Amboseli National Park

Amboseli National Park is a great choice for first-time safari-goers or first-timers to Kenya. Its compact size allows you to see virtually every aspect in about two days. There are 56 known animal species in the park including zebra, wildebeest, giraffe and wild dog. Amboseli National Park is excellent for spotting family groups of elephants as there are over 1000 to admire. The bull elephants have some of the largest tusks in all of Kenya including 58 families and close to 300 independent adult males.

This degree of recognition makes the Amboseli elephants the best-known free-ranging population in the world. It’s a fantastic feeling to watch them moving calmly and majestically around the place. It is located at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro which is the world’s tallest free-standing mountain actually rises just across the border in Tanzania but Amboseli National Park has a postcard-perfect view of its snow-capped peaks, rising almost six vertical kilometers above the savannah. While animal action is guaranteed, the sight of Kilimanjaro is not – except for occasional glimpses at sunrise and sunset, the mighty mountain is usually hidden in thick clouds. So the best time to view the mighty mountain is at dawn and sunset when the clouds lift and the light is clear and soft.

The bird life is equally rich especially in the park’s marshes and lakes. sightings of pelicans, kingfishers, crakes, egrets and the Madagascar heron. The sky and horizon are vast here, encompassing Amboseli’s five wildlife environments which ensure great numbers and diversity: wetlands, savannah, woodlands, thorn-bush and the dry lakebed of Lake Amboseli. You will find the Maasai people in their villages spread around the park, Even the word “Amboseli” comes from a Maasai word meaning “salty dust”. The Average day time temperatures are a toasty 28oC/82oF meaning the park is generally hot and dry except during the rainy season.