The park has a wide range of wild animals including the African bush elephant, lion, African leopard, cheetah, eastern black rhinoceros, southern white rhinoceros, Grévy's zebra, hippopotamus.

Meru was one of the two areas in which conservationists George Adamson and Joy Adamson raised Elsa the Lioness made famous in the best selling book and award-winning movie Born Free.

Elsa the Lioness is buried in this park and part of Joy's ashes were scattered on her gravesite.

Between the years 2000 and 2005, the Kenya Wildlife Service, helped by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), restored Meru National Park from near ruin to one of the most promising tourist destinations in Eastern Africa, solving the parks poaching problem.

IFAW donated $1.25 million to this major restoration project, and with this money aided in improving the basic infrastructure and provided essential equipment and vehicles for law enforcement activities.