Regions of Kenya

Amboseli & Tsavo
Samburu & Meru
Maasai Mara
Mount Kenya
Nairobi
Mombasa
Nakuru
Lake Naivasha
Lake Victoria
The Rift Valley

Amboseli
Amboseli lies immediately North West of Mt. Kilimanjaro, on the border with Tanzania. Amboseli was established as a reserve in 1968 and gazetted as a National Park in 1974. The Park covers 150 square miles, and forms part of the much larger 1160 square mile Amboseli ecosystem. Large concentrations of wildlife occur here in the dry season and the National Park embodies 5 main wildlife habitats: open plains, acacia woodland, rocky thorn bush country, swamps and marshland. Amboseli is famous for its big game and its great scenic beauty - the landscape is dominated by Mt. Kilimanjaro

Tsavo
At 8100 square miles, this is Kenya's largest park by far, but much of the eastern section is closed to the public. Most of the land is open savannah and bush woodlands inhabited by buffalo, lion, antelope, gazelles, giraffe and zebra. Despite a drastic fall in the elephant population in the 1970s there are still many large herds.

Tsavo is a combination of dramatic escarpment landscapes combined with the raw, untamed flavor of one of Africa's great wilderness areas. Mzima Springs, in Tsavo East, is one of the best places to watch crocodile and hippo. Here, crystal clear water bubbles out of the ground at a rate of 110 million gallons a day. The spring is fed by snow melting off Mount Kilimanjaro, and a pipeline from the springs provides Mombasa with a large portion of its drinking water.

A distinctive feature of Mzima is an underwater glass cage built by a wildlife film crew. Here you can descend a set of stairs, and encased in a glass hide, watch shoals of tilapia, and the occasional crocodile or hippo glide by.

Samburu
Samburu National Reserve is a hot and arid area characterized by a parched landscape of hills and plains. The refreshing waters of the Ewaso Ngiro River run through Samburu and attract plenty of wildlife - including elephant, lion, giraffe and zebra. Leopards are also regularly spotted.

Samburu is home to large herds of elephants and elusive leopards. It is also well known for providing the opportunity to see wildlife that only lives in the dry north of Kenya. Your safari wouldn't be complete without seeing a gerenuk - an odd yet distinguished gazelle with a long neck, which stands on its hind legs to feed.

Meru
Meru National Park is wild and beautiful. Spanning the equator and bisected by 13 rivers and numerous mountain-fed streams, it is an especially beautiful area of Kenya. It has diverse scenery from woodlands at 3,000 feet on the slopes of Nyambeni Mountain Range, northeast of Mount Kenya, to wide open plains with wandering riverbanks dotted with doum palms.

Game to view includes: lion, elephant, cheetah, leopard and some of the rarer antelopes; Lesser Kudu, duiker and Dik Dik, one of Africa's smallest antelopes. Large prides of lion can be seen and some of Kenya's largest herds of buffalo. The rivers abound with hippo and crocodile, fishing for barbus and catfish is permitted at camp sites and along the Tana River. In the mid 1980's, the Park suffered from poaching, however Kenya Wildlife Service armed wildlife security patrols have driven out the poachers and the elephant. The Park is most famous as the setting for Joy Adamson's book "Born Free" -- the story of the Adamson's life and research amongst lion and cheetah.

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Maasai Mara
Maasai Mara is "THE" park of parks in Kenya. Its grass-carpeted smooth hills, the chocolate Mara river waters with frisking hippos, as well as the rich faunal diversity, fulfill the expectations of any visitor searching the African landscapes portrayed in motion pictures like "Out of Africa" and many documentaries. 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. Albeit, in an area only slightly smaller than the State of Rhode Island and with a diverse and complex geography, getting lost is far easier than finding a leopard or sighting a given bird species in its multiple woods.

The Maasai Mara gazetted in 1961, is located west of the Rift Valley and is a natural extension of the Serengeti plains, in Tanzania. The Mara river, the reserve's backbone, traverses north to south heading for its westbound way unto lake Victoria, through the Tanzanian park. This course is the natural barrier crossed every year by the large migratory herds of wildebeests and zebras which march across the two parks. During the great migration, more than one million wildebeests and 200,000 zebras move in a quest for the best pastures, finding along the way the crocodile-crowded river. When the herds ford the stream, many animals die flattened or drowned and leave their bones by the Mara banks. From July to October, Maasai Mara is at its peak, with the seasonal visitors populating the vast grasslands.

Maasai Mara's location and altitude, above 4900 feet, yield a climate which is milder and damper than in other regions. The grassy landscape and the nutrient wealth for the great herds are maintained by the abundant rains, which here last from November through June, as a fusion of the two rain seasons (long and short) typical in other Kenya areas. Night storms are frequent. In the hills and plains, grasslands are scattered with acacia woods and bush. The riverbanks of the Mara and of the multiple tributary streams are bordered by dense riverine forests with a good chance to find some of the reserve's bird species.

Mount Kenya
Experience a Mount Kenya safari and discover Africa 's second highest mountain. With a summit covered in snow and ice it's difficult to imagine that it's situated astride the equator!

Mount Kenya also has a fair splattering of wildlife, particularly on the lower slopes of the mountain. You can expect to see elephant, rhino, buffalo leopard, bushbuck, several species of duiker, giant forest hog, and colobus and sykes monkeys. There is also prolific birdlife around the mountain, ranging from huge eagles to multicoloued sunbirds.

