AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK

Amboseli National Park is Kenya’s Elephant safaris destination covering 392sqkm and was gazetted as a national park in 1974. Amboseli National Park is located in the southern part of Kenya with in the kajiado county, it also lies northwest of Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania giving it outstanding views of the Kilimanjaro Mountain. Amboseli is a home for African elephants and other wildlife like wildbeests zebras, giraffes, lions, buffalos among others making it a must visit when in Kenya. Amboseli has a savanna vegetation with woodland and spotted acacia trees, it also holds a seasonal Lake Amboseli that dries up during the dry season making a wide bed of white sand, and when it rains heavily, it floods making it attractive to various animals and birds that come to quench their thirst.

ACCESS TO AMBOSELI GAME PARK

Amboseli National Park is about 240km southeast of Nairobi and its either accessed by road or air transport.  By Road, various routes can be used to reach the park, and it takes around 3-4 hours. The first access is through Meshanani gate from Nairobi via Namanga and the other is through Kimana gate from Nairobi via Emali.
By Air, a flight can be scheduled from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport or Wilson Airport in Nairobi to Amboseli airstrip.

BIO DIVERSITY

The Amboseli National Park is covered by savanna grassland, scattered acacia, qnd swamps. The park is rich in different species with a total of over 45 mammals, 400 birds with almost 40 species being raptors, making it relatively biodiverse. Some of these unique species of the Amboseli, include elephant, lion, wildebeest, zebra, leopard, cheetah, cape buffalo, giraffe, spotted hyena and impala. The Amboseli National Park also inhabits unique and various birds like Rufous chatterer, Pelicans, Hamerkop, Egyptian goose, Rufous-bellied heron, Kingfishers, Spike-heeled lark, Steel-blue whydah among others.

CLIMATE

Amboseli National Park is hot and dry with an average temperature of 28 Degrees Celsius. It has a dry season (June-October) and a wet season (November-May) though the rains are heavy in April.

ACTIVITIES TO DO ON AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK SAFARI IN KENYA

ELEPHANT VIEWING AND OTHER WILD ANIMALS

Amboseli National Park is well known for elephants, they move in huge groups through the park in the morning and evening giving the visitor an astonishing view of these great giants. When it gets so hot, the elephants most times partially immerse their bodies in swamps to cool off.  Other animals like cheeters, hippos, hyenas, buffalos, giraffes, zebras among others are also viewed in this park.

BIRDING

Birding is also another activity done in Amboseli National Park, the park has various birding spots like the Sinet Delta that bring out the beauty and pleasure of over 400 bird species to bird viewers and researchers. They have various species that are eye-catching and interesting to watch like African swamphen, Common redshank, Dickinson’s kestrel, Eurasian thick-knee, Greater flamingo, Hartlaub’s bustard, Lesser flamingo, Long-toed lapwing, Pangani longclaw, Taveta golden weaver, Von der Dicken’s hornbill, Yellow-necked spurfowl, among others. This can be done with experienced rangers available at the parks headquarter. Bird watching at Amboseli National Park is good all-round the year but the best time is from November to April since migratory birds arrive from Europe and north Africa.

CULTURAL WALK TO THE SURROUNDING COMMUNITY

The area surrounding Amboseli National Park is a home for the Maasai people, they have numerous cultural sites and traditional values that are interesting. The most interesting part of these cultural walk is that the visitor is given a chance to participate if willing and gets to know more about the Maasai, making you feel at home.

GAME DRIVES

Amboseli National Park is known for game driving due to a variety of wild animals. The game drive through the great plains of the Amboseli clear and exciting view of different wildlife mostly animals like zebras, elephants, cheetahs, wildebeests among others. The game drives are best during the dry season since the park is more crowded by animals and the road are good. The game drives are divided into two shifts, the daytime shift done in the morning and the nighttime shift done during the night. A ranger should lead the drive.

MOUNNT KILIMANJARO VIEWING

Kilimanjaro viewing is most rewarding early in the morning before the dust rises, during dry seasons and good at any time during the rainy season. The view is so clear when at the Observation hill.

ACCOMMODATION IN AMBOSELI PARK

There are so many accommodation facilities located within and outside the Amboseli National Park ranging from the budget facilities to the midrange facilities to the most luxury facilities.