Kenya's capital of Nairobi is East Africa's most cosmopolitan city, serving as an excellent starting point for African safari trips around Kenya. Stop for a trip down memory lane with a visit to the Karen Blixen Museum made famous from the award winning film Out of Africa. Enjoy a close up view of the endangered giraffes at the Giraffe Centre, whilst the nearby David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust hand rears orphaned elephant and rhinos and rehabilitates them so that they can re-enter the wild. Just outside the city is Nairobi National Park, 113 sq kms of plains, cliffs and forest. The park is home to large herds of Zebra, Wildebeest, Buffalo, Giraffe and more. Rhino, Cheetah, and a large number of Lions are all found here, living wild within 20 minutes of the centre of town.
Meaning a “place of water” in Maasai, Amboseli is Kenya’s most popular park after the Maasai Mara. Located 257km from Nairobi, it offers a stunning view of both Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru. For many visitors, the main attraction is the vast herds of elephants, whose massive bulls have some of the largest tusks in Kenya. Amboseli is an important rangeland in Maasai culture, and the ranch areas outside the park offer a wealth of game viewing and walking safaris. The Kenya Wildlife Community Service works closely with the local elders to develop eco-tourism attractions which benefit the indigenous communities and protect this fragile eco-system.
Situated in the foothills of Mount Kenya, Lewa is today a 62,000 acre private reserve with terrain consisting of forest, savannah grasslands, swamps and semi-desert. The perimeter is almost entirely fenced, for security, but gaps are left in the fences to allow for the movement of the animals. Thanks to the conservation efforts, Lewa is home to the highest concentration of rhino in East Africa. Lewa also protects the endangered Grevy’s zebra and the rare Sitatunga swamp dwelling antelope. Other wildlife include lion, leopard, elephant, cheetahs and over 440 species of birds. The range of activities on Lewa is vast with everything from game walks, day and night drives, bush picnics, horseback riding, camel treks and and scenic flights.
Quite possibly the most famous wildlife reserve in the world, Kenya’s Masai Mara offers breathtakingly beautiful landscapes and unrivalled game viewing all year round. From July to November, the Mara plays host to the spectacular Great Migration, when vast herds of wildebeest plunge across the Mara River on their quest for fresh grass, braving Nile crocodile in the rivers and hungry lion, cheetah and leopard on the other side. With both resident and transient populations of lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, giraffe and elephant, to name a few, as well as over 500 bird species, the vast fertile plains are dense with game. The Masai Mara National Reserve itself, measuring 1510 Km2 , is part of the Greater Mara-Serengeti Ecosystem, much of which falls under ownership of Masai pastoralist communities. There are three main rivers: Sand River (seasonal), the Talek, and the Mara. The Talek and the Mara meet in the centre of the park and continue on as the Mara River. Some of the ecosystem’s prime game viewing lies within the conservation areas outside the Reserve. These conservancies have been set up by the private sector in partnership with local Masai landowners to conserve the larger Masai Mara ecosystem by extending the protection area for wildlife and standardizing income distribution and eco-system management. The Mara North Conservancy (MNC) is one of the largest community and private sector-managed conservancies in the world. Regarded as one of Kenya’s most successful conservation models, Mara North Conservancy is an exclusive safari destination in a prime wildlife area with small, exclusive camps located away from the high traffic areas.
