Expeditions

Rising from the arid plains of northeastern Samburu, the Ndoto Mountains are one of East Africa's most breathtaking landscapes. Jagged granite peaks give way to lush forested valleys and hidden natural pools. Mount Manmanet towers above the range, its slopes sheltering extraordinary wildlife, while the Milgis luggah winds between the mountains and the Matthews Range, its sandy banks alive with elephants, kudu, gazelles and monkeys.

Ajabu Wild organises this small-group trekking and camping expedition in close partnership with local communities. Every night we set up camp in a different location (deep in the valley, in the midst of the forest, or on an escarpment with a stunning sunset), with some days involving significant elevation gain, rewarded with sweeping views over the plains and the Milgis luggah below. Along the way we stop at natural pools to bathe and refresh.

Days are spent reading the landscape; evenings belong to the fire, with Samburu guides sharing stories and folklore passed down through generations. Your guides and porters perform their ancient rituals to honour the mountain and the forest, giving you a rare, unscripted insight into their spiritual connection to a landscape that provides them food, pasture and medicine.

This three-night mini-expedition threads through some of the Kenyan Rift Valley's wildest and least-visited corners. Night one is spent on the shores of Kokwe Island, the largest inhabited island on Lake Baringo, a freshwater oasis ringed by rocky escarpments and alive with fish eagles, hippos, crocodiles, and the Ilchamus fishing communities who have called its shores home for generations.

From there the route pushes north into Turkana County to Kapedo, a remote frontier village where the Suguta River meets a set of geothermal waterfalls: hot, mineral-rich cascades tumbling roughly 50 metres over a rocky escarpment, and for centuries a meeting point for Turkana and Pokot herders watering their livestock.

The final leg climbs east of Kapedo to Mount Silali, a dormant shield volcano holding one of the Rift Valley's largest calderas: a five-by-eight-kilometre volcanic bowl reached on foot via the bat-filled Silale lava caves, where we pitch our third and final camp on a plateau inside the crater itself. Especially for these last two nights, Turkana and Pokot communities work together to guide the way, helping to cement the peace that has taken hold in this area thanks to Interpeace's peacebuilding work.