Wildlife parks in Kenya; These are the best parks one wouldn’t miss to add on his or her tour package on his Kenyan Safaris, they include;
Aberdare National Park
Amboseli National Park
Arabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve
Buffalo Springs National Reserve
Hell’s Gate National Park
Masai Mara National Reserve
Meru National Park
Marsabit National Park
Lake Bogoria National Reserve
Laikipia Plateau
Kakamega Forest National Reserve
Lewa wildlife Conservancy
Chyulu Hills National Park
Nairobi National Park
Tsavo East National Park
Tsavo West National Park
Ruma National Park
Saiwa Swamp National Park
Samburu National Reserve
Shaba National Reserve
Shimba Hills National Reserve
Below are the best Kenyan parks to adventure wildlife species in their open savannah grassland among others;
Amboseli National Park
Amboseli National Park is one of the Kenya’s famous parks located in Kajiado South Constituency in Kajiado County, Kenya, lies on area of about 392 square kilometers and was established in 1974 as a national park. More so, the park offers great wildlife viewing and it is more famous for its wide concentration of Elephants among others. Black rhinos are no longer found here and leopards are difficult to see, but lions, buffalos and leopard are present. The plain support bucket of large herbivores including wildebeest, plains zebra and Grant’s and Thomson’s gazelle among others.
Wildlife Highlights;
Amboseli’s top selling attractions are the herds of elephant. Big herds that roam plains in the morning and evening. During the day the elephants mostly spend their time partially submerged and foraging in Ol Okenya swamp. Having been protected from poaching for a long time -Amboseli elephants carry an impressive ivory and are very relaxed around cars.
Best time for wildlife viewing
Amboseli can be visited all around the year, but the most remarkable wildlife viewing is in the dry season ‘’June to October when animals gather around the marshes and predictable water sources.
When its dry, animals are seen crossing the sandy plains tend to kick up a lot of dust. It usually offers some fantastic photo opportunities when the light is low. The dry spell between the rains, from January to February, it’s the best time for wildlife viewing.
Aberdare National Park
Aberdare National Park is home to wide range of animals, located in east of the East African Rift Valley. The park provides a habitat for elephants, leopards, spotted hyenas, black rhinos, Olive baboons, buffalos ,warthogs ,bushbucks and white colobus monkeys as well as a home to beautiful bongo antelope.
Best time for wildlife viewing
Wildlife viewing in the Aberdare’s is good all year round. But the best month to adventure wildlife animals starts from June to September and December to February are the driest months. Although heavy rain occurs year-round but shouldn’t interfere with your safari.
Elephants and some antelopes disperse to the higher altitudes during the dry season ‘’June to September’’.
Masai Mara National Reserve
Masai Mara National Reserve is renowned as one of the Africa’s most famous parks, located on the southern part of Kenya along the Great Rift Vally Area. Well, wildlife viewing is superb all year round. However, the grass plains and regular rainfall support a high population of herbivore and attracts many predators. The yearly wildebeest migration comes through the park – sounds as one of the world’s most amazing wildlife spectacles.
Wildlife species;
Masai Mara is one of the best parks in Africa to watch big cats and other animals to see includes; Lion, Cape buffalo, Rhino, Leopard, Wildebeest, Elephant, Hippo, Reedbucks, Gazelles, Zebras, Cheetah among other.
The wildebeest Migration
The Serengeti -Mara ecosystem is inhabitant to the annual wildebeest migration where 2.5 million wildebeest, Zebra and gazelles follow the rain in search of new grass. They make their way from the Serengeti National Park ‘’in northern Tanzania’’ to the Masai Mara best visited around July and August and arrive in September.
The crossing of the Mara River along the way is one of the highlights events in the world. They slowly turn back into the Serengeti around October.
Weather and Climate
The Masai Mara usually experiences 25 degrees Celsius during dry season ‘’June to October’’. Variations in temperature are mainly due to changes in altitude in the park, with conditions getting cooler the higher you climb.
The wet season which tends to happen from November to May composing a shorter and a longer rainy period that are broken up by a brief dry spell.
Best time to go;
Masai Mara National Reserve can be visited throughout the year but the best time to visit the reserve starts from June to October ‘’for general wildlife viewing ‘’ and September to October ‘’for wildebeest migration’’.
Samburu National Reserve
The Samburu National Reserve Kenya is located in the north of the equator in the geographically thrilling Samburu County of Northern Kenya. The reserve is home to the reticulated giraffe, Masai giraffe, Beisa oryx, gerenuk, both common plain zebra and the bigger Grevy’s zebra are found alongside each other.
Best time for wildlife viewing
Samburu can be visited throughout the year but the most productive time to watch wildlife here is in the Dry season which occurs from June to September. The vegetation is too clear during this period and animals gather around the few remaining water sources. The dry also spell between January to February making it a great time for wildlife viewing. The wettest seasons -months are April and November wildlife watching can be more challenging.
Tsavo National Parks
This both Tsavo East and West National Park greatly offers wildlife viewing in this unmatched wilderness. All the Big five can be spotted around and other animals to see includes; herds of Elephant, Giraffe, Hippo, Zebra, Wildebeest, Black Rhino and rarely seen animals includes Black Rhino, Cheetah, Leopard and occasionally seen animals include Hyena, Lion among others
What is the best time to visit Kenya?
Is all year round though the best time happens in dry seasons starting from June to October -because wide range of animals can be seen gathering around water holes quenching for thirsty and best to go for wildebeest and zebra migration event in the Masai Mara National Reserve. You can still visit from November to February are also devotees – best time to see migrating bird species.
Most travelers avoid visiting Kenyan parks from the month of March to May because of heavy rains which are always possible and can transform safari trails into muddy bogs. But prices for accommodations are lower and the park receives few visitors and clear skies.
Why visit Kenya?
The main reason to visit Kenya – it’s because Kenya is excellent throughout the year and boosts with a large number of world-class national parks such as; Masai Mara, Amboseli, Lake Nakuru, Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Parks and Samburu National Reserve where magic of wildlife viewing is almost guaranteed. Kenyan safari possibilities offered great variety.
You can combine a safari to Kenya with Gorilla trekking safari in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. From Kenya to Uganda can be accessed through boarding a flight from Wilson Airport to Entebbe International Airport. Then from Entebbe to Bwindi -you can use a domestic flight ‘’Aero link Uganda’’ to fly you to local Airstrip -Kihihi or Kisoro Airstrip ‘’1:15hours. Or drive from Kampala or Entebbe to Bwindi National Park which can take about 8 to 9 hours’ drive.
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