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Kenya Travel Wiki
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Travel to Kenya
Kenya can be a challenging place to visit. It can also be a highly rewarding experience. If you’ve never experienced Africa before, then Kenya is the nation where your love affair can begin.
The savannahs of Kenya offer some of the harshest conditions that the planet has to offer today. This has caused the people of this nation to become one of the most resilient in the world today. It has also lead to the creation of an epic blending of modern form and traditional function. You can certainly relax at a resort, but you can also take a safari and explore the desert that is just a stone’s throw away.
For more than 40 years, Kenya has focused on preserving its culture. This has led to a greater emphasis on community development and wildlife conservation. There are numerous conservancies that can help you experience what Kenya is all about at a comfort level that works for you. Plan your adventure by staying in a yurt while Maasai camping or enjoy the comforts of a modern resort complex. It’s all up to you.
More than 45 National Parks are available to explore, letting you hand-feed giraffes, adopt orphaned elephants, or enjoy a hot air balloon safari at sunrise. Museums and monuments compliment world heritage sites to create one of the most unique opportunities to experience the best of what Africa has to offer.
There may be no other place on our planet that is as magical as Kenya. Step up to the challenge and you will be greatly rewarded.
Best of Kenya
The Big National Parks Of Kenya
The Aberdare National Park
The Aberdares are an isolated volcanic range that forms the eastern wall of the rift valley, running roughly 100km north south between Nairobi and Thomsons Falls. The Aberdare National Park was formed in 1950 to protect the forested slopes and moors of the Aberdare Mountains. While the park has elephant, rhino, black leopard, lion and the beautiful but elusive bongo antelope, it is rarely visited by safari companies and individual travelers. Soils are volcanic origin and red. There are two main peaks Kinangop (3,906m) and Ol Donyo Lesatima (3,999m) separated by a lengthy saddle of alpine moorland at over 3,000m. The high rainfall turns the roads to mud and you need a 4×4 to get anywhere. The park often closes in the wet season. There are many clear streams and waterfalls.
Shaba National Reserve
Lies east of the road linking Isiolo with Marsabit, form a trio of unusual and attractive game sanctuaries very different from others in Kenya. Shaba National Reserve has a particular place in the history of Kenya game conservation for it was in this reserve that the authoress, Joy Adamson, died; her trilogy of books on the rehabilitation of the compliant leopard to a wild environment remained unfinished. Shaba was one of Joy Adamson’s greatest African loves; it was in this tranquil wilderness where she released the first hand-raised leopards Shaba took its name from the Mount Shaba (1525 meters), a volcanic mountain that became extinct around 5,000 years ago. Mount Shaba lies on the border of the reserve.
Mount Kenya Volcano
Mt. Kenya is an imposing extinct volcano dominating the landscape of the Kenyan Highlands, East of the Rift Valley. Mt. Kenya lies about 140 km North, North-East of Nairobi with its Northern flanks across the Equator. The mountain has two main peaks – Batian (5200m) and Nelion (5188m). The mountains slopes are cloaked in forest, bamboo, scrub and moorland giving way on the high central peaks to rock, ice and snow. Mt. Kenya is an important water catchment area, supplying the Tana and Northern Ewaso Ngiro systems. Lake Nakuru is a very shallow strongly alkaline lake 62 km2 in extent. It is set in a picturesque landscape of surrounding woodland and grassland next to Nakuru town. The landscape includes areas of marsh and grasslands alternating with rocky cliffs and outcrops, stretches of acacia woodland and rocky hillsides covered with a Euphorbia forest on the eastern perimeter.
The Masai Mara Reserve
One of the best known and most popular reserves in the whole of Africa. At times and in certain places it can get a little overrun with tourist minibuses, but there is something so special about it that it tempts you back time and again. Serengeti national park in Tanzania occupies 14,763 square km. The park boasts the highest wildlife concentrate in the whole of Africa and one of the best places to see the “big five” elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and buffalo. The annual animal immigration led by the thousands of wild best starts in May and lasts until June. Gazelle, zebra, giraffe, buffalo and eland in search of water share the movement. Along side this migration are predators and scavengers such as lions, hyena and vultures. Other common species fond here include hippo, giraffe, eland, impala, baboons, monkeys and a profusion of almost 500 bird species.
