The Kenya National Parks and Reserves

Kenya's national parks and reserves are administered by the Kenya WildlifeSrevices [KWS] and rank as some of the finest in the world. They exist as total wildlife sanctuaries where human habitation is prohibited and animals roam wild and free. These are:

• Masai Mara Game Reserve
• Samburu and Shaba
• Tsavo East and Tsavo West
• Amboseli National park
• Mt. Kenya National Park
• The Aberdares
• Hell's Gate
• L. Nakuru
• Mt. Elgon
• Kakamega Forest
• Marine Parks and Reserves

The Maasai Mara

Often described as the greatest of nature's stages, the Masai 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 River is one of the best places to observe crocodiles and hippos.

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 a rugged wilderness featuring bubbling hotsprings, 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.

Tsavo East and Tsavo West

Tsavo East is a true wilderness and evokes vivid memories of Africa's forgotten grndeur. Encompassing miles of arid plains, savannah and scrubland and sheltering over 8,000 elephants, Tsavo enterd" frontier" lore at the turn of the century when two maverick man eating lions devoured over 50 Indian laborous on the Kenya Uganda Railway. Tsavo West also offers aglorious diversity of habitats but the biggest attraction is the Mzima Springs, a fount of cool clear water that gushes hundreds of miles from below Mount Kilimanjaro to burst out, at the rate of 250 million litres a day, from the rocks at Mzima.

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 5896 meters, the 'shining mountain' is the highest freestanding mountain in the world and is topped by one fifth of all the ice in Africa.

Mt. Kenya National Park

Home to highest [5,199m] mountain in Kenya, Mount Kenya National Park contrasts warm savannah with glaciers and snostorms. Both the Kikuyu and Masai regard the mountain as the home og their Supreme Being, Ngai, and is also one of only a small number of great mountains whose summit [Point lenana, the third highest peak] is accessible to non-climbers

The 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 moorland scenery, tumbling waterfalls and sensational views

Hells Gate National Park

This park is one of the few remaining places in Kenya where youcan walk unguided and its principal feature is the Njorowa Gorge, the ancient outlet of Lake Naivasha, long since dried up and famous for its huge eroded cliffs.

Lake Nakuru National Park

Lake Nakuru is world famous for the flocks of lesser and greater flamingoes, which frost its blue shores sugar pink. It also plays host to over 400 species of birdlife. It is also home to the endangered white and black rhino.

Mount Elgon National Park

Mount Elgon, known as the 'loneliest park in Kenya' ia laso one of its most impressie, with vast areas of untouched forest concealing over 400 elephants whose most famous gathering is the bat-filled Kitum Cave to which they troop nightly to forage for salt.

Kakamega Forest National Park

Situated to western part of Kenya, Kakamega Forest national Park hosts the remaining rainforest which stretches from western Africa. Trees of different species found only in this forest are used for medicinal purposes. It is also haven for birdwatchers, harboring about 400 species of birds.

Marine Parks and Reserves

Kenya, the first African country to offer protection to the sensitive aquatic ecosystems has seven marine parks. the most famous are Mombasa, Malindi and Kisite Mpunguti where you will have a spectacular opportunity to swim along with fish in those colorful corals.