Top Places to Visit In Kenya On Your Next Vacation
Maasai Mara National Reserve
Maasai Mara, also sometimes spelled Masai Mara and locally known simply as The Mara, is a large national game reserve in Narok, Kenya, contiguous with the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. It is 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. It also 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. The Greater Mara ecosystem encompasses areas known as the Maasai Mara National Reserve, the Mara Triangle, and several Maasai Conservancies, including Koiyaki, Lemek, Ol Chorro Oirowua, Mara North, Olkinyei, Siana, Maji Moto, Naikara, Ol Derkesi, Kerinkani, Oloirien, and Kimintet.
Lake Nakuru
Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley soda lakes at an elevation of 1,754 m above sea level. It lies to the south of Nakuru, in the rift valley of Kenya and 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. In 2013, the lake received an alarming increase in the water levels that led to the migration of flamingos to Lake Bogoria in search for food supply. Nakuru means “Dust or Dusty Place” in the Maasai language. Lake Nakuru National Park, close to Nakuru town, was established in 1961. It 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. Lake Nakuru is protected under the Ramsar Convention on wetlands.
Amboseli National Park
Amboseli National Park, formerly Maasai Amboseli Game Reserve, is a national park in Kajiado South Constituency in Kajiado County, Kenya. The park is 39,206 hectares in size at the core of an 8,000 km² 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, average 350 mm, 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. About 240 km southeast of Nairobi, Amboseli National Park is the second-most popular national park in Kenya after Maasai Mara National Reserve.
Nairobi National Park
Nairobi National Park is a national park in Kenya that was established in 1946 about 7 km south of Nairobi. It is fenced on three sides, whereas the open southern boundary allows migrating wildlife to move between the park and the adjacent Kitengela plains. 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.
Mount Kenya
Mount Kenya is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian, Nelion and Point Lenana. Mount Kenya is located in the former Eastern and Central provinces of Kenya, now Meru, Embu, Laikipia, Kirinyaga, Nyeri and Tharaka Nithi counties, about 16.5 kilometres south of the equator, around 150 km north-northeast of the capital Nairobi. 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 7,000 m high. It was covered by an ice cap for thousands of years. This has resulted in very eroded slopes and numerous valleys radiating from the centre. There are currently 11 small glaciers, which are shrinking rapidly, and may be gone forever by 2050. The forested slopes are an important source of water for much of Kenya. There are several vegetation bands from the base to the summit. The lower slopes are covered by different types of forest. Many alpine species are endemic to Mount Kenya, such as the giant lobelias and senecios and a local subspecies of rock hyrax.
Tsavo East National Park
Tsavo East National Park is one of the oldest and largest parks in Kenya at 13,747 square kilometres. Situated in a semi-arid area previously known as the Taru Desert it opened in April 1948, and is located near the town of Voi in the Taita-Taveta County of the former Coast Province. The park is divided into east and west sections by the A109 road and a railway. Named for the Tsavo River, which flows west to east through the national park, it borders the Chyulu Hills National Park, and the Mkomazi Game Reserve in Tanzania.
Diani Beach
Diani Beach is a major beach on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. It is located 30 kilometres south of Mombasa, in Kwale County. It has been voted Africa’s leading beach destination for the fifth time running since 2015.
Giraffe Centre
The Giraffe Centre is located in Lang’ata, approximately 20 kilometres from the centre of Nairobi, Kenya. It was established in order to protect the endangered giraffe, that is found only in the grasslands of East Africa. In 1979, the Giraffe Center, a nature sanctuary for visiting and including wildlife conservation education for urban school children, was started by Jock Leslie Melville, the Kenyan grandson of a Scottish Earl, when he and his wife Betty captured two baby giraffe to start a programme of breeding giraffe on their Langata property, site of the present Centre. Since then the programme has had huge success, resulting in the introduction of several breeding pairs of Rothschild Giraffe into Kenyan national parks. By 1983 enough money had been raised to establish the Giraffe Visitor’s Center as a tourist destination just outside Nairobi. The main attraction for both school children and visitors is feeding giraffes from a raised observation platform. The Giraffe Center is also home to several warthogs which freely roam the area along with the giraffes.
Samburu Trails
The Samburu National Reserve is a game reserve on the banks of the Ewaso Ng’iro river in Kenya. On the other side of the river is the Buffalo Springs National Reserve. The park is 165 km² in size and is situated 350 kilometers from Nairobi. It ranges in altitude from 800 to 1230m above sea level. Geographically, it is located in Samburu County. In the middle of the reserve, the Ewaso Ng’iro flows through doum palm groves and thick riverine forests. It provides water, without which the game in this arid region could not survive. The Samburu National Reserve was one of the two areas in which conservationists George and Joy Adamson raised Elsa the Lioness, made famous in the best-selling book and award-winning movie Born Free. The Elephant Watch Camp, of which Saba Douglas-Hamilton is director, lies within the park. The Samburu National Reserve is also the home of Kamunyak, a lioness famous for adopting oryx calves.
