SHIMBA HILLS

 

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.

The gates to access the park include kivumoni, shimba Gate,kidongo and the Main gate.

The wildlife at the park comprises of Bush Duiker,  Greater Galago, Vervet Monkey, Red Duiker, white  and black Colobus, Blue Duiker, Waterbuck, Bush pig, Buffalo, Giraffes, Leopard, Genet, Hyenas,the Endangered Sable Antelope, Elephants.

There are over 100 bird species at the reserve these include ; Falcon, Cuckoo,Guinea-fowl, Quail, Blue Sunbird, Uluguru, , Ostrich Eagle, African Hawk and much more.There are also reptiles present at the park ;Geckos,cobraz,pythons and more.

You can set up camp at four different campsites ;These are Sheldrick Falls Walk, Ocean view, Professional and Makadara.You can stay at the Shimba Hills Lodge or at the Sable Bandas which is provided by the Kenya Wildlife Service.

References Wikipedia and KWS

Read More

MARSABIT NATIONAL PARK

The Marsabit National Park is a national park and nature reserve located at Mount Marsabit in northern Kenya, near the town of Marsabit.

It is located 560 km north of Nairobi in Marsabit District in Eastern Province and its reserve is noted for its zebra population and bird sanctuary. There are two  gates i.e Ahmed and Abdul.You can also visit the park by air using the airstrip at Marsabit a flight that takes about two hours and a half from Nairobi.

On the road south from Mount Marsabit to the rocky plains of Shaba, Michael Palin describes passing extraordinary Strangler figs in the mountain-top forest, a stark contrast to the dusty track below which is lined by low, flat-topped acacias. The area is home to Sociable Weaver birds, which can be identified by their neater, tidier nests; Sparrow Weavers, with their "scruffier" nests; and white-bellied turacos.

The main attractions at the park include reticulated giraffe, lion, hyena, Grevy’s zebra, Kirk’s dik-dik, Elephants, buffalo, greater Kudu, baboon and  leopards .

In addition there is magical Lake paradise, raptors, bull elephants,the greater Kudu, Prisrine Forest, Bird life, and the land of the Gofs.

Camping services are also offered:Public camps present include the Ahmed campsite and Abdul campsite.There is a special campsite near Lake Paradise.

You can stay at the Marsabit Lodge which is wonderfully located to give you a very wonderful view of the pa k.

References Wikipedia and KWS .

Read More

ARABUKO SOKOKE NATIONAL PARK

The Arabuko-Sokoke Forest is located on the coast of Kenya, 110 km north of Mombassa and is protected as a national Forest Reserve. The Arabuko-Sokoke National Park is only a small portion of the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest Reserve, a few square kilometres in size and is located on the north-western edge of the forest. The National Park was gazetted only in the late 1980s and in fact straddles the Forest Reserve boundary with about 50% lying outside the boundary. This outer section actually lies outside an electric elephant fence installed in 2006/7 and is now fully inhabited by local communities to the extent that there is no sign on the ground to show where the National Park begins or ends.

 The National Park sadly doesn't add any particular protection to the forest which is the largest fragment of coastal forest (420 square km) left in East Africa, and is an area of high endemism, containing endemic mammals, birds and plants. The Reserve, however, is jointly managed by the Kenya Forest Service, Kenya Wildlife Service, National Museums of Kenya and the Kenya Forest Research Institute and is one of the better protected forests in Kenya. 

The forest was first protected as a Crown Forest in 1943, and was gazetted in the 1960s. The forest is threatened by the desire for land by local people. Several national and international conservation organisations are working with the Kenya Wildlife Service to protect the park.

The forest contains three forest types, mixed forest, Brachystegia and Cynometra, each of which protects different communities of plants and animals.

The wildlife at the park consist of ;Blotched Genet, Caracal, syke’s monkeys, Bushbuck, African Civet, Sokoke Mongoose, Ader’s Duiker, waterbuck, Golden-rumped Elephant-shrew and syke’s monkeys.Birdspecies are also present.

The Arabuko-Sokoke Forest protects many endemic and near endemic species. The Clarke's Weaver is completely endemic to the forest, while the Emonymous Sokoke Scops Owl, Sokoke Pipit, and the Amani Sunbird and Spotted Ground Thrush are found only here and in a forest fragment in Tanzania. The park adjoins Mida Creek, a mangrove forest that is an important shorebird wintering ground, protecting species such as the Terek Sandpiper and the Crab Plover.

