Attractions in Kajiado County
18. Shompole Conservancy
Just a short 28 kms drive south from Lake Magadi sits the inter-territorial 141 km2 Shompole Conservancy, shared between Narok and Kajiado Counties. Set between Amboseli National Park and Masai Mara National Reserve and made up of two community ranches – Olkiramatian and Shompole – this wilderness is teemed with spectacular wildlife. Its location enables holiday-makers to pack many exciting experiences which elsewhere in Kenya will require considerable travel. As a bonus, Shompole is also strategically located between Lake Magadi (north) and Lake Natron (south); two of the famous lakes seen in the southern Rift Valley and the largest hatching spots for the lesser flamingos in the world. Shompole Camp, a small and exclusive camp of only 6-luxury tents, nestled in the shade of the giant fig trees along the banks of the South Ewaso Nyiro River, offers an intimate experience of one of the most beautiful wilderness landscape in Kenya. Other highlights include game safaris, scouting the Shompole swamp, tubing, kayaking, canoeing or walking along River South Ewaso Nyiro, walking with baboons, hiking Shompole Hill or Nguruman, and excursions to the Lakes.
19. Shompole (Ngare Ng’iro) Swamp
Shompole or Ngare Ng’iro Swamp is found within the Ewaso Ng’iro South River floodplain in the Ngare Ng’iro plain. The river flows through this swamp before eventually draining into Lake Natron. The weather in Shompole is marked by a high ambient temperatures and low, bimodal rainfall. Mean annual rainfall varies from 300 to 800 mm. Although this is an arid/semi arid area, Shompole Swamp, along with the Ewaso Ng’iro South River, provides sufficient water for domestic use and for livestock watering. Its significance is highlighted by the fact that during the dry spell, Shompole Wetland is virtually the only grazing land available for livestock. It’s also home to prolific of faunal and floral species.
20. Olkiramatian Conservancy
This is found just a short hop north of the main Shompole Conservancy and was brought together by the association of Maasai landowners to put their land to sustainable use. “Deep in the plains of the Great Rift Valley, beyond the volcanic lunar landscape surrounding the soda lakes of Magadi and Natron, at the heart of Olkirimatian Conservancy, lies the oasis of Lentorre Lodge. Nestled in this natural amphitheater, Lentorre provides uninhibited views of Mt Shompole, Ol Donyo Gelai and the active volcano Ol Donyo Lengai”. Lentorre comprises of four large villas that hold either a double or twin bed configuration, a family villa and the honeymoon villa. The Lodge has a maximum capacity of 16 guests.
21. Nguruman Escarpment
Due west of Shompole Conservancy, among the fine foothills of the Nguruman Escarpment, there is an explosion of splendorous craggy wonder covering the western frontier of Kajiado with Narok, and from the boundary with Tanzania northerly to Mau Complex. The Nguruman Escarpment, gathering the western scarp of the Great Rift Valley, is a belt of dissected country, about 16 kms wide, extending along the western border of Kajiado. From near Mount Suswa, 160 kms north of Shompole, the Nguruman proceeds as the Mau Escarpment before it terminates near Mau Narok, as it forms part of the forested Mau Highland. A popular hiking destination, with many ways to it, Nguruman Escarpment offers lordly view of the Rift Valley. Entasopia Falls is one of Nguruman’s most sought treasures. Ol Doinyo Lengorale, its southernmost hillock, immediately south of the Pagasi River, is one of its best-liked trails. It is found 83 kms from Kiserian.
22. Entasopia Falls
Away from the plains of Narok, the life-giving brown and muddied water of the South Ewaso Nyiro River, sometimes spelt Uaso Ng’iro, flows in a graben valley with Nguruman Enkorika Scarp or Nguruman Escarpment as its western wall on its journey to Lake Natron, the final destination. As it negotiates the course, leaping over one of the abrupt ridges of the Nguruman Escarpment, it forms the wildly-pretty Entasopia Falls nearby Oloibortoto. Originally known as Hayton’s Falls, this is a spell-binding corner of paradise reached along a veritable journey of ecological display – starting at the windswept plains and culminating in the jungly wooded areas near the Falls. Depending on the starting point, it takes on average six hours (round-trip) to hike up Nguruman and reach Entasopia Falls.
23. Lake Natron
The roomy 1,040 km2 Lake Natron along the Kenya-Tanzania Border is globally famous as the largest hatching location for the lesser flamingos, where 2 million flamingos are hatched (75% of the world population), in one of the great natural spectacles in Africa cited by David Attenborough as the “greatest ornithological spectacle on earth.” Lake Natron, 35 kms south of Lake Magadi, mirrors many of its geological oddities to include the white trone lining and the epic pink line formed by thousands of flamingos. It’s watered by the South Ewaso Ngiro River rising in the Mau Highland and terminating at L. Natron’s northern shore via a large swampy delta at Shompole. Travelling to Lake Natron is rated too low and often sold short, and the few who make it here are dumbfounded by the beauty of the area. One of its superb sights is that of Ol Donyo Lengai, Africa’s highest active volcano known simply and soberly to the Maasai as the Mountain of God.
24. Mount Suswa Conservancy
Sometimes known as ‘Ol Doinyo Nyukie’, the dormant volcanic dome of Mount Suswa, popular for its 12 kms long double crater, rises to near 8,000 feet at the summit. 16 kms to the north sits Mount Longonot, another volcanic dome with an breathtaking 9 kms wide caldera set at 9,000 feet. Mount Suswa’s vegetation is, generally speaking, semi-arid, composed of stunted thorn bushes (whistling thorns and Acacia) and patches of grass; but, river and stream beds are often marked by lines of trees and seasonal rivers such as the South Ewaso Nyiro, Siyabei and Kedong, which have thicker vegetation along their banks. On the central island block and in the annular trench, the vegetation consists of more evergreen smoggy woodlands. Suswa is shared mainly by Narok, Nakuru and Kajiado Counties. A small part of the eastern side falls within Kiambu County.
It is possible to drive up Mount Suswa as far as the foot of the outer caldera wall, although a four-wheel-drive vehicles is necessary. The main Nairobi-Mai Mahiu-Narok Road, that winds across the northern part of Suswa, is the most popular approach. Mount Suswa has many memorable sights, to include: Ol Doinyo Nyukie or the “red mountain”, which is a remnants of the highest point of Suswa – a separate cone on the southwest side of the inner caldera. On the eastern side of Mount Suswa, are located its famous lava tunnels and geysers first reported by Hobden in 1962, which extend for several kilometres into the mountain, and provide a rare audit of mountain geology. North of Suswa, sits the mystifying Mount Longonot alongside numerous ash and cinder cones and hills rising above the Akira plains. Wildlife is plentiful here, particularly on the plains around Suswa, where many varieties of antelope and zebras can be seen.
Abiri Kenya 