Vacations For Africa

Accommodation in Kenya

Photo safaris in the 19 national parks and game reserves are the main attraction drawing tourists to Kenya vacations. Other sites of global interest are the coffee plantations at Thika, the breathtaking scenery of the Great Rift Valley, the mosques at Mombasa, the beaches alongside the Indian Ocean and the view of Mt. Kilimanjaro across the border into Tanzania. Kenya won the Best Leisure Destination award at the World Travel Fair in Shanghai, China, in April 2008.

National parks

Amboseli National Park

Amboseli National Park (formerly Maasai Amboseli) can be found in Kajaido District, in Kenya’s Rift Valley. The park is at the centre of an ecosystem that is sprawled across the Kenya-Tanzania border. The Masaai people are the largest local population group, but people from far and wide have been attracted by the opportunities created by the bustling tourist-driven economy and agriculture alongside the arrangement of swamps that makes this low-rainfall area of the best safari holiday and wildlife-viewing experiences in the world.  Two of the five main swamps are protected by the park, which includes a dried up Pleistocene lake and semi-arid plant life.

Kora National Park

Located in Coast Province, Kenya’s Kora National Park covers an area of 1 787 square kilometres. Mount Kenya is situated just 125 kilometres east of the park that was initially established as a nature reserve in 1973. In 1990 it was gazetted as a national park.

Lake Nakuru National Park

Lake Nakuru National Park was formed around Lake Nakuru, near Nakuru Town. The park is renowned its thousands, sometimes millions of flamingos that populate its banks The shifting mass of pink often makes it difficult to recognise the shallow lake’s water surface. Water and food conditions dictate the number of flamingos that arrive to nest at the lake. The best place to view the phenomenon is Baboon’s Cliff, where dazzling photographs can be taken. Also at the park is a fenced of sanctuary where black rhino and Rothschild giraffe are protected.

Mount Kenya National Park

The area that surrounds Mt. Kenya is protected by the Mount Kenya National Park, which was established in 1949. At first it was a forest reserve before being converted into a national park. The national park is now within the forest reserve that surrounds it.The area was announced a UNESCO Biosphere reserve in April 1978, and the national park and forest reserve combined were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.

Nairobi National Park

In 1946, Nairobi National Park became the first national park in Kenya when it was established. Nairobi is only 7 kilometres away and her skyscrapers can be seen from the park. A large, diverse wildlife population inhabits the park with massive herds of herbivores migrating there during the dry season. The park is one of Kenya’s most thriving rhinoceros havens.

Tourist information

Tourists from most countries are required to have both a passport and a visa. Vaccinations against malaria and yellow fever are advisable.