Kenya National Parks

On arriving in Kenya, head instantly to some of its many National Parks for the first of many game watching life experiences. You will admire the fascinating Samburu National Reserve for game outings with evident chances to see lions, leopards and giant crocodiles. Lake Nakuru, famous for its pink flamingos is also worth a visit; next you can’t escape Maasai Mara to see the red-clad, spear-wielding Maasai warriors and Maasai Mara National Reserve.

Maasai Mara National Park
Often described as the greatest of nature’s stages, the Maasai Mara, with its huge dramatic skies, is perhaps the most popular of all Kenya’s game parks. The landscape, which is mostly savannah, hosts around 22 families of lions and 3,000 elephants while the Mara Rive is one of the best places to observe crocodiles and hippos.
Aberdares National Park
Gazetted in 1950, this park is one of the oldest in the country and famous as the place where Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II of England whilst staying in the original Treetops Lodge. Whilst its prize inhabitant is the Bongo Antelope, it is also home to the second largest population of indigenous black rhino and features miles of high moorland scenery, tumbling waterfalls and sensational views.
Hell’s Gate National Park
Hell’s Gate is one of the few remaining places in Kenya where you can walk unguided and it’s principal feature is the Njorowa Gorge, the ancient outlet for Lake Naivasha, long since dried up and now famous for it’s huge eroded cliffs.
Amboseli National Park
Amboseli provides the classic Hollywood image of Africa: vast herds of buffaloes and elephants ranging across the open plains and set against the glorious backdrop of a snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro. At 5,896m the ‘Shining Mountain’ is the highest freestanding mountain in the world and is topped by one fifth of all the ice in Africa.
Lake Nakuru National Park
Lake Nakuru is famous for the flocks of lesser flamingoes, which frost its blue shores sugar pink. It also plays host to over 400 species of bird life, being second only to Lake Baringo as the most prolific ornithological site in Kenya.
Mt. Elgon National Park
Mt Elgon, known as the ‘loneliest park in Kenya’ is also one of the most impressive, with vast areas of untouched forest concealing over 400 elephants whose most famous gathering place is the bat-filled Kitum Cave to which the troop nightily to forage for salt.
Mt. Kenya National Park
Home to the highest (5,199m) mountain in Kenya, Mt Kenya National Park contrasts warm savannahs with glaciers and snowstorms. Both the Kikuyu and Masai regard the mountain as the home of their supreme being, Ngai, and is also one of only a small number of great mountains whose summit (point Lenana, the 3rd highest peak) is accessible to non-climbers.
Tsavo East and West
Tsavo East is a true wilderness and evokes vivid memories of Africa’s forgotten majesty. Encompassing miles of arid plains, savannah and scrubland and sheltering over 8,000 elephants. Tsavo west in addition offers a glorious diversity of habitats but the biggest attraction in Mzima springs, a fount of cool clear water that gushes hundreds of miles from below Mt Kilimanjaro to burst out, at the rate of 250 million litres a day, from the rocks at Mzima.
The Samburu and Shaba Reserves
The Samburu, 250 miles north of Nairobi, is set in the lands of the colorful Samburu pastoralists. The Shaba National Reserve is rugged wilderness featuring bubbling hot springs, rolling savannah, miles of scrub and desert and the Ewaso Nyiro River which supports a diversity of wildlife to include not only elephants, leopards and lion but also the rare Grevy’s zebra.
Tourist and business Travel Guide
A visa and passport are required. Visas should be obtained in advance, although airport visas are available. Travelers who opt to obtain an airport visa should expect delays upon arrival. There is a fee for such visas, whether obtained in advance or at the airport. U.S. Passport must be valid for at least 6 months.
• Tickets and Documents for return or onward travel
• Vaccinations – International Certificate of Vaccination Evidence of yellow fever immunization may be requested.