|
Nairobi
The 'City in the Sun' is attractive with its wide, tree-lined
streets and spacious parkland suburbs. This, together with
investment in facilities, made Nairobi an important centre
for international tourism and business. There is a full range
of shopping opportunities, from American-styles malls to African
markets, and a great variety of restaurants and nightclubs.
Other places of interest include Bomas of Kenya, a short distance
outside the city centre, where displays of traditional dancing
are put on for visitors, and the Kenya National Museum with
its particularly good ethnographic exhibits. The Snake Park,
opposite the museum, houses snakes indigenous to East Africa
and a few from other parts of the world. Adjacent to the Snake
Part is a collection of traditional mud and thatch huts, and
granaries containing tools characteristic of different tribes.
Nairobi National Park is just 8 Km from Nairobi City centre,
yet still seems a savage and lonely place during the week.
It was Kenya's first national park and today looks much as
it does in early photographs - wild, undulating pasture dotted
with every kind of East African plain animal, except elephants.
[go back]
Mombasa
The second largest city in Kenya. Until the Western powers
ascended in the Indian Ocean, Mombasa was second to Zanzibar
as a trade centre with Arabia, India, and the Far East. Mombasa
is still an important port, as it is at the head of the only
railway into the Kenyan interior. Mombasa is the headquarters
for Kenya's coastal tourism. The Old Town retains a strong
Arab flavour, with narrow, crowded streets.  Fort
Jesus, built by the Portuguese in 1593 and taken by the Omani
Arabs in 1698, is now a museum. Biashara Street is the place
to buy kikoi and khanga cloths. The Old Harbour is often filled
with sailing dhows from Yemen and the Persian Gulf. Lamu Island,
is a beautiful place with white sandy beaches, and sailing
dhows. No motorised vehicles are allowed and streets are so
narrow that donkeys and handcarts are the only vehicles that
can negotiate them. There are mosques and fine old Arab houses
with carved wooden doors. See the Hindu Temple in Mwagogo
Road and the bazaars. Fishing trips may be taken by dhow,
and day trips to the 14th and 15th century ruins on the nearby
islands can be arranged with local boat owners.
[go back]
National Parks
Kenya's National Parks and game reserves have long been famous
for their variety and wealth of flora and fauna. That they
have remained Africa's foremost areas of accessible wilderness
is due to a vigorous campaign of preservation and management,
mounted since the 1960s with increasing success by the Kenyan
government. The government fully recognises that Kenya's future
prosperity may depend on maintaining its remarkable natural
heritage. One-tenth of all land in Kenya is designated as
national parkland. Forty parks and reserves cover all habitats
from desert to mountain forest, and there are even two marine
parks in the Indian Ocean. Tourist facilities are extremely
good. There are many organised safaris, but those with the
time and money may choose to hire their own vehicle and camping
equipment. Day trips by hot air balloon are becoming a very
popular way to view game, especially in the Maasai Mara Game
Reserve, and it is advisable to book well in advance.
[go back]
Aberdare National
Park
This is a closely wooded mountain range rising to over 400
m, adjacent to Mt. Kenya. It is possible to see elephants,
rhinos, rare forest antelopes such as the bongo and dik-dik,
leopards, lions and monkeys. However, the dense vegetation
and misty alpine climate hides most wildlife from the inexpert
observer, the exceptions being giant forest pigs, baboons
and buffalo, which often sleep or feed beside the many dirt
tracks. Most visitors prefer to watch for animals from the
comfort of the park's two lodges. Treetops and the Ark, both
built on platforms overlooking clearings which are floodlit
at night. On the higher slopes, giant alpine plants sprout
from an almost perpetual fog. There are many waterfalls, the
greatest being Guru Falls which drops over 300 m.
[go back]
Amboseli
National Park
This is a small park by Kenyan standards, covering just under
400 sq km at the centre of the border with Tanzania, 220 km
from Nairobi. The fine view of snow-capped Mt. Kilimanjaro,
Africa's highest mountain (63,450 m), brings many visitors.
