Maasai Mara National Reserve
Kenya's best-known reserve: big cats all year and the Mara River crossings from July to October.
National parks and reserves in East Africa
27 parks across four countries, each with the best time to visit, what you will actually see and how to reach it.
Kenya
Maasai Mara, Amboseli and the classic savanna safari, with Indian Ocean beaches a short flight away.
Amboseli National Park
Big-tusked elephants walking toward Kilimanjaro. Come for the picture, stay for the herds.
Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Parks
Kenya's biggest park pair: red-dusted elephants, huge skies and an easy bolt-on to the coast.
Samburu National Reserve
Hot, dry northern Kenya, where the Ewaso Ng'iro river draws elephants, leopards and species you won't see in the south.
Lake Nakuru National Park
A small, fenced Rift Valley park that's one of Kenya's most reliable places to see both black and white rhino.
Ol Pejeta Conservancy
A working conservancy at the foot of Mount Kenya, home to East Africa's largest black rhino population.
Nairobi National Park
Lions and rhinos with the city skyline behind them, just 20 minutes from the centre.
Tanzania
The Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar in one country.
Serengeti National Park
Tanzania's flagship park and the heart of the Great Migration, with big cats and open plains as far as you can see.
Ngorongoro Crater and Conservation Area
The world's largest intact volcanic caldera, with a resident wildlife population and a very good chance of seeing a rhino.
Tarangire National Park
Baobab-dotted hills and some of Tanzania's biggest elephant herds, best from June to October.
Lake Manyara National Park
A compact park between the Rift Valley escarpment and a soda lake, good for birds, monkeys and the odd lion in a tree.
Ruaha National Park
Tanzania's largest national park: a quiet, dry wilderness where lions, wild dogs and rare antelope share the Great Ruaha River.
Nyerere National Park (Selous)
Tanzania's biggest wilderness: boat safaris, walking safaris and a river full of hippos, an easy flight from Dar es Salaam.
Mount Kilimanjaro National Park
Africa's highest mountain: a non-technical climb through five climate zones that still defeats a lot of people.
Mahale Mountains and Gombe National Parks
Remote chimp country on Lake Tanganyika, reached by boat or bush plane, and worth the effort.
Uganda
Mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, tree-climbing lions and the source of the Nile.
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Home to nearly half the world's mountain gorillas, in ancient forest on steep green hills.
Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
Uganda's smallest national park: three volcanoes, golden monkeys and a single gorilla family that sometimes crosses the border.
Queen Elizabeth National Park
Uganda's most varied park: a boat trip among hippos, tree-climbing lions in Ishasha and chimps in a gorge.
Murchison Falls National Park
The Nile squeezes through a 7-metre gap and drops 43 m, in Uganda's biggest park.
Kibale National Park
The world's best-known place to see wild chimpanzees, with 12 other primate species in the same forest.
Kidepo Valley National Park
Uganda's most remote park: wide plains, mountain backdrops and animals you can't see elsewhere in the country.
Lake Mburo National Park
A small, hilly park on the road to Bwindi where you can walk, ride and cycle among zebras and impalas.
Rwenzori Mountains National Park
Snow-capped peaks on the equator, giant lobelia and a wet, muddy, beautiful trek that few people do.
Rwanda
Compact, tidy and built around gorilla trekking, with rainforest and savanna within a day.
Volcanoes National Park
Rwanda's gorilla park, just two hours from Kigali, with twelve habituated families and five volcanoes.
Nyungwe Forest National Park
One of Africa's oldest rainforests, with chimps, 13 primate species and a walkway through the canopy.
Akagera National Park
Rwanda's only savanna park, restored from near-collapse and now home to lions, black rhinos and all of the Big Five.
Gishwati-Mukura National Park
A small, recovering forest in western Rwanda, with chimpanzees, monkeys and quiet trails away from the crowds.
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