The Samburu/Buffalo Springs and Shaba National Reserves are among the most pleasant in Kenya, and relatively undiscovered. The permanent forest shade on the banks of the Ewaso Niyo river offer wonderful year-round game viewing and the birdlife is unusually numerous.

The Samburu is a narrow plain giving way to rocky hillsides which are home to leopard. Buffalo Springs is mainly a rolling plain of volcanic soils with dry riverbeds lined by doum palms. It is the unique wildlife, including the gerenuk, Grevy's zebra, beisa oryx and reticulated giraffe that attracts many visitors to this area.

A highlight of these Parks is watching large numbers of elephant bathing in the Ewaso Nyiro River. Shaba, which lies to the east of the other two reserves, is scenically dramatic, with the River running through deep gorges and waterfalls. Mount Bodech and Shaba Hill dominate the landscape, and the plains are dotted with springs, small swamps and rocky hills.