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KENYA GAME PARKS AND RESERVES
Aberdare National Park
The Aberdare is the established name of a mountain range which thrusts directly north from Nairobi for more than 160 km, with its mountain ranges and peaks soaring to heights over 14,000ft, giving way to deep V-shaped valleys with streams and rivers cascading over spectacular waterfalls. The intrepid Scot, Joseph Thomson, who explored the region in 1883, named the range after the then President of the Royal Geographical Society. According to traditional Kikuyu folklore they are one of the homes of Ngai (God). Part of the range is protected as the Aberdare National Park and encompasses all land over 3200m together with a projection due east, known as the Salient, which reaches down to2130 m near Nyeri town.
The park is a fairyland, awesome in its majesty and beauty. From its vital catchments area the Aberdare Rainforest feeds the entire local and Nairobi water supply. Above the forest is a belt of bamboo, a favorite hang about of the Bongo, a rare and elusive forest antelope.
The bamboo gives way to moor land, home to eland, spotted and melanistic serval cats. Other features are the giant alpine varieties of lobelia, groundsel and heather. Ideal for walking, picnics, camping and trout fishing in the rivers, the moorlands are reminiscent of the European highlands.
Mount Kenya National Park:
Location: 0.15S, 37.15E
Elevation 17,058Ft (5200M)
Africa's second highest mountain is one of the continent's most popular destinations for mountaineers and trekkers
Africa's second highest mountain is one of the continent's most popular destinations for mountaineers and trekkers. Its two highest peaks, Batian (17,058 ft./5,199 m.) and Nelion (17,023 ft./5,188 m.), require considerable technical climbing skills. However, hikers in reasonably good condition can reach the third highest peak, Point Lenana (16,355 ft./4,985 m.). The climb can be made in three days, the descent in one or two, and the views from the top are as spectacular as you would expect. The most scenic trek, the Chogoria route, takes 5 - 7 days.
While such accessibility presents rare opportunities, it has also resulted in a good deal of misjudgment by casual visitors. The most common error is overly rapid ascent, which can cause headaches, nausea, and even death. Improper preparation for bad weather conditions is another common problem. The best times to make the ascent are from January to March, and September to October, when the weather tends to be warmer and dryer.
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Masai Mara National Reserve:
Masai Mara is the Kenyan portion of the great Serengeti Plains, which means that it is quite simply one of the most astounding game reserves in the world. Wildlife of all sorts is abundant here, but the particular attraction of the Serengeti has always been the migration of its enormous herds of wildebeest (1.3 million) and zebra (400,000). In search of water, the herds move north from the Serengeti in Tanzania in May or June, arriving in Masai Mara around mid-July. The return to the South usually begins in the middle of October. Accompanying the herds, of course, are their natural predators, so that the migration also brings to Masai Mara large prides of lion.
While the migration period is undoubtedly the best time to visit Masai Mara, the reserve easily outpaces almost any other park even when the wildebeest are in the South. Many different species of antelope, elephant, leopard, cheetah, rhino, giraffe, and buffalo--virtually all of Africa's big game animals in fact--can be found in abundance in Masai Mara.
Amboseli National Park:
240 km South-East of Nairobi
The most distinguishing feature of Amboseli is its dramatic setting. Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, raises a majestic 19,340 feet (5,895 meters) just across the Tanzanian border, in full view of the park. Most of the game can be found clinging to the swamps and grasslands in the center of the park, an oasis for buffalo, lions, cheetah, and over 420 species of birds. Amboseli is also one of the best parks in Kenya to see elephant, which travel in large herds near Ekongo Narok Swamp.
It lies some 240 km South-East of Nairobi. The snow-capped peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro rising above the saucer clouds dominates every aspect of Amboseli. Gazetted as a National Park in 1974, it covers only 392 sq km but, despite its small size and its fragile ecosystem, it supports a wide range of mammals (well over 50 of the larger species) and birds (over 400 species). Years ago, this was the locale around which famous writers Ernest Hemmingway and Robert Ruark spun their stories of big-game hunting in the wilds of Africa.
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LAKE NAKURU NATIONAL PARK
Lake Nakuru is a shallow, alkaline lake that hosts one of the greatest ornithological spectacles on earth - flocks of fuschia pink flamingo, sometimes numbering over a million feed on abundant algae which thrives in the warm waters. Scientists reckon that the flamingo population population at Nakuru consumes about 250 tones of this algae per hectare of surface area per year. But flamingo are not the only avian attraction. There are over 400 resident species on the lake and in the surrounding park. Thousands of both little grebes and white winged black terns are frequently seen as are stilts, avocets, ducks and the European winter waders. Also unforgettable are the two fish eating birds, pelicans and cormorants, for despite the tepid and alkaline water, a diminutive fish, tilapia grahami, has flourished after being introduced in the early 1960's. The Park also serves as a sanctuary for the endangered black rhino as well as being home to various other large game species, including leopard.
