Kenya

The Aberdare National Park is part of the Aberdare Mountain Range, a fascinating region of Kenya. Aberdares was made famous because it is unique park that Princess Elizabeth spent the night in a unique tree hotel and became Queen upon her father's death. This park is noted for mountain ranges and peaks that soar to around 14,000 ft giving way to deep V-shaped valleys with streams and rivers cascading over spectacular waterfalls - this area is a must for landscape lovers. From its vital catchments area the Aberdare Rainforest feeds the entire local and Nairobi water supply. Game found in this forest are:- Bongo - a rare and elusive forest antelope, eland, serval cats, elephant, buffalo, lion, rhino, leopard, baboon, Black and White Colobus and Sykes monkeys. Rare sightings have also been made of the Golden cat. Bird viewing is incredible with over 250 species recorded including Jackson's Franklin, sparrow hawk, African goshawk, eagles, sunbirds and plovers.

At 5199m high, Mount Kenya is Africa's second highest mountain. It offers easy or challenging ascents with superb scenic beauty. To the Kikuyu tribes people it is the home of the Supreme Being: Ngai, a god that resides here. Part of the mountain's fascination is the variation in flora and fauna as the altitude changes. The lower slopes are covered with dry upland forest, the true montane (mountain) forest begins at 2000m is mainly cedar and podo. At 2500m begins a belt of bamboo forest which merges into the upper forest of smaller trees, interspersed with glades. The high altitude heath at the top (3000-3500m) is generally open, dotted with shrubs, African sage, protea and helicrysum. Animals found here are Sunni buck, Mount Kenya mole, shrew, skinks (lizard) and variety of owls. Occasional sightings have been recorded of albino zebra.

The Park is most famous as it is the setting for Joy Adamson's book "Born Free" - the story of the Adamson's life and research amongst lion and cheetah. It is an especially wild and beautiful area of Kenya, straddling the equator and bisected by 13 rivers and numerous mountain-fed streams. It has diverse scenery - woodlands to wide open plains with wandering riverbanks dotted with doum palms. Game includes : lions, elephants, cheetah, leopard and some of the rarer antelopes, lesser kudu, duiker, dik dik - one of Africa's smallest antelopes. The rivers abound with hippo and crocodile. Over 300 species of birds have been recorded including - Peter's Finfoot which inhabits the Murera and Ura Rivers, the Pel's Fishing Owl, kingfishers, rollers, bee-eaters, starlings and numerous weavers.

All three Reserves offer unique vistas of rounded and rugged hills and undulating plains. The mix of wood and grassland with riverine forest and swamp is home to a wide variety of animal and birdlife. Game viewing and visibility is excellent. Game includes the following animals unique to this area - Reticulated giraffe, Grevy's zebra, Somali ostrich, gerenuk. Other animals include elephant, oryx, hippo, crocodile, buffalo, lion, leopard, cheetah and hyena. Recently (January 2002), in a radical departure from its instincts, a lioness protected a baby oryx, which it would ordinarily have killed for a meal, escorting it around the Samburu wildlife reserve. Unfortunately the oryx fell prey to another lion and was killed. The same lion adopted another baby oryx a few days later, however the Kenya Wildlife Society had to intervene as the oryx was too weak to survive and they separated the couple…. is this the end or will the tale continue? Shaba National Reserve, known as the "Born Free" country is a semi desert reserve, located some 100 kms north of the equator, was made famous by Joy Adamson and her lioness Elsa. The park is also notable for its hotsprings.

The Laikipia plateau in Central Kenya is the last stronghold of romantic East Africa with vast open ranches, shadowed by snow-capped Mount Kenya and home to many communities including the Laikipia Maasai and the Samburu.The plains are fed by the Ewaso Ny'iro and the Ewaso Narok rivers and one can often see the "Big 5" (rhino, elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo). The district is also a home to endangered animals such as the black rhino, Jackson's Hartebeest and more. It also boasts the biggest herds of elephant outside the National Parks. Wild dog, leopard, lion, cheetah and other predators hunt the plains game such as impala, gazelle, reticulated giraffe, Grevy zebra, Somali ostrich, Beisa oryx (endemic to the North of Kenya) and gerenuk.