Meru National Park is noted for its fauna and natural beauty. It has many swamps and rivers lined with palms, as well as mountains and woodlands, and it is the setting for Joy Adamson’s book “Born Free”, which was later made into a successful film. The park is home to a large pride of lions, herds of buffalo, and hippos and crocodiles that live in the rivers.At Meru, you will find excellent views of snow-capped Mount Kenya and the park’s beautiful landscape is a camper’s paradise. The roads are suitable for vehicles and there are many rocky outcrops that provide great lookout points for the abundant Kenyan animals.

Background Information

 

Meru National Park is a Kenyan forest reserve located east of Meru, 348 km from Nairobi. This wild and beautiful wilderness, beloved of the late George Adamson and his wife Joy, straddles the equator, bisected by 13 rivers and numerous mountain-fed streams. Ranging from 1000 to 3000 feet altitude it has diverse scenery from woodlands on the slopes of the Nyambeni Mountain Range, north east of Mount Kenya, to wide open arid plains dotted with doum palms and baobabs. Covering an area of 870 sq km, it is one the lesser-known parks of Kenya. It has abundant rainfall, 635-762 mm in the west of the park and 305-356 mm in the east. The rainfall results in tall grass and lush swamps, which make it difficult to spot game. It has a wide range of wild beasts like elephant, hippopotamus, lion, leopard, cheetah, black rhinoceros and some rare antelopes.

Experience Meru National Park


Brilliant on a magnificent scale, the Meru and Kora sister parks feature luxuriant jungle, coursing rivers, verdant swamp, khaki grasslands and gaunt termite cathedrals all under the sky’s great blue bowl. Little visited and utterly unspoilt, few places are comparable to the remote and rugged atmosphere found here. Visitors can see Grevy's zebras, elephants, Bohor reedbucks, hartebeests, pythons, puff adders, cobras, buffalos and more than 427 recorded species of birds.




Meru National Park also has some of Kenya’s largest herds of buffalo, along with hartebeests, giraffes and gazelles. These animals are easily spotted from safari vehicles and, because the park is less visited than some of Kenya’s better-known parks, you do not have other vehicles of tourists sharing the sights with you. Over 300 species of birds have been recorded in Meru National Park, including the Peter’s Finfoot, the Pel’s Fishing Owl, kingfishers, rollers, bee-eaters, starlings and numerous weavers. There is also an abundance of ostriches, hornbills, secretary birds, eagles and other smaller birds. It is a good idea to carry a bird book to identify the many species you will see. Meru National Park borders Bisanadi National Reserve, a true wilderness. It is only accessible by four-wheel-drive vehicles, and it covers a further 606km². The border between the two parks is known as “Kinna” and marks the division between the lands of the Meru and Boran tribes.

Locate Meru National Park


Related Popular Destinations in Kenya

Aberdare National Park
Aberdare national Park's topography ranges from high moorland, hills and peaks to indigenous forest, ravines, streams and waterfalls.
Amboseli National Park
The "Open Plains" and "Place of Dust". Amboseli comes from the word Empusel, meaning “open plain” in the language of the local Maasai people.
Lake Nakuru National Park
Lake Nakuru is world famous for, and was created a National Park to protect, its stunning flocks of Lesser Flamingo, which literally turn its shores pink.
Maasai Mara Game Reserve
Maasai Mara Game Reserve is one of the most popular tourism destinations in Kenya regarded as the jewel of Kenya’s wildlife viewing areas.
Meru National Park
Meru was one of the two areas in which conservationists George Adamson and Joy Adamson raised Elsa the Lioness made famous in the best selling book and award winning movie Born Free.
Nairobi National Park
Nairobi National Park is a unique ecosystem by being the only protected area in the world close to a capital city.
Samburu National Reserve
Samburu national reserve neighbors the homes of the Samburu tribe of Kenya, a tribe known for their remote culture, pastoral and nomadic way of life.
Tsavo East National Park
Forms the largest protected area in Kenya and is home to most of the larger mammals, vast herds of dust –red elephant.
Tsavo West National Park
A haven for the many elephant which pass between the two, and a major dispersal route for elephants crossing into Tanzania on its Southern borders.