Hells Gate National Park
Hell’s Gate National Park lies south of Lake Naivasha in Kenya, north west of Nairobi. Hell’s Gate National Park is named after a narrow break in the cliffs, once a tributary of a prehistoric lake that fed early humans in the Rift Valley. It was established in 1984. A small national park, it is known for its wide variety of wildlife and for its scenery. This includes the Fischer’s Tower and Central Tower columns and Hell’s Gate Gorge. The national park is also home to three geothermal power stations at Olkaria. The park is equipped with three basic campsites and includes a Maasai Cultural Center, providing education about the Maasai tribe’s culture and traditions.
Tsavo West National Park
Tsavo West National Park is located in the Coast Province of Kenya. The park covers an area of 9,065 square kilometres. The A109 road Nairobi-Mombasa and a railway divides it from the adjoining Tsavo East National Park. Together with adjoining ranches and protected areas, they comprise the Tsavo Conservation Area. Tsavo West is a more popular destination on account of its magnificent scenery, Mzima Springs, rich and varied wildlife, good road system, rhino reserve, rock climbing potential and guided walks along the Tsavo River. The park is operated by Kenya Wildlife Service.
Karen Blixen Museum
The Karen Blixen Museum, located 10 km outside of Nairobi, Kenya, “at the foot of the Ngong Hills”, is the former African home of Danish author Karen Blixen, famous for her 1937 book Out of Africa which chronicles life at the estate.
Mount Longonot
Mount Longonot is a stratovolcano located southeast of Lake Naivasha in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya, Africa. It is thought to have last erupted in the 1860s. Its name is derived from the Maasai word Oloonong’ot, meaning “mountains of many spurs” or “steep ridges”. Mount Longonot is protected by Kenya Wildlife Service as part of Mount Longonot National Park. A 3.1 km trail runs from the park entrance up to the crater rim, and continues in a 7.2 km loop encircling the crater. The whole tour of 13.5 km takes about 4–5 hours allowing for necessary rest breaks – parts of the trail are heavily eroded and very steep. The gate elevation is around 2150 m and the peak at 2776 m but following the jagged rim involves substantially more than the 630 m vertical difference. Mount Longonot is 60 kilometres northwest of Nairobi and may be reached from there by a tarmac road. A nearby town is also named Longonot. The Longonot satellite earth station is located south of the mountain.
Lake Nakuru National Park
National park with soda lake & wildlife
Lake Bogoria
Lake Bogoria is a saline, alkaline lake that lies in a volcanic region in a half-graben basin south of Lake Baringo, Kenya, a little north of the equator. Lake Bogoria, like Lake Nakuru, Lake Elementeita, and Lake Magadi further south in the Rift Valley, and Lake Logipi to the north, is home at times to one of the world’s largest populations of lesser flamingos. The lake is a Ramsar site and Lake Bogoria National Reserve has been a protected National Reserve since November 29, 1973. Lake Bogoria is shallow, and is about 34 km long by 3.5 km wide, with a drainage basin of 700 km². It is Located in Baringo County. Local features include the Kesubo Swamp to the north and the Siracho Escarpment to the east, both within the National Reserve. The lake is also famous for geysers and hot springs along the bank of the lake and in the lake. In four locations around the lake can be observed at least 10 geysers, which erupt up to 5 m high. Geyser activity is affected by the fluctuations of lake level, which may inundate or expose some geysers
Mount Kenya National Park
Mount Kenya National Park was established in 1949 to protect Mount Kenya, the wildlife and surrounding environment, which forms a habitat for wild animals, as well as acting as an area for the catchment of water, to supply Kenya’s water.
Shimba Hills National Reserve
The Shimba Hills National Reserve is a small National Reserve in the Coast Province of Kenya, 33 km from Mombasa and 15 km from the coast. The reserve is an area of coastal rainforest, woodland and grassland. It is an important area for plant biodiversity – over 50% of the 159 rare plants in Kenya are found in the Shimba Hills, including some endangered species of cycad and orchids. It is also a nationally important site for birds and butterflies. There are estimated to be approximately 700 elephants in the reserve. This population is unsustainably high – it causes significant damage to vegetation, threatening the endangered plant life. Conflict between humans and elephants has also reached critical levels. North of the Reserve, the Mwaluganje elephant sanctuary has been established to provide a route for elephants to leave the park. The remainder of the park boundary is fenced to prevent the elephants from invading farmland. The Kenya Wildlife Service has plans to relocate up to 400 elephants from Shimba to Tsavo East National Park in 2005. Shimba Hills contains Kenya’s only population of Sable Antelope. There are about 100 in the park.
