Shompole Conservancy Area is located in a wild and remote corner of southern Kenya, between
the Rift Valley lakes of
Magadi to the east (in Kenya),
Lake Natron to the south (Tanzania), the Nguruman Escarpment to the west and Olkiramatian Ranch to the north.
The entire protected area, which covers an area of over 62.000 hectares, was registered in 1979 and assigned to the
Loodokilani Maasai community which today has more than 2000 inhabitants, contributes both to the safeguarding of this extraordinary natural habitat and to directly benefit the local community.
The journey to reach this destination is not the easiest but what awaits you upon arrival will make the difference: here you can admire isolated Maasai Villages, be enchanted by the spectacular views visible from the escarpments along the western
Rift Valley wall and photographing wild animals that populate the area.
Shompole conservancy area has a generally dry climate, which tends to be arid between October and November and then becomes more humid in April and May. The flora has also adapted to these hard conditions and includes majestic
acacia trees, thorny shrubs and a myriad of
Salvadora Persica, a small evergreen tree typical of India, Middle East and Africa, also known as the "toothbrush tree" because of its twigs, used by the local community for their oral hygiene.
Only in the depressions within the Rift Valley it is possible to come across green grasslands in contrast with the arid areas of the surrounding savannah.
From the
forest of Mau, located in the northern part, the main water source of the entire area is born:
the Ewaso Ng'iro river. Its waters give life to the whole area and continue along the river bed to then flow into
Lake Natron. Along its banks, the vegetation changes radically, leaving room for a lush bush that often attracts specimens of wildlife such as
giraffes, buffaloes, elephants and desert antelopes.
