East Africa’s wildlife reserves and national parks rank among the best in East Africa, the national parks have ensured that the last repositories of the mega fauna left on the planet is protected. East Africa’s diversity is sensational with the range of terrains, climates, ecosystems, cultures and wildlife.

History says that the idea of creating reserves and protecting nature started way back during the colonial times which was enforced even if it meant to evacuate the locals from their land. This started from the fact that some species were hunted to the blink of extinction and therefore the colonialists who decided to preserve them became conservationists for all the animals which were later highly protected to the extent of establishing of parks and reserves that we see today.

However, there is a major problem today that between Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda there are hundreds of unprotected areas where without guidance or research, it’s hard to know which area to go for. Protected areas of each country:

• Uganda has 26.3%
• Tanzania has 38.4%
• Kenya has 12.7%
• Burundi has 5.6%
• Rwanda has 7.6%

With this in mind, from the tropical forests and mountains, coral reefs, and savannah, here is a list we have compiled of the best national parks and reserves that east Africa can offer today which are the most popular, most safe for travellers, the most accessible or the best known and those known to be the most impressive for the visitors in east Africa with unforgettable experiences as listed below:

Tanzania

Tanzania has more than one third of the country as reserves with a wide section of protected areas to choose from and these have a number of wild life habitats and activities like wildlife drives, balloon safaris, walking in border areas, boat safaris, trekking among others. Visiting the national parks and reserves in Tanzania, one is required to have an entry fee which ranges from US$30 to US$ 100 per head of an adult depending on the park you’re visiting.

List of the national parks in Tanzania:

• Gombe national park
• Lake Manyara national park
• Mt Kilimanjaro national park
• Ngorongoro conservation area
• Ruaha national park
• Saadani national park
• Serengeti national park
• Tarangire national park

Rwanda

Rwanda has only three national parks in which the fees depend on the reason for your entry which ranges from US$1500 to US$90 in which cash is preferred and made in US dollars. Activities like gorilla trekking in the volcanoes national park which includes park entry fees, tacking chimpanzees or golden monkeys.

List of national parks in Rwanda include:

• Parc des volcans / Volcanoes national park
• Nyungwe forest national park
• Akagera national park

Uganda

More than one quarter of Uganda is protected with rich protected areas from the southwest of the country. A couple of activities and wildlife in the parks is provided since Uganda is one of the countries with many national parks and reserves like blue monkeys, chimpanzees, Rwenzori duiker, with more than 500 recorded bird species where activities like launch trip, chimpanzee tracking, bird watching, gorilla trekking, wildlife drives, visiting Twa villages, forest elephant viewing and the rest are catered for at US$40 to US$20 and remember that if you’re here to trek gorillas, the permit fee with park entry fees goes for US$700.

List of national parks in Uganda:

• Murchison falls national park
• Queen Elizabeth national park
• Kibale forest national park
• Bwindi impenetrable forest national park
• Lake Mburo national park
• Kidepo Valley national park
• Semuliki national park
• Mount Elgon national park
• Rwenzori Mountains national park
• Mgahinga gorilla national park

Kenya

Kenya has the highest number of national parks of about 22 national parks with numerous marine parks and national reserves. For an adult to enter the park, it ranges from US$80 to US$20, and for a child, US$45 to US$15 where you’re required to pay fees with a credit card or M-Pesa for locals in the area.

List of national parks in Kenya:

• Amboseli national park
• Masai Mara national park
• Tsavo east and west national park
• Mount Kenya national park
• Kakamega forest national reserve and Kakamega forest
• Lake Nakuru national park
• Samburu Game Reserve
• Nairobi national park

Burundi

Burundi has three national parks however each of the park is best visited as part of an organised safari arranged in Bujumbura because the country is unsafe for the visitors and this is why visitors are just rare in Burundi. Here, travellers have a perfect opportunity to view the hippos, antelope (sitatungas), wide variety of birds, kagera falls, hiking opportunities and others like surveying the largest park in Burundi; kabira national park which contains Burundi’s only montane forest, covers 4 provinces and sits on 400 square kilometres of space.

List of national parks in Burundi:

• Rusizi national park
• Ruvubu national park
• Kabira forest national park

South Sudan

Southern Sudan has one of the best wilderness zones however due to the increase of land exploitation in Sudan, wildlife and the protected areas are under a great threat of destruction where many of them have been left starving to death as recently, there was an online campaign to save the starving animals in Khartoum’s Al-Qureshi park where one of the five lions there is believed to have died.

List of national parks in South Sudan:

• Boma national park
• Southern national park
• Lantoto national park
• Shambe national park