Best National Parks in Kenya

Known For : Mara River Game Drives Balloon Safari

The Mara is a national reserve run by Narok County, not a national park under Kenya Wildlife Service, and it is where the wildebeest herds cross the Mara River. The migration is in Kenya roughly July to October, with the crossings around July and August, and the herds spend the rest of the year in Tanzania's Serengeti. Big cats are resident all year, so the Mara is worth a trip whenever you go. It is five to six hours by road from Nairobi, or a short flight, and needs at least three nights. Kenya's other reserves and conservancies are on our game reserves and conservancies in Kenya list.

Best Time: July to October, December to March

16 Masai Mara Attractions

Amboseli is where you photograph elephants with Kilimanjaro behind them. The park is small at 392 sq km, the herds are large and easy to find, and the mountain is usually clearest early in the morning and late in the afternoon. It sits about 240 km south of Nairobi, four to five hours by road, and two nights is enough. Pairs well with the Mara or Tsavo West.

Best Time: June - October

Known For : Galana River Lugard Falls Yatta Plateau

Tsavo East is Kenya's largest park at 13,747 sq km and its elephants are famously red, coated in the local dust. The country is open and dry, so drives cover long distances and sightings come at range. It is the easiest big park to reach from Mombasa rather than Nairobi, which makes it the natural safari add-on to a beach holiday. Two nights works.

Best Time: June - October

3 Tsavo East Attractions

Known For : Mzima Springs Lake Jipe

Tsavo West is greener and hillier than its twin, with the Shetani lava flow and Mzima Springs, where you watch hippos through an underwater viewing tank. The Ngulia sanctuary inside the park protects black rhino. Wildlife is harder to spot in the thick bush than at Amboseli, so allow two nights and a good guide. It is about 240 km from Nairobi.

Best Time: June - October

2 Tsavo West Attractions

Lake Nakuru is a fenced rhino sanctuary as much as a bird lake, and both black and white rhino are reliable here. Flamingo numbers rise and fall with the water level, so treat a pink shoreline as a bonus rather than a promise. It is under three hours from Nairobi, which makes it an easy first or last stop on a Rift Valley route. One night is enough.

Best Time: June - October

Nairobi National Park begins about 7 km from the city centre, so you can watch rhino, lion and giraffe with office towers on the skyline behind them. At 117 sq km it is small and fenced on three sides, and a morning drive fits neatly either side of a flight. It is the best use of a spare half day in Nairobi and needs no overnight stay.

Known For : Mau Mau Caves

Aberdare is cold, wet highland forest, which makes it the opposite of a plains safari. This is tree lodge country: guests sit on a deck above a floodlit waterhole and wait for elephant, buffalo and the rare bongo antelope to come to them. Queen Elizabeth II was staying at Treetops here in 1952 when she became Queen. Around three hours from Nairobi, one night.

Best Time: June - September

1 Aberdare Attractions

Known For : Lake Ellis

Mount Kenya is a UNESCO site and a trekking park rather than a game park. Point Lenana, just under 5,000 m, is walkable over three to four days on the Sirimon or Chogoria routes, while the higher Batian and Nelion peaks need real climbing skill. Forest elephant and buffalo live on the lower slopes. Trekking is driest in January and February and again in August and September.

Best Time: June - September

1 Mount Kenya Attractions

Known For : Gorges Valley

Hell's Gate is the one Kenyan park you can walk and cycle through, because there are no lion or elephant to worry about. You ride past zebra, giraffe and buffalo to Fischer's Tower and then down into the gorge on foot. It is small, sits just south of Lake Naivasha and is about two hours from Nairobi, so treat it as a day trip rather than an overnight.

Best Time: June - September

1 Hells Gate Attractions

Meru is where Joy and George Adamson released Elsa the lioness, the story behind Born Free. It is quiet, green and far less visited than the Mara, with a rhino sanctuary inside the park and several rivers running through it. The emptiness is the appeal, though sightings take longer to come. It is 350 km from Nairobi and worth two nights.

Best Time: June - October

Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake rather than a national park, and it is the easiest wildlife stop from Nairobi at around two hours. Hippos are everywhere, fish eagles nest in the fever trees along the shore, and a boat across to Crescent Island lets you walk among zebra and giraffe on foot. One night, usually combined with Hell's Gate.

Best Time: July - October

Longonot is a dormant volcano with a crater rim you can walk right around. The climb to the rim takes about an hour and the full circuit three to four more, with the forested crater floor below you the whole way. There is little game, so come for the hike. It is around 60 km from Nairobi and comfortably done in a day.

Best Time: June - September

Elementaita, also spelt Elmenteita, is the smallest of the three Rift Valley soda lakes listed together with Nakuru and Bogoria as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a breeding ground for great white pelicans and a feeding stop for flamingo. Around two hours from Nairobi, it makes a quiet overnight break between Naivasha and Nakuru.

Best Time: July - October

Watamu is a marine national park, so the wildlife here is coral, turtles and reef fish rather than game. Snorkelling in the lagoon is shallow and calm enough for children, and Mida Creek behind the beach is one of the best birding spots on the coast. It is about two hours north of Mombasa and pairs naturally with a Tsavo safari.

Malindi Marine National Park is one of the oldest marine parks in Kenya and protects the coral gardens off Malindi town. Glass-bottomed boats run out from the beach, and visibility is best in the drier months when the Sabaki river is pushing less silt into the bay. Treat it as a half day outing rather than a destination in itself.

Baringo is a freshwater lake in the northern Rift, not a national park, and it is birding country. Boat trips take you past hippo and crocodile to cliffs where local guides know the eagle and hornbill nests. It is around five hours from Nairobi and almost always paired with Lake Bogoria on the same trip. One night.

Best Time: July - September and January - March

Sibiloi is the hardest park in Kenya to reach, on the northeastern shore of Lake Turkana, and it is protected for its fossils as much as its wildlife. Koobi Fora here produced some of the most important early human remains ever found, and the park forms part of the Lake Turkana World Heritage Site. Expect a long drive or a charter flight, and several days.