The endearing Golden-rumped Elephant Shrew, an endemic elephant shrew the size of a rabbit, is the most noticeable of the park's endemic mammals; the Sokoke Bushy-tailed Mongoose and Ader's Duiker (found only here and in Zanzibar) are more elusive. The forest also has Savannah Elephants, African Civets, as well as sokokes, baboons and Vervet Monkeys. The park is also recognized as an outstanding center of amphibian diversity.

Places to stay are a lot around the areas bordering the park.

Lots of activities take place in the park to suit you.

References Wikipedia and KWS

Read More

LAKE NAKURU NATIONAL PARK

Lake Nakuru National Park (188 km², 73 mi²), created in 1961 around Lake Nakuru, near Nakuru Town. It is best known for its thousands, sometimes millions of flamingos nesting along the shores. The surface of the shallow lake is often hardly recognizable due to the continually shifting mass of pink. The number of flamingos on the lake varies with water and food conditions and the best vantage point is from Baboon Cliff. Also of interest is an area of 188 km (116 mi) around the lake fenced off as a sanctuary to protect Rothschild giraffes, black rhinos and white rhinos.

The park has recently been enlarged partly to provide the sanctuary for the black rhino. This undertaking has necessitated a fence - to keep out poachers rather than to restrict the movement of wildlife. The park marches for 12.1 km on the south eastern boundary with the Soysambu conservancy which represents a possible future expansion of habitat for the rhinos and the only remaining wildlife corridor to Lake Naivasha.

The park now (2009) has more than 25 black rhinoceros, one of the largest concentrations in the country, plus around 70 white rhinos. There are also a number of Rothschild's giraffe, again relocated for safety from western Kenya beginning in 1977. Waterbuck are very common and both the Kenyan species are found here. Among the predators are lion, cheetah and leopard, the latter being seen much more frequently in recent times. The park also has large sized pythons that inhabit the dense woodlands, and can often be seen crossing the roads or dangling from trees.

As well as flamingos, there are myriad other bird species that inhabit the lake and the area surrounding it, such as African fish eagle, goliath heron, hamerkop, pied kingfisher and verreaux eagle.

Lake Nakuru, a small (it varies from 5 to 45 square kilometers) shallow alkaline lake on the southern edge of the town of Nakuru lies about 164 kilometers north of Nairobi.

It can be visited in a day tour from the capital or more likely as part of a circuit taking in the Masai Mara or Lake Baringo and east to Samburu.

 The lake is world famous as the location of the greatest bird spectacle on earth - myriads of fuchsia pink flamingos whose numbers are legion, often more than a million - or even two million. They feed on the abundant algae, which thrives in the warm waters. Scientists reckon that the flamingo population at Nakuru consumes about 250,000 kg of algae per hectare of surface area per year.

There are two types of flamingo species: The Lesser flamingo can be distinguished by its deep red carmine bill and pink plumage unlike the greater, which has a bill with a black tip. The Lesser flamingos are ones that are commonly pictured in documentaries mainly because they are large in number. The number of Flamingos has been decreasing recently, perhaps due to too much tourism, pollution resulting from industries waterworks nearby who dump waste into the waters or simply because of changes in water quality which makes the lake temporarily inhospitable. Usually, the lake recedes during the dry season and floods during the wet season.

The lake is rich in other bird life. There are over 400 resident species on the lake and in the surrounding park. Thousands of both little grebes and white winged black terns are frequently seen as are stilts, avocets, ducks, and in the European winter the migrant waders.

Camping sites are also present;Public camp sites include Bacpakers and Makalia.Special camp sites include reedbuck, Naishi, Chui, Rhino and Soysambu.

You can stay at the Nakuru Lodge or Sarova Lion Hill Lodge.

References Wikipedia and KWS

Read More

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 (488m), Kumbulanwa (450m) and Kora Rock (442m). 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 vegetation in the park is mostly acacia bushland. There are also riverine forests of doum palm and Tana River poplar.

There is a wide variety of animal species in the park, including the caracal, cheetah, elephant, genet, hippopotamus, spotted and striped hyenas, leopard, lion, serval, wildcat and several types of antelope.

The park had serious problems with poachers in the 1980s and 1990s. George Adamson and two of his assistants were murdered by poachers in the park in 1989. Adamson is buried in the park.

