Meru National Park

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The Meru National Park is a lesser known Kenyan forest reserve located just east of Meru, approximately 350km from Nairobi. It covers an area of 87 000 hectares with an abundance of rainfall in the west creating a nutrient rich landscape of tall grass and lush swamps. The eastern portion is generally dry and can be extremely hot. The area is one of the places where George and Joy Adamson rehabilitated Elsa the lioness who was re-introduced into the wilderness and made famous by the best selling book and film Born Free. Elsa is buried in the park and some of Joy’s ashes were scattered at her gravesite.

The park is pierced by 15 perennial rivers and numerous mountain springs all rising on Mount Kenya and destined to reach the Tana River which forms the parks border just south of the equator. The high rainfall and tall grass can make it difficult to spot game but the park does, however, have a wide range of wildlife including elephant, lion, leopard, cheetah, reticulated giraffe, zebra and some rare antelope. The birdlife is also impressive with over 300 recorded species including the Peters finfoot, the Pel’s fishing owl, rollers, bee-eaters, starlings and numerous weavers. Due to the parks low visitor numbers the animals are quite shy and elusive which creates the feeling of a classic, remote safari experience.

The best time to visit the park is between June and October when the weather is warm, the grass is at its shortest and the elephants have migrated back to the park. The hottest season is between January and March.