Kenya’s least known National Park, Malka Mari — Home to the Hamadryas Baboon Papio hamadryas (and much more)

Yvonne de Jong July 17, 2026 Blogs

Thomas M. Butynski and Yvonne A. de Jong

Along the border with Ethiopia, on the Mandera Plateau, lies Kenya’s Malka Mari National Park. This national park (hereafter ‘Malka Mari’) was gazetted in 1989 and is situated southwest of the Daua (= Dawa) River in Mandera County. Rugged outcrops on both sides of the Daua River Valley are part of a limestone series known as the ‘Daua Limestone’ (Weir 1929; Ayers 1952). Erosion gullies deeply dissect the lower Daua Valley in northern and eastern Malka Mari, while part of the Awara Plains occur in southern Malka Mari. Contiguous with Malka Mari, across the Daua River in Ethiopia, lies Geraille (= Gerale) National Park (386 km²) which was gazetted in 2006.