There are roughly 600,000 elephant in Africa. Approximately 34,000 of them live in Kenya. Of those, an unknown but 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 completely uncommercialised major wildlife area in Kenya. It has one camp of note (Sarara Camp, managed by Namunyak Wildlife Conservation Trust), minimal tourist infrastructure, and an access route from Samburu National Reserve or Nairobi that involves 6-7 hours of increasingly remote driving. For a specific type of traveler — P4 solo or small-group, interested in exclusivity and genuine wilderness rather than curated game drives — it is one of the best experiences in East Africa.

This is not a comparison with more accessible destinations. It is a description of what the Mathews Range actually is, and who it is for.

What Is the Mathews Range?

The Mathews Range (also called the Mathews Mountains or 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 further 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 area. The Ewaso Ng’iro river system connects the Mathews Range to Samburu National Reserve and Buffalo Springs to the south — a wildlife corridor that big 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. Revenue from Sarara Camp funds anti-poaching, community schools, and Samburu ranger training. The conservation model is among the strongest in northern Kenya.

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 in the Mathews Range are different in character from encounters on the Mara or Amboseli plains. You are walking through their terrain, not observing from a vehicle at a respectful distance. Guided walks with Samburu rangers trained in wildlife tracking bring you into this landscape at ground level, with the forest sounds and the track-reading that walking safari offers.

Other species present in the Mathews Range include: greater kudu (a forest-edge species rarely seen in the main northern reserves), leopard (forest density means sightings are 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 contrast between montane forest birds and semi-arid savannah birds on the descent from Sarara to Samburu National Reserve makes a morning walk genuinely rewarding for birders.

Sarara Camp: The Only Option That Matters

Sarara Camp is a 5-tent (plus a swimming pool camp) luxury tented property managed by Namunyak Wildlife Conservation Trust with a commercial partnership operating the hospitality side. It is the reason the Mathews Range appears in travel conversations at all.

Location: On the Mathews Range’s western foothills, overlooking a waterhole that draws elephants, especially at dawn and dusk.

What it offers:

• Guided walking safaris with Samburu rangers
• Night-time waterhole hide with elephant at 10-30 metres
• Singing Wells (a traditional Samburu cattle watering ceremony) visits
• Vehicle game drives on the lower slopes and into the valley
• Cultural exchange with the Namunyak community that manages the conservancy

Rates (2026 approx.): USD 700-1,000 per person per night, full board. The price funds the entire Namunyak Conservation Trust structure — rangers, schools, anti-poaching.

Capacity: 5 tents means a maximum of 10 guests. In practice, the camp often runs at lower occupancy — 4-6 guests total is common outside peak season.

Swimming pool: Sarara’s pool is carved from natural rock at the hillside above the camp. The view is across the Ngeng Valley. It is the most unexpected luxury amenity in northern Kenya.

The Mathews Range Within a Northern Kenya Circuit

The Mathews Range is best visited as part of a wider northern Kenya itinerary rather than a standalone destination. The natural circuit:

A combined Samburu-Mathews Range circuit of 5-6 nights is the minimum to make the travel distances worthwhile. The drive from Samburu National Reserve to Sarara is approximately 3.5-4 hours on murram roads through increasingly remote country.

Trunktrails Safaris operates this northern circuit with private vehicle transfers and can include air charter options from Nairobi or Samburu to reduce road time for travelers with tighter schedules.

How to Get to the Mathews Range

By road from Nairobi: 6-7 hours via the A2 north to Isiolo, then murram roads west toward Wamba. The route is navigable in a good 4×4 but not in a standard saloon car.

By road from Samburu National Reserve: 3.5-4 hours of murram road northwest. This is the standard connection for a Samburu-Mathews Range itinerary.

By air charter: Light aircraft can land at the Sarara airstrip from Wilson Airport (approx. 1.5 hours) or from Samburu (Lewa or Archer’s Post airstrip, 20-30 minutes). Air charter adds cost but eliminates the extended road sections. For travelers who prize the ground experience of the approach, the road is actually part of the journey — passing through Samburu manyattas, goat herds, and increasingly untouched bushland before Sarara comes into view.

Who Is the Mathews Range Right For?

The Mathews Range is the wrong destination for travelers who:

• Need to see the Big Five in a single trip
• Want vehicle density as validation (“we saw 8 elephants today” counts for nothing here — you may walk with a single bull for an hour)
• Require predictable luxury amenities at every sleep stop
• Have only 4-5 days total for Kenya

It is the right destination for travelers who:

• Have already done Mara, Amboseli, or Samburu and want the next layer
• Are specifically interested in elephant ecology and community conservation
• Want an experience that cannot be replicated at any more accessible destination
• Have 10+ days to build a broader northern Kenya circuit around it 🌍

The Trunktrails Advantage

Trunktrails Safaris operates the northern Kenya circuit to the Mathews Range annually. Our Nairobi-based team has direct relationships with Sarara Camp and the Namunyak Trust team on the ground.

We plan the road logistics accurately — not the optimistic “4-hour drive” estimates that some operators use, but the real road-state-dependent transfer times that allow you to arrive before dark and leave without rushing. We brief clients on what to expect from walking safaris in elephant country: how the ranger-guide communication works, what the protocol is in an elephant encounter, and why this kind of encounter is categorically different from anything a game drive vehicle provides.

Our tours and safaris to northern Kenya treat the Mathews Range as a destination that deserves its own itinerary planning, not an add-on to a Samburu package. If you are ready for the north, contact us and we will build it properly.

There are places in Kenya where you feel the weight of what Africa is before human infrastructure arrived. The Mathews Range is one of them.

Contact Trunktrails Safaris to plan your northern Kenya itinerary: WhatsApp: +254 113 208888 Email: info@trunktrailssafaris.com Website: https://trunktrailssafaris.com

TRA Licensed | Nairobi-based | Specialist tours and safaris in northern Kenya including Mathews Range and Lake Turkana circuits.

Image credits: Photo by Juan Riofrio on Pexels; Photo by Derek Keats on Pexels; Photo by Gwladys Nicimbikije on Pexels; Photo by L v A on Pexels; Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels