The Great Migration

East Africa's most cosmopolitan city - Nairobi, is Kenya's heartbeat; an exciting, maddening concrete jungle that jarringly counterpoints the unrivalled natural beauty found elsewhere in the country. The city's charms include a vibrant cultural life, fabulous multi-cuisine places to eat, an exciting nightlife, a fabulous national park on its doorstep, some wildlife-centric attractions, the excellent National Museum and a series of quirky sights.

Amboseli belongs in the elite of Kenya’s National Parks, and it’s easy to see why. Its signature attraction is the sight of hundreds of big-tusked elephants set against the backdrop of Africa’s best views of Mt Kilimanjaro (5,895m) – the World’s highest free-standing peak which broods over the southern boundary of the park; and while cloud cover can render the mountain’s massive bulk invisible for much of the day, you’ll be rewarded with stunning vistas when the weather clears, usually at dawn and/or dusk. Apart from almost guaranteed elephant sightings, you’ll also see the cape buffalo, impala, lion, cheetah, spotted hyena, giraffe, zebra and wildebeest among other African game. There is also a host of Kenyan birds, both large and small. Early morning and later in the evening are the best times to spot wildlife on game drives as it is cooler then and animals are more prone to activity.

The lofty goal of any self-respecting Kenya-bound traveler, the sky-scratching 5,199m bulk of Mt Kenya, Kenya’s glacier-scarred highest and Africa’s second highest peak, is just a snowman’s stride from the Equator. The mountain's ecosystems vary radically by altitude; you can expect to walk through upland forests, bamboo forests, high-altitude equatorial heathland, lower alpine moorland and, finally, the rock and ice of the summit. In the lower altitude's wildlife is common, but it’s the plant life that takes center stage: hairy carpets of tussock grass, brush-like giant lobelias and the bizarre giant groundsel. This is the land the Mau-Mau fought for, the land the colonists coveted and the land whose natural, cyclical patterns define the lives of the country’s largest rural population. These highlands form one of the most evocative sections of Africa's Great Rift Valley.

Ol Pejeta Conservancy

The Ol Pejeta Conservancy is a privately owned 24,000 acre ranch with magnificent views across the wildlife- studded plains to the view of the snow-capped peaks of Mount Kenya. Host to all the members of the ‘Big Five' (elephant, rhino, lion, buffalo and leopard), the conservancy has a higher wildlife-to-area ratio than any Kenyan national park and is at the forefront of the Kenyan conservancy programme. The conservancy boasts the largest black rhino sanctuary in East Africa, hosts the only chimpanzee sanctuary in Kenya, and shelters large numbers of rare and endangered species.

Lake Nakuru is among Kenya's finest national parks. On the floor of the Great Rift Valley, surrounded by wooded and bushy grassland, lies the beautiful Lake Nakuru. Visitors can enjoy the wide ecological diversity and varied habitats that range from Lake Nakuru itself to the surrounding escarpment and picturesque ridges. Lake Nakuru National Park is ideal for bird watching and game drives. Flanked by rocky escarpments, pockets of acacia forest and at least one waterfall, the park is gorgeous year-round and is home to both black and white rhinos, lions, leopards, hippos and endangered Rothschild's giraffes.

Samburu National Reserve, The tranquil Uaso Nyiro River, flowing through Shaba and Samburu, attract a wide number of rare wildlife and provides a natural habitat for crocodile. Long necked gerenuk, Gravy’s zebra and reticulated giraffe are species not found in the less arid areas to the south. Elephant seek solace and contentment in the shallow waters of this wide sauntering river, fringed with acacia, doum palms and tamarind, which together with Buffalo Springs; support a large variety of African mammals, other than housing the Big 5. The Reserve has its own indigenous wildlife unique to the region including the gerenuk, Somali ostrich and the endangered grey’s zebra.  

Tsavo East

The sight of dust-red elephant wallowing, rolling and spraying each other with the midnight blue waters of palm-shaded Galana River is one of the most evocative images in Africa. This, along with the 300 kilomtere long Yatta Plateau, the longest lava flow in the world, make for an adventure unlike any other in the Tsavo East. The park forms the largest protected area in Kenya and is home to most of the larger mammals, vast herds of dust –red elephant, Rhino, buffalo, lion, leopard, pods of hippo, crocodile, waterbucks, lesser Kudu, gerenuk and the prolific bird life features 500 recorded species.

