Sunday, September 16, 2018

Haller Park- A Mini Forest By The Beach

Haller Park
Karibu Haller Park.
Mombasa is known for it's beaches,its food,its peoples' hospitality,their Swahili and how slow paced the city can be.That is why a visit to Haller Park was a very pleasant surprise for me. It is an award winning park that is a product of Bamburi cement company's efforts to convert barren landscape of disused limestone quarries into a vibrant and diverse ecosystem of forest, grasslands and ponds.Currently it plays host to a variety of wildlife including hippos, giraffes, buffaloes,antelopes, a tortoise,monkeys and birds.The diversity of vegetation in the park is out of this world,from mangroves, palms, majestic indigenous shade trees to coastal forests.Visiting it you will have a hard time believing that it's a man made park on land that was once barren and just a few metres away from the beach.

Things to do while at Haller Park include;

Feeding the giraffes

Things to do at Haller Park Mombasa
I must say,I am quite the expert in giraffe feeding 😊
Feeding giraffes is not for the faint hearted especially the first time.They have long tongues and use them to scoop their food.Once you get over your fear of their tongue and their proximity then it becomes a very fun thing to do.At Haller Park giraffe feeding hours are between 11 AM to 12 PM therefore if you plan to do this better arrive early.

One can still see the giraffes through out the day.They make  for very good photographs so if you are late and unable to feed them take loads of pictures of them and with them.


Appreciate the beautiful views

Things to do at Haller Park Mombasa
Monkeys chilling in their beautiful home.
Things to do at Haller Park Mombasa
Such beauty,makes one think how nice it would be to walk here or in similar places every day.

If you love forests,lush green forests,Haller Park will make you so so happy.It's huge with many kinds of trees.All so green and so healthy that I couldn't help but wonder how much water is used to keep it like this.The air is so clean, cool,crisp and refreshing during the day,at night not so much I guess.Plants exhale oxygen during the day and carbon dioxide at night.This might result in differences in how clean,cool and crisp the air in the park is at different times of the day.

See Wildlife

Things to do at Haller Park Mombasa
The tortoise and his fans 😄😄.
Wildlife at Haller Park Mombasa
A mother and her child hang out.
The park has a lot of animals and birds to see.All one needs is a lot of time,patience and a bit of luck and they will be able to see loads of them.When I visited I had only an hour so lets just say I rushed through the park but I saw monkeys,antelopes,giraffes and a tortoise.Now imagine if I spent  three hours there,I would have an experience similar to one who visited the Maasai Mara 😅😅. The more time one spends in the park the higher their chances of seeing a bigger variety of wildlife.

Appreciate water bodies

Haller Park Mombasa
Look at the reflection of the blue skies in the water.

Haller Park Mombasa
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The water bodies here will blow your mind,they act as mirror where you see the sky and the trees.They were my favourite in the park.

If you are in Mombasa and are looking to do something besides the beach and Swahili food I highly recommend a visit to Haller Park.They charge KES 500 for entry and KES 150 for the giraffe feed.I think this is pricey but good thing is you can spend as much time as you want exploring the park and the money goes towards maintaining it.

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