Tag - Wildlife

LAKE NAIVASHA & OLOIDEN

Today, we hired a small car with a driver (half day 2000 KES) to explore the surroundings of Lake Naivasha and Lake Oloiden. Lake Naivasha, hugged by grassy banks and shingled with cacti and sand olive trees, is the Rift Valley’s highest lake (1884m above sea level). You can hire a...

HELL’S GATE NP

Late afternoon, we arrived at Elsa Gate of the dry, dusty, but infinitely peaceful Hell’s Gate National Park. It is a rare Kenyan park made for bicycles and walking. Large carnivores are rare, so we rented bikes (800 KES) and paid a cycling fee (250 KES) and a park entrance fee (28...

MAASAI MARA

After the whole day of driving (468 km), we arrived at midnight at the Sekenani gate of the famous Maasai Mara National Reserve. Rangers were pretty shocked but allowed us to park behind the gate just a few steps from the main building. The following day, we paid the “special”...

AMBOSELI NP

Google Maps offers two roads from Tsavo East National Park to Amboseli National Park. Still, these are not roads but some paths through the Tsavo NP; you must pay the entrance fee (54,34 USD) and carefully drive through; it’s probably passable with a small 4WD, but not with our...

TSAVO EAST NP

We drove three hours from Watamu to Kenya’s largest national park, Tsavo East. It has an undeniable wild and primordial charm and is a terrific wildlife-watching destination. Although one of Kenya’s largest rivers, the Galana River, flows through the middle of the park, the...

BORA BORA WILDLIFE

It was hard to imagine that a range of wildlife also calls Diani Beach its home. Opened in 2016, Bora Bora Wildlife Camp is the largest wildlife sanctuary in all of Diani and offers a unique taste of safari less than 500m from the Indian Ocean. It is home to everything from peacocks to...

SNAKE FARM & LABORATORY

We also spent some time in this humble-looking place (🎟️1500 KES), one of the world’s most renowned snake research centers. Bio-Ken specializes in antivenin research and acts as an emergency service for snakebite victims throughout the region. A passionate guide led an excellent 30...

AZRAQ WETLAND RESERVE

Yesterday, we arrived late to visit Azraq Wetland Reserve, another RSCN project. They did not allow us to park there overnight, so we drove a few minutes to their lodge, where a friendly receptionist managed to get permission from the manager to stay there. The Azraq Basin comprised a...

SHAUMARI WILDLIFE RESERVE

We drove around 45 minutes from the border to Shaumari Wildlife Reserve, established in 1975 by the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN). This 22 sq km reserve was created to reintroduce wildlife that has disappeared from the region, most notably the highly endangered...