Mwea National Reserve — Local services in Embu

26th December- Nairobi to Makima via Karatina Makutano Road, 170km, 140 being good tarmac and 30km quite rough off road. It had rained and some parts of the road were nerve wrecking. We had a 4w tour van courtesy of Fricafold Safaris who had promised us an amazing day out in the wild away from crowds thronging to other parks over these Christmas day holidays. Left Nairobi at 6am and arrived there at 9.30am. We were received by pleasant KWS lady who gave us tips and cautionery advice about trails to avoid due to risk of getting stuck- though we found literally all the trails fairly well passable. The Giraffes and Zebras are just meters away from the main gate. We did see a buffalo and an elephant and followed it towards an abandoned trail with much evidence of elephants but sadly only came close and personal with the tragedy that exists in poaching. Parts of the trail were unpassable due to Bush and fallen trees from elephants stampede probably during the sad incident and so couldn't make it to Hippo point from that trail. Went back to have our picnic with the Giraffes overlooking us. Wish we could have seen more of the advertised animals. The other two visitors drove in after 1:00 pm. We did enjoy the exclusive game drive and shopping for fresh vegetables at Makutano on our way back. We left at 2:30pm for fear of rain. This place has much potential and should be revamped into the Gem that...

Game viewing is the antic essence of Embu County .The region boasts a 42 Km2 of the enamored Mwea National reserve .The reserve offers boat ridding at Kamburu, hippo and rare birds watching and a walking circuit .The globally threatened and Kenya endemic Hinde’s Babbler bird,the Pel fishing wol and white-backed night heron are found at the Mwea Natiinal Reserve .Immunerable rivers dot the savannah ecosystem .The picturesque vistas include small hills ,emerald shrubbery and scattered acacia and baobab clusters in the river ridges . The ecosystem’s main backdrop is the meeting end of rivers Tana and Thiba, Kamburu and Masinga hydroelectric dams, a host to rich biodiversity .Mwea National reserve is a home to rare animal species including Common zebras, Striped ground squirrel, Lesser kudu, Buffalo, elephants, Grants gazelle, Dik dik, Cape hare, Warthog, Black backed jackal, Duiker, Sykes monkeys, Genet cat, Slender mongoose, Rothschild giraffes, Water Buck, Bush buck, Impala, Vervet Monkeys, Aardvark, Yellow baboons, , Dwarf mongoose, Crested porcupine, Rock Hyrax, Tree Hyrax and tortoise, Hippos and crocodiles . Mwea National Reserve is situated within Mbeere, a about 200 Km from Nairobi and 44km South of Embu. The reserve is accessible by the road from Nairobi through the Thika-Matuu-Masinga...

Mwea is a nice small reserve with great potential. We camped 2 nights here during a long holiday weekend and we only came across one car our whole stay, so if you want to be secluded that's the place! I've created all the campsites spots on Google Maps (can't believe they still didn't exist until now, October 2024! I hope it will help bring more people to this place). We saw many giraffes and zebras. A few dik-diks, bush buck and one lesser kudu. Came across big elephant bulls twice, in which one was in Mbogo Public Campsite... Quite a surprise while we were preparing to leave the camp. And of course there are the hippos in the lake and lots of beautiful bird species. Roads were good but from time to time there were bushes and trees on the road due to elephant activities. I recommend it more for the peaceful serene environment rather than for...