Isiolo
Discover Isiolo
Isiolo is prime for game conservation country. Safari operators guide visitors on tours of these lands to see the great cats; African ungulate species like giraffe, elephant, oryx; and even crocodiles. There is little to do in Isiolo proper outside of the reserves. The social life in the town revolves around drinking and chewing Miraa (qhat). There is a nightclub in town that plays mostly early 1990s techno-pop.
What to Experience in Isiolo
Taste of Isiolo...
The Saala Hotel has a full-service restaurant, offering options like goat soup, chicken kyiv, pan fish, and chicken tikka.
Essential Information
Getting There
Multiple OptionsIsiolo is prime for game conservation country. Safari operators guide visitors on tours of these lands to see the great cats; African ungulate species like giraffe, elephant, oryx; and even crocodiles. There is little to do in Isiolo proper outside of the reserves. The social life in the town revolves around drinking and chewing Miraa (qhat). There is a nightclub in town that plays mostly early 1990s techno-pop. These are based in Nairobi, but offer safari tours of Samburu and possibly the other reserves: Isiolo is a center for copper, brass, and aluminum jewelry-making and has a large market. The Saala Hotel has a full-service restaurant, offering options like goat soup, chicken kyiv, pan fish, and chicken tikka....
Getting Around & Staying
Getting Around
Isiolo is prime for game conservation country. Safari operators guide visitors on tours of these lands to see the great cats; African ungulate species like giraffe, elephant, oryx; and even crocodiles. There is little to do in Isiolo proper outside of the reserves. The social life in the town revolves around drinking and chewing Miraa (qhat). There is a nightclub in town that plays mostly early 1990s techno-pop. These are based in Nairobi, but offer safari tours of Samburu and possibly the other reserves: Isiolo is a center for copper, brass, and aluminum jewelry-making and has a large market. The Saala Hotel has a full-service restaurant, offering options like goat soup, chicken kyiv, pan fish, and chicken tikka.
Money & Budget
Isiolo is a center for copper, brass, and aluminum jewelry-making and has a large market. The Saala Hotel has a full-service restaurant, offering options like goat soup, chicken kyiv, pan fish, and chicken tikka.
Safety Information
Glimpses of Isiolo
Lion moving at night. Photo taken at half a second shutter speed, ISO 2000, attempting to pan with a lion’s movements in almost total darkness. Not surprisingly its blurry, but I still like the feeling it evokes of the stealthy movement of a lion stalking at night. The title is a play on the names of the two man-eating lions of Tsavo in Kenya, “the Ghost”, and “the Darkness”, which killed and ate over 30 people when the Uganda - Mombasa railway was being built in 1898. There is a film about the man-eating lions of Tsavo, starring Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer, which is worth seeing.
After struggling up a steep bank, an elephant manages to climb out of the waterhole. Lewa conservancy, Kenya.
Yawning cheetah. A cheetah yawns and displays its teeth. Lewa conservancy, Kenya.
The aim is to search yourself in all the clusters around us.
Nanyuki - Meru - Isiolo junction off the scenic Mt. Kenya safari
A beautiful reticulated giraffe in Lewa Conservancy in Kenya. I think this type of giraffe has the most geometrical and starkly contrasting pattern, and is therefore perhaps the most photogenic of the different types of giraffes.
Samburu hills. A classic African landscape, with a view of the hills in Samburu National Park, taken from Lewa Conservancy. There is a somewhat flat-topped hill to the left of the two peaks, barely visible in the haze, which is sacred to the Samburu people. In the valley below, we spotted white rhinos, elephants and buffalo.
Elephants and rhinos can do a lot of damage to trees, sometimes even killing them. This acacia tree in Lewa Conservancy has a bonsai look to it due to animal damage.
Black rhinos. A mother and baby black rhino in Lewa Conservancy, Kenya. The people at Lewa are world leaders in conservation and anti-poaching. It is my hope that my photos will somehow help in conserving wildlife and wilderness areas. I also design camouflage for anti-poaching use, see the page “Anti-poaching Camouflage” on my web site camouflagepatterns.wordpress.com, which is presently number one on Google. This photo has been published in a beautiful book "The world as it once was" by George Dian Balan.
Cheetah. With a bloated belly from a huge meal, this cheetah was resting and recovering after the chase and the meal. The photo was taken in low light after sundown at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya.
Lion moving at night. Photo taken at half a second shutter speed, ISO 2000, attempting to pan with a lion’s movements in almost total darkness. Not surprisingly its blurry, but I still like the feeling it evokes of the stealthy movement of a lion stalking at night. The title is a play on the names of the two man-eating lions of Tsavo in Kenya, “the Ghost”, and “the Darkness”, which killed and ate over 30 people when the Uganda - Mombasa railway was being built in 1898. There is a film about the man-eating lions of Tsavo, starring Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer, which is worth seeing.
After struggling up a steep bank, an elephant manages to climb out of the waterhole. Lewa conservancy, Kenya.
Yawning cheetah. A cheetah yawns and displays its teeth. Lewa conservancy, Kenya.