A brief insight into the best wildlife viewing destinations that East Africa, Southern Africa & Asia have to offer
Established in 1946, it is Kenya’s first National Park. The 117-sq-km park lies within sight of Nairobi’s suburbs and animals can sometimes be seen stalking through the high grass against the backdrop of city skyscrapers. It is home to over 80 game and 400 bird species.
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Amboseli was originally established as a game reserve in 1968. The reserve covered 1769-sq-km and although the wildlife was fully protected, the Maasai continued to live and graze their livestock within the parks boundaries. After years of negotiating with the Maasai, the park, as we know it today, comprising 392-sq-km, was finally created in 1974.
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This great park, famous for its elephants, was created in 1947 by two young men, the late David Sheldrick and Bill Woodley. It sprawls over an impressive 7000-sq-km and is located about 200 kilometres south east of Nairobi.
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This great park, famous for its elephants, was created in 1947 by two young men, the late David Sheldrick and Bill Woodley. Tsavo East National Park stands out as the largest of Kenya’s national parks, covering over 13000-sq-km of semi-arid scrubland.
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The Maasai Mara National reserve is probably one of the most important and celebrated wildlife reserves in Africa. The name Mara originates from the Maa language, which when translated means “spotted plains”, due to its rocky hills, acacia woodlands and riparian forests, when viewed from the air. At 1510-sq-km, the reserve is home to over 90 species of mammals and 450 birds.
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A popular first stop out of Nairobi, this shallow fresh water lake has a beautiful rift valley setting, with the distinctive volcanic outline of mount Longonot rising to the south. Lake Naivasha is said to be the highest lake in terms of altitude in the Great Rift Valley. At over 130-sq-km, the lake has encountered several fluctuations in water levels over the last few years.
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Lake Nakuru was gazetted as a national park in 1968 and although small in size, it is rich in bio diversity. The landscape includes areas of marsh and grasslands, alternating with rocky cliffs and outcrops and stretches of acacia woodland and rocky hillsides covered with euphorbia forests (the largest of its kind in the world). The shallow, strongly alkaline lake is world famous as the location of the greatest bird spectacle on earth.
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This 107-sq-km national reserve protects Lake Bogoria, which lies in a basin at the base of the cliffs of the Eastern Laikipia escarpment. It is world famous for its hot springs spread across three main sites. The water is highly saline and alkaline and is rich in the spirulina algae, fed upon by the lesser flamingos, sometimes which even outnumber Lake Nakuru when conditions are suitable.
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Lake Baringo is situated not far from Lake Bogoria. It is a fresh water lake and supports a healthy population of hippos and huge crocodiles which feed on the abundant fish found there mainly tilapia. It also supports a large variety of birds (over 500 species recorded) including the African fish eagle, Hemprich’s and Jackson’s hornbill, white-crested turaco, bristle-crowned starling and the red and yellow barbets.
The Samburu-Buffalo Springs-Shaba Complexes of Reserves lie 325km from Nairobi. It is the most regularly visited place in hot, arid and vast regions of Northern Kenya offering exceptional wildlife viewing. The combined area is over 450-sq-km of savannah dominated acacia scrub set against a skyline of rugged hills and dramatic rocky outcrops.
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The Lewa Wildlife Conservancy (also known as Lewa Downs) is located in northern Kenya. It was formed in 1995. It is a wildlife sanctuary incorporating the Ngare Ndare Forest and covering over 62,000 acres (250 km2). The Conservancy is home to a wide variety of wildlife including the rare and endangered black rhino, Grevy's zebra and sitatunga.
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The Ol Pejeta Conservancy is a 90,000-acre (360 km2) not-for-profit wildlife conservancy in the Laikipia district of central Kenya. It is situated on the equator west of Nanyuki, between the foothills of the Aberdares and Mount Kenya.
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The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a world UNESCO site. It is quite simply one of the most spectacular tourist destinations in Africa. The ever-changing weather patterns provide a dramatic backdrop to the scenery and wildlife, creating clouds, which pour in over the highlands like giant waves.
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The original Maasai name of ‘Serengeti’ translates to ‘the place where the land goes on forever’. The 15000-sq-km Serengeti national park is situated on a high plateau in northern Tanzania, directly east of Lake Victoria. This land is famous for its huge concentrations of wildlife, especially big cats as well as the stomping grounds of ‘the great migration’.
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Lake Manyara is a shallow lake in the Natron-Manyara-Balangida branch of the East African Rift in Manyara Region in Tanzania. Said by Ernest Hemmingway to be the "loveliest [lake] ... in Africa," it is also the home of a diverse set of landscapes and wildlife.
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The Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is a large primeval forest located in south-western Uganda in the Kanungu District. The forest is on the edge of the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift.
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Spanning on a 160sqkm area in the northern part of Rwanda, Volcanoes national park is the oldest national park in Africa. It was initially a small area around Karisimbi, Mikeno and Visoke volcanoes which was gazetted to protect the Mountain gorillas which were facing the threat of extinction as a result of poaching.
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Namibia, a country in southwest Africa, is distinguished by the Namib Desert along its Atlantic Ocean coast. The country is home to diverse wildlife, including a significant cheetah population.
Botswana, a landlocked country in Southern Africa, has a landscape defined by the Kalahari Desert and the Okavango Delta, which becomes a lush animal habitat during the seasonal floods. The massive Central Kalahari Game Reserve, with its fossilized river valleys and undulating grasslands, is home to numerous animals including giraffes, cheetahs, hyenas and wild dogs.
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India’s astounding diversity of religions, languages, and cultures is unique and unparalleled. The society of a vast subcontinent, varied and complex in its rich heritage, is among the oldest in the world.