Tsavo West

From the sight of fifty million gallons of crystal clear water gushing out of from the under parched lava rock that is the Mzima Springs  to the Shetani  lava flows, Tsavo West is a beautiful, rugged wilderness. The savannah ecosystem comprises of open grasslands, scrublands, and Acacia woodlands, belts of riverine vegetation and rocky ridges including the Poacher's Lookout where visitors can see the teeming herds in the plains below. Tsavo West offers some of the most magnificent game viewing in the world and attractions include elephant, rhino, Hippos, lions, cheetah, leopards, Buffalos, diverse plant and bird species including the threatened corncrake and near threatened Basra Reed Warbler. Tsavo West is also a First World War Site-East African Campaign, Perhaps the most bizarre campaign of the world war was fought in the “Bundu” (Bush) – the barely explored wilderness of thorny scrub and dense forest of Tsavo west. This last ‘gentleman war’ was waged under the code of honor-sometimes; or under guerilla tactics adopted from African tribal fighters. The Guided tours of the Crater, Kichwa Tembo and Mzima fort will enable you trail the real footsteps of the world war veterans

Picturesque, steep forested ravines and open moorland characterize the Aberdare National Park. The park provides a habitat for elephants, black rhinos, leopards, spotted hyenas, olive baboons, black and white colobus monkeys, buffalos, warthogs and bushbucks among others. Rare sightings include those of the Giant Forest hog, bongo, golden cat, serval cat, African wild cat, African civet cat and the blue duiker. Visitors can indulge in picnics, trout fishing in the rivers and camping in the moorlands. Bird viewing is rewarding, with over 250 species of birds in the park, including the Jackson's Francolin, Sparrow hawks, goshawks, eagles, sunbirds and plovers.

Welcome to one of Kenya's most underrated parks. Brilliant on a magnificent scale, the Meru and Kora sister parks feature luxuriant jungle, coursing rivers, verdant swamp, khaki grasslands and gaunt termite cathedrals all under the sky’s great blue bowl. Little visited and utterly unspoilt, few places are comparable to the remote and rugged atmosphere found here. Visitors can see Grevy's zebras, elephants, Bohor reedbucks, hartebeests, pythons, puff adders, cobras, buffalos and more than 427 recorded species of birds - the essential ingredients for a classic safari destination, with some fine accommodation, excellent prospects for seeing lions and rhinos, and a landscape that incorporates Hemingway-esque green hills, arid, Tsavo-like savannah and fast-flowing streams bordered by riverine forests, baobab trees and doum palms. The advantage of being one of Kenya's best-kept secrets is plain to see – you're likely to have much of it all to yourself.

Dream of Africa and there are high chances that you are dreaming of the Maasai Mara. This huge expanse of gently rolling grassland – specked with flat-topped acacia trees and trampled by massive herds of zebras and wildebeest – is the ultimate African cliché, but for once the reality lives up to the image and the Maasai Mara, which comprises not just the famous reserve but also around a dozen community conservancies, several group ranches and numerous Maasai villages, is for many people not just the highlight of their Kenyan adventure but the very reason they came in the first place. The world-renowned Maasai Mara National Reserve is a huge expanse of tawny, sunburnt grasslands pocked with acacia trees and heaving with animals big and small. Impressive at any time of year, it's at its best between July and October when around a million migrating wildebeest and thousands of topis, zebras and other animals pour into the reserve from Tanzania in search of the fresh grass generated by the rains. It is, arguably, the most spectacular wildlife show on the planet and the one thing that no visitor to Kenya should even consider missing. Reliable rains and plentiful vegetation underpin this extraordinary ecosystem and the millions of herbivores it supports. Wildebeests, zebras, impalas, elands, buffaloes, reedbucks, waterbucks, black rhinos, elephants, Maasai giraffes and several species of gazelle all call the short-grass plains and acacia woodlands of the Mara home. This vast concentration of wildlife also accounts for high numbers of predators, including cheetahs, leopards, spotted hyenas, black-backed jackals, bat-eared foxes, caracals and the highest lion densities in the world.