Maasai Mara, Narok

Wildebeests crossing Mara River, Northern Serengeti, Tanzania

Best time to travel: June-Oct
Ease of travel: Hard
Cost ($-$$-$$$): $$

  • Large national game reserve, named in honor of the Maasai people, the ancestral inhabitants of the area, who migrated to the area from the Nile Basin
  • Their description of the area when looked at from afar: “Mara” means “spotted” in the local Maasai language, due to the many short bushy trees which dot the landscape
  • Maasai Mara is one of the most famous and important wildlife conservation and wilderness areas in Africa, world-renowned for its exceptional populations of lion, African leopard, cheetah and African bush elephant
  • Hosts the Great Migration, which secured it as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa, and as one of the ten Wonders of the World

Mount Kenya

Mount_Kenya

Best time to travel: Jan-March, Dec
Walk difficulty: Hard
Ease of travel: Hard
Cost ($-$$-$$$): $$$

  • Highest mountain in Kenya and the second highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro
  • Elevation 17,057 ft
  • Mount Kenya is the source of the name of the Republic of Kenya
  • Mount Kenya is a stratovolcano created approximately 3 million years after the opening of the East African rift
  • Before glaciation, it was 23,000 ft high
  • It was covered by an ice cap for thousands of years, which melted and has resulted in very eroded slopes and numerous valleys radiating from the centre
  • There are currently 11 small glaciers, which are shrinking rapidly, and will likely be gone forever by 2050
  • The forested slopes are an important source of water for much of Kenya

Diani Beach, Kwale County

1024px-Diani_Beach,_Kenya

Best time to travel: July-Sept
Ease of travel: Moderate
Cost ($-$$-$$$): $

  • The general area is known for its coral reefs, black-and-white colobus monkeys, and for the closely located Shimba Hills National Reserve, a wildlife reserve which looks out over the Indian Ocean
  • Diani Beach has restaurants, hotels, supermarkets, and several shopping centers
  • Diani Beach is also a popular kitesurfing, jet skiing, and snorkelling location

Amboseli National Park, Kajiado County

Best time to travel: June-Oct
Ease of travel: Hard
Cost ($-$$-$$$): $$

  • National park in Kajiado County that has an ecosystem that spreads across the Kenya-Tanzania border
  • The local people are mainly Maasai, but people from other parts of the country have settled there attracted by the successful tourist-driven economy and intensive agriculture along the system of swamps that makes this low-rainfall area, one of the best wildlife-viewing experiences in the world with 400 species of birds including water birds like pelicans, kingfishers, crakes, hamerkop and 47 raptor species
  • The park protects two of the five main swamps, and includes a dried-up Pleistocene lake and semiarid vegetation

Lake Nakuru, Rift Valley

Best time to travel: Jan-Oct
Ease of travel: Hard
Cost ($-$$-$$$): $$

  • One of the Rift Valley lakes, it is protected by Lake Nakuru National Park
  • The lake’s abundance of algae used to attract a vast quantity of flamingos that famously lined the shore
  • Other birds also flourish in the area, as do warthogs, baboons and other large mammals
  • Eastern black rhinos and southern white rhinos have also been introduced
  • The lake’s level dropped dramatically in the early 1990s but has since largely recovered
  • Between 2010-2020 Lake Nakuru increased in surface area, and 677 households, parts of Nakuru town and National Park areas had been flooded
  • Lake Nakuru National Park was established in 1961, and started off small, only encompassing the famous lake and the surrounding mountainous vicinity, but has since been extended to include a large part of the savannahs

Nairobi National Park

Best time to travel: late June-Oct
Ease of travel: Moderate
Cost ($-$$-$$$): $

  • National park in Kenya that was established in 1946
  • Herbivores gather in the park during the dry season
  • Nairobi National Park is negatively affected by increasing human and livestock populations, changing land use and poaching of wildlife
  • Despite its proximity to the city and its relative small size, it boasts a large and varied wildlife population, and is one of Kenya’s most successful rhinoceros sanctuaries

Tsavo East National Park, Taita-Taveta County

Best time to travel: Jan-Feb, June-Oct
Ease of travel: Moderate
Cost ($-$$-$$$): $$

  • One of the oldest and largest parks in Kenya
  • Situated in a semi-arid area previously known as the Taru Desert it opened in 1948, and is located in the Taita-Taveta County
  • Tsavo East National Park is providing undeveloped wilderness homes to vast numbers of animals
  • Famous are the Tsavo lions, a population whose adult males often lack manes entirely