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Kenya
National Parks:
 Amboseli
National Park
City/Region: Eastern
Amboseli National Park is legendary for its herds
of elephants roaming with the backdrop of Africa's
highest and snow caped mountain, Mt Kilimanjaro.
Situated along the borders of both Kenya and neighboring
Tanzania it is a relatively small park with wide
stretching in all directions. Observation Hill rising
around the axis is perfect for spectacular views
of the park and Mt Kilimanjaro.
Mt Kilimanjaro Meaning 'Place of Water' in the Masai
language, has a natural water replenish from Kilimanjaro's
snowmelt, forming underground springs that feed
the swamps which attract the hippos and a great
variety of birds. Predators like the jackal and
hyena are spotted around the large numbers of grazers
such as wildebeest, zebra and gazelles on the grassy
plains. The tall necked giraffes are always busy
nibbling on the thorn trees. There are several ways
of enjoying the scenery and among them by way of
a noiseless flight, either from Nairobi or the Amboseli
airstrip, by hot air balloon or a 4X4 Drive. There
is a wide range of accommodation in and around the
park for those wanting to extend the adventure.
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 Masai
Mara National Reserve
City/Region: Nairobi
Masai Mara is Kenya's most eminent park. It offers
expansive savannah grasslands and is an extension
of the Serengeti Plains in neighboring Tanzania.
'Out of Africa movie' was actually filmed here and
the award winning movie just displays an ion of
the real spectacle. The park offers wonderful views
and an extraordinary concentration of wildlife,
including the 'Big Five'. It has the largest population
of lion, and large herds of grazers which attract
many other predators such as cheetah and hyena.
What has become a among the few great wonders of
the world is the Great Wildebeest Migration, creating
one of the world's supreme natural spectacles, with
an estimated two million animals forming one large
herd and leaveing the dry plains of Tanzania to
seek greener pastures in the north, arriving in
the Mara from late June onwards and returning again
in September. Their entrance into the Mara makes
a breathtaking spectacle, as they cross the crocodile
infested waters of the Mara River. A once in a lifetime
way to experience the magic of an African dawn over
such a wilderness is by hot air balloon. These can
be booked through us and operate daily from several
of the lodges in the reserve. The Masai village
is a cultural attraction within the park that features
traditional dances and music as portrayed by the
famous masai tribe living around the Masai Mara
National Reserve. The proud warriors have become
a symbol of tribal Kenya with their beadwork, feathers,
spears, decorated gourds and red blankets.
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 Mount
Kenya National Park
City/Region: Central
This national park is situated in Central Kenya
and surrounds Africa's second highest mountain,
Mt Kenya, an extinct volcano mountain rising to
altitudes that condense atmospheres creating snow-caped
peaks. The mountain is honoured by the local Kikuyu
people who call it Kirinyaga or 'Place of Light'
holding the belief that their Supreme Being, Ngai
lives on its summit. The mountain is a lure with
its outstanding variation of plant life due to the
changes in altitude and its position on the equator.
Bamboo, moorland and alpine vegetation and higher
on rock and glaciers are a spectacular view. The
equatorial snow on the mountain is one of the world's
rarest sights. The slopes with their thick forest
are home to a variety of animals including the black
leopard.
The summit is an adventurous climb, with point Lenana
as a popular trekkers' target. It is the third highest
peak that can be reached by a number of different
scenic routes, lasting from three to five days.
Apart from the climb the park offers a pristine
wilderness, lakes and glaciers and is good for game
viewing and hiking.
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 Lake
Naivasha
City/Region: The Great Rift Valley
Renown for its birdlife and beautiful scenery
lake Naivasha which is just an hour’s drive
from the international airport and capital is a
great getaway. The nearby attractions of Elsamere
and Hell's Gate National Park make it a popular
destination. The lake is a glittering waterscape
of floating hyacinth with the brightly colored kingfishers
darting occasionally into the waters from their
papyrus perches. The marabou storks march along
the shoreline like soldiers oblivious of the bird
watchers. The trees are home to Columbus monkeys
and at night the silence is stirred by the movement
of grazing hippos. The fertile soils and fresh water
supply have made this one of the major horticultural
regions in Kenya where farmlands and flower farms
surround the lake giving way to forests of acacia
on the mountain slopes. The southern shore of the
lake is arrayed with hotels, campsites and guesthouses,
prettily situated either on the shore or higher
up on the slopes of the mountain with fantastic
views over the lake. Boat trips are a popular way
to explore the lake and also the private Crescent
Island Game Sanctuary.
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 Elsamere
Conservation Center
City/Region: The Great Rift Valley
'Born Free' a book written by naturalist and painter
Joy Adamson is a bestseller that has earned itself
international acclaim. Elsamere Conservation Center,
incorporating a guesthouse and a small museum are
the former home of this famous author who lived
along this southern .Visitors are invited to join
the guests daily for a sumptuous tea on the lawns
of the beautifully peaceful lakeside setting, occasionally
joined by the mischievous Columbus monkeys with
a taste for cheesecake. The museum has displays
portraying the true story of Joy and the lioness
Elsa that she raised from birth, and her attempts
to return her to the wild, as well as her paintings
and personal artifacts. Game movie lovers are also
treated to a video shown about the story of Elsa
the lioness.
