The Best National Parks in Kenya
A National Park is an area of land controlled and maintained by the government for recreational benefits, usually to help wildlife and nature thrive. Kenya boasts 35 National Parks and Reserves which are maintained by Kenya Wildlife Service. As well as overseeing the running of the reserves, KWS also act as the security in the parks to cut down on poachers and illegal activity. The entrance fee money collected at park gates goes back in to the conservation of the reserves.
The purpose of this article is to guide you through some of the best National Parks and National Reserves in Kenya, which should help to give you a good of potential additions to your safari itinerary if you are considering visiting Kenya in the future.
Masai Mara National Reserve
The Masai Mara is the Kenyan extension of the Serengeti, Tanzania. It remains to be the most popular reserve in Kenya due to its large population of animals, which include the ‘big five’ (lion, black rhino, elephants, cape buffalo and leopard), crocodile, hippo, gazelle, giraffe as well as many varieties of birds, including secretary bird, masai ostrich, tawny eagle and grey-headed kingfisher. The Mara is also famous as the location of where one of the most natural wonders of the world take place, the ‘great migration’. The migration sees over one million wildebeest, zebra and gazelle making their annual anti-clockwise trip from the Serengeti to the Masai Mara plains in search of fresh pastures to graze upon. It really does make great viewing to watch the migration from the comfort of a luxurious safari lodge.
Lake Nakuru National Park
Lake Nakuru, known as the ‘sea of pink’ to many who have visited it before is one of the sode lakes of the Great Rift Valley. It gets its nickname as it is often a mass area of pink, made up of millions of flamingo. The park also is home to 25 rare black rhino, which are fenced in to the park to help protect them and encourage their breeding developments.
Amboseli National Park
Amboseli is the second most popular park in Kenya just after the Masai Mara. It remains to be a special park due to the huge herds of elephants that inhabit the park. Another speciality of Amboseli that other reserves can’t claim to have is the back drop of Kilimanjaro that overlooks the park, on a clear day you can catch the perfect photography moment of one of the ‘big five’ making their way past the mountains back drop.