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The Meru National Park covers an area of 1,813 square kilometers to the north east of Kenya. It is bordered by the Kora, Rahole and Bisanadi Reserves.

Meru is the setting of Joy Adamson's book 'Born Free'

Well off the mainstream tourist circuit, Meru is not a reserve to come and tick off the Big Five. Rather it is a wilderness experience. The horizons are endless and game wild. Huge tracts of the park have no roads and must be explored on foot. On the roads that there are, minibuses are never seen. You might see a park ranger or lion researcher in an old Land Rover but that is the extent of the traffic. Finally, Meru is perhaps best known for Elsa the lioness, who was released here and made famous by Joy Adamson's books.

Tropical riverine forest

The park lies at the foothills of the Nyambene Mountain Range. The area is well watered by small rivers and streams, the main rivers being the Rojerwero, Ura and Tana. All three rivers are flanked by dense tropical riverine forest and superb stands of doum and raphia palms. Baboons can often be seen foraging in the forest and climbing the trees at night to sleep. Away from the rivers the vegetation consists of wide grassy plains, dotted with acacias and palms and areas of woodland.

Wildlife of Meru

Meru has a good network of dirt roads which allow you to access many areas of the park. There is increasingly good game including elephant, black rhino, reticulated giraffe, Grévy's and common zebra, Grant's gazelle, lesser kudu, gerenuk and beisa oryx. Predators are also present including lion, leopard and cheetah. The lion are particularly interesting as many of the males have very small manes. All the animals are still quite shy and this is not a place to race about from herd to herd. Rather it is a park to see zebra in the sunset, lion in the tall grass, and learn about the birds and trees.

The scenery is superb, and in Meru, you can enjoy space and wilderness all to yourself.