Buffalo Springs National Reserve

Buffalo Springs National Reserve is 131 square kilometres of dry lowland plain on the southern bank of the Ewaso Ng’iro, directly across the river from Samburu National Reserve. It is flatter, more open and less visited than its neighbour, it carries the same northern dryland wildlife, and it is administered by a different county government, which is the detail that costs travellers money when they assume otherwise.

A Separate Reserve, a Separate County, a Separate Ticket

Samburu, Buffalo Springs and Shaba are usually sold as one destination and are frequently described as one reserve. They are three, and the Ewaso Ng’iro is not just a river running between them. It is the county boundary.

Samburu National Reserve lies north of the river and is administered by Samburu County.
Buffalo Springs lies south of it and is administered by Isiolo County.
Shaba lies east of Buffalo Springs and is also Isiolo County.

None of the three is a Kenya Wildlife Service park, so the national conservation fee schedule does not apply to any of them and no Kenya Wildlife Service band should be quoted for them. Each reserve charges its own entry fee under its own county’s finance legislation, and a ticket for one is not a ticket for the next even on the same day. The practical consequence is that a two-reserve day costs two entries, which is worth planning around rather than discovering at a gate.

Isiolo County’s published fee schedule for Buffalo Springs and Shaba could not be retrieved from an official source when this page was checked in September 2026: the county assembly’s document portal was offline and the archived copy is a capture of the same offline page. Figures circulating on tourism sites were not used. Confirm the current rate with the reserve, with your accommodation or with whoever is taking you in.

What Buffalo Springs Looks Like and Why It Differs From Samburu

Samburu is broken, rocky country pressed up against a single green river strip. Buffalo Springs is a gently rolling lowland plain of old lava flows and volcanic soils, and that difference in ground shapes everything about a game drive here.

Sightlines are longer and the country is more open, which suits the dryland species that stand out on bare ground: Grevy’s zebra, beisa oryx and Somali ostrich are more easily picked up here than in thicker bush. The trade is that the reserve has less river frontage than Samburu, and the riverine forest that concentrates leopard and elephant is a narrower strip.

The reserve runs between roughly 850 and 1,230 metres, which is low, and it is hot, dry and semi-arid accordingly. Vegetation is riverine forest along the Ewaso Ng’iro, acacia woodland, doum palm and Commiphora bushland, with desert rose and the toothbrush tree among the plants people ask about. In the south-east sits the Champagne Ride, an ancient lava terrace and the most distinctive piece of terrain inside the boundary.

The Springs the Reserve Is Named For

At the western end of the reserve is an oasis of clear water, and the reserve takes its name from it. The springs are permanent, which in a landscape this dry makes them a magnet for game, and they are the feature most visitors ask a driver to include.

A story circulates that the main pool was blasted out by a stray Italian bomb during the Second World War. It appears on a great many tour pages and no documentary source for it was found. It is repeated here only because travellers will hear it, and it should be treated as local lore rather than history until someone produces the evidence.

Wildlife on a Buffalo Springs Game Drive

The species list is the northern one rather than the southern one, and it is the reason the region is on Kenyan itineraries at all. Grevy’s zebra, reticulated giraffe, gerenuk, beisa oryx and Somali ostrich are the grouping guides call the northern specials, and they are described in full on the Samburu National Reserve page rather than repeated here. Grant’s zebra occur alongside the Grevy’s, which makes for a useful side-by-side comparison of the two.

Elephant, lion, leopard and cheetah are all present. Over 365 bird species have been recorded, and the mix of river forest, open plain and bushland means a morning can produce fish eagle, hornbills, raptors over bare ground and dryland specialists in the thorn within a short distance of each other. The birdwatching in Kenya guide covers the national picture.

Expectations need calibrating. Wildlife densities across all three northern reserves are lower than in the Maasai Mara, sightings are spread out, and a drive can run a long time between animals. Travellers who arrive wanting a northern Mara come away flat; travellers who come for Grevy’s zebra, oryx and a quiet vehicle rarely do.

