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Wildlife in Kenya

Places where seeing animals or birds is a highlight, on land or at sea.

A KenyaPlus category — our own grouping, not an official classification. Each destination page shows its facts with their information labels.

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16 places

A giraffe in Nairobi National Park with the Nairobi city skyline behind it

Nairobi City County

Nairobi

Kenya's capital city, with Nairobi National Park — home to the endangered black rhino — a short drive from the central business district.

  • city
  • wildlife
  • culture
  • food
A large herd of wildebeest grazing on a green hillside in the Maasai Mara

Narok County

Maasai Mara

A reserve in southwestern Kenya, the northern part of the Mara–Serengeti ecosystem shared with Tanzania, known for the Great Migration of wildebeest and zebras.

  • safari
  • wildlife
  • culture
  • photography
A herd of elephants on the grassland of Amboseli, with snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro behind

Kajiado County

Amboseli

A national park in southern Kenya near the Tanzanian border, famous for its large elephant herds and views of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak.

  • safari
  • wildlife
  • photography
Birds perched on bare trees silhouetted against an orange sunset at Lake Naivasha

Nakuru County

Naivasha

A freshwater lake in the eastern arm of the Rift Valley and a Ramsar wetland of international importance, with Hell's Gate National Park to its south.

  • lakes
  • hiking
  • wildlife
  • family
Thousands of pink flamingos standing in the shallow water of Lake Nakuru

Nakuru County

Lake Nakuru

A national park around a very shallow, strongly alkaline lake, famous for its flamingos and a sanctuary for black rhinos.

  • safari
  • wildlife
  • lakes
  • photography
A red-dusted elephant walking through dry golden grass in Tsavo East

Taita Taveta County

Tsavo East

A national park of about 13,747 km², gazetted in 1948 and managed by the Kenya Wildlife Service, known for its herds of dust-red elephants.

  • safari
  • wildlife
  • photography
Grevy's zebras grazing among acacia trees in Samburu National Reserve

Northern Kenya

Samburu

A group of reserves in northern Kenya — Samburu, Buffalo Springs and Shaba — known for wildlife that is uncommon elsewhere in Kenya, such as Grevy's zebra and the reticulated giraffe.

  • safari
  • wildlife
  • photography
The rocky peaks of Mount Kenya under clouds, above brown moorland

Kenyan highlands, east of the Rift Valley

Mount Kenya

Africa's second-highest peak at 5,199 m, an extinct volcano about 193 km north-east of Nairobi. Mount Kenya National Park/Natural Forest is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, first inscribed in 1997.

  • hiking
  • wildlife
  • photography
A tree-covered coral island off the beach at Watamu, with turquoise water

Kilifi County

Watamu

A beach area on Kenya's north coast with Watamu Marine National Park and Reserve, a protected area since 1968 managed by the Kenya Wildlife Service, known for coral reefs and nesting sea turtles.

  • beach
  • wildlife
  • culture
  • family
The view from the top of Karuru Falls in the Aberdares, over a forested valley towards the Gura Falls

Central Kenyan highlands

Aberdare National Park

A national park of about 766 km² in the Aberdare (Nyandarua) mountains, gazetted in 1950 and managed by the Kenya Wildlife Service, with moorland, bamboo forest and forested ravines.

  • wildlife
  • safari
  • hiking
  • photography
Steam rising from a geyser on the shore of Lake Bogoria, with the Rift Valley escarpment behind

Baringo County

Lake Bogoria

A narrow, shallow, alkaline lake on the Rift Valley floor, protected as Lake Bogoria National Reserve since 1981, with hot springs and geysers on its western shore. It is part of the Kenya Lake System World Heritage Site.

  • lakes
  • wildlife
  • photography
A red and black Ward's glorious acraea butterfly resting on red earth in Kakamega Forest

Lake Victoria catchment

Kakamega Forest

Kenya's only remnant of the tropical rainforest that once stretched across central Africa — a mid-altitude rainforest that is the easternmost outlier of the Congo Basin forests.

  • wildlife
  • hiking
  • photography
Green plains with scattered pools and bushes in Tsavo West National Park, with blue hills on the horizon

Taita-Taveta County

Tsavo West National Park

Kenya's second-largest national park, about 9,065 km² in Taita-Taveta County, with the Big Five, more than 600 recorded bird species and a volcanic landscape of lava flows and springs.

  • safari
  • wildlife
  • photography
Bush and acacia trees under a wide cloudy sky in Meru National Park, with hills in the distance

Eastern Kenya, east of Meru town

Meru National Park

A national park of about 870 km², 350 km from Nairobi, protected since 1966 and managed by the Kenya Wildlife Service — where George and Joy Adamson raised Elsa the lioness.

  • safari
  • wildlife
  • photography
Forested hills seen from the Sable Banda viewpoint in Shimba Hills National Reserve, framed by a tree

Kwale County

Shimba Hills National Reserve

A national reserve of 192.5 km² in Kwale County, about 30 km south-west of Mombasa, where rolling hills meet one of Kenya's largest remaining coastal rainforests. It has been protected since 1903.

  • wildlife
  • hiking
  • family
  • photography
The mossy, fern-covered entrance of Kitum Cave in Mount Elgon National Park, with stone steps leading in

Western Kenya, on the Uganda border

Mount Elgon National Park

A mountain national park in western Kenya, gazetted on 5 April 1968, reached through Kitale town. Its highest point, Koitoboss Peak, rises to 4,222 metres.

  • hiking
  • wildlife
  • photography

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