Safari In The Meru National Park
Meru National Park lies east of Mount Kenya and although it is one of Kenya's lesser known game reserves it has a variety of special features.
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Safari In The Meru National Park
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Meru National Park lies east of Mount Kenya and although it is one of Kenya’s lesser known game reserves it has a variety of special features.
The park covers an area of 870m2 that straddles the Equator and is classified as semi-arid although the thirteen rivers and springs that flow through it ensure permanent water and create a diverse landscape of lovely forest areas and swampland that compliments a vast savannah of waving grasses.
Visitors to Meru National Park will not have the same access to the wide variety of game that is found in the country’s other game reserves, however, during the dry season when the grass is at its lowest, herds of elephant return to the park. There are also good populations of lion, leopard and cheetah as well as buffalo, Grevy’s zebra and reticulated giraffe. The park is also home to more than 350 different bird species and the river wildlife is abundant with large pods of ungainly hippo and many crocodiles sharing the depths or motionless on the banks absorbing the rays of the sun.
The rhino sanctuary covers an area of 44km2 and is situated on the western boundary of the park devoted to the protection and population increase of the rhino. The sanctuary is a great success story with 6o animals – 40 white and 20 black rhino roaming freely and enjoying the best birth rates and less mortality numbers that any other area in Kenya. Many of the rhino were successfully relocated from the over-populated areas of Nakuru National Park, Nairobi National Park, and Lewa Downs Conservancy. This is a huge territory where you will still need a game drive to find them!
One of Meru’s best features is the peacefulness of the landscape that you will be aware of as you are on your game drives which also take place at night. Night games drives excitingly offer a completely different group of animal sightings. As there is only one lodge in the national park the wildlife are not used to droves of vehicles and are often elusive and timid.
Meru National Park and its wildlife was immortalised by the work of British conservationists George and Joy Adamson whose life long work included the successful release of several hand-reared orphaned lions. Most famous of all was the lioness Elsa whose story was told in print and by the well known film ”Born Free”. This partnership helped promote conservation work and interest in Kenya. It is Elsa that gives her name to the only lodge in the park – Elsa’s Kopje. This is a very elegant and luxurious lodge which comprises of just nine cottages, a honeymoon suite and the exclusive Elsa’s Private House, which is ideal for a family or small group.
The accommodation is tastefully constructed in local materials to blend into the surroundings of the kopje (small hill) just above the site of George Adamson’s original campsite and enjoys breathtaking views. Incidentally there is tented camp – Joy’s Camp, built on the site of his wife’s former home, located to the north within the Shaba National Reserve.
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