Amboseli National Park Kenya Safaris & Tours
Amboseli National Park is one of the top Kenya safari parks, known for having big herds of elephants and stunning views of Mount Kilimanjaro, which lies in the backdrop on the Tanzanian side. The park covers an area of about 392 square kilometers, and the vegetation of this park is dominated by acacia woodland, rocky thorny bushes, swamps, marshland, and a Pleistocene lake known as Lake Amboseli.
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Amboseli National Park, Kenya
Amboseli Park, Kenya, is one of the premium national parks that is located in the Southern part of the country, bordering Tanzania. The park is also close to the famous Mt Kilimanjaro, which is the highest peak in Africa. The park is one of the closest protected areas to the capital city, Nairobi.
It hosts the largest population of African Elephants in entire Kenya. The park is endorsed by a wide range of tourist attractions, and this has made the park one of the most popular national parks not only in Kenya but in all of Africa. Visiting Kenya for wildlife game without reaching Amboseli is more or less incomplete.
The park was established in 1974 as a national park. It has a great history as one of the oldest protected areas in Kenya, which was first established as a game reserve in 1906 before it was upgraded to the status of a national park. It was later in 1991 that the park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site to protect, preserve, and conserve the different unique species at the park.
Due to a wide range of inhabitants that cover the park, it has opened a wide gate for the different animal species at the park. The scenic views of the mountain Kilimanjaro are one of the added advantages the park has capitalized on for its popularity. It’s such a small protected area covering only 392 square kilometers, which makes it easily exploitable within a one-day safari.
Location and accessibility of Amboseli National Park, Kenya
Amboseli National Park is found 365 kilometers or 226 miles southeast of Nairobi. The park can be reached within a 3 to 4-hour drive from Nairobi. Amboseli is located in Kajiado County in the South of Kenya. It’s found in the Northwest part of Mount Kilimanjaro, which is found in Tanzania.
The park can be accessed through two different routes, though all originate from Nairobi. You can access it through the Nairobi –Mombasa road. If you’re in the South, in the coastal area of Mombasa, Tsavo West National Park, or Tsavo East National Park, it is about 460 kilometers, entering through Kimana Gate.
How to access Amboseli National Park, Kenya
By road: The park can be accessed from both Nairobi in the North and Mombasa in the south along the coastal area. If you are from Nairobi, there are two main routes to access the park. All these routes are in good condition, hence making it easy to reach the park first. You will access the park through Nairobi via Namanga on the Nairobi-Arusha road.
This route is the shortest route that we mostly use for day trips to the park, entering through the Meshanani Gate. The other route, which is short, uses the Nairobi-Mombasa road via Emali. You can enter the park from the South through Kimana Gate in Olkelunyiet.
By Air: The park has one airstrip along the Empuseli that is used by small aircraft inside the park. The driver-guide will pick you up at the airstrip.
The different Amboseli National Park, Kenya activities are based on the wide range of attractions that are found at the park. The park activities are the ways the guests can fully explore the best of the park through doing some or all the activities at the park, depending on their budget and planned length of stay at the park. Below are the key attractions that highlight the scenic views of the Park.
Major Activities and Attractions
- Sinet Delta: The delta is located just a few meters away from the famous Observation Hill in the North. This is the birding paradise where birders experience. The place is mostly bush, dominated by Acacia, which attracts more giraffes in this area. It’s also a good viewing point for Mt Kilimanjaro, the African highest peak.
- Observation Hill: Got its name from the act whereby the pyramid-shaped hill is used for aerial observation. Its spotting place for wildlife. This is where walking safaris are done in Amboseli National Park; the summit allows you to have a great observation of the park.
- Birds: Amboseli National Park, Kenya, is gifted with over 420 bird species. Birding is one of the best activities that is done in the Amboseli rainy season. Birding is done from March to May and also around November. These are the rainy months of the year in Kenya. The birds are breeding during the rainy season, and the park also receives more migratory birds from across the world. Birds spotted include Hartlaub’s bustard, Von der Deckens’s hornbill, Flamingo, Egrets, Pelicans, Herons, Crowned cranes, pamgani longclaw, steel-blue whydah, Secretary birds, love birds, Starlings, Ostriches, white-bellied go-away bird, and many more.
- Mammals: The Amboseli National Park, Kenya, is home to different mammal species, especially the African Elephants, lions, leopards, Buffalo, Giraffes, Wildebeests, Hyenas, Gazelles, Topis, Dikdik, Kudu, Oribi, African wild dogs, Foxes, Hippos, Giraffes, zebras mention but a few. The park is famous for its great population of mammals that are easily seen roaming freely in the wilderness. Game viewing is best done throughout the year, though the most preferred time is during the dry season of the year.
