0.58987°N, 37.60362°E
This was my first time going to Samburu National Reserve. It is quite far from Nairobi, fortunately I used a GPS App to keep track of the journey. Beginning at the exact coordinates 1.20657°S, 36.81161°E finishing the 6 hours 18mins at the coordinates 0.58987°N, 37.60362°E also known as Elephant Bedroom Camp. I learnt a great deal about the park during this trip and how absolutely wild it is. This park was unlike anything I had ever seen in Kenya. I would honestly consider this park are incredibly underrated and should definitely be named a hidden gem amongst Kenya's several national parks. My first reaction of Samburu is that the area is in desperate need of rain. There hasn't been a rainy season in almost 3 years. Driving through dust that could only be referred to as talcum powder, was at least 8 inches deep. I also learnt that there have been donations made to the reserve so they can have grass delivered to the park, in order to help the wildlife due to the scorching heat, killing the surrounding vegetation and slowly killing the herbivores i.e. zebras, elephants, & giraffes. I was also fortunate to visit the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary, where they rehabilitate orphaned animals back into the wild, specifically wild baby elephants. They are also a community based non profit organisation. It was a long drive to visit the sanctuary but it was worth the drive. Their coordinates being 1.11466°N, 37.46058°E I noticed their baby elephants to be considerably more wild the the babies I have interacted with in the past. It was incredible. Reteti has a particularly special orphan with 3/4 of his trunk missing! His name is Long’uro. His trunk was sadly chewed off by hyenas attempting to kill him from a well. He was found by the local community where the Samburu rangers thought it would be best to euthanise him, for he can never be a wild elephant, and would more the likely die because he cannot feed himself, drink water, and dust himself. However Reteti Sanctuary said no, and they will look after him for the rest of his life.