Ol Pejeta Conservancy
The Ol Pejeta Conservancy is a 360 km² not-for-profit wildlife conservancy in Central Kenya’s Laikipia County. Situated on the equator west of Nanyuki, between the foothills of the Aberdares and Mount Kenya. The Ol Pejeta Conservancy works to conserve wildlife, provide a sanctuary for great apes and to generate income through wildlife tourism and complementary enterprises for re-investment in conservation and community development. The Conservancy boasts the largest black rhino sanctuary in East Africa, and in 2013 reached a population milestone of 100 black rhino. It also houses the two remaining northern white rhino in the world, who were moved there from Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic. The Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary is situated here, and provides a haven for orphaned, abandoned and rescued chimpanzees. It is the only place in Kenya where these great apes can be seen. The Conservancy is host to the “Big five game” among a large selection of other African animals, which makes it a popular safari destination. It also operates a successful livestock program, which serves to benefit local pastoralists and wildlife.
Aberdare National Park
The Aberdare National Park is a protected area in the Aberdare Mountain Range in central Kenya located east of the East African Rift Valley. It covers the higher areas and the Aberdare Salient to the east.
Wasini Island
Wasini Island lies in southeast Kenya 3 kilometres off the coast of the Indian Ocean, 75 kilometres south of Mombasa, and 3 kilometres opposite the harbour of the village Shimoni. It is approximately 7 kilometres long and 3 kilometres across. the name “wasini mpunguti” came from the early inhabitants who originally were the Chinese they were short Chinese, hence the name wasini mpunguti which to the locals, means short Chinese. The island has only footpaths of sharp old coral or sand. There are no cars, carts or bicycles. Cargo is transported by foot or by a wheelbarrow with a solid tyre. Transport is over the paths, or via the beaches, mainly consisting of coral and only passable with low tide, or by boat over the sea. Before 1963, in the British colonial time, there was an airstrip in the lagoon situated longitudinal south on the island; only small parts of tarmac are reminders of this history.
Ngong Hills
The Ngong Hills are peaks in a ridge along the Great Rift Valley, located southwest near Nairobi, in southern Kenya. The word “Ngong” is an Anglicization of a Maasai phrase “enkong’u emuny” meaning rhinoceros spring, and this name derives from a spring located near Ngong Town. The Ngong Hills, from the eastside slopes, overlook the Nairobi National Park and, off to the north, the city of Nairobi. The Ngong Hills, from the westside slopes, overlook the Great Rift Valley dropping over 1,000 m below, where Maasai villages have been developed. The peak of the Ngong Hills is at 2,460 m above sea level. During the years of British colonial rule, the area around the Ngong Hills was a major settler farming region, and many traditional colonial houses are still seen in the area. In the 1985 film Out of Africa, the four peaks of the Ngong Hills appear in the background of several scenes near Karen Blixen’s house. Local residents still reported seeing lions in the Hills during the 1990s. The solitary grave of Denys Finch Hatton, marked by an obelisk and garden, is located on the eastern slopes of the Ngong Hills, overlooking the Nairobi National Park.
Haller Park
Haller Park is a nature park in Bamburi, Mombasa, on the Kenyan coast. It is the transformation of a quarry wasteland into an ecological area. Haller Park holds a variety of plant and animal species which serve as a recreation spot for tourists and locals. Up to March 2007 it held the attraction of Owen and Mzee – the friendship of a hippopotamus and a tortoise.
Bomas Of Kenya
Bomas of Kenya is a tourist village in Langata, Nairobi. Bomas displays traditional villages belonging to the several Kenyan tribes. Bomas of Kenya is home to one of largest auditorium in Africa. It is located approximately 10km from the Central Business District.
Lake Elmenteita
Lake Elmenteita is a soda lake, in the Great Rift Valley, about 120 km northwest of Nairobi, Kenya.
Meru National Park
Meru National Park is a Kenyan national park located east of Meru, 350 km from Nairobi. Covering an area of 870 km², it is one best known national parks in Kenya. Rainfall in this area is abundant with 635–762 mm in the west of the park and 305–356 mm in the east. The rainfall results in tall grass and lush swamps. The park has a wide range of wild animals including the African bush elephant, lion, African leopard, cheetah, eastern black rhinoceros, southern white rhinoceros, Grévy’s zebra, hippopotamus. Meru was one of the two areas in which conservationists George Adamson and Joy Adamson raised Elsa the Lioness made famous in the best selling book and award-winning movie Born Free. Elsa the Lioness is buried in this park and part of Joy’s ashes were scattered on her gravesite.
Lewa Wildlife Conservancy
The Lewa Wildlife Conservancy is located in northern Kenya. It was formed in 1995. It is a wildlife sanctuary incorporating the Ngare Ndare Forest and covering over 62,000 acres. The Conservancy is home to a wide variety of wildlife including the rare and endangered black rhinos, Grevy’s zebras and sitatungas. It also includes the big five. Lewa holds over 12% of Kenya’s eastern black rhinoceros population and the largest single population of Grevy’s zebras in the world. The Conservancy is also home to the Northern Rangelands Trust, an innovative partnership with a number of communities to the north who have given land for the preservation of wildlife. Lewa has its own education program that helps develop schools and students. Lewa Wildlife Conservancy is located in Meru County, south of Isiolo town but north of Mount Kenya.