SAMBURU / BUFFALO SPRINGS / SHABA GAME RESERVES
Samburu National Reserve lies 325 km north of Nairobi. The semi-arid country of Northern Kenya framed by volcanic mountain ranges and dotted with lakes, each unique. Throughout the region, rare animals abound, the Reticulated Giraffe, Beisa Oryx, Grevy's Zebra, and long-necked Gerenuk. On the fringe of the hot and sparsely populated northern region of Kenya lies a small oasis, the Samburu Game Reserve. 
Samburu and Buffalo Springs National Reserves provide a different face of Africa in a hot semi-arid desert area, before the true desert stretches away to the north. It is a favorite spot for many returning visitors to Kenya. There are a number of unique wildlife species rarely found elsewhere in Kenya: the Gravy zebra, the Beise Oryx, the blue-shacked Somali ostrich, the reticulated giraffe, and the shy, long necked gerenuk (the antelope giraffe). Distinctive hills and mountains, interrupted by the Doum Palms, characterize the area where the lifeline for human and animal inhabitants is the sluggish Ewaso Nyiro River, with its large population of hippos and crocodiles nestled along the shady river edge. Shaba National Reserve is adjacent to Buffalo Springs Game Reserve immediately across the river.
Nairobi National Park:
Kenya's oldest animal sanctuary.
Established in 1947 as Kenya's oldest animal sanctuary, Nairobi National Park is a stretch of savannah set against the dramatic skyline of Nairobi, the cosmopolitan capital city of Kenya. Nairobi is the only city in the world which neighbours a natural game protection area, with over 100 species of mammals. The city abuts the 117 km sq Park on all but the southern perimeter. It is possible to photograph a rhino, browsing peacefully among the whistling thorn with high-rise office buildings in the background. Some of the wildlife is migratory and when there is grazing and water outside the park it moves out into Masailand through the unfenced southern boundary. The Park borders the traditional South Kapiti Plains and Kitengela Migration Corridor and attracts a range of exciting game. A number of Kenya's indigenous Black Rhino lives in the protection of the park all year round. Herds of plains zebra, wildebeest and eland enter the park during the great migration in July and August to enjoy the rich grazing until the next rains come. There is also a resident population of plains game and carnivores so a visit at any time of the year is rewarding. Well laid out, with exceptionally well-maintained roads, the park is a model for all others, geophysical and administratively. The Park is an ideal starting point for ornithological safaris, with over 400 species of birdlife. Of the most popular species only the elephant is a notable absentee. The rest of the Big Five - leopard, lion, buffalo and rhino - as well as a multitude of other creatures all well represented. A segregated area of the Nairobi National Park host the Dalphne Sheldrick’s Animal Orphanage where orphaned baby elephants and rhinos are tenderly cared for until they reach the age when they can be introduced to the wild. A late morning visit to the Orphanage can, separately, be arranged to see the tiny animals being fed, washed – and you get to interact with them!
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Tsavo East National Park
Tsavo East National Park covers an area of about 12,000 km2, 40% of Kenya's parks' total area. This vast park lies in low semi arid country at the eastern edge of the inland plateau, north of the main Mombasa-Nairobi road and railway. Much of the park is level, open country with scattered rocky ridges and outcrops. Due to its size, the park is one of the world's wildlife and biodiversity strongholds.
The Yatta plateau, a long, flat topped lava ridge, runs along the western boundary of the park. Beneath it flows the Athi river which joins the Tsavo river, just above the Lugard falls, to become the Galana river, a permanent river that cuts right across the park. The seasonal Tiva and Voi rivers are important features of the Northern and Southern sectors respectively. There are scattered seasonal pools, swamps and dams, but relatively few sources of permanent water.
One of the great spectacles of the park is the Mudanda rock between Voi and Manyani. This 1 1/2 km long outcrop is a water catchment area which supplies a natural dam at its base. In the dry season, hundreds of elephants come to drink and bathe here.
The park is located on Southeast Kenya, inland from Mombasa; Taita District of Coast Province.
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Tsavo West National Park
Tsavo West national park covers 9000 km2, approximately 30% of Kenya's area under parks, and contains a diversity of habitats, wildlife and a mountainous scenic landscape. The park is a vast expanse of savanna stretching from the Athi river, North of the Mombasa-Nairobi road and south to the Tanzanian border. The North Eastern boundary along the Athi adjoins Tsavo East National Park, but Tsavo West has a more varied topography and a more diverse array of habitats than its neighbour.
The park's habitats include open plains alternating with Savannah bush and semi desert scrub, acacia woodlands; rocky ridges and outcrops and more extensive ranges and isolated hills; belts of rivernie vegetation; palm thickets and on the Chyulu hills, mountain forest. There are numerous rocky outcrops and ridges and part of the park, towards the Chyulu Hills, is of recent volcanic origin with are many lava flows and ash cones including the Shaitani lava flow, an example of a recent volacano.
In the far south western corner on the Kenya Tanzania border is Lake Jipe, part of which is in the park. This very attractive lake is fed by runoff from Mt Kilimanjaro and the North Pare mountains. At Mzima Springs, in the North of the park, water that has filtered underground from the Chyulu Hills gushes from below a lava ridge into a series of clear pools.
located on the South Eastern Kenya, inland from Mombasa, and the altitude ranges between 200 - 100m.
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