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1 August 2025ADVENTURE STORIES
A Journey Through Samburu and Tsavo West
I recently had the privilege of going on an educational trip to Samburu National Reserve as well as Tsavo West (Lumo Conservancy)- my hosts, the amazing Soroi Collection. For those of you that might be wondering what exactly an educational trip is, allow me to explain. This is when we identify either areas or lodging companies that we either are not to familiar with or haven't visited in a while, we will then send a guide to go visit these areas/lodges to scout if this is a potential destination worth sending future guests to. And boy was i impressed, not only by Samburu and Tsavo but especially by the Soroi Collection. The lodges I stayed at was Soroi Larsens Camp in Samburu followed by Soroi Lions Bluff Lodge in Tsavo, but more about the lodges later on in this blog.
About an hour's flight in a Northerly direction from Nairobi you will arrive at Samburu Kalama Airstrip. Waiting for you at the airstrip will be a friendly face from Soroi eager to assist you with your luggage onto the vehicle. From there about a 45 minute transfer through some of the local villages in the Samburu area and you will arrive at the Samburu National Reserve.
One of the main reasons to visit Samburu is to try your luck in seeing the Samburu Famous Five. These are 5 animal species that can only be seen at Samburu. In order of the photos below these 5 animal species are; the Reticulated Giraffe, Somali Ostrich, Beisa Oryx, Grevy's Zebra and the very odd looking Gerenuk.
Even though it really is fun and exciting to look for these rare animals Samburu has so much more than the Famous Five, we saw a cheetah attempting to hunt Grant's Gazelle, a beautiful male lion crossing the Ewaso Nyiro River and even a young female leopard posing on some rocks. Besides the cats, we saw plenty of elephants (they came to the river right in-front of the lodge daily) and a lot of other more general antelope like impala and gazelles.
So in terms of game viewing, Samburu ticked all of the right boxes. How about the lodge? Soroi Larsens Camp is special, intimate and will engrave itself onto your heart. Everything is done so well, from the staff, the accommodation, the food-my goodness the food is good, the pool and the photographic hide. There are 12 luxury tents, family suites and two deluxe tented suites with starbeds (these are beds that are on stilts and you basically sleep under the stars- what an experience).
After 2 unforgettable nights at Soroi Larsens Camp I took a flight back to Nairobi in time to catch my train ride to Tsavo. Yes, you read correctly, a train ride.I was sceptical at first when I saw on my itinerary that I have a 4 hour 15 minute train ride from Nairobi station to Voi Station. The scepticism was quickly put to bed once I got onto the train- the reason being is because I was in premium class. This is vital- if ever you do want to take the train, make sure you are booking premium class, the reason being is that you get included lounge access, you skip all queues and most importantly you are seated in your own little cubicle with seats that can go all the way down so you could get some shut eye. The scenery from the train is beautiful and for the last hour of the ride you go past Tsavo East National Park and I spotted plenty of elephants from the train.
Once you arrive at the small town of Voi you will again be greeted by a friendly Soroi representative and be driven to the lodge. Note that you will get to the lodge after dark and therefor miss your afternoon game drive. As I got to Soroi Lions Bluff lodge I was greeted with a lovely dinner and was then escorted to my beautiful room, little did I know what I was going to wake up to.
The next morning, after I made some coffee in my room, I opened the curtains and then wow! I honestly don't have words to describe the view from the Lions Bluff Rooms. So these rooms are built on top of a mountain and overlooks the savannah as far as the eye can see. It really is next level beautiful. The rooms have ceiling to floor windows so that you can enjoy the view from anywhere within the room, even from the bathroom. A real highlight for me was the outdoor shower with this same breathtaking view. Please have a look at the video of the room tour at the bottom of this blog.
I had to eventually force myself out of the room so that we could go on game drive. I heard lions roaring the whole night so naturally went to go look for these lions and this proved to be successful as we found a whole pride of them on a rocky outcrop not too far from the lodge, this rocky outcrop is appropriately called Lions Rock.
On the two game drives I went on we saw lions (multiple times), cheetah, eland, Masai giraffe, Coke's Hartebeest, Burchell's Zebra and much more.
Every now and again I had to remind myself that I am not "just" on holiday but also had to see the view from a Wild Eye guest perspective. And of course this means photographic opportunities. Both Samburu and Tsavo offer great photographic opportunities, I did however prefer the landscape at Samburu (there is just something about a river and palm trees that do it for me).
The thing about Wild Eye is that we always seek out lodges and destinations that our photographic guests would enjoy as well as benefit from. And this is truly where Soroi steps up. At both Larsens Camp and Lions Bluff Lodge Soroi has built underground photographic hides overlooking small waterholes. They have also made these hides overnight ready with comfortable beds. They have also fitted the hides with 3 floodlights overlooking the waterhole, one light to the right of the waterhole, the other to the left and the last on the the roof of the hide. This means that you can control which light is on by a switch within the hide to create perfect side lit photos or front on lit photos.
Both hides also have a live stream camera so you could keep the live feed on and be on your bed and see what animals are approaching- this was amazing as you could be in the comfort of your bed and see when to get in position behind the camera.
Soroi really did a great job with these hides and I honestly would encourage photographers to make use of them. During the day the waterhole also attracts birds coming for a bath. Please check out the videos of the hides at the end of this blog.
All in all, I am really impressed with the Soroi collection and both reserves I visited. These are all parts of Kenya that are not so well known. This is also a good thing as it means these parks are not crowded with vehicles and people.
Soroi has great attention to detail and will go out of their way to ensure that you have a very memorable experience with them.
I can't wait to host my first private safari using Soroi lodges in both Samburu and Tsavo.
Will you be the one joining me...
Until next time,
I find purpose in educating people about wildlife and the most iconic wildlife destinations, as this contributes to conservation. Creating memories, chasing sunsets and building lasting relationships with like minded people is what fulfils me.
PERFECT ADD ON TO A WEEK IN THE MASAI MARA
Why not extend your stay in Kenya with a week in the Masai Mara with the Wild Eye Enkishui Camp