- Lake Amboseli: This is part of the park where the park got its name. The attraction is where the boat cruise is done, and great game viewing. The lake is a source of water to the wildlife at the park, not only for drinking but for great cooling of the body for the big animals at the park. The shore of the lake is a home for the different swamp bird species that are found at this park.
Amboseli National Park, Kenya, is one of the dream destinations for more travellers. The park can be visited any time of the year, providing you with a great experience of game viewing. For general activities at Amboseli National Park, Kenya, please visit our blog section on Amboseli National Park activities
Some of the key activities include:
- Birding
- Boat cruise
- Game viewing
- Walking safaris
- Hiking and many more
Our experienced product managers have developed different products for travellers who wish to go to Amboseli National Park for a safari. Check more details on the itineraries available, or send us your inquiry, and our team will respond to you as soon as possible.
AMBOSELI SAFARI KENYA
Amboseli safaris are one of the top tourist destinations in Kenya because of their outstanding variety of wildlife, beautiful landscape, and cultural activities, making it one of the finest untouched safari destinations for anyone who is interested in a real adventure. Above all is among the country’s most famous game parks located close to Tanzania’s border at the foothills of Africa’s highest mountain, popularly known as Mount Kilimanjaro.
The park is a premium safari destination because of being the best place in the world to get close to free-ranging African Elephants, and its great location rewards visitors with the scenic beauty of a landscape dominated by a wide range of attractions.
Amboseli is truly an attractive safari destination to go to, not to mention hosting the largest population of elephants, but it also offers rewarding, spectacular views of Mount Kilimanjaro, which is the highest free-standing gorgeous mountain in the world. However, Amboseli offers lots of tourist attractions to travelers who love to discover more about African natural beauty, and when it comes to wildlife species, Amboseli is a game worth visiting.
The park is located in the southern part of Kenya in Kajiado County; it covers an area of about 392square kilometers of its lowland at the core of the ecosystem that spreads across the Tanzania border. It is also surrounded by the local people known as the Maasai, and on the other side of the country, agriculture is being carried out along the swampy area, which acts as a tourist attraction to the tourist-driven economy.
Amboseli has two protective swamps, which include a dried-up Pleistocene lake and green semiarid vegetation, which are habitat to diversity of wild animals, thus making it one of the best places in Africa to experience wildlife viewing and with more than 420 bird species that can be spotted here such as water species like crakes, hamerkop, kingfishers and 47 of them are raptors among other species to be encountered.
Even though Amboseli Park, Kenya, is the second most popular tourist national park in Kenya after the Maasai Mara National Reserve, this is because of the high concentration of wildlife species in the park. The word Amboseli comes from the Maasai language, meaning ” salty dust. Come discover one of Africa’s most beautiful untouched safari destinations in the heart of Africa.
According to its history, before even being established as a game reserve, there was a first European to penetrate the Maasai region in a year of 1883, famously known as the man who was attracted by the thrilling array of wildlife in the contrast between the semiarid areas and swampy areas, which persists till today.
Time came in 1906, the area was set aside as the southern Reserve for the Maasai, and later, in 1948, it was returned to local control as a game reserve. Finally, in 1974, the park was established as a national park to protect the biodiversity of species and this unique ecosystem. After all that has happened, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991 and is being managed by Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).
Perhaps, Amboseli is one of the best places in the world where you can carry out elephant research, plus other documentaries. And since it sits in the shadow of the majestically looming Mount Kilimanjaro with a scenic view of its beauty, it has made it a famous safari destination in the world.
Wildlife Safari
The park harbors the Big Five and other species, which include: buffalo, Lions, Leopards, Giraffes, African Elephants, blue wildebeests, Topis, Hyenas, gazelles, kudu, oribis, African wild dogs, impala, giant zebras, and more. The park is famous of boosting with great number of mammals that are easily seen roaming freely in the park’s vegetation.
Location of Amboseli National Park
First of all, Amboseli National Park has several gates that allow travelers to access the park, and these include: the Iremito gate, Airstrip gate, Kulinyiet gate, Meshanani gate, and Kitirua gate.
The National Park is approximately 240 kilometers southeast of Nairobi. Taking 3 to 4-hour drive from Nairobi, the main city of Kenya. The park can be accessed through two different routes starting from Nairobi. You can reach the park through the Nairobi–Mombasa road, or you can access it in the south coastal area of Mombasa Road, passing via Tsavo West and Tsavo East National Park, covering a distance of 460 kilometers to access the park through Kimana Gate, which takes 8 hours.
Accessibility: How to get there
By Road
All roads to Amboseli have a loose surface of volcanic soil, which is dusty in the dry season of the year, and during wet seasons, roads can be impassable.
Getting to Meshanani Gate from Nairobi will take you about 3hours by road.
A traveler can use the Mombasa Road, passing via the small town of Emali by car, and it covers a driving distance of 228 kilometers.
Note: road transport is absolutely rewarding with great scenic views of Kenya’s countryside, with the most spectacular scenery in the world.
By Air
Amboseli has one Airstrip at Empuseli Gate known as Amboseli Airport. Other Airstrips are found at Kilimanjaro Buffalo Lodge and Namanga town.
In this case of transport means, we advise our guests to always get in touch with a recognized tour operator who is knowledgeable in organizing the pick-up from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport or Wilson Airport and drives you to the park’s lodge, or book for you a charter or scheduled flight to Amboseli Airport. If you don’t hesitate, you can contact Focus East Africa Tours, a trustworthy safari company, to arrange for you all your reservation booking/tour packages for Amboseli National Park.
Amboseli National Park has stunning tourist attractions and activities that can be explored by travelers on their visit to the park as follows.
Attractions in Amboseli National Park
The large herds of elephants, which have popularly sold Kenya tourism hub worldwide. Amboseli has become the world’s site for elephant research projects.
Mount Kilimanjaro-Come visit the highest mountain in Africa with its rewarding scenic view of its beauty.
Big Five: This is truly a jungle of African wilderness where you can meet all the big cats such as Lions, leopards, African cape buffaloes, African elephants, and Black Rhinos.
Observation Hill: This is a pyramid-shaped hill, a great place for spotting wildlife species, most especially on a walking safari, where you can stand at the summit and have a gainful observation of the park’s species, such as herds of elephants, buffalo, hippos, as well as swamps.
Bird Life: Amboseli National Park is truly a birding safari destination gifted with over 420 bird species. This is one of the most done activities in the Amboseli and best done in the rainy season when the migratory bird species are present in the park for their breeding.
Birds to be spotted include: egrets, pelicans, Herons, steel-blue whydah, secretary birds, love birds, Starlings, Ostriches, white-bellied go-away bird, Hartlaub’s bustard, Von der Deckens’s hornbill, Flamingo, peacocks, grey-crowned cranes, African fish Eagle, Marabou stork, falcon, and many more.
The contemporary Maasai culture and their unique indigenous lifestyle.
Lake Amboseli: This lake also attracts many wildlife species, which can be seen on your game drive viewing, and it’s where the name Amboseli was derived from. Travelers can enjoy a boat cruise along this lake as they enjoy great sightseeing of different swamp bird species around the lake shore.
Mammals: The park has unmatched biodiversity, especially the African Elephants, leopards, lions, Oribis, Buffaloes, Giraffes, African wild dogs, Foxes, Hippos, Zebras, Dik dik, Kudu, Hyenas, Wildebeests, and many more.
Activities in Amboseli National Park
Game viewing
Game viewing is the best-done activity in Amboseli National Park, which can be conducted in open plains, acacia woodlands, and rocky thorn bush in a 4×4 safari vehicle or private car. A game drive in Amboseli is so rewarding to experience, as you can be able to adventure through large herds of elephants grazing on open plains with other wildlife species that roam the park’s plains, such as Thomson’s gazelles, hippopotamuses, jackals, lions, fringed-eared aardwolves, zebras, waterbucks, serval cats, among others.
The best game viewing time is early morning and evening hours when animals are still active. Visit Amboseli National Park on a game drive and have a perfect viewing of the largest herds of Elephants on the planet as they walk across the Amboseli open plains beside solitary trees.
Birding
Amboseli National Park also sounds like one of Kenya’s and a rewardable place to view a unique variety of bird species; you’re advised to carry a pair of binoculars on your birding safari to Amboseli. Birds to be spotted include: Pangani longclaw, African swamp hen, Hartlaub’s bustard, Rufous chatterer, Spike-heeled heron, Tavete golden weaver, Von der Decken’s hornbills, Common redshank, mentioned but few.
The best time to do bird watching in Amboseli National Park is the rainy season, when the migratory birds are in the park, which starts arriving from May to June and from October to December. Remember to carry a pair of binoculars in order to have a clear view of bird species at a far distance.
Nature Photography
Amboseli lies in the shadow of majestically mountain Kilimanjaro, which is a snow-capped mountain offering perfect nature photography to visitors as you listen to the roar of lions and the lightning speed of cheetahs hunting in the bush. Absolutely a place worth a visit.
Hot Air Balloon Safari
On your safari to Amboseli, it is very possible to tour the entire park in a hot air balloon, as you can be able to fly over the beautiful skies of Amboseli and enjoy the spectacular aerial viewing of large herds of elephants, buffaloes, beautiful plains, as well as birds of the air like eagles.
