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Visiting Time
It is an offence to be in the park or drive in the park at night or
during the hours of darkness (7p.m.). Plan well ahead so that you reach
your campsite or lodge before dark to avoid driving in the park at night
(after 7p.m.). Entry is forbidden after 6.15p.m. You are also advised to
avoid going in the park after downpours and if you do, be careful when
crossing unbridged streams and rivers whose water levels may flactuate
after the rains.
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Entry
Always enter and leave the park through official entry points after
paying the prescribed fee. Retain your ticket during your visit. At the
time of entry, you may leave a word at the gate as to which part of the
park you intend to visit in case you may get stuck (during wet seasons)
or your car breaks down. Similarly you may ask for information at the gate
concerning the condition of the park, especially during the wet seasons.
Avoid travelling alone.
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Speed
For your own safety and that of animals, drive at no more than 40 kilometers
per hour while in the park. Animals are apt to trot or jump across the
road unexpectedly. Controlled speed also enhances your chance of seeing
elusive animals like leopards, caracal or several cats hidden behind bushes
or gullies and enables you to get closer to animals for better viewing
and photographs.
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Short-Cuts
Driving off the park roads to get closer to animals or gain a better
view does not only destroy the vegetation and ruin the scenic values rendering
the areas susceptible to soil erosion but also disturbs the animals and
upsets their breeding and feeding habits. You also risk getting stuck while
driving on those un-murramed roads. Always keep to the official roads and
resist the temptation of chasing hunting or mating cats or surrounding
them at their kill with car engine on and clicking cameras. Some of them
especially the cheetah are sensitive animals which hunts by day and are
easily disturbed. When a number of tourist cars follow a hunting cheetah,
it may either abandon the hunting effort or the prey may be alerted thus
causing the hunt to be unsuccessful. In such cases the cheetah and her
cubs may go without food for several days.
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Alighting from Vehicles
Never get out of your car except in a designated campsite, picnic site,
self-guided nature trail or at a game observation point. Animals are friendly
to passing vehicles but may charge aggressively on seeing a human being
on foot.
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Pets
Pets carried into the national park will frighten and cause stampede
among wild animals or provoke confrontation with animals, thus affecting
your own safety. So pets are not allowed in the parks/reserves.
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Noise
Making noise or hooting while inside the park disturbs the animals
and ruins your chance of good viewing, besides annoying other visitors
in the park. Cars with defective noise-making exhaust systems will be denied
entry.
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Weapons
Conveying weapons, ammunition, poison, explosives or traps in a national
park is an offense. So is putting up any form of advertisement or carrying
out any form of business in the park without special permission from the
Director of Kenya Wildlife Service.
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Natural Objects
Rocks, fossils, skulls, horns, shells, corals, plants and wild flowers,
nests and all other natural, pre-historical, historical or archeological
objects in the park should be left as you found them in their natural setting
for others to discover and enjoy. Violating this regulation will lead to
prosecution. Writing, painting or inscribing your names on tree truncks,
rocks or in the caves also defaces the beautiful views of the park, and
it is forbidden.
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Hiking
In Kenya's National Parks/Reserves hiking or horse riding is not allowed
except in Hellsgate National Park, at Mt. Elgon and Mt. Kenya National
Parks where moorland walking is allowed. This is usually at the high altitudes
after the visitor has driven to the highest possible limits.
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Litter
Apart from being an ugly sight in the Park, litter is dangerous. A
broken piece of glass or shiny bit of tin can magnify the suns rays enough
to start a bush or grass fire. Park animals especially Baboons, Monkeys,
Hyena, Elephant and others may be injured when scavenging on garbage left
behind. If they learn to scavenge on edible litter, the animals will subsequently
attack visitors to get edibles from them. So use the dustbins provided
at the picnic sight, game observation point or campsite and after camping,
burn all the trash in your campsite before leaving and carry all the empty
containers (cans, bottles, foil packages, etc.) with you you for disposal
outside the park. In other words when inside the park, leave nothing behind
but your footprints, take nothing but photographs, let it not be said after
you that all was well before you went there.
