Amboseli

The park is famous for herds of elephants and groups of up to 100 are not uncommon. The bull elephants have some of the largest tusks in all of Kenya. There are over 1000 elephants in the Park, including 58 families and close to 300 independent adult males. Each individual has been named, numbered, or coded and can be recognized individually. 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.

Activities

1. Birdwatching

The classic Kili view is what makes Amboseli so unique. While in its rain shadow, swamps formed by water flowing underground from the mountain are sustained year-round and provide habitats for a wealth of bird species. Over 420 of them, in fact, including the prehistoric and somewhat ridiculous-looking shoebill. Clouds of flamingos settle here during the wet seasons too – turning the swamps a hazy, squawking, pink.

2. Elephants

Around 1,500 elephants call Amboseli home, a healthy population living in 392km2 that has bypassed much of the poaching crisis affecting other areas of East Africa – thanks in the main to the Amboseli Elephant Research Project, Africa’s longest running study of wild elephants, and the community-owned conservancies which surround the park. Expect to see herds of up to 100 individuals of all ages, from tiny babies to 60-year-old matriarchs and huge tuskers, wander past during game drives.

3. Lake Amboseli

The vast lake which names the eponymous national park is mostly parched and dry – although come the rainy season it can fill with a shallow of water, no more than 2ft deep. The result is spectacular – a vast mirror reflecting the sky and savannah. In the dry season, expect strange mirages as the heat shimmers off the dry, salty surface.