Samburu District was a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

in the

Rift Valley Province Rift Valley Province () of Kenya, bordering Uganda, was one of Kenya's eight provinces, before the 2013 Kenyan general election. Rift Valley Province was the largest and one of the most economically important provinces in Kenya. It was dominated ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. It covered an area of roughly 21,000 km² (8,000 mi²) in northern

where the Samburu tribe live. The district had a population of 143,547 in the 1999 census. It stretched north from the Wuaso Ng'iro River to the south of

Lake Turkana Lake Turkana () is a saline lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, in northern Kenya, with its far northern end crossing into Ethiopia. It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake. By volume it is the world ...

and also includes

Mount Kulal Mount Kulal is an eroded extinct volcano located in northern Kenya, just east of Lake Turkana. The mountain has an elevation of . The lakeside town of Loiyangalani is located west of Mount Kulal. Mount Kulal has been a biosphere reserve ...

which lies just east of Lake Turkana. The Samburu region was initially administered as part of the

Northern Frontier District The Northern Frontier Province or Northern Province, or initially referred to as 'Northern Frontier District' (NFD) was one of the provinces of British Kenya. Originally, the Northern Frontier covered the northern region of East Africa Protectorat ...

until 1921 when Samburu District (also known as Maralal District) was created. The district was headquartered at Barsaloi. In 1928, the district was merged with Gurba Tula to form the

Isiolo District Isiolo District was an administrative district in Eastern Province of Kenya, with its capital at Isiolo town. The district's origin go back to when the Garba Tula and Bulesa areas was carved out of Wajir District, between 1917 and 1918. The dis ...

, only to be separated in 1934 for the former to join

. In 1935, Samburu and

Laikipia Laikipia County is one of the 47 counties of Kenya, located on the Equator in the former Rift Valley Province. Laikipia is a cosmopolitan county and is listed as county number 31. The county has two major urban centres: Nanyuki to the southeast ...

were merged within the Rift Valley Province, where they remained in place until 1947 when they were separated. Several merges will follow thereafter until 1962 when Samburu was as one of the districts of Rift Valley of Kenya. Within Samburu district were the towns of Maralal (capital), Baragoi,

Archers Post Archers Post is a settlement in Kenya's Samburu County, which is home to the Samburu people. Nearby villages include Lerata. The land belongs to the Kenyan government. There is a large military training area to the north east of Archer's Post w ...

, South Horr, Wamba and Lodosoit. It also included the

Samburu National Reserve Samburu National Reserve is a game reserve on the banks of the Ewaso Ng'iro river in Kenya. It is in size and is from Nairobi. It ranges in elevation from . Geographically and administratively, it is part of Samburu County. In the middle of th ...

and

Buffalo Springs National Reserve Buffalo Springs National Reserve is a protected area in Isiolo County, Kenya. Organization The reserve was established in 1948 as part of the Samburu - Isiolo Game Reserve and the present boundaries were established in 1985. The reserve is manag ...

, Mount Ng'iro, Ndoro Mountains, Mathews Range (Ol Doinyo Lenkiyo), Kirisia Hills, and Loroki Forest. By the 2000s, the district was non-existent as it had been split into smaller districts of Samburu Central, Samburu East and Samburu West districts. They all had a population of 223,946. In 2010, after the promulgation of the new

constitution of Kenya The Constitution of Kenya is the supreme law of the Republic of Kenya. There have been three significant versions of the constitution, with the most recent redraft being enabled in 2010. The constitution was presented to the Attorney General ...

, counties were to be created based on the districts of Kenya that existed prior to 1992. This effectively led to the creation of Samburu County.

District subdivision

The district had two constituencies: Samburu East Constituency and Samburu West Constituency; two local authorities: Maralal Town Council and Samburu County Council; six divisions: Baragoi, Kirisia, Lorroki, Nyiro, Wamba, and Waso.

Demographics

References

Former districts of Kenya {{RiftValleyKE-geo-stub