About 8% of the Kenya’s land mass is protected area for wildlife conservation. Protected areas are gazetted landscapes/seascapes that have been surveyed, demarcated and gazetted either as National Parks and/or National Reserves.
In Kenya, Protected areas embrace various types of ecosystems namely: forests, wetlands, savannah, marine, arid and semi-arid. The protected areas comprise of 23 terrestrial National Parks, 28 terrestrial National Reserves, 4 marine National Parks, 6 marine National Reserves and 4 national sanctuaries. In addition KWS manages over a hundred field stations/ outposts outside the protected areas.
Situated in the southwest of Kenya, covering an area of 583 square miles, the Masai Mara National Reserve is a land of breathtaking vistas, abundant wildlife and endless plains.
The quintessential Masai Mara safari delivers many attractions, as the reserve is home to an excellent year-round concentration of game, including the more than two million wildebeest, zebras and other antelopes that make up the famous Great Migration.
The reserve is a photographer’s paradise, with abundant elephant, buffalo, giraffe, lion and cheetah alongside the migratory wildebeest and zebra. Large rafts of hippo and enormous crocodiles are found in the Mara River. The park is also home to over 450 bird species.
One of the famous Safari destinations in East Africa, Samburu National Reserve is located in Northern Kenya and is a premier game reserve situated on the banks of the Ewaso Ng’iro river. This vast expanse of remote pristine wilderness borders the Ewaso Ng’iro River to the south, which separates it from the Buffalo Springs National Reserve.
Samburu reserve is rich in wildlife with fame for abundance in rare group of animals only seen north of the equator, such as the Beisa Oryx, Somali ostrich, Grevy zebra, the majestic reticulated giraffe, and the long-necked gerenuk, a graceful antelope that stands upright on its hind legs to feed on tall bushes.
On the floor of the Great Rift Valley, surrounded by wooded and bushy grassland, lies the beautiful Lake Nakuru National Park.
Lake Nakuru National Park supports a spectacular array of wildlife, including 400 bird species, over 50 mammal species, and over 50 species of flora.
In 1987, the park was declared a rhino sanctuary, and the park’s white and black rhinos have thrived in recent years. In 2009, the park was home to over 25 eastern black rhinoceroses and around 70 southern white rhinoceroses.
In 1977, the endangered Rothschild Giraffe was introduced to the park. These giraffes were relocated from western Kenya for their protection, and Lake Nakuru is now home to a healthy population of Rothschild Giraffes.
Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley lakes, protected by Lake Nakuru National Park. The lake’s abundance of algae attracts a vast quantity of flamingos that famously line the shore.
Other birds also flourish in the area, as do warthogs, baboons and other large mammals. Eastern black rhinos and southern white rhinos have also been introduced.
Nakuru means “Dust or Dusty Place” in the Maasai language.