[go back]
Lake Turkana
(formerly Lake Rudolph)
There are several parks and reserves in the far north of Kenya,
gathered around Lake Turkana. This extraordinary lake, running
for several hundred kilometres through windswept and largely
uninhabited deserts, contains many unique species of fish
and marine plants and has recently gained a reputation as
a fishing resort. Several lodges have sprung up on the Eastern
Shore to cater to this trade and consequently, tourism is
expected to increase. Despite a harsh climate, many of Kenya's
better-known animals manage to survive here, as do the tiny
people of the EI Molo tribe, who fish the eastern waters.
There are two large volcanic islands in the lake. The flooded
crater of the southernmost island has a resident population
of unnaturally large crocodiles. The lake is subject to violent
storms, which disturb algae to produce remarkable colour changes
in the water.
[go back]
Maasai
Mara National Reserve
This reserve is a slice of Africa as seen by Hollywood, 390
km from Nairobi in the southwest corner of the country. It
is a vast rolling plain beneath the Mara escarpment striped
black once a year by millions of wildebeeste and zebra migrating
north from the Serengeti Plains in neighbouring Tanzania.
Continually harried by predators, thick columns of exhausted
animals eventually converge at one spot on the Mara River
and wait nervously to cross. A panic anywhere within the herd
is transmitted flank-to-flank until it reaches those by the
river.
The inelegant beasts must swim past crocodiles, hippos and
flapping vultures to join the sparse but growing herd on the
other side. This spectacle is probably best seen from one
of three hot air balloons operating from Governor's Camp.
During the migration season (July / August), the reserve's
resident lions lounge prominently in the sun, fat and seemingly
placid, and apparently indifferent to tourists. Other animals
to be seen, at any time of the year, include elephants, cheetahs,
baboons, gazelles, giraffes, jackals, hyenas, water buffaloes,
ostriches, and several types of antelope. There are 13 tented
camps and two lodges (Mara Serena Lodge and Keekorok Lodge)
in the reserve. Governor's Camp, with its own airstrip, is
the largest and best equipped. A luxury hotel stands on the
escarpment just outside the reserve and gives fine views over
the plain. Maasai tribes' people live on the reserve's fringes.
They are often keen to sell traditional bead necklaces and
decorated gourds to tourists, or to pose for tourist cameras
in return for a small fee.
[go back]
Meru
National Park
The park is 400 km from Nairobi and features Kenya's only
colony of white rhinos. It is one of the more unspoilt parks.
[go back]
Mt. Kenya National Park
Six hundred sq km of forest and bare rock straddle the equator,
all above 1800 m, rising to over 5000 m in the year-round
snow fields at the mountain's peak. The ascent is very beautiful
and may be climbed without special equipment, but it is advisable
to take time so as to avoid altitude sickness. Climbers should
be accompanied by a guide. Porters are also available and
there are huts to stay in along the way. Plenty of warm clothes
are required as well as your own food supplies. The mountain
is one of the last haunts of the black leopard and the black
and white colobus monkey. Lord Baden Powell is buried nearby
in Nyeri.
[go back]
Samburu
National Reserve
An area of semi-desert half-way between Nairobi and Lake Turkana,
this provides a rare chance to see the oryx, gerenuk, reticulated
giraffe and Grevy's zebra. Ostriches and elephants are easily
spotted in this open habitat. There are two lodges, Samburu
Lodge and River Lodge, both of which hang out bait to attract
leopards for the guests to study while sitting at the bar.
The park takes its name from the Samburu people, distantly
related to the Maasai.
[go back]
Lake Baringo
About 290km North of Nairobi, Lake Baringo is the most northerly
of the Rift Valley Lakes. It can be reached from Nairobi in
a day or you can break the journey by stopping at Lake Nakuru
or Lake Naivasha - both worth a visit in their own right.
From the other side it can be reached from Samburu.
Once you get there there's a couple of hotels, one on an island
in the lake, and a camp site to stay at.
