 FACT FILE
* Altitude: 1,000 - 3,400 ft
* Area: 870 km2
* Distance from Nairobi: 348 km
* Airstrips: 3
* Opened: April 1968
HIGHLIGHTS
* Home of 'Born Free' conservationists George & Joy Adamson
* Luxurious jungle of forests, swamps and tall grasses
LOGDES & CAMPS: Elsa's Kopje, Leopard Rock Lodge
Meru National Park is wild and beautiful and one of Kenya's lesser known and visited reserves. It is most famous as the setting for Joy Adamson's book "Born Free" which tells the story of the Adamson's life and research amongst lion and cheetah. "Elsa" the lioness was the most well-known animal in their care and her grave is marked here.
In the mid 1980's, the park suffered from poaching. However, Kenya Wildlife Service armed wildlife security patrols have driven out the poachers and the elephant population has since stabilised with breeding herds settling down.
LANDSCAPE
Straddling the equator and bisected by 13 rivers and numerous mountain-fed streams, it is an especially scenic area. It has diverse scenery from woodlands at 3,000 feet on the slopes of Nyambeni Mountain Range, northeast of Mount Kenya, to wide open plains with wandering riverbanks dotted with doum palms.
 GAME & BIRDS
With Mt Kenya as a backdrop one enjoys lovely views, and there is plenty of game these days: lion, elephant, cheetah, leopard and some of the rarer antelopes; lesser kudu, duiker and dik dik, one of Africa's smallest antelopes. Large prides of lion can be seen and some of Kenya's largest herds of buffalo. Rivers are abound with hippo and crocodile; fishing for barbus and catfish is permitted at special sites along the Tana River.
Over 300 species of birds have been recorded including: the Peter's Finfoot which inhabits the Murera and Ura Rivers, the Pel's Fishing Owl, kingfishers, rollers, bee-eaters, starlings and numerous weavers.
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