Location: Buffalo Springs main gate, 355km north of Nairobi, approx. 4 hrs.
The Shaba National Reserve is home to elephants, lions, cheetahs, grevy's zebras, giraffes, gerenuks, buffalos, oryx, grants gazelles, dikdiks and waterbucks. This was also where the renowned Born Free author Joy Adamson spent her final years. Shaba was subject of her final book Queen of Sheba. The reserve was also put on the world map when it served as the location of the hit US reality series Survivor in 2001 making it the first African destination to be featured on Survivor.

Named after an oasis of limpid crystal clear water at the western end of the sanctuary, you will find the unpredictable kori bustard at the Buffalo Springs National Reserve. You are also likely to spot the Somali ostrich, which is distinguished from the Maasai ostrich by its indigo legs and neck.

Wildlife rhythms: Vegetation dies back in dry seasons (June to October and December to April), and large animals concentrate near springs and the Ewaso Nyiro river, dispersing across the parks soon after rain.

Wildlife highlights: Healthy numbers of predators, with lions, leopards and cheetahs frequently seen; also spotted and striped hyenas, bat-eared foxes and hunting dogs (rare). Elephants, buffaloes, hippos, plains zebras, reticulated giraffes, lesser and greater kudus complemented by herbivores typical of semiarid plains: Grevy's zebras, beisa oryxes, gerenuks, Kirk's and Gunther's dik-diks, and the northern race of Grant's gazelle. Good pickings among 395 bird species, includes 47 birds of prey, Somali ostriches, vulturine guineafowl, Ver-reaux's eagle-owls, sand-grouse and hornbills.

What to do: Game drives, Samburu village visits.

Watching tips: Nile crocodiles are fed at various lodges along the Ewaso Nyiro river. Leopards lie up in tall acacias or dense vegetation near the river. Klip-springers may be seen on outcrops near Dakadima Hill in Shaba. Caracals are most frequently encountered in Shaba and northern Samburu.