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Fishing
Fishing is not allowed in the National Parks/Reserves except in the
Marine National Reserves where subsistence or sports-fishing may be allowed
in designated areas under licence. If in doubt consult the local Fisheries
Officer or the local Game Warden.
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Camping
To minimise human impact and disturbance on the natural resources which
the visitors come to see and enjoy, camping is restricted to the designated
campsites and camping permits must be obtained from the Director or from
the Warden in charge of the Park/Reserve.
There are two types of campsites in the National Parks/Reserves. The
Public Campsites (PCS) and the Special Campsites (SCS). The two types of
campsites offer almost the same service except that the public campsites
are open to more than one camping party at a time. There is also no advance
booking fee required for the reservation of the public campsites. Booking
is done on arrival at the campsite, park HQs or at the park entry point
provided camping space is available. The special campsite is exclusively
reserved for one camping party at a time, on the first to book first served
basis. Advance reservation fee is required for the privilege.
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Fires
Bush or grass fires are harmful in the park by destroying a large number
of the small and medium-sized mammals, ground birds, reptiles, worms and
insects which are not able to escape the ravaging flames. They destroy
the vegetation on which the animals feed and consume the ground cover under
which most ground birds, reptiles, rodents and insects live and breed.
When the park is burned, most animals which escape the destructive fires
move out of the park looking for pastures, shelter and escape cover. This
exposes the animals to various hazards as many of them fall into the poachers
snares, guns and poisoned arrows. A much more destructive effect is the
removal of the soil vegetation cover leaving the soil exposed to wind and
rain water erosion. So when in the park or near the park do not light fires
carelessly or throw smouldering cigarette butts on the ground. A huge uncontrolled
fire may erupt from those small sources and engulf the whole park. If you
see fire in the park, report to the park authorities as soon as possible.
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Camp Fires
Are allowed at the designated campsites. They should be lighted at
carefully selected places away from bushes or grasses and the users must
ensure that they are kept small and under control at all times. When leaving
your campsite, ensure that the fires are completely extinguished using
water and covering the fireplace with soil. Never leave smoking or smouldering
logs or firewood behind.
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Swimming in Rivers and Lakes
Most Kenya rivers and fresh water lakes are crocodile infested. Visitors
are therefore strongly advised not to swim in the rivers or lakes. Drawing
water from such rivers or lakes should be done with care as crocodiles
snap at the slightest opportunity.
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Game Viewing
The best time to go for game drives is the early morning hours between
6.30 am to 9.00 am. The first 2 hours being more rewarding than the rest
of the morning hours. It is the time one finds a pride of lion, a pack
of cheetah, a serval cat, caracal, leopard or a herd of buffalo, zebra
or eland lying on the road or roadsides perhaps avoiding the dew-wet grass
and bushes in the forest. It is also the time most animals especially herbivorous
start to move about feeding before the heat of the day. After 10 am especially
in the dry hot areas, most animals tend to move from the areas to the bushed
or forested areas where they remain resting under shade until after 3 pm
when they move out again to feed. This is good time for game viewers to
begin their evening game drives.
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Game Spotting
Visitors will be amazed at the ability of many animals and birds to
conceal themselves against the background of their surroundings; often
to the extent of escaping the attention of the unwary camera toting tourists.
