Kenya
Shimba Hills National Reserve
Kenya's only sable antelope herd roams a coastal rainforest with a waterfall plunging into a gorge.
The trail breaks out of coastal rainforest onto a clifftop and Sheldrick Falls drops away below — a white column plunging into a gorge thick with ferns and birdsong. Behind you, sable antelope graze a clearing, curved horns catching the light. This is the south coast seen from above: green, dripping and close.
Shimba Hills rises green above Kenya's south coast, coastal rainforest and grassland climbing to around 450 metres within half an hour of Diani's sand. It is Kenya's final stronghold of sable antelope — the country's only breeding herd carries the species here and nowhere else in the nation — sharing the hills with elephants, buffalo and coastal-forest plants scarce anywhere else. The walk to Sheldrick Falls ends at a natural pool under tropical hardwoods, and water draws elephants through the forest clearings after dark. Few wilder places sit this close to a beach chair.
Solo
Quiet, well-marked forest trails — and the sable sighting alone justifies the day away from the coast.
Couple
Rainforest air, waterfall spray and deep green quiet half an hour from the sand — the coast's cool counterpoint.
Family
Half a day from Diani with visible wildlife throughout, and a waterfall walk children can finish proudly.
- Kenya's only sable antelope live here — the national stronghold of the curved-horned herd.
- Sheldrick Falls pours off the forested scarp into a natural pool reached on foot.
- Coastal rainforest rich in plants found almost nowhere else climbs to breezy heights above the sea.
- Diani Beach is roughly half an hour away — wilderness and beach in a single day.
Coconut-rich Swahili cooking in the small hotelis toward the coast.
A picnic at the falls pool — swim first, sandwiches after.
Camargue
France
White horses galloping through salt marshes where flamingos turn the shallow lagoons pink.
Saguaro
United States
Cathedral stands of giant cacti with arms raised, some nearly two centuries old.
Tanjung Puting
Indonesia
A wooden houseboat drifts blackwater rivers where wild orangutans cross the canopy overhead.
Rann of Kutch
India
A salt marsh stretching to the horizon that turns blinding white under the full moon.
Aberdare National Park
Kenya
Mist-soaked moorlands and waterfalls above a forest where leopards pass treetop lodges at night.
Lake Nakuru National Park
Kenya
Rhinos browse beneath fever trees where a Rift lake sometimes blushes pink with flamingos.
Lake Baringo
Kenya
Hot springs steam from a volcanic island where hippos and fish eagles rule the shallows.