Gede Ruins Malindi… Snake Park
The ruins of Gedi are a historical and archaeological site near the Indian Ocean coast of eastern Kenya. The site is adjacent to the town of Gedi in the Kilifi District and within the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest. Gedi is one of many medieval Swahili coastal settlements that stretch from Mogadishu, Somalia to the Zambezi River in Mozambique. There are 116 known Swahili sites stretching from southern Somalia to Vumba Kuu at the Kenya-Tanzania border. Since the rediscovery of the Gedi ruins by colonialists in the 1920s, Gedi has been one of the most intensely excavated and studied of those sites, along with Shanga, Manda, Ungwana, Kilwa, and the Comoros. The site of Gedi includes a walled town and its outlying area. All of the standing buildings at Gedi, which include mosques, a palace, and numerous houses, are made from stone, are one-story, and are distributed unevenly in the town. There are also large open areas in the settlement which contained earth and thatch houses. Stone “pillar tombs” are a distinctive type of Swahili Coast architecture found at Gedi as well.
Buffalo Springs National Reserve
Buffalo Springs National Reserve is a protected area in the Isiolo County in northern Kenya.
Malindi marine boat excursions
Malindi Marine National Park is located in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Kenya. It is claimed to be oldest marine park in Africa. The park lies at Malindi, about 118 km north of Mombasa and is protected and administered by the Kenya Wildlife Service. Along with Watamu Marine National Park, Malindi Marine Park is enclosed by the Malindi Marine National Reserve.
The Maasai Market
Nyahururu Falls
Nyahururu Falls is a 74 metres waterfall on the Ewaso Ng’iro river in central Kenya, a few kilometres from Lake Ol Bolossat, which drains from the Aberdare Range. It is situated 3 kilometres from the town of Nyahururu, at 2,360 metres elevation. In 1883 Joseph Thomson was the first European to reach Thomson Falls, and named them for his father. Thomson wrote: I was impressed mightily by the stupendous thundering of the waters which in magnificent mass plunged down several hundred feet into a fearful gloomy gorge. … The crevices give support to a splendid drapery of creepers and bushes, the spray from the waters yielding the necessary sustenance. Among other plants wild bananas are to be seen. — Joseph Thomson Thomson was a Scottish geologist and naturalist who became the first European to walk from Mombasa to Lake Victoria in the early 1880s. The falls are a major economic resource for the adjacent town of Nyahururu. Most of the revenue is received from tourists, both international and domestic, who are charged at the gate. The falls appeared in the TV Movie The Man in the Brown Suit.
Watamu Beach
Calm beach known for sea life & corals
Nairobi Safari Walk
Wooden boardwalk across a safari park
Kakamega Forest
Kakamega Forest is a tropical rainforest situated in the Kakamega and Nandi County of Kenya, northwest of the capital Nairobi, and near to the border with Uganda. It is Kenya’s only tropical rainforest and is said to be Kenya’s last remnant of the ancient Guineo-Congolian rainforest that once spanned the continent.
Kisite-Mpunguti Marine National Park
Kisite-Mpunguti Marine National Park is situated on the southern coast of Kenya near Shimoni and south of Wasini Island in Kwale District near the Tanzanian border. Kisite park covers 11 square kilometres while Mpunguti reserve covers 28 square kilometres. The park covers an area with four small islands surrounded by coral reef. Marine life is in abundance, including trigger fish, moray eels, angelfish, butterfly fish, groupers, parrotfish, wrasses, scorpionfish, pufferfish, damselfish, rays, snappers, green sea turtles, hawksbill turtles, and dolphins. Humpback whales and whale sharks are seasonal.
Nairobi Animal Orphanage
Wildlife rehabilitation spot with tours
Shaba National Reserve
Shaba National Reserve is a protected area in Isiolo County in northern Kenya to the east of the Samburu and Buffalo Springs national reserves. Together, the three reserves form a large protected area. The Shaba reserve has dramatic scenery including river-side forests, scattered woodlands and dry grasslands dominated by the Shaba Hill volcano. The plentiful wildlife relies on waterholes and marshes scattered throughout the reserve. Shaba is home to the endangered Grevy’s zebra and the rare Williams’s lark. Shaba was the setting for the book and film Born Free, for the film Out of Africa and for the reality show Survivor: Africa. The reserve is a popular destination for tourists. There is some risk that excess numbers of visitors and growth of the local population around the reserve may place stress on the environment.
Karura Teracess
Karura Forest is an urban forest in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. The forest was gazetted in 1932 and is managed by the Kenya Forest Service in conjunction with the Friends of Karura Forest Community Forest Association. Karura Forest is 1,041 ha consisting of three parts separated by Limuru and Kiambu roads. The large middle portion is ca. 710 ha; the Sigria salient to the west is ca. 250 ha. The portion to the east of Kiambu road has been allocated to special national priorities. As of mid-2016, 36% of the forest contains indigenous upland forest tree species. The forest is home to some 200 species of bird as well as suni, Harveys Duiker, bushbucks, bush pigs, genets, civets, honey badgers, bush babies, porcupines, Syke’s monkeys, bush squirrels, hares, fruit bats, and various reptiles and butterflies. Karura now has over 50 km of trails for visitors to walk, run or bike. Due to its proximity to a growing city, there have been plans to reduce the forest in favour of housing and other development. However, these plans have been controversial with conservationists. In the late 1990s there were housing projects that would have excised portions of the forest.
