Kora National Park
Expert Reviews (3)
Kenya Parks
Brian is an award winning travel writer, author of safari books and regular contributor to magazines such as BBC Wildlife and Travel Africa.
6 people found this review helpful.
George Adamson’s Lasting Legacy
Devastated over the years by drought and poaching, Kora is a work in progress. It began as a game reserve created by George Adamson, the grand old lion man of Kenya, and was gazetted as a national park after his murder by Somali bandits in 1989. There is currently nowhere to stay and the park is best visited on a whole day trip from the adjoining Meru National Park. What you will find is a pristine wilderness of arid thornbush and red rocky inselbergs with the Tana flowing along its northern boundary. Animals are few: hippo, waterbuck, lesser kudu, maybe even a leopard if you are very lucky; but birding is good among the doum palms and poplars on the banks of the Tana. Most visitors come to see Kampi ya Simba, where George Adamson lived with his lions in the 1980s. He is buried nearby, beside the grave of Terence, his brother, and Boy, his favourite lion.
Ariadne is a renowned African wildlife photographer whose work is featured in many well-known guidebooks and magazines.
4 people found this review helpful.
An Untrammeled Wilderness With a Rich History
Kora is one of Kenya’s least developed national parks. Wildlife densities are low and animals tend to be skittish.
The park has a rich history marked by the conservation efforts of George Adamson who gained international fame for his work with lions, especially the famous lioness Elsa, whom he raised after her mother was killed. In the 1970s George established the Kora Wildlife Sanctuary with the aim to rehabilitate orphaned or injured animals. He was tragically killed in the park by poachers in 1989.
A visit to Kora could be a great wilderness experience, but for wildlife viewing, nearby Meru National Park is a lot more rewarding. The lioness Elsa was buried in Meru in 1960 and her grave can still be visited there. So, if you’re interested in this bit of history, you could take a long day trip from the more established Meru National Park to Kora to fit all the pieces together.
Philip is an acclaimed travel writer and author of many guidebooks, including the Bradt guides to Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa.
3 people found this review helpful.
A Little Visited Wilderness
Unpromisingly, Kora is best known as the place where the lion-loving conservationist George Adamson (of Born Free fame) was murdered in 1989, during the height of the poaching war. Otherwise it is basically just an eastern extension of Meru National Park, harbouring a similar selection of wildlife, but even more remote and untrammeled, and suitable only to properly kitted out expeditions with at least two 4x4s vehicles travelling in convoy. The border area with Meru, where the rapids known as Adamson Falls lie on the Tana River (Kenya’s largest) is quite accessible, however.