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Hell's
Gate National Park
City/Region: The Great Rift Valley
The two massive red cliffs of the Njorowa Gorge
that encloses a geothermic area of hot springs and
steam vents give this park it’s name since
the place looks like an opening to the abyss of
the earth. Hell's Gate is one of the two parks in
Kenya that allows visitors to explore on foot, making
it an ideal place for hiking, cycling, camping and
rock climbing. It is famous for its natural steaming
geysers, and the towering cliffs that provide both
eagle and vulture breeding ground. The wide plains
are home to numerous animals, such as zebra, buffalo,
eland, gazelle, hartebeest and other grazers.. Lion,
leopard and cheetah are also present but hardly
ever seen.
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 Lake
Nakuru National Park
City/Region: The Great Rift Valley
This park is small compared to the larger sister
parks that the country has to offer. However the
park has huge concentrations of game with everything
except elephant, and is one of Kenya's important
rhino sanctuaries. There are several prides of
lion and it is the best place to spot leopard.
The lake covers about a third of the park and
the saline concentration supports a blue-green
algae that attracts thousands of flamingos. This
effervescent pink carpet covering the edges of
the lake is a breathtaking sight and at any disturbance
the air above becomes a noisy confusion of long
pink legs and reddish wings in flight. Large flocks
of pelicans are also attracted to the rich food
source in the lake and waterbuck and the rare
Rothschild giraffe are common along the shores.
The park has several high points with good lookouts
and waterfalls with monkeys and baboon frequenting
the rocky cliffs.
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 Nairobi
National Park and Daphne Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage
City/Region: Nairobi
Nairobi National Park Kenya's first national
park was established over six decades ago. Inimitably
situated right nest to the capital it is a well-kept
and gorgeous area of plains and wild bush containing
a large number of Africa's best-known animals. Vast
herds of zebra, wildebeest, buffalo and giraffe
roam the plains. Other attractive inhabitants are
the black rhino, ostrich, baboons, cheetah and the
jungle kings the lions. The park also consists of
the Animal Orphanage where sick, wounded and abandoned
animals are cared for and rehabilitated. An educational
Center featuring a Safari Walk are some of the tour
activities that make every excursion a discovery
chance. The Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage is also
within the precincts of the park. Here infant elephant
and rhino (orphaned because of poaching activities)
are adopted and eventually returned to the wild.
The center is anelephant lovers’ attraction
with visitors watching the calves bathing in the
mud hole and being bottle fed by their human surrogate
mothers every day.
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 Samburu
Game Reserve
City/Region: Northern Kenya
Samburu is a journey of about 220 miles
north of Nairobi in Kenya’s arid, northern
scrub lands. This tiny park is only 64 square miles
but in its boundaries is the best game viewing the
North Country has to offer. A Samburu native, is
fond of saying “the animals in the north are
more beautiful” – and while there’s
certainly some regional pride in this statement,
there’s also quite a lot of truth. You will
see species here you won’t see anywhere else
and yes, they are uniformly beautiful. Reticulated
giraffe, boldly marked blocks separated by the finest
of lines, delicately browse through acacia branches.
Grevy’s zebra, fine lined patterns that seem
to merge to gray from a distance, is easily distinguished
from its Burchell (common) zebra cousin –
besides the finer patterning the Grevy is larger
with more of a domesticated horse conformation;
front and back ends seem more in balance. Grevys
also seem to have a bit more self possession, less
of the Burchell’s spookiness, and maybe that
comes from the higher self esteem good looks bring
about? One of our favorites is the gerenuk, the
gracefully long-necked “giraffe” antelope,
who’s perfectly capable of stretching full
height on his hind legs to snatch an acacia morsel.
That strikingly marked huge antelope, Beisa oryx,
lives here as well, as do elephant."
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 Shaba
National Reserve
City/Region: Northern Kenya
Shaba is part of three small adjoining
Savanna National Reserves that lie on either side
of the Northern Ewaso Nyiro River, 340km North,
North East of Nairobi (Samburu, Buffalo Springs
and Shaba). They were established in 1948 as the
Samburu Isiolo Game Reserve, part of the once
extensive Marsabit National Reserve. Now they
are managed by their respective county councils,
Samburu and Isiolo.<br><br>
The reserve consists of a low lying, semi arid
plain on the southern bank of the Northern Ewaso
Nyiro river. It lies 9 km east of Buffalo Springs
National Reserve, from which it is separated by
the main road from isiolo to Marsabit. The reserve
was gazetted in 1974 and is administered by the
Isiolo CC. Its Northern section includes a 34km
stretch of the Ewaso Nyiro river; here and elsewhere
in the reserve are numerous springs and swampy
areas, although some have bitter tasting water.
The
starkly beautiful landscape is dominated by Shaba
hill to the south, at the foot of which is a rugged
area with steep ravines. The sandy soils are volcanic
in origin"
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 Tsavo
National Park
City/Region: Coast
Tsavo National Park an hour's drive from Mombasa
along the main highway to Nairobi is divided into
the East and West Park. Covering 8,422 sq miles
(21,812 sq km), the park hosts giraffes, buffalos,
antelopes, monkeys, many exotic birds and Kenya's
largest herds of elephant. This park is the inspiration
of the movie ‘The man eaters of Tsavo’
and visitors are likely to see the lions that roam
the territory. Rhinos which were wiped out by poachers
in the 1980s have since been repopulated to about
200, with most being found in the Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary.
In one of the park's pools is an observation tank
from where visitors can get a close-up view of hippos,
crocodiles and tropical fish in their natural habitat. |
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