References Wikipedia and KWS

Read More

ABERDARE NATIONAL PARK

Aberdare National Park is located about 100 km north from Nairobi and stretches over a wide variety of terrains because it covers altitudes from about 7,000 feet (2,100 m) to 14,000 feet (4,300 m) above sea level. Established in May 1950, the Aberdare National Park covers an area of 766 square kilometers and forms part of the Aberdare Mountain Range. The park contains a wide range of landscapes - from the mountain peaks that rise to 14,000 feet (4,300 m) above sea level, to their deep, v-shaped valleys intersected by streams, rivers, and waterfalls. Moorland, bamboo forests and rainforests are found at lower altitudes.


The Aberdare National Park covers the higher areas of the Aberdare Mountain Range of central Kenya and the Aberdare Salient to their east. Rhino Ark is a charity devoted to the protection of this critical habitat area.

Animals easily observed include the lion, leopard, african elephant, african hunting dog, giant forest hog, bushbuck, mountain reedbuck, waterbuck, cape buffalo, suni, side-striped jackal, eland, duikers olive baboon, black and white Colobus monkey, and sykes monkey. Rarer sightings include those of the golden cat and the bongo - an elusive forest antelope that lives in the bamboo forest. Animals like the eland and spotted and melanistic serval cats can be found higher up in the moorlands. The Aberdare National Park also contains a large population of the black rhino. Visitors can also indulge in walking, picnics, in the rivers and camping in the moorlands. Even the bird viewing is rewarding, with over 250 species of birds in the park, including the endangered Aberdare Cisticola, Jackson's Francolin, sparry hawk, goshawks, eagles, sunbirds and plovers. It is a traditional belief of the Kikuyu that the Aberdare Mountain Range, where this park is located, is one of the homes of Ngai, or God.

Visitors to the park can find different types of accommodation according to their taste, ranging from the Treetops tree-house Lodge, to the Ark Lodge- built in the shape of Noah's Ark - and three self-help banda sites, eight special campsites and a public campsite in the moorland. There are also five picnic sites. Both Treetops and Ark provide excellent nighttime wildlife viewing. From here, visitors can observe various animals, such as elephant, buffalo, lion and rhino, which get attracted to the waterholes.

There is also catering by the KWS provided at Fishing lodge house, Tusk camp bandas and Sapper Hut.

Camping services are also present and are made available at Public campsites that are, Reedbuck and Ruhuruini.Special camps present are Queen Beatrice, Muringato, Prince Charles, Nyati and Bongo.

The park also includes two airstrips at Mweiga and Nyeri.

References Wikipedia and KWS

Read More

HELLS GATE NATIONAL PARK

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 received the name "Hell's Gate" by explorers Fisher and Thomson in 1883.

Hell's Gate National Park covers an area of 68.25 square kilometres (26 sq mi), relatively small by African standards.The park is at 1,900 metres (6,200 ft) above sea level. It is within Nakuru District, near Lake Naivasha and approximately 90 kilometres (56 mi) from Nairobi.The park is located 14 kilometres (9 mi) after the turnoff from the old Nairobi-Naivasha highway, and has a warm and dry climate.Olkaria and Hobley's, two extinct volcanoes located in the park, can be seen as well as obsidian forms from the cool molten lava.Within Hell's Gate is the Hells Gate Gorge, lined with red cliffs which contain two volcanic plugs: Fischer's Tower and Central Tower. Off of Central Tower is a smaller gorge which extends to the south and of which a path descends into hot springs that at some places you can find rocks that will burn you, also there is a fair amount of sulfur you can feel in the water.

There is a wide variety of wildlife in the national park, though many are few in number.Examples of little seen wildlife include lions, leopards, and cheetahs. However, the park has historically been an important home for the rare lammergeyer vultures.There are over 103 species of birds in the park, including vultures, Verreaux's Eagles, Augur Buzzard, and swifts. Hyraxes,African buffalo, zebra, eland, hartebeest, Thomson's gazelle, hyena, and baboons are also common. The park is also home to serval and small numbers of klipspringer antelope and Chanler's mountain reedbuck.

Access to the park through road is through Naivasha Town at a junction 5km south of Naivasha or by air via the airstip at Naivasha.

The main gates are the;Elsa and Olkaria gates.

Camping facilities are available like the Oldubai campsite, Endchata campsite and the Nairburta campsite.Lots of accommodation are available at Naivasha town.

References Wikipedia and KWS

Read More