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Olorgesaillie
Lake Magadi
Amboseli National Park (392 Sq. Kms)
Tsavo National Park (20,812 Sq. Kms)
Masai Mara National Reserve(1672 sq. kms)
Olorgesaillie
This is a 50 acre pre-historic site of Middle Pleistocene Age about 70 Kms. from Nairobi on the Magadi Road. It has been developed as a museum with stone age tools and fossilized remnants of extinct mammals first discovered by J.W. Gregory, the Great geologist in 1919.
Lake Magadi
Lake Magadi on the extreme south of the country is the most alkaline of all Kenyan Rift Valley lakes. The lake basin (temperatures above 100°F or 38°C) looks white with little water but a lot of accumulation of mixed salts - covering over 100 sq. Kms. Surrounding the main lake basin are a number of the hot springs with salty waters coming out of the ground at a temperature of about 113°F (45°C).
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Amboseli National Park (392 Sq. Kms)
The central pillars of life in Amboseli are the two large swampy areas - Enkongo Narok and Ol Okenya, at the south and south-eastern corners of the park. They receive their waters from the snow capped peaks of Mt. Kilimanjaro. The rest of the park is either a dry open plain, yellow-barked acacia woodland, or rocky lava strewn thorn-bush country with several small hills dotting the landscape. These are dominated by the massive Ol Doinyo Orok Hill and the immense bulk of Mt. Kilimanjaro just across the border in Tanzania.
Today Amboseli supports one of the most varied Wildlife species in the country ranging from the grounds squirrels to dik dik, zebra, eland, wildbeest, black-rhino, masai giraffe, the famous black-maned Amboseli lions, elephants, grant’s and Thompson’s gazelle, cheetah, gerenuk, impala, leopard, water-buck, fringe-eared oryx, yellow-baboon, Jackals and spotted hyena.
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Tsavo National Park (20,812 Sq. Kms)
Combined East and West National Parks
The park lies about 240 Kms. or halfway between Nairobi and Mombasa. It is divided into two sections for administrative purposes. The eastern section or Tsavo East lies East of the Nairobi-Mombasa Road/Railway in the country of the “Man Eaters of Tsavo”.
Tsavo West National Park (9,065 sq. Kms.) is made of recent volcano lava flows. The lava mantles fearfully called “Shetani” or the Devil Mountains”, absorb rain water which flows underground down the lava ridge for 40 Kms. to emerge as the crystal-clear Mzima Springs. The famous springs create a home for thousands of aquatic animals especially hippos which are easily observed from the safety of an underwater observation point.
On the extreme south-west of the park is the beautiful lake Jipe on the border with Tanzania. The lake is fed by an underground flow from the snow-capped peaks of Mt. Kilimanjaro. It offers a spectacular bird colony with black heron and Pygmy Geese dominating the scene. Tsavo-East is recommended for photographers with its fabulous light and unbelievable views, in particulaar the Mudanda Rock and the Yatta Plateau, the world's largest lava flow.
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Masai Mara National Reserve(1672 sq. kms)
About two hundred and seventy-five kilometres west of Nairobi, Masai Mara is part of the Serengeti ecosystem in Northern Tanzania. It has existed as a game conservation area since 1889. It was confirmed as a Game Reserve (now National Reserve) in 1974. The Reserve consists of well watered grassland plains, standing at an altitude of 1650m and crossed by two permanent rivers, the Mara and Talek.
The great variety of nearly all plains game offer a wide choice of food for the predatory lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, wild-dog, jackals and thousands of other lower carnivores. It is a self-contained world where survival of the fittest is the order of the day. Mara River which is frequently flooded during the rains houses schools of hippo and large colonies of crocodile.
But all this richness of fauna and unspoilt life of Africa, decorated by the culturally rich Maasai people, is secondary to the Mara’s major attraction - the world famous and most spectacular annual animal mass migration of nearly two million wildebeest and Zebra from Serengeti National Park in Tanzania to the Reserve (July to September) and back to Serengeti in January/February. Every year, the herd’s bull leaders taste the wind at the beginning of the long rains and they decide to lead their herds towards Lake Victoria.
The migrating animals are followed by their attendant predators, hyena, lion, wild dog and vultures. Thousand of them fall prey to the predators while many more die in the Mara floods while crossing the river. Visitors to Mara in August through September will certainly see the Splendour of this natural phenomena happening as it were hundred years ago. Apart from the migratory animals Maasai Mara is rich in resident game with over 95 species recorded in the Reserve.
Birds are plentiful with over 480 bird species recorded in the Reserve. Commonest species include: Secretary bird, Vultures, Eagles, Guinea fowls, Ground hornbills, Bustards, Somali ostrich, Herons, Ibis, ducks, geese, plovers, sandgrouse, rollers, kingfishers and many others.
Accomodation ranges from stone built lodges to luxury tented camps. Safari operators set up private tented camps for small groups seeking exclusive and traditional safaris out of the Reserve.
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