Marsabit National Reserve

Altitude: 1,000 to 5,000 feet above sea level.

Area: 1,482 square kilometers

Airstrips: Marsabit Airstrip.

Opened: 1967

Activities: Nature walks, Game and bird viewing.

Map

Marsabit is a forested mountain, which rises spectacularly from the middle of a desert wilderness and provides the only source of permanent ground water in the region. A green oasis, of tranquility and peace. It has three beautiful crater lakes with a myriad of resident birdlife. The most scenic is Lake Paradise, made famous in the early films of Martin Johnson and Vivien de Wattville.

Originally part of a huge reserve which took in Shaba, Samburu, Buffalo Springs and the Losai National Reserve, the mountain was made a national reserve in it’s own right. It is a nomadic rangeland and the droughtland of the Rendile herdsmen. It’s name means “Mountain of cold”.

One of the area’s special residents was Kenya’s most famous elephant, Ahmed – decreed a protected animal by the presidential order of President Jomo Kenyatta in 1970. Ahmed, who boasted some of the biggest tusks ever recorded, had a 24-hour armed guard. When Ahmed died, aged 55, his body and tusks were preserved and are now on display at the Nairobi National Museum.

Other game includes: Greater Kudu, Reticulated Giraffe, Buffalo, Bushbuck, Leopard and Caracal. Over 370 species of birds have been recorded, which include the Somali Ostrich, the rare Masked Lark and over 52 species of raptors (eagles, buzzards & vultures).

The area is especially good for butterfly viewing with a wide variety of species.

There is only one lodge in the park.

Nearby is Losai National Reserve, opened as a single reserve in 1976. It covers 1,806 square kilometers of wild semi-desert landscape characterized by rocky hills, plains and river woodlands, which snake along seasonal rivers. The scenic beauty is breathtaking. The game to view includes; elephant, Greater and Lesser Kudu, Gerenuk and Grant’s Gazelle.