AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK – KENYA

As part of the 6 day safari I did in Kenya I visited the Amboseli National Park for 2 days. The park was beautiful and I loved the views of Mount Kilimanjaro and the magical sunrises.

AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK

Amboseli National Park is located at 260 kilometres from Nairobi and it’s the second most popular national park after Maasai Mara National Reserve. The park is big with 39,206 hectares that spread across the border with Tanzania.

The views of Africa’s highest peak, the Mount Kilimanjaro and the beautiful large herds of elephants are just some of the main reasons to visit the park.

The park has endless amount of water supply for the animals with numerous green swamps where elephants and other animals bath themselves all day to relieve from the heat. I loved that!

[highlight]ENTRY FEES[/highlight] Non Residents (Kenya) – adults 90 US$ and children 55US$ (this should be included in your tour).

[highlight]HOW TO GET THERE?[/highlight] By car from Nairobi it’s about 4 hours or as part of a safari circuit, in my case from Lake Nakuru took 6 hours. By air, a chartered light aircraft can land at Empusel Gate airstrip or a scheduled flight departing from Nairobi directly into Amboseli it’s also possible.

From Lake Nakuru to Amboseli

We left Lake Nakuru after the early morning game drive. At that point our group was reduced to three, so there were lots of space in the safari van and we all had a long sleep until lunch time. Lunch was done on the road.

In order to get to Amboseli we had to drive back to Nairobi to then get the Mombasa road. The flights from Nairobi into Amboseli are very expensive so we went for the cheapest alternative which is driving.

The road to Mombasa is in good quality so the 6 hours journey was quite easy. It only became a bit bumpy in the last hour as we were entering the Amboseli area. We had worse before so no worries! We arrived by dinner time and just relaxed for the next day.

Kibo Safari Camp in Amboseli

In Amboseli we stayed at Kibo Safari Camp, which added a touch of luxury to our trip. Like other camps, electricity was only available at certain times during the day and the internet was equal to none. Breakfast and dinner had quality and variety.

The rustic furniture inside our room really gave me the feeling of being on a safari adventure. Then, the views, made this camp something special.

In the morning our room had privileged views of the beautiful Mount Kilimanjaro. At night it was pitch dark and we needed our lantern to get back to the room. It was peaceful to stay out looking at the clear skies with thousands of stars shining!

First Game Drive in Amboseli

We started out first game drive in Amboseli at 8:30am with blue clear skies. Breakfast was great and we were full of energy for a full day of game driving.

Our guide in Amboseli had very good knowledge of the animals in there and the migration patterns of several species.

This park is very strict with their rules and at the entrance there are a few things you should retain. Off road driving is strictly controlled by rangers and we are told that the animals are always right!

We went to look for the elephants and maybe get a shot of them with the beautiful Kilimanjaro in the background. In the park, there are over 900 African elephants, as well as wildebeests, giraffes, lions, zebras, hyenas and many others.

All over the park there is so much green and water that the animals just spend their mornings walking in one direction – the swamp area. The animals bath all morning and eat the green fresh grass in between. We saw large herds of animals running, it was amazing!

We had lunch at the Observation Hill, an area that overlooks the park with beautiful birds of all colours around. The views are great and there is a lot of information about the park around to entertain you during lunch.

Is this Kilimanjaro??

On our second morning in Amboseli we left camp at 6am. The sunrise in the middle of the savannah was one of the most beautiful moments of my life – seriously! The yellow roasted colours from the sky with the light, gold and green, made it a spectacular scene to watch, almost as if I was inside of a Lion King movie.

We continued driving around hoping to get some clear shots of Kilimanjaro. It is like a postcard of Africa with all the animals roaming around with the spectacular mountain peak in the background.

The best time to view it, I would say by my experience, is very early in the morning until about 10am and then again at sunset as the very peak of Kilimanjaro seemed to attract some clouds during the day, or at least that’s what I found.

The elephants were moving towards the swamp direction; they were beautiful all together, with the old ones protecting the young members. Some of them had very long tusks, something that means how old they are according to our guide.

Then, I took one of my favourite shots from my trip to Africa! A picturesque scene of a herd of elephants, with the Mount Kilimanjaro in the background. It’s definitely a photograph that I will put up on my wall and a memory that I will cherish forever.

We were back in camp at 8am for a very filling and relaxing breakfast. I could not have enough of the chocolate pancakes! We packed our bags and relaxed by the pool enjoying our last moments in Kenya as our safari was coming to an end.

I recommend doing a safari to anyone that it’s thinking about it. It’s challenging at all levels and if you are a nature/animal lover like me you will want to come back and do it all again!

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Have you seen Mount Kilimanjaro? How was it? I would love to hear from your experiences on the comments below.

 

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