The Bridge, and Getting Between the Reserves

The bridge over the Ewaso Ng’iro linking Samburu and Buffalo Springs has a difficult history. It was destroyed by flooding in March 2010 and rebuilt with military assistance the same year, and it has been damaged again since. Trip reports across several years describe having to leave one reserve, drive out to the main road and re-enter the other through its own gate, which turns a short hop into a substantial detour and a second entry fee.

That is a thing to confirm before travelling rather than a permanent state. Anyone planning to base in one reserve and drive daily into another should ask whether the crossing is open, because the answer changes the itinerary and the cost.

Getting to Buffalo Springs

By road the route from Nairobi runs north on the A2 through Nanyuki and Isiolo, and Buffalo Springs sits on the southern side of the river so it is reached before Samburu on that approach. The tarmac is good as far as Isiolo and rougher after it. The final approaches need a vehicle with clearance.

By air, scheduled light aircraft run from Wilson Airport in Nairobi to the airstrips serving the reserves, taking roughly an hour and removing most of a driving day. The fly-in safaris page covers weight limits and the transfer arrangements.

Most itineraries break the northward drive at Nanyuki or on the Laikipia plateau rather than pushing through in one day, which also puts a night at altitude before dropping into the heat.

Fitting Buffalo Springs Into a Northern Kenya Trip

Buffalo Springs is rarely a destination on its own and does not need to be. It works as one reserve in a block: two or three nights across the group, with the camps positioned so that more than one reserve is reachable, is the usual shape.

The surrounding community conservancies are where walking, night drives, camel trekking and cultural programmes happen, because the reserve rules restrict activity to daytime game drives on the track network. Camel safaris and Samburu cultural experiences cover those activities in full. Further afield, the Mathews Range and Laikipia are the standard second legs of a northern trip.

Buffalo Springs National Reserve Questions

Is Buffalo Springs part of Samburu National Reserve?

No. They are separate reserves in separate counties, divided by the Ewaso Ng’iro. Samburu is north of the river in Samburu County; Buffalo Springs is south of it in Isiolo County. Shaba, further east, is also Isiolo. They share an ecosystem and a species list but not a management, a gate or a ticket.

What does it cost to enter Buffalo Springs?

Isiolo County sets the fee under its own finance legislation, not the Kenya Wildlife Service, so no national park band applies. The county’s published schedule could not be retrieved from an official source at the time of checking in September 2026, because the county assembly’s document portal was offline, so no figure is quoted here. Confirm the current rate with the reserve, your accommodation or your operator before travelling, and budget for separate entries if you plan to visit more than one of the three reserves.

Is Buffalo Springs worth visiting if I am already going to Samburu?

If you are staying in the area for more than two nights, yes, because the terrain genuinely differs. Buffalo Springs is flatter and more open, which makes the dryland species easier to spot on bare ground. If you have only one full day in the region, the extra entry fee and the uncertainty about the river crossing usually argue for spending it properly in one reserve rather than splitting it.

Can I walk or do a night drive here?

Not inside the reserve. Reserve rules restrict activity to daytime game drives on the track network, the same as in Samburu. Walking, night drives, camel trekking and cultural visits happen on the community conservancies that surround the three reserves, which is the usual reason for splitting a northern trip between a reserve and a conservancy.

When is the best time to go?

June to October and January to March are the dry periods, when animals stay tied to the river and the springs and the tracks are all usable. April and May bring the long rains, which scatter the game and green the country but produce the best birding of the year and near-empty reserves. November and December bring the short rains in bursts and often leave plenty of usable days.

How hot does it get?

Genuinely uncomfortable in the middle of the day during the dry months, and the low altitude is the reason. The practical response is the one the camps already use: long game drives at dawn and from mid afternoon, with the middle of the day spent out of the sun. Dawn on an open vehicle is still cold enough to want a layer.

Safaris That Visit Buffalo Springs National Reserve

Every safari listed here that visits Buffalo Springs National Reserve. Each is sold and run by an independent tour company. This site lists them and passes on enquiries; it takes no booking and charges you nothing.

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