Kenya Places

Meru National Park

Situated 370 km (230 mi) northeast of Nairobi and west of Mount Kenya, this little-visited park (1,810 square km) offers some of Kenya's wildest country, but was taken off the mainstream safari circuit and deleted from safari operators' destination lists because of the lawless poachers who wiped out the white rhino population in the 1980s. Although the Kenyan government has gotten grips on the security situation, the park still finds it difficult to shake off its negative image. But rest assured that all is now well and the park is a safe and fulfilling destination—after all, this is the place where wildlife champions Joy and George Adamson hand-reared Elsa the lioness made famous by the 1966 film, Born Free.

A successful rehabilitation program reintroduced elephants and rhinos to the park in 2001; both populations are doing well. There is a lot of other game here, including buffalo, lion, leopard, cheetah, hippo, lesser kudu, hartebeest (grassland antelope), Grevy's and Burchell's zebra, the gerenuk (a mini-giraffe), the reticulated or Somali giraffe, waterbuck, oryx, and Grant's gazelle. The park is part of an ecosystem that includes Kora National Park and Mwingi, Rahole, and Bisanadi reserves. It straddles the equator and is home to a great variety of habitats including scrubland dotted with baobab trees, lush green grasslands, and riverine forests. Tana, Kenya's longest river, is fed by 13 rivers that create a superb habitat for bird life as well. Check out the Somali ostrich, raptors such as the red-necked falcon and the palmnut vulture, and that mega-score on serious birder's life list, the Pel's fishing owl, which hides in the huge ancient trees along the rivers. Kenya Wildlife Service, Box 11, Maua 020/604-767 www.kws.orgUS$20 per day Daily 6AM-6PM