Kenyans have been long blessed with tremendous national parks that attract visitors from around the world. In this age of social media, these parks have offered near perfect photo opportunities to share with friends and family. With all this in mind, we crunched the numbers, Instagram posts, hashtags and attractions to bring you 6 national parks you should visit and Instagram right now. You may have heard about some of these national parks, but they are definitely worth the trip when visiting Kenya.
1. Maasai Mara
It was recently voted as Africa’s leading national park at the 2017 World Travel Awards ceremony held in the Rwandan capital, Kigali. The reserve is located in the Great Rift Valley in primarily open grassland. It’s is regarded as the jewel of Kenya’s wildlife viewing areas. The annual wildebeest’s migration alone involves over 1.5 million animals arriving in July and departing in November. On top of that, there have been more than 95 species of mammals, amphibians and reptiles and over 400 birds species recorded on the reserve.
Nowhere in Africa is wildlife more abundant than Mara, and it is for this reason a visitor hardly misses to see the big five!
2. Amboseli National Park
Amboseli lies immediately north-west of Mount Kilimanjaro, on the border with Tanzania. Amboseli is famous for its big game and its great scenic beauty – and the landscape which dominated by the towering Mount Kilimanjaro.
3. Lake Nakuru National Park
Lake Nakuru National Park is one of Kenya’s two Premium Parks and is a bird lover’s paradise. It surrounds Lake Nakuru, located in the Central Rift Conservation Area in the Southern Rift Valley region of Kenya. Originally protected as a bird sanctuary, this park hosts over 400 bird species, including 5 globally threatened species, and is an important stop on the African-Eurasian Migratory Flyway. This park was also the first national Rhino sanctuary and hosts one of the world’s highest concentrations of the Black Rhinoceros.
4. Tsavo National Park
It’s one of the oldest and largest parks in Kenya. 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.
5. Samburu National Park
It is often regarded by travellers and guides in Kenya as the best of Kenya’s national parks. The drive from the foothills of Mt Kenya treats the traveller to an unusual spectacle of green bush and forest on one side and a desert landscape on the other. Like in all of Kenya’s national parks there is no shortage of game here and there are frequent sightings of all of the big cats, as well as all of Kenya’s plains game.
6. Nairobi National Park
It’s is the only national park in the world to be found within the precincts of a capital city. It is known for its Black Rhino Sanctuary and, despite bordering the city, it is home to lions, leopards and hyenas as well as many other Kenyan animals. Its closeness to Nairobi also means it is very accessible to Kenyans and tourists alike who want to experience a safari without having to travel and stay overnight elsewhere.
