KENYA'S NATIONAL PARKS & RESERVES

Kenya offers a large number of national parks and reserves comprising all of the country’s range of landscapes, fauna and flora, from the mountain heights to marine parks, from the elephant to the small hyrax and from the grasslands to the huge baobabs. In addition, there are several other natural spaces that are not formally protected but also deserve a visit. We are at your disposal to suggest places and provide accurate information about these to suit your interests.

ABERDARE NATIONAL PARK
The wildlife is awesome, though the thick vegetation cover makes it difficult to spot animals except from the lodges. The rich forest sustains populations of elephant, buffalo, warthog and several species of antelope, black rhino, monkeys, lions and leopards. Besides there are over 200 species of birds

THE AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK
The Amboseli National Park offers one of the most classic and breathtaking views of Kenya, the gigantic Mount Kilimanjaro, with its 5,985 m dominating the plains like a powerful god ruling the world from his silver throne.
The Amboseli’s fragile ecosystem displays an impressive wildlife variety, with more than 50 mammal species. No doubt the kings of the park are the elephants, which are present in large numbers. They are easy to see and photograph, due to the flat and naked terrain.

LAKE NAKURU NATIONAL PARK
 This park is essentially famous for the flamingoes, traditionally the main attraction in the park. However, nowadays there is the presence of rhinos to complement the flamingoes. Menengai Crater -on the outscarts of Nakuru town- is an extinct volcano that is really awesome to behold. Another tourist attraction in Nakuru is lake Elementaita.

MAASAI MARA NATIONAL RESERVE
This park is surely “The park of parks” in Kenya. Its grass-carpeted smooth hills, the chocolate Mara river waters with frolicking hippos, as well as the rich faunal diversity, fulfill the expectations of any visitor searching  the African landscapes featured in motion pictures such as “Out of Africa” or “Mogambo”. Save particular tastes or special requirements, this is the park on top of the “must” list in the country: no trip to Kenya would be complete without a visit to Maasai Mara. The wildlife spectacle in Maasai Mara is unparalleled all around the world.  And the most important unique characteristic  of this park is the truly fascinating phenomenon of the great migration: Each year (November - June), up to 1.5 million wildebeest (or white-bearded gnu), 250,000 Burchell’s zebra and half a million Thomson´s gazelle trek through the Serengeti-Mara complex along a cyclic march that covers annually some 1,800 miles.

MOUNT KENYA NATIONAL PARK
The Mount Kenya region is an area to visit for the lovers of mountain climbing or anyone willing to merely contemplate the imposing  sight of Mt. Kenya -measuring 5.199 metres in height- which is the only snow capped mountain at the equator in the world. Besides enjoying the cool highland climate, there are also possibilities of seeing some rare animals in the William Holden animal orphanage located in the area.

SHABA, SAMBURU AND BUFFALO NATIONAL RESERVES
The complex formed by these three reserves is one of the most interesting places in Kenya and can be ranked as unique for several reasons. They are the most accessible and visited of the protected areas in the country’s rough north, right at the edge of what was formerly called NFD or Northern Frontier District. Or, in other words, they are the most remote and unaccessible among the most popular reserves. It is also the place to see some species which are rare in Kenya or difficult to spot in other parks, since they only dwell above the Equator. Among them are Grevy’s zebra, reticulated giraffe and Beisa Oryx.

LAKE BARINGO
Birds are the kings and queens of Baringo. More than 400 recorded species make the visit to the lakeside a competition to achieve the highest numbers of species sighted, the world record set at 342 species in 24 hours. The experience is more rewarding during the rainy season, when many birds fly back to Baringo. If you are not an expert ornithologist, you will enjoy it in any case with a good field guide in your backpack and responding to the chants you hear. It is an ideal place to visit for those with keen interest for bird watching.

TSAVO EAST NATIONAL PARK
The outstanding physical picture in this park is the Yatta Plateau, which runs almost parallel to, and it is visible from the Nairobi –Mombasa road. Among the rear fauna are caracal, kudu, and Hunter’s hartebeest, relocated from Tsavo East, a few years ago from the Tana River area, where they were in danger of extinction. Also in the park there is a herd of bat-eared, pinstriped Grevy’s zebra, which was brought in as a refugee group to escape poachers in the Samburu. They seem to have confounded the dismal prognosis of Zoologists by surviving out of their normal dessert habitat. The accommodation in Tsavo National park is that, there are a series of lodges within the park.

TSAVO WEST NATIONAL PARK
The park has a spectacular baobab tree, which used to be far more numerous. In the mid- 1970s, there was an enormous and as yet unexplained attack by elephants on baobabs. Some claims it was because of the drought, others claim that there were “too many” elephants. Whatever the reason, the remaining baobabs are quite safe today. The variety and sheer numbers of birds in Tsavo are incredible. Lake Jipe at the south west tip of the park is surrounded by tall reeds and is one of the most important Wetlands in Kenya, providing a sanctuary for a number of water and marsh birds, including the migrants from Europe. Some of the birds commonly seen at the lake are Knob- billed geese, pied kingfishers; white- backed night herons, black herons, palm-nut vultures and the African skimmer.