Meru lies to the east of Mount Kenya and is famous as the place where Elsa, the lioness of Joy Adamson’s book ‘Born Free’, was returned to the wilds. Of all of Kenya’s parks, Meru presents the widest variety of landscapes and habitats. Forest, swamp and savanna are pierced by fifteen perennial rivers all rising from the Mount Kenya massif and destined to reach the Tana River which forms the park’s lower boundary. Meru is alive with an enormous variety of colorful birds. Part of Meru’s charm is that this park has never enjoyed the popularity of many of the other parks and reserves.
Meru National Park covers an area of 870 square kilometers. Meru National Park ranges from 1,036m in the foothills of the Nyambeni range to less than 3,040m on the Tana River in the South Eastern sector. The area is well watered by the Rojerwero, Ura and Tana rivers. The Park is set within beautiful landscapes extending to distant hills. Most of the park is covered by bush of varying densities, the north eastern quadrant of the park is open palm country, grassland and acacia woods and in the extreme north there is a small patch of rain forest.
Part of its charm lies in the fact it has never been as popular as other parks and reserves. This makes animal be more elusive to safari cars (poaching caused great damage in the area in the 60’s and 70’s) but this will not be an obstacle for us to try to spot them and enjoy beauty of its landscapes as well as the numerous and varied bird species which live in the Park.
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