Kenya Railway Museum
The Nairobi Railway Museum is a railway museum in Nairobi, Kenya, adjacent to Nairobi railway station. Containing exhibits from the defunct East African Railways, it was opened in 1971 by East African Railways and Harbours Corporation. It is operated by Kenya Railways. The museum has maintained its rail connection. This allows for the efficient movement of museum exhibits for maintenance and placing items in the collection. The three operational steam locomotives are stored securely under cover within the main railway works. Visitors must request an appointment to view them. They have not been used for several years. One of the display locomotives, 301 was used in the 1985 movie, Out of Africa. The museum’s collection also includes early diesel locomotives and passenger coaches. Friends of the Railway Museum East Africa, a concern encompassing Railway and Locomotive enthusiasts, has assisted in sourcing and securing artifacts for the museum. In January 2011, a working miniature railway was installed to enhance activity at the museum. This miniature train was formerly used to promote Kenya Railways on exhibitions, such as the Nairobi Show
Mombasa Island
Mombasa Island is a 5 by 3 km coral outcrop located on Kenya’s coast on the Indian Ocean, which is connected to the mainland by a causeway. Part of the city of Mombasa is located on the island, including the Old Town.
Elephant and Rhino Nursery
Kenya Museum Society
Museum of East African history
Nyali Beach
White sand beach for swimming & picnics
Ruma National Park
Ruma National Park is the only terrestrial park in Kenya’s Nyanza Province. Dubbed the “Last Retreat of the Roan Antelope”, the park protects the only indigenous population of rare roan antelopes within Kenya. At present, the population is on the verge of extinction with individual populations numbering approximately 40. The park was established in 1966 as Lambwe Valley Game Reserve. It was later renamed “Ruma” after one of Kenya’s most powerful wizard, the much feared Gor Mahia who lived around the park. The park is located in the vast Lambwe Valley.
Batian
One of Mt. Kenya’s highest points
Sibiloi National Park
Sibiloi National Park lies on the northeastern shore of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya. Established in 1973 by the government of Kenya for the protection of wildlife and paleontologist sites there, it covers 1,570 km² and is internationally known for its fossils. It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997 as a part of Lake Turkana National Parks. Sibiloi National Park is located on the wild and rugged shores of Lake Turkana – the cradle of mankind – Sibiloi is home to important archaeological sites including Koobi Fora where the fossil remains have contributed more to the understanding of human evolution than any other site in the continent. The area is characterized by semi-desert habitat and open plains flanked by volcanic formations including Mount Sibiloi, where the remains of a petrified forest can be seen.
Uhuru Park
Uhuru Park is a 12.9 hectare recreational park adjacent to the central business district of Nairobi, Kenya. It was opened to the general public by the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta on 23 May 1969. It contains an artificial lake, several national monuments, and an assembly ground which has become a popular skateboarding spot on weekends and also a location for local skateboarding competitions, catering to Nairobi’s growing skate scene. Apart from skateboarding, the assembly ground is used for occasional political and religious gatherings. It is infamous as the site where protest against illegal land grabbing was violently broken up by the Moi regime. In 1989, Wangari Maathai and many of her followers held a protest at the park, attempting to stop the construction of the 60-storey Kenya Times Media Trust business complex. She was forced by the government to vacate her office and was vilified in parliament, but her protests and the government’s response led foreign investors to cancel the project. In August 1996, a group led by a Catholic cardinal and Archbishop Maurice Michael Otunga burned a heap of condoms in Uhuru Park.
The Nairobi Arboretum
Nairobi Arboretum is located along state house road in the area of Kilimani, Nairobi Kenya. It was founded in 1907 by Mr. Batiscombe in a bid to try out new forestry trees. It was later gazetted as a national reserve in 1932 by the government and issuance of a title deed was later conducted by the commissioner of lands to the government in 1996.