Kenya is safari country
Safari in Kenya is offered in several of the country’s wildlife parks. Most famous is the Maasai Mara game reserve where sightings of the African lion are guaranteed-the same way the sun will rise in the morning and set in the evening. Other Africa lion tours safari parks in Kenya famous for their African lion populations include the Tsavo, Amboseli, Nairobi, Nakuru and Meru safari Parks. With a little effort and your diver guide’s acumen, you will be able to spot a pride in each of these Africa lion tours safari land parks.
Africa lion tours safari of Maasai Mara
Maasai Mara game reserve is said to host over 10 prides of lions if not more. The African lion in Maasai Mara is famous for its black mane. The mane will usually be golden in the African lion’s youth turning to black as it advances in age. The lions of the Mara will be heard roaring next to your camp where they have marked territories and location.
The prides usually occupy one territory (which might be next to your lodge) and it’s guaranteed that they will always be in those environs every day. The Maasai Mara Africa lion tours safari land park is rife with succession battles between male lions. The dominant male is constantly fending off other challenging males. The male will in most cases be heavily scarred on the face as a result of battles fought and won before.
The Africa lion tours safari in the Mara will find you in the middle of a pride that wants to use your car for shade. They will sprawl underneath and besides your vehicle for hours ignoring your presence. By and large, the Maasai Mara African lion is to an extent used to humans, but that’s not to mean they are any less dangerous. So take no chances.
The Africa lion tours safari of Tsavo safari park
The lions of Tsavo East especially, are the most dreaded, and were upon which the movie “the ghost and the darkness” was based. The lions of Tsavo killed hundreds of railway workers and at one point halted the construction of the East African railway line in 1890’s. They came to be known as the “man eaters of Tsavo”
The lions here are the most feared and un-habituated due to their limited contact with humans. They are equally harder to locate but more due to the expansive nature of the park. Your tour driver guide in most cases will most certainly know how to locate a pride since they are familiar with their territories.
Africa lion tours safari in Nairobi National Park
Nairobi National park is the only wildlife park in the world within capital city boundaries. It is therefore easily accessible and a show case of what other country based lion safari parks have to offer. The African lion prides of Nairobi national park are fewer due to the relative size of the park. They can however be heard at early mornings and late evenings roaring away. It is always an exciting experience in your Africa lion tours safari to see the elusive lions in this park before proceeding to the major national parks in Kenya.
Lions of Meru National Park
The Meru National park easily holds the number one position of the most remote wilderness areas in the country. The wildlife here, unlike other parks is very aggressive and un-habituated. The African lions of Meru National park compare to those of Tsavo and are as such the most feared. Meru national park however is a darling for tourists in search of virgin natural places in their Africa lion tours safari photo hunt.
Lions of L. Nakuru National park
Lake Nakuru national park is the most visited park in Kenya. The park is also located 2½ from Nairobi and within the Nakuru town and is host to Lake Nakuru, an important Ramsar site. (An Important water-body equivalent to a UNESCO’s heritage site). The park is famous for the millions of the pink coloured flamingo that ring the sides of the lake like one large pink bracelet.
The African lion park prides are easily found and are located in a particular area called the lion hill. L. Nakuru is a very famous park since it also hosts the Black and White African Rhino. The white Rhino populations in the park have improved tremendously and are touted as a resounding success of the rhino breeding programme by the Kenya Wildlife Service.
Travel resources
Below you can find usefull travel resources for your visit to the country
Weather Online
Official holidays
When are holidays and no working days in the country ?
Date | English |
---|---|
January 1 | New Year's Day |
Variable | Good Friday |
Variable | Easter Monday |
May 1 | Labour Day |
June 1 | Madaraka Day |
Variable | Eid al-Fitr |
Variable | Eid al-Adha |
October 10 | Moi Day |
October 20 | Mashujaa Day (Formerly Kenyatta Day)- |
December 12 | Jamhuri Day |
December 25 | Christmas Day |
December 26 | Boxing Day |
December 31 | New Year's Eve |
Which are the largest cities ?
Listing of the most important and largest cities in the country
Rank | Name | Pop. |
---|---|---|
1 | Nairobi | 3,375,000 |
2 | Mombasa | 1,200,000 |
3 | Kisumu | 409,928 |
4 | Nakuru | 307,990 |
5 | Eldoret | 289,380 |
6 | Kehancha | 256,086 |
7 | Ruiru | 238,858 |
8 | Kikuyu | 233,231 |
9 | Kangundo-Tala | 218,557 |
10 | Malindi | 207,253 |