Kenya has set aside some of the best game viewing areas in the world.  About two dozen National Parks, Game Reserves add Private Game Sanctuaries fall within Kenya's borders, making it the most popular safari destination in Africa, for the richest in natural beauty and wildlife.   Even the long and short rains in April to June and November to December respectively, do not hamper game viewing to any great extent (indeed, summer wear is in most cases still suitable for the hot and sunny days)

Nairobi National Park (9117 sq km), located only 7 kilometres from the Nairobi’s Central Business District is the only protected area, in the world, with a variety of animals and birds close to a capital city.  The park has a diversity of environments of open grass plains with scattered acacia bush, highland dry forest and a riverine forest. The park has a rich birdlife with 400 species recorded, some migrants and other endemic. The Park is also rhino sanctuary. All the Big Five animals, with the exception of elephant, can be found here.  Wildlife species in the park include buffalo, baboon, black rhino, zebra, cheetah, coke's hartebeest, gazelle, hippo, leopard, lion, eland, impala, giraffe, ostrich, vulture, waterbuck and wildebeest.

Maasai Mara Game Reserve, one of the ‘7 Wonders of the New World’, is the Kenyan portion of Serengeti Plains where the migration of enormous herds of over a million wildebeest and half a million zebra occurs annually.  In search of grass and water, the herds move from the Serengeti in Tanzania, arriving in Maasai Mara around mid-July. The return to the South begins in the middle of October.  Predators follow, including lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, vultures and the deadly Nile crocodile laying in wait during river crossings. 
Amboseli National Park has the dramatic setting of Mt. Kilamanjaro, Africa's highest mountain 5,895 meters, just across the Tanzanian border, as its backdrop. Most of the game can be found clinging to the swamps and grasslands in the centre of the park, an oasis for buffalo, lions, cheetah, and over 420 species of birds.

Lake Nakuru National Park located in the Rift Valley is a shallow, alkaline lake where millions of colourful flamingo population are seasonally found, as are over four hundred species of birds.  The Park is also a RAMSAR Site and a sanctuary for the endangered black rhino as well as being home to various other large game species, including leopard.

Aberdares are a volcanic range forming the eastern wall of the rift valley. Soils are red and of volcanic origin and rich in organic matter. There are two main peaks separated by a long saddle of alpine moorland. The topography is diverse with deep ravines that cut through the forested slopes and there are many clear streams and waterfalls. The Aberdares are an important water catchment area.  The unusual vegetation, rugged terrain, streams and waterfalls combine to create an area of great scenic beauty in the National Park.  Forest animals including elephant, buffalo, rhino, leopard, small wild cats and antelopes are found here.  The bird life is prolific.

Mount Kenya National Park, Africa's snow-capped second highest mountain is one of the continent's most popular destinations for mountaineers and trekkers. Its two highest peaks, Batian (5,199 m) and Nelion (5,188 m.) require considerable technical climbing skills. However, the third highest peak, Point Lenana (4,985 m.), can be reached by hikers who are in reasonably good condition. The climb can be made in three days, the descent in one or two, and the views from the top are as spectacular as you would expect.

Samburu Game Reserve is the hot and arid home to the Samburu tribe, pastoral relatives of the Masai. The landscape is rugged and dramatic while the game is unique.  Crocodile and hippo share the river with large herds of elephant. Buffalo, lion, leopard, cheetah and plains game may also be seen but a special feature of this Reserve are the various species of game unique to these northern parks - Beisa oryx, the long necked gerenuk, Grevy's zebra, reticulated giraffe and the blue shanked Somali ostrich. The Samburu ecosystem includes the adjacent Buffalo Springs and Shaba Game Reserve

Laikipia is the gateway to Kenya’s wild Northern frontier country. Wild and sparsely populated, much of it is covered by large privately owned ranches and local communities with high plains and low forested valleys and featuring guest houses, home-stays and private camps. On most ranches cattle share the land with free ranging wildlife. The result is an area of beautiful wilderness, where protected game roams freely and safely. This area has become a sanctuary for elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, wild dog and a wealth of plains game, including many endemic Northern species.

Meru National Park is wild and beautiful. Straddling the equator and bisected by 13 rivers and numerous mountain-fed streams, it has diverse scenery from woodlands at 3,000 feet to wide open plains with wandering riverbanks dotted with doum palms. Game to view includes lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino, cheetah, leopard and some of the rarer antelopes; Lesser Kudu, duiker and Dik Dik. The rivers abound with hippo and crocodile.  Over 300 species of birds have been recorded including the Peter's Finfoot, the Pel's Fishing Owl, kingfishers, rollers, bee-eaters, starlings and numerous weavers.

Tsavo is renowned for the man-eating lions of the 1800’s Kenya-Uganda ‘lunatic express’ railway line fame.  It is a vast expanse of savanna bush and semi desert scrub, acacia woodlands; rocky ridges and outcrops, belts of riverine vegetation; palm thickets.  There are volcanic lava flows and ash cones.  At Mzima Springs, water that has filtered underground gushes from below a lava ridge into a series of clear pools where you find fish, hippos and crocodiles. Apart from the massive elephant population there are giraffe, buffalo, lion, serval, hyena, leopard cheetah and caracal. Lesser common animals found are fringed-eared oryx, the gerenuk and lesser kudu. The landscape is dominated, especially off the hills by the giant baobab, a tree which is reputed to live a 1000 years. Tsavo is divided by the Nairobi-Mombasa highway into Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Parks.