Ewaso Ngiro
Ewaso Ng’iro is a river in Kenya which rises on the west side of Mount Kenya and flows north then east and finally south-east, passing through Somalia where it joins the Jubba River. The upper basin of the Ewaso Ng’iro River is 15,200-square-kilometre. The river has a continuous water supply due to the glaciers on Mount Kenya. Ewaso Ng’iro feeds into Lake Ol Bolossat, the only lake in Nyandarua county and the larger Central Kenya. Ewaso Ng’iro crosses seven arid to semi-arid landscapes. It is characterized by vastly different physiographic features and species and has become a fundamental component to the survival of the wildlife, as well as the expansion of human population and socio-economic developments. Water, the limited land resource provided by the Ewaso Ng’iro watershed is unevenly distributed throughout the higher and lower regions of the catchment due to the large percentage necessary to maintain agricultural practices and climatic changes. The river’s name is derived from the local community’s language. It means the river of brown or muddy water. It is also called by some the “Ewaso Nyiro.” In the arid north of Kenya, water means life
Chalbi Desert
The Chalbi Desert is a small desert in northern Kenya near the border with Ethiopia. It is east of Lake Turkana and contains North Horr. Marsabit is the closest major urban center. Chalbi desert is composed of saline and alkaline sediments and stabilised sand dunes; a resulting formation of the old bed of Lake Chalbi. During the Pleistocene this lake drained the volcanoes of marsabit. It has since dried up to form the extensive Chalbi desert.
Sirimon Route
Varied trek near glaciers & peaks Mt Kenya
Kisumu Impala Sanctuary
Located within Kisumu city, Kisumu Impala Sanctuary lies on the shores of Lake Victoria, covering less than 1km2. The facility was gazetted in 1992. In March 2010, the sanctuary was branded as ‘a lakeshore walk with impalas’. There are a diverse number of flora and fauna both free ranging and captive. Over 115 species of birds have been recorded. Presently, the sanctuary boasts of all the big five game except for the elephant. A number of nature trail circuits are also available for clients. Annually, the sanctuary conducts the Kisumu Impala Conservation Boat Race event in November to help create awareness of wildlife, especially the endangered sitatunga antelope. Apart from nature viewing and boat riding, the sanctuary is a key site for ecology and wildlife research and education.
Taita Hills
The Taita Hills, sometimes also spelled as Teita Hills, are a mountain range located in the Taita-Taveta County in south-eastern Kenya. The hills consist of three massifs: Dawida, Sagalla in the southern side of Voi township and Kasigau in the south near the border of Tanzania. The Dawida massif is the largest and tallest of the three, with an altitude of 2,228 metres above sea level at its highest peak, Vuria. Dabida has three other main peaks: Iyale, Wesu, and Susu.
Arabuko Sokoke National Reserve
The Arabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve is located on the coast of Kenya, 110 km north of Mombasa and is protected as a national Forest Reserve. The Arabuko Sokoke National Park, situated at the north-western edge of the Arabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve, is only a few square kilometres in size and constitutes only a small portion of the latter.
Kit-Mikayi
Kit-Mikayi — also spelled Kit Mikayi, Kitmikayi, and Kitmikaye — it evolved from a rock formation, a Tor, around 120m high situated about 29 km. It is along Kisumu-Bondo road. There is a sign board is on the gate of Kit Mikayi primary school and entrance is via N’gop-Ngeso primary school. Kit-mikayi means “the stone of the first woman”, or “stone of the first wife”, in Dholuo, the Luo language.
Elephant Orphanage
Rescue center for baby elephants
Mzima Springs
Mzima Springs are a series of four natural springs in Tsavo National Park, Kenya. They are located in the west of the Park, around 48 km from Mtito Andei. The source of the springs is a natural reservoir under the Chyulu Hills to the north. The Chyulu range is composed of volcanic lava rock and ash, which is too porous to allow rivers to flow. Instead, rain water percolates through the rock, and may spend 25 years underground before emerging 50 kilometres away at Mzima. The natural filtration process gives rise to Mzima’s famously clear stream, which flows through a series of pools and rapids. Two kilometres downstream from the springs, the stream is blocked by a solidified lava flow and disappears below the surface again. Mzima is one of Tsavo’s most popular wildlife attractions owing to its resident populations of hippos and Nile crocodiles. Mzima’s isolation makes both species are dependent on its waters: other sources are too distant for them to reach by overland travel. The hippos also sustain an entire food chain. They browse the surrounding savannah by night and return to Mzima’s pools by day, where their dung fertilises the water.
Uhuru Gardens
Uhuru Gardens Memorial Park is a commemorative park in Nairobi, Kenya that celebrates independence from the British Empire in 12 December 1963. The word “uhuru” is Swahili for “freedom”. It contains three points of significance: The Mũgumo tree, purportedly planted in the exact location the Union Jack, or more likely the former Flag of the Colony of Kenya, was removed and the Flag of Kenya was placed. The tree is also of significance to the Kikuyu people. The independence commemorative monument, built in 1973, is a twenty-four meter high column, supporting a pair of clasped hands and a dove of peace. This point celebrates the declaration of independence at midnight, 12 December 1963. It also celebrates the inauguration of Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta, in the same night. On one side of this monument is a statue of soldiers raising the Kenyan flag. A fountain celebrating “Twenty-Five years of Uhuru – peace, love and unity monument”.
Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary
Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary is a community-owned elephant park, a conservation area for elephants and Encephalartos cycads in Kwale County, Kenya.
Chale Island
Chale Island is a headland rather than an island, located at the northern end of Msambweni Bay in Kwale County in southeastern Kenya. Chale Island is known as a sacred kaya.
