ABERDARE NATIONAL PARK

Aberdare National Park is 100 kilometers north of Nairobi, covering altitudes from 4,300 meters (mountain peaks) to 2,100 meters (bamboo forests and rainforests) above sea level.  The park is 766 square kilometers in size and forms part of the Aberdare Mountain Range.  The park is open for visitors to walk, have picnics and camp in the moorlands.l

The animals easily observed in the park are the African leopard, African bush elephant, East African wild dog, giant forest hog, bushbusk, mountain reedbuck, waterbuck, cape buffalo, suni, side-striped jackal, eland, dulkers, olive baboon, black and white colobus monkey and sykes monkey.  Rarer sightings include the African golden cat and the bongo, an elusive forest antelope that lives in the bamboo forest.  Also there is a large population of black rhino. There are over 250 species of birds, many endangered.

SAMBURU NATIONAL PARK

Samburu is located 350 kilometers Northwest of Nairobi; the park itself is 165 square kilometers in size.  George and Joy Adamson raised Elsa the Lion (Born Free) in Samburu.  Here there is a large variety of animal and bird life, including Masai lions, reticulated giraffe, Tanzanian Cheetah, leopards, buffalo, Grevvy’s zebra, oryx, gerenuk, warthogs, olive baboon, Grant’s gazelle, Kirk’s dik-dik, waterbuck, elephants and hippos. The Ewaso Ng’iro River has large numbers of Nile crocodile.

The park has over 350 bird species including the grey-headed kingfisher, sunbirds, bee-eaters, Marabou stork, tawny eagle, Verreaus’s eagle, bateleur, vulturing guineafowl, yellow-necked spurfowl, lilac-breasted roller, secretary bird, superb starling, northern red-billed hornbill, yellow-billed hornbill, and various vultures

LAKE NAKURU NATIONAL PARK

Lake Nakuru is a soda lake, just south of the town of Nakuru, protected by the Lake Nakuru National Park.  The abundance of algae, created by the flamingo droppings, in turn, attracts the literally millions of flamingos that line the shore.  In addition, other attracted species are exotic mammals such as the 30 Eastern Black Rhinos,  70 White Rhinos, giraffe and baboons.  The Park also has many Maasai Lions, African Cheetahs and Tanzanian Leopards.

Photographs of the flamingos on Lake Nakuru are world famous.  It is truly an amazing site, overwhelming the first time.

 MAASAI MARA NATIONAL RESERVE:

This is the most famous and most visited of the Wildlife Parks in Kenya; 270 kms from Nairobi (4-5 hours by road).  Here in Maasai Mara one can find large numbers of Maasai Lions, African Leopards and Tanzanian Cheetahs; the biggest spectacle in East Africa also takes place here….the Wildebeest Migration to and from the Serengeti (Tanzania) from July to October.

Maasai Mara is located in the Southwest of Kenya, combined with the Serengeti is the most spectacular game-viewing eco-systems in the world.  The Reserve stretches 1,510 square kilometers.  Here there are over 95 species of mammals and almost 600 species of birds.