Kenya wildlife safari – the best Kenya parks, where to stay and key species
Published on: October 8, 2023
Kenya is famous around the world for the chance to see the Big 5 and the famous Wildebeest River crossings, which overwhelm you, with the sounds and sights of thousands of tens of thousands of animals running down the steep sided riverbanks and plunging into the crocodile infested waters. We were there in September 2023 and were lucky enough to witness a huge crossing and it is an experience that will live with us for the rest of our lives.
However, a Kenya wildlife safari is not just about the Masai Mara and the Wildebeest migration, there are many different national parks and wildlife conservancies which will give you the chance to see everything from Black Panthers to Aardvarks and based on our regular recce trips out there, we have created a list of the best national parks in Kenya just for you. Where to stay, the different safari experiences on offer and the key species you have a chance to see. The list below is in alphabetical order for ease of reading.
Aberdares national park
Wow, imagine getting up at 05:00 and driving 2 hours through a densely forested national park with few other vehicles in sight. In addition, the fellow travelers you may meet will not necessarily be on safari. Aberdares is very popular with local Kenyans for fishing and camping and this interesting mixture of visitors adds to its charm. It is also possible to stay inside the park at the rustic but perfectly located fishing camp (two large bungalows). You are now driving around at 3000m and the scenery resembles more a Scottish moorland than a Kenyan reserve.
Where to stay
Inside the park at the fishing lodge, but be aware they will need to be booked well in advance as they are extremely popular with locals and you will need to bring your own food. We can provide both a cook and the supplies for you so you can just focus on the wildlife viewing.
Key Species
It’s a good location for Hyena, Elephants, Buffalo and Leopards. However, we designed a 1-week trip for our clients to see the extremely rare melanistic servals which can be found on the plateau with patience and a good guide. Also, for keen birders this is a MUST VISIT, due to the change of habitat as you climb to the higher elevations and the different migratory and resident species you can find there.
Amboseli national park
Surely one of the most visually stunning national parks in Africa, with the famous backdrop of Mount Kilimanjaro and home to the largest elephants in the country. After the Masai Mara, this is one of the most popular wildlife reserves to visit and many self-drive Kenya wildlife safaris would include Amboseli, as a key destination for a two week Kenya safari. However, it is a popular park and easily reached from Nairobi, so expect a lot of other vehicles at sightings in the peak viewing season.
Because of the vast open plains this is one of the best wildlife parks in Kenya for spotting apex predators, although lion numbers have suffered due to human/wildlife conflict that is always there in Masai country, where livestock is never far from the national parks.
Where to stay
There are many excellent camps located close to the main park entrances and we would recommend looking at Elewana Tortilis camp, for its stunning location, wildlife walking through the camp and amazing views of Mount Kilimanjaro.
Key Species
The huge elephants are incredibly entertaining, especially when bathing in the lakes, and on the plains you have good chances for hyena and cheetah following the large herds of various antelope species.
Laikipia
Such an interesting landscape of windswept plateau’s, green river valleys and boulder strewn hills. This is the home of many prides of lions, although not easy to see due to their difficult relationship with livestock owners. That is why it is so important to support the various conservancies in Laikipia which seem to be managing that tricky balance of making money from both wildlife and domesticated animals on the same land. We visited in September 2023 and were impressed at the diversity of wildlife seen and the variety of activities on offer.
Where to stay
We stayed at the very well managed Laikipia wilderness camp and our group were lucky enough to have the separatly run Laikipia river camp to ourselves. This camp really suits visitors who do not need staff on hand 24/7, which allows more privacy and peace to enjoy the stunning location and its resident wildlife. It does of course also help that this is the ‘home’ (as of September 2023) to Giza, the female Black Panther.
Key Species
Our trip was designed around the chance to see Giza and you put on the most amazing show for the first 4 days of our one week stay, so we hope that this feline superstar and the other melanistic leopards sometimes seen here remain safe and enthrall future guests with their beauty and grace.
Also, the plateaus are good areas for cheetah and you have chances for the rare Stiped Heyena, Aardwolf and Aardvark (very difficult!).
Masai Mara
When Wildlife Trails thinks of the Mara and create bespoke Kenya wildlife safaris for our clients, we split it into two main area, the main reserve which has no limit on vehicle numbers and the many and varied conservancies which have had considerable success in increasing the wilderness areas for the resident wildlife.
Don’t believe all the negative stories about the main Masai Mara reserve, yes, it can get crowded and the behavior of certain vehicles and their occupants is disappointing – especially at river crossings – if you are more of a generalist and not obsessed with the ‘perfect’ selfie of a lion sleeping next to your jeep. Take off and explore this vast national park and be amazed at the huge landscapes, the stunning skies and the ever changing dynamics of the predator/prey relationships.