Central Island
Central Island, also known as Crocodile Island, is a volcanic island located in the middle of Lake Turkana in Kenya. It is also the location of Central Island National Park, which is governed by the Kenya Wildlife Service. It is composed of more than a dozen craters and cones, three of which are filled by small lakes. The two largest lakes partially fill craters up to a kilometre wide and about 80 m deep, the floors of which are near sea level. The highest point on the dominantly basaltic island reaches 550 m, about 190 m above the lake surface. An E-W-trending chain of small explosion craters cuts the eastern side of the 3-km-wide island. Several small islands to the SE represent partially submerged crater rims, and other cones and lava plugs lie beneath the lake surface near the island. The youngest Central Islands tuffs and lavas may be as young as Holocene. Fumarolic activity is concentrated along the NE-to-SE rim of the central crater, and sprays of sulfur from the fumaroles were observed by visitors in the 1930s. In 1974 intense emission of molten sulfur and steam clouds were seen from the mainland.
Point Lenana
Mount Kenya peak popular for treks Mt Kenya
parco nazionale di Saiwa Swamp
Saiwa Swamp National Park is located near Kitale, in Trans-Nzoia County, Rift Valley Province, Kenya. It is the smallest national park in Kenya, only 3 km², and was created as habitat for the Sitatunga, a rare aquatic antelope. There are a variety of trees at the national park. Saiwa Swamp National Park is the smallest tour destination park in Kenya, a Sanctuary of the Sitatunga antelope and packed with a lot of wildlife to explore from plants, birds, Insects and reptiles.
Aruba Dam
Artificial lake & endangered wildlife
Ol Donyo Sabuk
Ol Donyo Sabuk, or Kyanzavi in Kamba, is a mountain and an adjacent small town near Thika Kenya. The town is located in Kyanzavi Division, Machakos County. The peak, height 2,145 metres, was named by Maasai pastoralists, meaning big mountain. The Kamba name, Kyanzavi means the mountain of nzavi or Lablab beans. Kilimambogo, has two parts, Kilima – meaning a hill or mountain in Swahili, and mbogo meaning a buffalo in many Bantu languages. Incidentally, the forested part of the mountain has a large population of buffaloes. Buffalo is called Nyati in Swahili. The town stands at the edge of Machakos County. Lord William Northrup McMillan was the first white man to settle here, and everything else that has happened since is largely attributed to him. The town is quite dusty, due to deforestation and loose ground cover, compounded by occasional rainfall. However, the area is adorned with much untamed beauty. The town is located about 18.5 km east-southeast of Thika, along the Thika-Garissa road. Driving on Garissa Road from Thika town, there are pineapple plantations on both sides, accentuated by little pockets of blooming eucalyptus.
Mamba Village
Amusement park with a crocodile farm
Menengai Crater
Trekking, biking & views of 2 lakes
Crescent Island Game Sanctuary
Giraffes, hippos & safaris on foot
Ndere Island
Ndere Island is a small island in Winam Gulf of Lake Victoria in Kenya. It was gazetted as the Ndere Island National Reserve in November 1986 and has since that time been uninhabited. Ndere means “meeting place” in Dholuo. According to Luo folklore, early tribal migrants rested up near Ndere after their long journey south up the Nile River Valley. They found the lush shoreline so pleasing that they stayed. Notable fauna associated with the island include African fish eagles, swifts, hippopotamus, and Nile crocodiles. About fifty impalas have been introduced to the island.
Rusinga Islands
Rusinga Island, with an elongated shape approximately 10 miles from end to end and 3 miles at its widest point, lies in the eastern part of Lake Victoria at the mouth of the Winam Gulf. Part of Kenya, it is linked to Mbita Point on the mainland by a causeway.
Cresent Island
Protected peninsula with a game reserve
Pate Island
Pate Island is located in the Indian Ocean close to the northern coast of Kenya, to which it belongs. It is the largest island in the Lamu Archipelago, which lie between the towns of Lamu and Kiunga in the former Coast Province. The island is almost completely surrounded by mangroves. Like much of the Swahili Coast, Pate’s history was marked by a steady transition from agricultural communities in the early first millennium into a specialized, urban trading society around the 10th century, likely earlier. Islam spread down the coast from African Muslims in the Horn of Africa, helping to develop what would be known as the Swahili culture. Despite myths to the contrary, Pate was neither an Arab nor Persian colony, but an African town frequented by trading Arabs, Persians, Indians, and others. It was the centre of the Pate sultanate from the 13th–19th centuries. The Swahili port of Pate long vied with Lamu and Takwa for economic dominance of the area, and came into prominence around the 14th century. It was subjugated by Lamu, however, in the late 19th century. Public transportation is provided by a few mini buses.
