Eastern National Reserve

In the eastern part of the country there are five national reserves and one national park. The reserves are Arawale, Tana River Primate, Boni, Dodori, and the Shimba Hills. The one national park is Arabuko Sokoke.

Arawale National Reserve
Arawale National Reserve is 533 sq km of bushland on the northern banks of the Tana River. It was created in 1973 in order to offer protection to the rare Hunter's Antelope, sometimes called Hunter's Hartebeest, although it is more closely related to the topi than the hartebeest. The species is only found north of the Tana and as far as the Somali border, but in the best conditions it is far from numerous. The reserve is difficult to access and there are no roads within—its visit presupposes a tented safari and a four-wheel-drive vehicle.

Tana River Primate National Reserve
This is a small reserve, created in 1976, as its name suggests to protect a small number of primates that have no other location in Kenya. There are two species, the Red Colobus and the Crested Mangabey. These species occur in the rain forests of western Uganda and in Zaire and are indicative of the time, centuries ago, when these great forests covered the whole of Africa—west to east. The Reserve is a mixture of savannah and riverine forest often exquisitely beautiful. Both the common and Grevy's zebra are found as are the Maasai and Reticulated giraffe. Oryx, buffalo, and lesser kudu are by no means rare. The river accommodates plenty of crocodile and hippo and water birds are spectacular.

Boni and Dodori National Reserves
These two reserves were created as recently as 1976. Boni covers an area of 1339 sq km and Dodori 877 sq km. The Boni Reserve borders Somalia and is named after the hunting people who range over the land. Dodori is named after a river that enters the Indian Ocean at Dodori Creek, reputedly a favorite haunt of the dugong. Neither of the two reserves has any well developed road system but wildlife in Dodori can be seen easily from the main road from Lamu to Kiunga and from Kiwaiyu Lodge. All four of these reserves are in areas where bandit activity is currently possible and local advice from your tour operator and from the Kenya Police should be taken before a visit is planned.

Shimba Hills National Reserve
The Shimba Hills thrust nearly 450 m out of the coastal plain, an enchanting other world, lonely and remote from the heat below. The Hills are about 45 km south west of Mombasa and although not significantly higher than the coastal beaches, they are remarkably cool; breezes from the Indian Ocean rise over the eastern escarpment with invigorating freshness. This pristine wonderland of rolling meadows and forests of giant primeval trees harbors a wide variety of wildlife, including some 500 elephants who favor the refreshing fruit of the borassus palm. There are lion and leopard often heard but not frequently seen. But the most distinctive of the Reserve's many species is perhaps the rare and impressive Sable antelope, found in the same habitats as several large herds of buffalo. Whilst never numerous in Kenya, it is unlikely that viable populations exist other than in the Shimba Hills. Closely related to the Roan antelope which it resembles, it is, in fact, slightly smaller. Both sexes carry the 100-160-cm horns that rise vertically before curving backward in a pronounced arc.

Picnic sites on either side of the escarpment provide entrancing views—to the east overlooking the distant turquoise of the Indian Ocean and to the west, on the right day, hazy vistas of the vast plains with the Taita Hills rising out of them like a misty giant and beyond them, on days of exceptional clarity, the mighty mass of Kilimanjaro.

Unspoiled and one of the least exploited of all Kenya's game reserves, the combination of rolling grasslands and forest, of hill and valley, and the shadowy animals make the Shimba Hills a delight for all nature lovers. Shimba Lodge provides not only nighttime game viewing with an artificial moon but escorted walks through a true fairyland.

Arabuko Sokoke National Park
The park is a small (6 sq km) part of the Sokoke Arabuko forest, which is a strip of indigenous coastal forest running parallel to the sea from just north of Kilifi to Gede. Gazettement of the park in 1991 was designed to protect two rare species of mammals, Aders' duiker and the yellow-rumped Elephant Shrew, as well as a number of bird species both rare and local. These include Sokoke Scops Owl and the Sokoke Pipit.

Special thanks to the Kenya Association of Tour Operators for helping GORP develop Kenya parks information.