The lake is
fed by two rivers, El Molo and Ol Arabel and has no obvious
outlet, despite this it's is one of only two freshwater lakes
(it is in fact slightly saline, but not enought to bother
the crocs, hippos or people who swim in it) in the Great Rift
Valley in Kenya. The climate in the region is generally hot
and dry and away from the lake shore the surrounding countryside
appears quite barren. However the imposing cliffs house a
variety of bird life and are also home to the Rock Hyrax (a
small rodent-like mammal). The Hyrax are really rather endearing
and quite interesting to watch, but from a birders perspective
they are of interest as the favourite food of Vereaux's Eagle,
which as a result are sometimes seen soaring over the basalt
cliffs near the West shore of the lake. The scrub around the
edges of the lake also has some interesting birds -if you
can find them. Heuglin's or Three-banded courser is not uncommon
and you may also be able to see Lichtenstein's Sand-grouse
and the Spotted thick-knee. Your best chance of finding them
in the scrub is with a local guide, but beware, a number of
the "guides" will promise to show you a phoenix
if that's what you're interested in - at a price of course.
More than
470 species have been recorded there in total, and more than
300 have been recorded in a single day. A recent bird census,
carried out in two three hour spells on consecutive days recorded
just over 280 species in the 6 hours, and that was outside
the main periods for northern or southern migrants. While
you're unlikely to see all 470+ species in a short visit,
there are plenty of birds to be seen even by novice birders.
Pale and dark phase Gabar Goshawk, Paradise Flycatcher, African
Fish Eagles, Marabou Storks, Shikra and White-faced Scops
Owl are amongst the regular sightings, while some the less
common birds that can be seen there include Hemprich's Hornbill
(along the cliffs), the African Darter and occasionally the
African Skimmer.
The Gabar
Goshawks are an interesting local fixture. Lake Baringo Club
has a pair which have been nesting in the grounds for a few
years now. The pair is made up of a pale phase female and
a dark phase male, in each of the years they have nested there
they have raised 2 chicks, one pale and one dark! The presence
of nesting Hamerkops also gives you the opportunity to see
some of the other birds which take advantage of the extraordinary
constructions that these birds build. Since 1999 this includes
a pair of Grey Kestrel that have taken up residence in a Hamerkop
nest, an unusual sighting since these birds are only occasionally
seen this far east in Kenya.
The lake used to boast
a large Goliath Heronry but, although Goliaths are still breeding
around the lake, the Heronry has disappeared.
[go back]
Lake Nakuru
National Park
Lake Nakuru, another of the Rift Valley lakes, can be visited
on a long day trip or an overnight stopover on safari going
north or west. Lake Nakuru is world famous as the feeding
grounds of both lesser and greater flamingos which can be
distinguished by size and color.
The lesser flamingo has a deep carmine red bill; the greater
has a pink one with a black tip. The lesser also has a deeper
pink plumage. Both species are present at the lake. Lake Nakuru
was crowned a national park in the sixties. It was estimated
then that they were at times more than a million flamingos.
Ornithologists describe it as "the most fabulous bird
spectacle in the world."
Besides that, more
than 400 species of birds can be seen in the park. Hippos,
reedbuck, waterbuck, black rhino, giraffe, lion, leopard,
bushbuck are present too at the Lake Nakuru National Park.
Between the lake and the cliffs in the west, large pythons
inhabit the dense woodland, and can often be seen crossing
the roads or dangling from trees. Accommodation is available
at the Sarova Lion Hill Lodge and Lake Nakuru Lodge which
are right inside the park.
[go back]
Tsavo
National Park (East & West)
At 21,000 sq km, it is Kenya's largest park by far, but much
of it is closed to the public. Despite a drastic fall in the
elephant population in the 1970s (caused by over-stocking),
there are still many large herds. Much land is open savannah
and bush woodland inhabited by buffalo, a few rhinos, lions,
antelopes, gazelles, giraffes and zebras. Crocodiles and hippos
can be seen at Mzima Springs in the west of the park.
[go back]
< back to top > |
