The Shaba National Reserve is a rugged wilderness featuring bubbling hot springs, rolling savannah, miles of scrub & desert and the Ewaso Nyiro River which supports a diversity of wildlife.

Shaba is part of three small adjoining savannah National Reserves that lie on either side of the Northern Ewaso Ngiro River, 340km North, North East of Nairobi (Samburu, Buffalo Springs and Shaba). They were established in 1948 as the Samburu Isiolo Game Reserve. Now they are managed by their respective county councils, Samburu and Isiolo.

The reserve consists of a low lying, semi arid plain on the southern bank of the Northern Ewaso Ngiro river. It lies 9 km east of buffalo springs national reserve, from which it is separated by the main road from isiolo to marsabit. Its Northern section includes a 34km stretch of the Ewaso Ngiro river; here and elsewhere in the reserve are numerous springs and swampy areas, although some have bitter tasting water. Major atractions are Scenic landscape and riverine forest, Permanent Springs. Shaba has 17 springs at which animals congregate during the dry season, Reticulated giraffe, Somalia ostrich, Grevy's zebra, Joy Adamson's monument.