Baboon Cliff View Point
Hyrax Hill Museum
The Hyrax Hill site was proclaimed a national monument in 1945 and opened to the public in 1965. This was as a result of startling discoveries of relics by Mrs. Selfe and subsequent archaeological excavations that were carried out by Dr. Mary Leakey in 1938 that revealed substantial findings in different areas of the site and levels of occupations. The late Mrs. Selfe was the owner of the property. The renovation of archaeology exhibit was made possible through the kind sponsorship of Kenya Museum Society and consultation of British Institute in Eastern Africa in collaboration with the National Museums of Kenya. The hill comprises particular importance due to the fact that it encompasses several phases of occupation; it also has a long history of archaeological investigation, which began in 1937 with Mary Leakey.
Karura Forest
Forest and nature
Lake Bogoria
Lake Bogoria National Reserve is in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya, covering Lake Bogoria and the land immediately surrounding the lake. It is administered by the Kenya Wildlife Service.
Ol Jogi Wildlife Conservancy
Wildlife safaris at an upscale retreat
Ksite Island
Tiny coral islet with fish & dolphins
Loisaba Conservancy Headquarters & Workshop
Wilderness, safari, leopard, maasai people and giraffe
Sarit Centre
Landmark 1980s multi-story shopping mall
Naboisho Conservancy
Vast wildlife reserve with big cats
Kisumu Museum
The Kisumu Museum is a museum located in Kisumu, Kenya. Its exhibits focus on the natural and cultural history of Western Kenya. It features a collection of local flora and fauna, as well as a traditional Luo homestead. The museum was opened 1980.
The Mamba Village
30-acre crocodile & tortoises farm
Kenya National Archives & Documentation Service
Kenya National Archives and Documentation Services is situated at the edge of the central business district in downtown Nairobi along Moi Avenue next to Ambassadeur Hotel. The archives look out on the landmark Hilton Hotel, while on the rear side is Tom Mboya street. It was established in 1965. It holds 40,000 volumes. It was established by an Act of the Parliament of Kenya in 1965 and was placed under the office of the Vice President and the Minister of Home Affairs. It is currently under the office of the Vice-President and State Department for National Heritage and Culture. The Kenya National Archives building also houses the Murumbi Gallery which contains African artifacts that were collected in the 19th century.
East African Plateau
The East African Plateau is a large plateau in the eastern part of central Africa in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Its elevation is mostly between 1000 and 1500 meters. It is subdivided into a number of zones running north and south and consisting in turn of mountain ranges, tablelands, and rift valleys. The most striking feature is the existence of two great lines of rift valleys, due largely to the subsidence of segments of the Earth’s crust, the lowest parts of which are occupied by vast lakes. Towards the south the two lines converge and give place to one great valley, the southern part of which is less distinct due to rifting and subsidence than the rest of the system.
Mombasa Beach
Chill beach for swimming & local seafood
Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests
Kaya is a sacred forest of the Mijikenda people in the former Coast Province of Kenya. The kaya forest is considered to be an intrinsic source of ritual power and the origin of cultural identity; it is also a place of prayer for members of the particular ethnic group. The settlement, ritual centre, and fortified enclosure associated with the forest are also part of the kaya. In the present day, the kaya is also referred to as a traditional organizational unit of the Mijikenda. Eleven of the approximately 30 separate kaya have been grouped together and inscribed as the Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Lake Elementaita
Huge lake with hot springs & rare birds
Ndere Island National Park
Kazuri Beads
Fair-trade beads & pottery made on site
Ngare Ndare Forest
Forest camping & wild elephants
Shela beach
Kora National Park
Kora National Park is located in Tana River County, Kenya. The park covers an area of 1,788 square kilometres. It is located 125 kilometres east of Mount Kenya. The park was initially gazetted as a nature reserve in 1973. It was gazetted as a national park in 1989, following the murder of George Adamson by poachers. Meru National Park and the Tana River mark 65 kilometres of the park’s northern boundary. Features of the Tana River include Adamson’s Falls, Grand Falls and the Kora rapids. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Mwitamvisi River. The park has several seasonal rivers. The topography of the park slopes gently from an altitude of 490 m in the south-west to an altitude of about 270m in the north-east. The central area of the park is an undulating peneplain. Basement ridges protrude above the surface of the peneplain as rocky inselbergs, domed hills or hard rocks that rise steeply from the surrounding area. The highest of these inselbergs are Mansumbi, Kumbulanwa and Kora Rock. The cracks and crevices in the inselbergs have become filled with soil, and a wide variety of herbs, shrubs and small wind-blown trees have become established in them.
The Oloolua Nature Trail
Nature trail with a waterfall & camping
Snake Park
Animal attraction with reptiles galore
Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage
Rehab center for orphaned elephants
Mamba Village Centre
Reptile farm, tours & family activities
EAVS Watamu Snake Farm. Bio-ken
Reptile park with snakes & tortoises
Mount Elgon National Park Kenya
Mount Elgon National Park is a national park 140 kilometres northeast of Lake Victoria. The park covers an area of 1,279 square kilometres and is bisected by the border of Kenya and Uganda. The Ugandan part of the park covers 1,110 km² while the Kenyan part covers 169 km². The Kenyan part of the park was gazetted in 1968, the Ugandan part in 1992.