Culture encounter/Visit Maasai people
On your safari to Amboseli national park have a great chance of meeting Maasai people and visiting their home villages, which is quite amazing. As you get to learn about their interesting lifestyle, such as their traditional dances, you will be able to see Maasai people carrying spears as you get amazed by their bright ‘’shukas’’ traditional wear. You can also engage in reforestation by planting seeds with them. Visit a true African traditional culture that has not been affected by modernized life on the African continent.
A guided nature walk can be conducted in the foothills of Kilimanjaro.
Accommodations in Amboseli National Park
Amboseli accommodations range from high-end to budget, with comfortable facilities, amenities offering full-service bathrooms, Wi-Fi, pools, an on-site restaurant, and many other amenities. Each accommodation facility provides a rewarding, spectacular view of the ice-capped Mount Kilimanjaro, beautiful scenery of the park’s landscape, close sightings of wildlife species, and many more.
Note that some of these luxury hotels in Amboseli have nice amenities you might find in a hotel in the City, but with great views.
Below are some of the accommodation facilities that cater to travelers staying at Amboseli National Park, and some of the popular lodges include;
Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge
Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge is a luxury hotel that sits in Amboseli and provides suitable facilities like free private parking, an outdoor swimming pool, bar, restaurant, Airport shuttle, and free Wi-Fi. It is a 4-star hotel with a shared lounge suitable for travelers’ stay. Absolutely a nice place to stay in on a visit to Amboseli, with spectacular viewing of the highest ice-capped Mountain Kilimanjaro, and the nature photography of its beauty is quite rewarding here.
Tawi Lodge
Tawi Lodge is located in Amboseli with a fully equipped private bathroom with a hairdryer and a hot tub. Provides suitable facilities such as an outdoor pool, garden, bar, a concierge service, restaurant, free Wi-Fi, and a children’s play group. During your stay at Tawi Lodge, you can enjoy the African wilderness with glimpses of species.
Tortilis Safari Camp
This is a safari camp that offers travelers closeness to nature itself, and it is set against the backdrop of Mount Kilimanjaro. They also offer a picnic breakfast in the Amboseli wilderness.
Satao Elerai Lodge
This lodge is in an excellent location, offering an incredible view of the wilderness with multiple elephants, giraffes, and zebras visiting the water hole. It offers nice facilities like an outdoor pool, a beautiful garden, free Wi-Fi, free parking, professional chefs, and many more. The location provides breathtaking views of Mt Kilimanjaro.
Sentrim Amboseli Lodge
This accommodation has a great location, with its beauty set inside Amboseli, with comfortable amenities and facilities such as a 24 –hour front desk, nice restaurant, garden, stocked bar, outdoor pool, and a children’s playground. It also offers outstanding private bathrooms, each with a shower and hairdryer. They have a nice welcoming staff.
AA Lodge Amboseli
This is one of the luxurious lodges in Amboseli National Park, offering a variety of accommodation options such as superior rooms, cottages, and tents. It has a terrace overlooking the swimming pool where guests can enjoy their meals, a children’s entertainment hall, and a conference hall, making the lodge best for business travelers, and the place is truly rewarding with a great view of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Kibo Safari Camp
This safari camp has a great location with a fantastic view of Mt. Kilimanjaro, located in Amboseli, and provides nice accommodation amenities like an outdoor pool, a garden, a stocked bar, complimentary Wi-Fi, and a rewardable balcony. This is a highly recommended place to stay with rewardable back drop of Kilimanjaro.
OI Tukai Lodge
OI Tukai Lodge is situated in the heart of the park, offering spectacular views of Mount Kilimanjaro. It is well-appointed and furnished with a nice pool, restaurant, guest lounge, and all rooms have mosquito nets and fans, with a comfortable view of herds of elephants from their own terrace.
Weather and climates
Even though the national park sits in suitable weather condition varies with average daytime temperature is about 28 degrees Celsius, while at night the temperature can drop to around 15 degrees Celsius. The temperature usually picks up towards the end of the rainy season, which runs from October to May, and things can cool down a little in the dry season, which happens from June to September.
Best Time to Visit
Amboseli National Park is all year visited destination, though a few months of the year can experience heavy rains in April and May, and this does not take the shine from Amboseli. The best wildlife viewing in Amboseli National Park, Kenya, is in the dry season, which runs from late June to December and from January to March.
Visit Amboseli National Park, Kenya’s most popular national park after Maasai Mara National Park, and call it a worthwhile visit to a breathtaking place to visit in the heart of Africa. Absolutely, Kenya is a great country that everyone would desire to go to and experience the most spectacular scenery in the world in its peaceful nature.
