Kenyan Parks

Coast Region

The Kenya Coast is associated with white sandy beaches lined with palm trees, warm sea, aquamarine life, coral reefs, golden sandy dunes, making haven for the perfect holiday like no other. Due to the generally warm weather, life is slow here, and is known to subdue even the most active of the youth and the young at heart.

The Kenya Coast is also rich in history, dating back over one thousand years, epitomized by the Vasco da Gama Pillar and Fort Jesus. Its very diverse culture has been influenced by a mixture of Swahili, Portuguese, and European cultures from Italy, Germany, France and England.

The region comprises five sub regions, namely the city of Mombasa, the North Coast, the South Coast, Malindi and Lamu, each with unique features and tourist attractions.

There is a very rich diversity of attractions ranging from the friendly people, white sandy beaches, coral barrier reefs teeming with underwater marine wonders, bird-life, national parks with a wide variety of animals, fantastic coastal food and drink, and water sports.

Watamu National Marine Park and Reserve

Watamu National Marine Park and Reserve was established in 1968 and is kenya’s first marine park. It has now been recognized by the United Nations as a World Biosphere Reserve. The park, comprising the whale Island and Mida Creek, has over 1000 species of reef fish, and is also renowned for its deep sea fishing, breathtaking coral gardens and spectacular species of fish and other sea creatures such as the whale, sharks, manta rays, octopus and barracuda. One will also find clear waters ideal for snorkeling.

Mida Creek

Mida Creek is a wonderful haunt for explorers. Bird watchers can get sight of the yellow-billed stork, great white egret, greater flamingo and malachite kingfisher. Many migrant birds such as the crab plover, curlew sandpiper, whimbrel and sanderling also make a stop over at the Creek

Marafa Depression

Marafa Depression, locally known as Nyari and popularly known as Hell’s Kitchen, is a series of sandstone gorges and sheer gullies. This unique landscape has become part of local folklore.

Shimba Hills

Shimba Hills National Reserve is 56 kilometers south west of Mombasa and consists of forest of giant primeval trees. Shimba Hills is a paradise for the nature lover and is a home to the rare but impressive sable antelope that carries 100-160 cm horns rising vertically before curving backward in a pronounced arc. There are numerous picnic sites that overlook the Indian Ocean. Mount Kilimanjaro is visible on clear days.

Tsavo East National Park

The magnificent Tsavo East National Park covering 13747 sq. km is truly a theatre of the wild. It is a vast flat plain broken only by the sinuous length of the Galana River, where you will find the world’s largest lava flow. The Tsavo ecosystem forms one of the last free great ranges for the African elephant.

The elephants have a distinctive brick red colour of the swirling red dust that they love to wallow and bath in. this si one of the few areas where elephant families are able to follow ancient migratory and dispersal routes as they have done in many years.

The Tsavo is also the only place one can see the few remaining Hirola Antelope, among other numerous wildlife. Be sure to visit the beautiful Lugards Falls.

Tsavo West National Park

The Tsavo West National Park covers 7065 km of rolling plains and volcanic hill. It is renowned as land of lava, springs, and the man-eating lions which preyed on linesmen building the Uganda Railway at the turn of century. It was the location of the 1996 shooting of the movie The Ghost and the Darkness starring Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer from the non-fiction book The Man Eaters of Tsavo by lieutenant Colonel John Henry Patterson. Be sure to visit the Rhino Sanctuary created to protect them from poachers.

TSAVO is the traditional home for the African elephant. It used to be a classic hunting ground for the renowned big game hunters such as the famous Denys Finch Hatton. Spanning thevast plains of Tsavo, and lying within view of Mt. Kilimanajaro, are the Taita and Chyulu hills, a paradise of elephant herds, plains game, cheetah, and remote Maasai villages. The nearby Taita Hills are home to Taita Hills Wildlife Sanctuary established in 1972 and spectacularly located adjacent to Tsavo National Park. The sanctuary has a wide variety of game including lion, cheetah, elephant and plains game. The prolific bird life includes the extremely rare Taita Falcon, a bird recorded in early Egyptian hieroglyphics. In nearly Taveta are lakes Jipe and Chala, fed by streams from the snows of Kilimanjaro. Chala is particularly stunning with its deep blue waters beneath a perfect view of Kilimanjaro. The Sanctuary is home to more than 50 species of mammals and over 300 species of birds.

Amboseli National Park

Amboseli National Park is Kenya’s most popular and most sought after photographer’s paradise. There is literally nowhere else on earth offering such a variety of wildlife attraction against the background of the Kilimanjaro mountain.

The major attraction of Amboseli is its vast herds of elephants. It houses the oldest elephant research study center in the world where elephants have been studied for over 30 years. Amboseli is also known for its great variety of birds, both domestic and migratory.

The Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary

The Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary lies in the Shimba Hills forest near the Kwale Shimba Hills National Reserve and is managed by the local council of Mwaluganje. The site was once a farm that elephants frequented to feed on a certain crop.

It was then decided to turn the place into a sanctuary. A beautiful

elephant watching site has been constructed from where visitors have uninterrupted view of the large animals. Occasionally one may also sport leopards there. Just at the entrance of the sanctuary, there is a local factory that makes paper form elephant dung.