For the adventurous and outdoor types there are a variety of hiking and mountain climbing trails to choose from. For those safari enthusiasts who enjoy 'taking it easy' - Mount Kenya Safari Club is the place to stay.  Mount Kenya Safari Club has been a mecca for the rich and famous ever since it was founded in 1959. Set in beautifully manicured grounds, this is definitely the most sophisticated and romantic way to experience the area.

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Nairobi
The largest city in East Africa and Kenya's capital, with a population of over 4 million, Nairobi started life as a railway depot in 1899. Today, the city skyline is dominated by modern high rise buildings, and is the headquarters of several United Nations agencies. It is a sophisticated, vibrant city with a mix of races and cultures and provides the visitor with several diverse sightseeing options, ranging from historic sites and museums to golf courses and night life.

Tourist Attractions include Nairobi National Park; Giraffe Centre where you can hand-feed the endangered Rothschild giraffes; Karen Blixen Museum - The historic house of the famous Danish lady, about whom the movie ‘Out of Africa’ was based; Butterfly Centre; and Daphne Sheldrick's baby elephant orphanage.

Mombasa
This sultry area offers interesting things to see, beaches to relax on and beautiful nature reserves to visit. Mombasa lies on the coast and is a bustling city with a history stretching back to the 12th century. There is a vibrant mixture of cultures, architecture and entertainment. Towards the south, there are a number of beaches and resort hotels. The beaches are white and sandy with coral reefs to delight scuba and skin divers.

On the pleasant Shimoni and Wasini islands there is authentic Swahili culture and a protected marine reserve. North of Mombasa there are also several beaches like Nyali, Bamburi, Shanzu, Kikambala and Vipingo that are well-worth a visit. It is here that you will find the exotic town of Kilifi, home to artists and adventurers from all over the world.

Nakuru
Nakuru in Kiswahili means "Waterbuck Sanctuary". Lake Nakuru National Park, close to Nakuru town, was established in 1961. It started off small, only encompassing the famous lake and the surrounding mountainous vicinity. Now it has been extended to include a large part of the savannahs. Currently, the fenced Lake Nakuru National Park covers around 90 square miles. It has unusual but beautiful vegetation. The forest vegetation is covered with Euphorbia, tall cactus like trees and acacia woodland. The forest region is a host to over 400 migratory bird species from around the world.

Lake Nakuru National Park can be accessed via three gates: Main, Lanet and Nderit. The park's lake is internationally known for its Lesser and Greater Flamingos. Ornithologists often describe Lake Nakuru as "the most fabulous bird spectacle in the world". The Lesser flamingo can be distinguished by its deep red carmine bill and pink plumage unlike the greater, which has a bill with a black tip. The Lesser flamingos are ones that are commonly pictured in documentaries mainly because they are large in number. There are estimated to be over a million Lesser flamingos. These numbers are on a steady increase again. The numbers had been reduced due to the El-Nino weather pattern that flooded the lake, and changed the alkaline concentration. The flamingos feed on algae, created from their droppings mixing in the warm alkaline waters, and plankton. Lake Nakuru National Park is also shared with the white pelicans and the ever-snorting hippos.

Lake Naivasha
Lake Naivasha is a beautiful freshwater lake, fringed by thick papyrus. The lake is almost 8 miles across, but its waters are shallow with an average depth of 16 feet. At the beginning of the 20th Century, Naivasha completely dried up and effectively disappeared. The resulting open land was farmed, until heavy rains a few years later caused the lake to return to existence, swallowing up the newly established estates.

Much of the lake is surrounded by forests of the yellow barked Acacia Xanthophlea, known as the yellow fever tree. These forests abound with bird life, and Naivasha is known as a world class birding destination.

The waters of the lake draw a great range of game to these shores. Giraffes wander among the acacia, buffalo wallow in the swamps and colobus monkeys call from the treetops while the Lakes large hippo population sleep the day out in the shallows.

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Lake Victoria
The second largest fresh water lake in the world, Lake Victoria geographically dominates the area with its 27,000 square mile surface.  Despite its huge size, the murky lake is not that deep - only 330 feet at its deepest. Although it borders on three countries - Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda - it is no longer possible to travel between these countries via the lake.

Rift Valley
The Great Rift Valley forms a wide trench (about 5400 miles long) down the length of Africa that is visible from the moon.

If you are planning to partake in a Great Rift Valley safari in Kenya, chances are you'll be visiting Lake Naivasha or Lake Nakuru. Lake Nakuru is a saltwater lake and together with its neighbouring park is famous for attracting large flocks of flamingos. The sight of thousands of bright pink birds as they collect against the soda crusted shoreline is striking.

In complete contrast, Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake that is home to buffalos and hippos - as well as being the ideal safari destination for birders! Among the resident birds are fish eagles, ospreys, lily-trotters, black crakes and a large variety of herons. Numerous mammals graze around this fresh water lake and you can also expect to see zebra, impala, giraffe and kongoni.

Turkana
A Rift Valley lake, located in Northern Kenya, this 320km long lake is the most dramatic of Africa’s lakes. Commonly referred to as the Jade Sea, due to its electric blue-green color, the lake is surrounded by a spectacular landscape of dry desert and hills, and famous for its Nile Perch. Due to its remoteness, Lake Turkana is strictly for the adventurous tourist  

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