Where to stay
It sounds obvious, but you must always book a camp or lodge actually inside the park, as this in itself will be a wildlife experience, with hyenas and hippos ‘serenading’ you to sleep and extended morning and afternoon/evening drives, as you do not need to drive all the way outside of the park to get to your accommodation.
For the main national park, we are big fans of Entim Camp and Mara Intrepids and for the conservancies we have personally stayed, and loved, Kicheche Mara Camp, with its great access to the Mara North conservancy.
Meru national park
There tends to be a direct correlation between visitor numbers and the chance to see big cats in Kenya. Meru is both less well known and less visited as a result but if you talk to many Kenyan wildlife guides and drivers, they will tell you it is one of their favorite parks.
Simply put, it is a park looking to recover its glorious past after a few difficult decades and new investment and increased protection for the resident wildlife is starting to pay dividends.
An absolute must for keen birders and home to the Big 5. Elephant, Buffalo and Lions are found in good numbers here and it definitely gives you a true wilderness feeling as you drive around the beautiful and varied landscapes, with its red soils, the Tana river and the Baobab trees that dot the landscape.
Where to stay
There are several upmarket lodges to choose from in Meru national park, such as Elsa’s Kopje, Rhino river camp and Offbeat Meru.
Key Species
Lions are now fairly common to see and with luck you have a chance to spot the resident leopards and cheetah. Because it is in a transition zone between the North and South of the country, you can see both Zebra species – Plains and Grevy’s.
Samburu national reserve
In the far north of Kenya and home to deserts and arid plains, this underestimated game reserve – and home to the Samburu people – delivers big time when it comes to seeing apex predators such as lions, leopard and cheetahs.
Known as the Northern Frontier district, its remote location means that you share the wilderness with far fewer vehicles and get to see some of the regions dry zone adapted specialties, such as, Grevy’s zebra, reticulated giraffe, Beisa oryx, Somali ostrich and gerenuk.
While in Samburu you can easily add on an extension to the nearby Buffalo Spring reserve
Where to stay
There are several high end lodges close to Samburu and some like Saruni are connected to their own private conservancies. Other good options are Elephant bedroom and Larsons.
Key Species
All of the Big 5 are present apart from Rhinos and leopards in particular are regularly sighted and quite bold when encountered. Samburu famous special five includes the Beisa Oryx, reticulated giraffe, Somali ostrich, Grevy’s zebra and gerenuk.
Tsavo East
Neither Tsavo east, or Tsavo west, are featured in many Kenya wildlife safari tours and that might be a legacy of some security issues in the past and also the logistics of getting there. But a combination bespoke Kenya safari to these two vast, but very different national parks, will rarely disappoint.
Tsavo east is a vast wilderness with relatively few accommodation options and with the wildlife a lot more spread out when compared to parks like the Mara. This leads to a focus on using all your senses to track wildlife with your expert driver and naturalist and going back to a more old school and exhilarating safari experience.
Where to stay
As mentioned above, there are not a huge amount of accommodation options for Tsavo East, but two of our favourites are Galdesa and the smaller, more intimate, Kulalu camp.
Key Species
There are many wide-open spaces where Giraffes and Elephants roam and when it comes to very rare species, you have the chance to see fringe-eared oryx and lesser kudu. Lions and spotted hyenas are relatively common and although rarer, it is possible to see both cheetah and leopard in this vast park, covering an area 9 times the size of the Masai Mara.
Tsavo West
Separated from Tsavo East by the Nairobi-Mombasa highway, it has its own unique geography and scenery and is home to a wide variety of wildlife. The distinctive volcanic soils support a wide variety of acacia and savannah habitats. Apex predator densities are lower, but the shaggy maned lions of Tsavo – descendants of the legendary man-eaters of Tsavo – are still roaming the grasslands and are relatively easy to see.
Elephants with the distinctive red hue of Tsavo are common, as are Buffalo and connected to this park you have the Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary, complete with 24/7 armed guards which has enjoyed considerable success in protecting the Black Rhino population there.
Where to stay
There is a community owned lodge called Lion Bluff lodge with a stunning location on a high ridge and a larger, more upmarket camp called Severin safari camp.
Key Species
The distinctive ‘red’ Elephants of Tsavo, Oryx, chance to see Black Rhino in the nearby sanctuary and ‘chances’ for lion, leopard and wild dogs (rare!).
