familiar safari circuit, a land of arid plains and sky islands where wildlife has adapted to survive in conditions that would defeat most species. The driving days are still long, but the tarmac to Maralal means the journey feels less like an expedition and more like a proper road trip into frontier country, passing through Laikipia’s ranching land before reaching the gateway town of Maralal.
Lake Turkana appears as a shimmer of turquoise in a sea of volcanic rock, and Loiyangalani sits on its southeastern shore, a small oasis town that serves as the gateway to the region’s communities. Here, the El Molo—one of Kenya’s smallest and most endangered groups—welcome visitors to their village, sharing a fishing-based way of life that has survived on these shores for centuries. From Loiyangalani, the road continues north to Sibiloi National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the cradle of mankind. The Koobi Fora Museum displays cast replicas of fossils that rewrote the story of human evolution, and the fossil beds themselves lie open across the sediment, fragments sometimes visible at the surface. The Petrified Forest, with its fossilised tree trunks millions of years old, proves this was once a green and forested land.
The return journey turns south through the Chalbi Desert, where sand dunes rise from the salt flats and camping under the stars is an experience of profound silence. Marsabit’s forested mountain emerges from the surrounding desert like an island, and its national park shelters elephants and crater lakes. From there, the road runs down through Laisamis and the Kaisut Desert to Archers Post, where the Ewaso Ng’iro River marks the transition back to the savannah. Three full days in Samburu, Buffalo Springs, and Shaba offer the Special Five—Grevy’s zebra, reticulated giraffe, Beisa oryx, gerenuk, and Somali ostrich—species found exclusively north of the equator and nowhere else in Kenya. Then the road turns south to Nairobi, carrying the memory of the Jade Sea, the cradle of mankind, and the long, wild road north.
Safari Overview
This eleven-day expedition from Nairobi journeys through the ignored north of Kenya via Rumuruti and Maralal to Lake Turkana’s Jade Sea, exploring the El Molo community, the fossil beds and Koobi Fora Museum at Sibiloi National Park, and camping under the stars at the Chalbi Desert dunes. The return route passes through Marsabit’s forested mountain before three full days in Samburu, Buffalo Springs, and Shaba, where wildlife found only north of the equator—Grevy’s zebra, reticulated giraffe, Beisa oryx, gerenuk, and Somali ostrich—roam the arid plains.
Safari Highlights
- Lake Turkana, the Jade Sea, shimmering turquoise in a sea of volcanic rock
- The El Molo community, one of Kenya's smallest and most endangered groups, with their fishing-based way of life on the lake shore
- Koobi Fora Museum and fossil beds at Sibiloi National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the cradle of mankind
- The Petrified Forest, with fossilised tree trunks millions of years old proving the region was once forested
- Camping under the stars at the Chalbi Desert dunes, with sand ridges rising from the salt flats
- Marsabit National Park, a forested mountain island in the desert, sheltering elephants and crater lakes
- The Special Five of Samburu—Grevy's zebra, reticulated giraffe, Beisa oryx, gerenuk, and Somali ostrich—species found only north of the equator
- Large elephant herds along the Ewaso Ng'iro River in Samburu and Buffalo Springs
- Shaba National Reserve, the Born Free landscape where Joy Adamson released Elsa the Lioness
