There are roughly 600,000 elephant in Africa. Approximately 34,000 of them live in Kenya. Of those, a significant number move through the Mathews Range — a 300,000-hectare block of forested highland in Kenya’s Samburu County — without being counted, photographed by tourists, or disturbed by vehicles.
The Mathews Range is the most uncommercialised major wildlife area in Kenya. One camp of note exists: Sarara, managed by the Namunyak Wildlife Conservation Trust. Tourist infrastructure is minimal. The access route from Samburu National Reserve or Nairobi involves 6-7 hours of increasingly remote driving. For a specific type of traveller — one who values genuine wilderness and is not primarily counting species — it is one of the most compelling experiences in East Africa.
What Is the Mathews Range?
The Mathews Range (also called Ol Doinyo Lenkiyo in Samburu) is a forested highland massif rising to 2,688 metres in Kenya’s arid north. It sits in an otherwise semi-desert landscape between Samburu County’s scrub plains and the northern reaches toward Lake Turkana.
The range functions as a wet island in a dry landscape. Mist collects on the highland forest, feeding rivers and springs that attract wildlife from an enormous surrounding catchment. The Ewaso Ng’iro river system connects the Mathews Range to Samburu National Reserve and Buffalo Springs to the south — a wildlife corridor that large bulls use to move between the forested highlands and the lowland reserves.
The Namunyak Wildlife Conservation Trust manages approximately 350,000 hectares of Samburu community land here. Formed in 1995 as a community conservation initiative, Namunyak uses revenue from Sarara Camp to fund anti-poaching operations, community schools, and Samburu ranger training. The conservation model is among the strongest in northern Kenya, with direct financial linkage between tourism income and community outcomes.
Wildlife in the Mathews Range
The Mathews Range is primarily an elephant landscape. The forested interior holds significant populations of elephant that use the forest for shelter, mineral licks, and food resources unavailable on the open plains below. These are generally larger bulls — mature males that have moved away from breeding herds and need the safety that difficult terrain provides.
Elephant encounters here are categorically different from encounters on the Mara or Amboseli plains. Walking through their terrain with Samburu rangers trained in wildlife tracking is a ground-level experience that a game drive vehicle cannot replicate. The ranger reads the tracks, the broken branches, the smell of nearby animals — and the approach to an elephant becomes something participatory rather than observational.
Other species present include: greater kudu (a forest-edge species rarely seen in the main northern reserves), leopard (forest density makes sightings rare but tracks are everywhere), reticulated giraffe on the lower slopes, Grevy’s zebra in the valley bottoms, and the full Samburu Special Five in the approaches from the south.
Bird diversity is high. The forest holds highland species absent from the lowland reserves, and the transition between montane forest birds and semi-arid savannah birds on the descent from the Mathews Range toward Samburu is a distinct birding experience.
Sarara Camp
Sarara Camp is a five-tent luxury tented property on the Mathews Range’s western foothills, overlooking a waterhole that draws elephants consistently at dawn and dusk. It is the primary accommodation option in the area and the reason the Mathews Range appears in any safari planning conversation.
Location: Western foothills of the Mathews Range, above the Ngeng Valley. The camp’s position gives views across the valley and direct access to the waterhole and the forest edge.
What the camp offers:
- Guided walking safaris with Samburu rangers who have tracked these forests for years
- Night-time waterhole hide sessions, with elephants at 10-30 metres in darkness
- Visits to the Singing Wells — a traditional Samburu cattle-watering ceremony that involves herders singing to their cattle as they lower water by hand
- Vehicle game drives on the lower slopes and into the valley
- Cultural exchange with the Namunyak community
Rates (approximately 2026): USD 700-1,000 per person per night, all-inclusive. The price directly funds the Namunyak Conservation Trust structure — rangers, schools, anti-poaching patrols.
Capacity: Five tents, maximum ten guests. In practice, the camp frequently runs at lower occupancy — four to six guests total is common outside peak season. This is not a property where a large group shares the space with strangers.
Notable feature: Sarara’s pool is carved from natural rock on the hillside above the camp, with views across the Ngeng Valley. It is the most unexpected luxury amenity in northern Kenya.
The Mathews Range in a Northern Kenya Circuit
The Mathews Range works best as part of a wider northern Kenya itinerary. The driving distances and the transition from conventional reserve to community forest require enough time to make the journey worthwhile.
The standard circuit:
| Stage | Location | Nights | What It Adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samburu National Reserve | 3 | Special Five, classic northern Kenya |
| 2 | Mathews Range (Sarara) | 2-3 | Forest elephant, walking safaris, community experience |
| 3 (optional) | Shaba National Reserve | 2 | Volcanic landscape, fewer visitors |
| 4 (optional) | Lake Turkana | 3 | Far north, jade sea, Turkana culture |
A combined Samburu-Mathews Range circuit of five to six nights is the minimum to justify the travel distances. Adding Lake Turkana produces one of the most distinctive northern Kenya itineraries available.
Getting There
By road from Nairobi: Six to seven hours via the A2 north to Isiolo, then murram roads west toward Wamba. A good 4×4 is essential. A standard saloon car cannot make this drive.
By road from Samburu National Reserve: Three to four hours of murram road northwest. This is the standard connection for a combined Samburu-Mathews Range itinerary.
By air charter: Light aircraft can land at the Sarara airstrip from Wilson Airport (approximately 1.5 hours’ flight) or from Samburu (Lewa or Archer’s Post airstrip, 20-30 minutes). Air charter eliminates the road sections but also removes part of the experience — the approach by road through Samburu manyattas, goat herds, and increasingly untouched bushland is itself part of arriving at Sarara.
Who This Destination Suits
The Mathews Range is not the right choice for travellers who need to complete the Big Five in a single trip, or who want predictable luxury amenities at every sleep stop. Vehicle-based game drive frequency is lower here than in Samburu or the Mara; wildlife is found by reading the landscape rather than driving to recent GPS sightings logged by other operators.
It suits travellers who have already done the Mara, Amboseli, or Samburu and want the next layer of the Kenya experience. Travellers specifically interested in elephant ecology and community conservation models. Travellers who want an experience that cannot be replicated at any more accessible destination — because it cannot, in any meaningful sense. And travellers with ten or more days to build a broader northern Kenya circuit.
Practical Planning
Best time to visit: November to March (dry and access is reliable). June to October is also good. April and May can see the access roads become challenging after heavy rain.
What to pack: Walking safari footwear (closed-toe, ankle support), long-sleeved shirts for evening walking in the forest, a warm layer for dawn drives and night sessions at the waterhole. The highland altitude means evenings are genuinely cool.
Combining with other northern destinations: Mathews Range and Lake Turkana form a natural pair for travellers interested in Kenya’s far north. Adding Shaba National Reserve — a compact, seldom-visited park south of Samburu with volcanic rock formations and its own wildlife character — creates a diverse circuit.
There are places in Kenya where the landscape has not changed in substance from what it was before tourism existed as an industry. The Mathews Range is one of them.