Kenya has several national parks that protect important ecosystems and wildlife. Nairobi National Park is located just outside the capital city of Nairobi and allows wildlife viewing alongside urban skylines. Mount Kenya National Park surrounds Mount Kenya and contains important forests, earning it designations as a biosphere reserve and World Heritage Site. Lake Nakuru National Park protects Lake Nakuru, an important wetland habitat for birds, and the surrounding savannah grasslands. Amboseli National Park lies near the Tanzania border and offers exceptional wildlife viewing, especially of over 400 bird species. The Maasai Mara National Reserve, contiguous with the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, is famous for its population of lions, le

2. Continent Africa
Capital Nairobi
Country Area 224,080 sq miles
(49th)
Population (2014) 44,037,656
(31st)
Currency Kenya Shilling
Time Zone EAT (UTC +3)
Drives Left Hand
Dialing Code +254

8. Nairobi National Park is a national park in Kenya.
Established in 1946, the national park was Kenya's
first. It is located approximately 7 kilometers (4 mi)
south of the centre of Nairobi, Kenya's capital
city, with an electric fence separating the park's wildlife
from the metropolis. Nairobi's skyscrapers can be seen
from the park. The proximity of urban and natural
environments has caused conflicts between the animals
and local people and threatens animals' migration
routes.

10. Mount Kenya National Park, established in 1949,
protects the region surrounding Mount Kenya. Initially
it was a forest reserve before being announced as a
national park. Currently the national park is within the
forest reserve which encircles it. In April 1978 the area
was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The
national park and the forest reserve, combined, became
a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.

12. Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley soda lakes at an
elevation of 1754 m above sea level. It lies to the south
of Nakuru, in the rift valley of Kenya and is protected
by Lake Nakuru National Park. The lake's level
dropped dramatically in the early 1990s but has since
largely recovered. Nakuru means "Dust or Dusty
Place" in the Masai language. Lake Nakuru National
Park, close to Nakuru town, was established in 1961. It
started off small, only encompassing the famous lake
and the surrounding mountainous vicinity, but has
since been extended to include a large part of the
savannahs. Lake Nakuru is protected under the Ramsar
Convention on wetlands.

14. Amboseli National Park, formerly Masai Amboseli
Game Reserve, is in Kajiado District, Rift Valley
Province in Kenya. The local people are mainly Masai,
but people from other parts of the country have settled
there attracted by the successful tourist-driven
economy and intensive agriculture along the system
of swamps that makes this low-rainfall area one of the
best wildlife-viewing experiences in the world with 400
species of birds including water birds, pelicans,
kingfishers, crakes and 47 types of raptor. 240
kilometers (150 miles) southeast from the capital
city Nairobi, Amboseli National Park is the second
most popular national park in Kenya after Maasai Mara
National Reserve and the visit can easily be done in a
weekend.

16. The Maasai Mara National Reserve (also known
as Masai Mara and by the locals as The Mara) is a
large game reserve in Narok County, Kenya,
contiguous with the Serengeti National Park in Mara
Region, Tanzania. It is named in honor of the Maasai
people (the ancestral inhabitants of the area) and
their description of the area when looked at from
afar: "Mara," which is Maa (Maasai language) for
"spotted," an apt description for the circles of trees,
scrub, savanna, and cloud shadows that mark the
area. It is globally famous for its exceptional
population of lions, leopards and cheetahs, and the
annual migration of zebra, Thomson's gazelle, and
wildebeest to and from the Serengeti every year
from July to October, known as the Great Migration.