Introduction
The most famous national park in Kenya is of course the wonderful Masai Mara home to the great annual wildebeest migration. However it is not the only national park in Kenya. There are many more and each one has its own distinctive character and different variety of landscapes and wildlife. Today we are focussing our attention on Amboseli National Park which has a fantastic range of wildlife including large herds of elephants and some truly beautiful scenery.
Where is Amboseli?
Amboseli National Park is located in the Rift Valley Province in Southern Kenya; close to both the Tanzanian border and the Indian Ocean coastline. Amboseli is often combined with a visit to Tsavo National Park as they are both relatively close to each other . The Mombasa coast can be reached by car within a few hours from Amboseli making it an excellent safari destination to combine with a beach stay. You can visit Amboseli as a short two day safari on a beach package or combine it in a longer safari itinerary with the other national parks such as the Masai Mara and Tsavo etc.
What is Amboseli?
Amboseli National Park covers a huge area with almost 400 kilometres squared of protected lands. It is part of a vast eco-system that spreads as far as the Kilimanjaro National Park in Tanzania. The landscape is typically African with wide ranging savannah grassland forming the very image of a safari landscape. Amboseli also has a vital underground water supply filtered through thousands of feet of volcanic rock from Kilimanjaro’s ice cap, which funnel into two clear water springs in the heart of the park. These create a swamp habitat in various places providing fabulous watery areas and lush grass for both game and birds.
Scenically Amboseli is very beautiful with great views towards Mount Kilimanjaro over the border in neighbouring Tanzania. Mount Kilimanjaro (the world’s tallest free standing mountain and Africa’s highest peak) acts as a spectacular backdrop to the whole park and appears in many great photos of the area. There is also Observation Hill which gives a great view over the whole park and makes for a superb photographic point.
Amboseli is also home to the Maasai tribe and the villagers you encounter will welcome you warmly. Many of the lodges and safari camps also host Masai cultural evenings with singing and dancing for the guests’ entertainment.
Amboseli Wildlife
The park is also one of the best places in the whole of Africa to get close to some large herds of elephants – it is one of the few places where you can still do this and Amboseli is often called the Elephant Park for this very reason. There are of course plenty of other animals including the Big Five to spot. These include leopard, cheetah, wild dogs, buffalo, rhino, giraffe, zebra, lion, crocodile, mongoose, hyrax, dik- dik, lesser kudu, porcupine and over 600 different species of bird. During the dry seasons the game is easy to spot on the dusty plains. The park is a UNESCO world heritage site and the wildlife is strictly protected in the park with rules about no off road driving or leaving the vehicle and all animals have right of way!
Posted by Ruth Bolton
