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Maasai Mara (Masai Mara) is situated in south-west Kenya and is one of Africa's Greatest Wildlife Reserves. Together with the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania it forms Africa's most diverse, incredible and most spectacular eco-systems and possibly the worlds top safari big game viewing eco-system.
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The park lies in Central Kenya, 140km north-west of Nairobi, in Nakuru district of the Rift Valley Province. The ecosystem comprises of the lake, surrounded by mainly wooded and bushy grasslands. The park supports a wide ecological diversity with Flamingos (Greater and Lesser) and other water birds being the major attractions of the area. The ecosystem provides for about 56 different species of mammals including the white rhino and buffaloes and a variety of terrestrial birds numbering nearly 450 species.
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Lake Naivasha is a fresh water lake on the floor of the Great Rift Valley dominated by the harsh volcanic crater of Mt Longonot to the east and the Eburu Hills to the west. The lake sits at a deceptively high altitude of 6,000ft; higher in fact than Nairobi which is odd considering the massive drop you have to negotiate to get down on side of the Rift.
This area of the Rift was popular in the first half of the 20th Century, with the popularly branded 'Happy Valley set' which today sweepingly encompasses any white British person with a little bit of money who claimed their place in the sun. In fairness, the antics of the few tainted the many and while there is many a juicy scandal, there were a great deal of hard-working pioneers who laid the framework for the development of colonial East Africa.
Naivasha was home to an assortment of folk, some of whom have left impressive legacies by way of Elizabethan manors, sprawling ranch houses and beautiful areas of acacia woodland bordering the lake. Sadly, for the look of the place, if not the national economy, flower farms and vegetable farms are now the most obvious feature, although there are still some beautiful ranches and lodges with a great deal of character which offer friendly hospitality and freedom to explore.
There is also Hell's Gate National Park where game is not prolific but walking is permitted and makes for a nice diversion. It is slightly difficult to know where to place Naivasha from a visitors point of view as it won't be for everyone but there are certainly some highlights to be noted.
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Tanzanias oldest and most popular national park, the Serengeti is famed for its annual migration, when some six million hooves pound the open plains, as more than 200,000 zebra and 300,000 Thomsons gazelle join the wildebeests trek for fresh grazing. Yet even when the migration is quiet, the Serengeti offers arguably the most scintillating game-viewing in Africa: great herds of buffalo, smaller groups of elephant and giraffe, and thousands upon thousands of eland, topi, kongoni, impala and Grants gazelle.
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The Ngorongoro Crater in Northern Tanzania, once a gigantic volcano, is the largest intact caldera in the world. The Ngorongoro crater is a deep, volcanic caldera about 20kms across, 600 meters deep and 300 sq kms in area, the Ngorongoro Crater is a breathtaking natural wonder. Some maintain that before it erupted, it would have been higher than Mt Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa.
Today, long since having collapsed and eroded, it is an extensive highland area with the famous 600 m deep Ngorongoro Crater as its focal point. Nearly three million years old, the ancient caldera shelters one of the most beautiful wildlife havens on earth.
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Bwindi Impenetrable National Park lies in southwestern Uganda on the edge of the Rift Valley. Its mist-covered hillsides are blanketed by one of Uganda's oldest and most biologically diverse rainforests, which dates back over 25,000 years and contains almost 400 species of plants. More famously, this "impenetrable forest" also protects an estimated 400 mountain gorillas - roughly half of the world's population, including several habituated groups, which can be tracked.
This biologically diverse region also provides shelter to a further 120 mammals, including several primate species such as baboons and chimpanzees, as well as elephants and antelopes. There are around 350 species of birds hosted in this forest, including 23 Albertine Rift endemics.
The neighboring towns of Buhoma and Nkuringo both have an impressive array of luxury lodges, rustic bandas and budget campsites, as well as restaurants, craft stalls and guiding services. Opportunities abound to discover the local Bakiga and Batwa Pygmy cultures through performances, workshops and village walks.
The Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is a biodiverse, mountainous area in southwest Uganda. It's home to many of the world's remaining mountain gorillas, who feed on roots, leaves and fruits from the park's many tree and fern species. Restricted numbers of viewing permits help protect the endangered gorilla families. In the park, rough paths weave amid dense forests, which are home to many butterflies and birds.
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Diani Beach is a major beach resort on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. It is located 30 kilometres south of Mombasa.
With a flawless stretch of white-sand beach hugged by lush forest and kissed by surfable waves, Diani also has some of the best accommodation in Kenya
Recently voted as one of the top 25 beaches in the world on TripAdvisor, Diani is without a doubt the most popular beach at the coast of Kenya.
The sparkling white sands and lush greenery of Diani invite you to relax under a beach umbrella with a refreshing drink.
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If it is big game you are looking for, Akagera will not disappoint. Located on the border with Tanzania, Akagera is comprised of swamps, lakes, savannah, woodland and open grassland. The lakes draw out herds of elephant and buffalo, while the savannah typically attracts giraffe and zebra. That is just the beginning! The park hosts, leopard, hyena, lions and more than a dozen types of antelope. Also found in and near the lake are large pods of hippopotami as well as ominous crocodiles basking in the sun.
For the bird-lover, you can be entertained by majestic fish eagles and the large concentration of waterbirds. In the marshes, keep an eye out for the papyrus gonolek and the often sought-after shoebill stork.
Akagera National Park is located in the east of Rwanda. Kibungu is the city that is nearest to the park and the best starting point.
The park covers over 2500 sq km of savannah west of the Kagera River, which denotes the frontier with Tanzania. The park has a variety of wildlife and is a habitat for over 500 different species of birds. There are accommodation facilities on the edge of the park at Gabiro, 100km (60 miles) to the north. It is best not to visit the park in the rainy season (December, March and April) since many of the routes become impassable.
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Tucked away in the middle of tea Plantations, the biggest mountain rain forest on this side of the African continent can be a bit deceptive in its vastness if you simply catch a glimpse of it from a far. Nyungwe forest is probably the most preserved forest in Africa. Some say it is the most important site for biodiversity in Rwanda. It is home to over 1000 species of creation after all.
This national park is also the largest tropical afro Montane rainforest east or central Africa and a rainforest it is and receives over 2000mm of rain each year and its Rwanda's largest water catchment area and its home to 2/3rds of all Rwanda's water. The forest also feeds both the river Congo and the River Nile with water.
When you arrive in Nyungwe forest, you come here on the winding roads through the huge tea fields and then there is Nyungwe forest national park, like developing its massiveness like a national Geographic Video and only better since you are here in that large forest with its endless Kamiranzovu swamp, the trails through out, the forest canopy walk, which is the only one in East Africa, the chances for birding, the primate tracking and viewing and taking in the flowers like the orchids that are found here and the many butterflies that they attract.
Nyungwe is also not a compact park but large forest and the things to do and see here also take some planning as that your time on the safari is not wasted with drive times. You can also find over 300 different bird species, many butterflies, orchids, 75 mammal species including the 13 primates, and there have also been the sightings of the golden monkeys. Also the park is with its uncountable of the natural wonders and is not missed if you are coming to Rwanda and it will be one of those items to mountain gorilla tracking in Rwanda.
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Wildlife of Volcanoes National Park. Even without mountain gorilla safaris, Volcanoes National Park would be fascinating. Its altitude ranges from about 2,500m to the peak of Karisimbi, at 4,500m, resulting in extensive bamboo forests and some of the last remaining afro-montane forest habitat on the planet.
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