A lone elephant bull, buffalo or even the tall giraffe may stand still
against withering bushes or tree trunks and easily escape the attention
of the speeding motorist. A lion has the ability to lie flat on its back
with its paws up in the air thereby passing unnoticed. A leopard, serval
cat or caracal lies flat on its belly against low bushes or tall grass
tufts and may not be seen, a slumbering rhino lies flat on its belly under
shade with its head on its front legs and may not be seen, and many
tourists often mistake it for a low ant-hill. A cheetah cringes well behind
low bushes or grasses until the vehicles have passed. Sandgrouse and Yellow-necked
spurfowls lie camouflaged on dry grass or fallen dry leaves until you almost
drive over them. To ensure that your game drive is well rewarded, always
drive slowly and keep your eyes ahead focused through the bushes and tall
grasses. On spotting an animal, or bird standing on the roadside or hidden
behind bushes or grasses, do not stop suddenly but slowdown and pull up
slowly until you reach the safest or nearest possible distance and then
stop and switch off the engine. Do not thrust your head or camera through
the car windows, or roof-hatches but just adjust yourself and your equipment
slowly until you attain the required position. That way, you will be able
to enjoy the closest views of the most wild animals satisfactorily.
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Bird Watching
Like the game viewers, bird watchers will find the early morning hours
(6.30 am. to 9.00 p.m.) most enjoyable period of their trip. This is the
time most birds move out of their roosting places and fly out or walk to
the open fields or roadside to chase for beetles, worms, ants, grasshoppers,
moths and other insects before the latter retreat under grass cover or
furrows. Seed eating birds like Guinea fowl, Sandgrouse, Spurfowl and others
are extremely active at that time turning grass heaps over and over looking
for seeds. It is possible for a lucky bird watcher to spot over 100 bird
species within one hour. If you haven't seen much before 11 a.m., you are
advised to rest during the heat of the day before setting out again at
3 o'clock for evening bird watching trips.
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Wildlife
Animals have the right of way. Stay at a safe and respectful distance
especially when watching elephant or rhino. They are quite unpredictable
and may not want to be disturbed. A lioness with her cubs is extremely
dangerous. Though she has experienced human beings in cars and accepted
them as harmless visitors, and may allow her cubs to play with the wheels
of a motionless vehicle, any unusual happening such as a person foolishly
getting out of the car to get a better photograph will trigger serious
provocation prompting her to attack anything or anybody in their defence.
Even the smallest animals like Vervet monkeys or Dwarf mongoose can inflict
painful bites. To avoid ugly incidents, do not entice, touch or feed wild
animals. Feeding them may adversely affect their health or make them attack
you or other visitors in search of food.
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Timid Animals
Apart from elusive, shy or proud animals which will tolorate the approach
of vehicles while hidden behind bushes or simply standing or lying down
on the roadsides, there are other animals which normally take off at the
first sight of an approaching vehicle. Such animals like Hyena, Eland,
Coke's hartebeest, Oryx, Reedbuck, Rhino and many others should be approached
with care and patience. On spotting any of these animals, the motorist
is advised to approach them as slowly and quietly as possible. When the
animals or the herd shows signs of anxiety or uneasiness, the motorist
is advised to stop and switch off the engine. Any further movement or even
the loud clicking of cameras will see the animals off.
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Snakes
If you see a snake in the park, remember, it requires nothing more
from you than a chance to get out of your way. Please leave it alone.
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Food and Equipment
When leaving your campsite to go for a game drive in the morning or
evening, ensure that there is always a person left behind to guard your
camp against marauding animals like baboons, monkeys and even hyenas. These
animals are likely to cause serious damage to your tentage, equipment and
foodstuff left in the tents. Foods left in the vehicles at the campsites
or at a picnic site must be completely covered to avoid encouraging damage
to vehicle windows by the said animals to get at the edibles.
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Human Wastes
Where there are no lavatories or latrines, human wastes should be disposed
in a dug up hole or trench away from campsites, picnic sites, game observation
points, nature trails, water sources and be completely covered with soil
or rocks.
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Breakdowns
If your car breaks down or gets stuck while in the park, you are advised
to sit in the car or stay near the vehicle and wait for assistance either
from the park patrol staff or any passer-by who may assist you or send
a word to the park authorities for your assistance. When no assistance
comes or is likely to come-by, it is advisable to walk cautiously along
the road towards the Park HQs or Park gates, always keeping your eyes ahead
and examining the bushes near or along the road well before you pass. Under
no circumstances should you attempt to walk in the park at night.
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