Ewaso Nyiro is to the Samburu what the Nile is to Egyptians

Save the Elephants founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton addresses participants during the launch of Google's Samburu Street View technology at the organisation's visitors Centre in Samburu on September 15,2015. The initiative enables online visitors to explore and navigate a real-time panoramic view of the Samburu National Reserve. PHOTO | KENNEDY KIMANTHI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The game reserve offers the beauty of untamed wilderness after recovering from a horrific period of poaching in the last 10 years.
  • Conservation efforts initiated by the county government and other non-profit organisations are finally paying off and the park is reclaiming its top spot on the world tourism map.
  • The beehive fences have been found to be an effective elephant deterrent compared to other traditional methods such as thorn bush barriers.

In the sun-baked, arid and expansive Samburu National Reserve, pass the waters of the Ewaso Ng'iro, which means life in the local parlance.

The river is to the Samburu what the Nile is to the Egyptians as it draws numerous wildlife and residents to its banks like a magnet.

The game reserve offers the beauty of untamed wilderness after recovering from a horrific period of poaching in the last 10 years.

Conservation efforts initiated by the county government and other non-profit organisations are finally paying off and the park is reclaiming its top spot on the world tourism map.

Recently, SafariBookings, a Netherlands travel website, ranked Samburu National Reserve 25th among the top 50 safari parks in Africa.

The reserve, about 350 kilometres from Nairobi, can be reached by road or an hour’s flight from Wilson Airport.

Last week, together with colleagues from other media houses, we were driven around the park from the Samburu Oryx Airstrip in off-road vehicles.

The park is home to elephants, lions, cheetahs, giraffes, oryx and guinea fowls and is managed by the Kenya Wildlife Service.

For those who want the camping experience, canvas tents offering a blend of luxury and nature are available to sleep in.

Regular patrols ensure that elephant poaching has declined.

At the neatly maintained entrance of the Save the Elephants visitors centre, one is greeted by a wreckage of a Toyota Hilux pickup trampled on by an elephant in 2002.

Two researchers, George Wittemyer and Daniel Lentipo, survived the attack and lived to tell the story.

There is also a collection of skulls of elephants that have either been killed or died of natural causes.

The park is also unique in that the residents easily cohabit with wild animals. The Samburus have been able to reduce cases of human-wildlife conflict by using honey bees to ward off elephants which stray into their farms.

The beehive fences have been found to be an effective elephant deterrent compared to other traditional methods such as thorn bush barriers.

Some elephants are also fitted with GPS-GSM collars to track their movements using satellite technology.

Equipped with these, the animals are tracked on a daily basis using a Google Earth interface.

The park added another feather to its cap after online giant Google launched its free online mapping service in the park.