Category: Kenya Game Parks and Reserves

Wildlife Reserve, Shimba Hills National Reserve

Located 30 km from Mombasa, Shimba Hills National Reserve holds one of the largest coastal forests in East Africa. Shimba Hills National Reserve is home to a very large number of elephant, it is also the only home (in Kenya) for the endangered Sable antelope.

Shimba Hills National Reserve is a small national park situated 56 km south of Mombasa and 15 km inland, in Kenya’s Coast Province.  Shimba Hills National Reserve is home to one of the last remaining coastal rainforests on earth and offers a unique blend of wood-cloaked downs, wandering elephant, breeze-fanned hills, plunging waterfalls . In Kenya, Shimba Hills National Reserve is the only habitat of the rare and magnificent sable antelope, this unique Reserve is within thirty minutes of the beach and commands panoramic vistas over the Indian Ocean.

Shimba Hills National Reserve’s Landscape is made up of  coastal rainforest, woodland and grassland, this makes the reserve a stronghold of plant biodiversity. More than half of Kenya’s 159 species of rare plants are found in the Shimba Hills, including some endangered species of cycad and orchid.

Shimba Hills National Reserve can be visited in a day trip from Mombasa

Kenya National Park, Lake Baringo National Park

Lake Baringo is a fresh water lake found in Rift Valley, 200km north of Naivasha. The lake is home to a huge mix of marine life and bird species.

Lake Baringo is the traditional home of the Njemps tribe, a unique people who are the only pastoral, cattle herding, tribe who also fish. Among other pastoral tribes such as the Maasai, eating fish is a taboo.

Lake Baringo offers an extraordinary variety of bird life (400 species recorded) and is known as the bird watching safari destination. Different species have been spotted on Lake Baringo. Flamingoes with a lighter shade of pink inhabit the lake along with the rare Greater Kudu.

The lake is also home to crocodiles and hippos. For viewing purposes, there exist boat trips that are efficient for going to the islands.

Wildlife Reserve, Lake Bogoria National Reserve

Lake Bogoria National Reserve lies about 220 km from Nairobi. The lake features jets of stream and boiling water shooting in the air. Thousands of both greater and lesser flamingoes migrate to Lake Bogoria which is a shallow soda lake when the water level in Lake Nakuru changes to extreme low or high. The greater kudu is best spotted here living on the Western shores of the lake.

The most dramatic yet the least-visited of the Great Rift Valley lakes, Lake Bogoria is a spectacular sight, reflecting searing blue skies and the rose pink of flamingo. It has significant ornithological interest with 135 species of birds recorded. Like Lake Nakuru, the alkaline waters of Lake Bogoria grow blue-green algae which seasonally attract thousands of flamingoes

On the western shores of Lake Bogoria you find hot geysers bubbling, to the east is the forbidding walls of the towering Siracha Escarpment, and to the south by gentle groves of fig trees and golden-green acacias, in whose shade linger Lake Bogoria’s herd of the rare Greater Kudu, buffalo, zebra, cheetah, baboon, warthog, caracal, spotted hyena, impala, dik dik and many small mammals.

Bogoria has around 200 hot springs in total but the largest and most spectacular collection erupts along the lakeside at Loburu, some 9 km from Loboi Gate.

Kenya National Park, Aberdare National Park

Covering an area of 767 square kilometers, Aberdare National Park is part of the Aberdares mountain ranges; the mountain range slopes on the western side of the the Great Rift Valley, 180 Km away from Nairobi.

Aberdares National Park lies mainly above the tree line running along the 10,000ft contour with some forest and scrub at lower altitude in the ‘salient’ area near Nyeri with the boundary running down to the 7,000ft contour. Aberdares National Park’s topography is diverse with deep ravines that cut through the forested eastern and western slopes and there are many clear streams and waterfall.

Safari Attractions in Aberdares National Park

All of Africa’s Big Five (Lion, elephant, buffalo, Leopard and Rhino) among other animals and bird species can be seen in Aberdares National Park.

Other attractions in Aberdares National Park include the Kimathi Hideout, Night viewing of wildlife at the Ark and Treetops, Lesatima peak, Kinangop peak, waterfalls, and walks in the moorlands, Twin hills, Elephant hills and Table Mountain

National Park in Kenya, Nairobi National Park

A short drive out of Nairobi’s central business district is the Nairobi National Park. Wide open grass plains and backdrop of the city scrapers, scattered acacia bush play host to a wide variety of wildlife including the endangered black rhino, lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, buffaloes, giraffes and diverse birdlife with over 400 species recorded. Visitors can enjoy the park’s picnic sites, three campsites and the walking trails for hikers.

Nairobi National Park Key features

Wildlife reserve, Samburu National Reserve

Samburu National Reserve adjoins the Buffalo Springs in the south and the Shaba National Reserve ( Shaba takes its name from Mount Shaba – 1525 meters ABSL, a volcanic mountain that became extinct around 5,000 years ago and lies on the border of the reserve.) to the East. These game reserves are traversed by the Ewaso Nyiro River which meanders slowly between numerous acacia and doum trees, providing life support to the dry-land animals and a home to many crocodiles and Hippos.

Samburu, Shaba and Buffalo Springs National Reserves offer unique vistas of rounded and rugged hills and undulating plains. The mix of wood and grassland with riverine forest and swamp is home to a wide variety of animal and birdlife. Buffalo Springs records over 365 species of bird. Game viewing and visibility is excellent. Reticulated giraffe, Grevy’s zebra, elephant, oryx, Somali ostrich, hippo, crocodile, gerenuk, buffalo, lion, leopard, cheetah and hyena. Shaba National Reserve is home to Joy Adamson’s Monument.

Samburu Shaba and Buffalo Springs Reserves Safari Attraction

The Samburu region is the best place to find several endemic Northern species, including Gerenuk, the Reticulated Giraffe, and Grevy’s Zebra, the long horned Beisa Oryx and the Somali Ostrich.

National Park in Kenya, Lake Nakuru National Park

Lake Nakuru is a shallow strongly alkaline lake set in a picturesque landscape of surrounding woodland and grassland. The landscape includes areas of marsh and grasslands alternating with rocky cliffs and outcrops, stretches of acacia woodland and rocky hillsides covered with a Euphorbia forest.

Lake Nakuru National Park is situated approximately 164 kilometers from Nairobi in the Great Rift Valley, in Kenya, near Nakuru town.

Lake Nakuru is a world class bird watching safari destination home to millions of Flamingos (greater and lesser), the fish eating pelicans as well as over 450 other species of birds. In addition to being a sanctuary for rhinos and the reticulated giraffe, Lake Nakuru National Park is also home to a variety of wildlife such as the lion, leopard, rhino, giraffe and buffalo.

Lake Nakuru National Park Topography Lake Nakuru’s landscape includes areas of marsh and grasslands alternating with rocky cliffs and outcrops, stretches of acacia woodland and rocky hillsides covered with a Euphorbia forest on the eastern perimeter.