Amboseli National Park

Amboseli National Park, now a National Reserve, is famous for its great scenic beauty and its big game.

It is particularly popular for its large elephant herds that are notorious for pushing down trees. The bull elephants carry some of the largest tusks in Africa.

Mt. Kilimanjaro dominates Amboseli’s landscape and located about 25 miles away. Amboseli is 240 km southeast of Nairobi near the Tanzania border. It is a 4-hour drive from Nairobi. The nearest town is Namanga on the Kenya/ Tanzania border.

There is a continuous supply of water in the park. The water is filtered through volcanic rocks from Mt Kilimanjaro's melted snow and forms streams that flow underground. The streams create blossoming green areas and converge at two clear water springs in the park.

Amboseli comes from the Masai word "empusel," which means "salty dust." It is a dusty park. This is because of the volcanic ash that came out of Mt Kilimanjaro when it last erupted.

The animals here include elephants, impala, thomson’s gazelle, grant’s gazelle, buffaloes, giraffes, oryx, hartebeest, wildebeests, elands, zebras and the warthog. The predators include lions, leopards, cheetahs, jackals, and hyenas.

The birds’species in Amboseli are over 400 and include the ostrich, kongoni, pelicans, bee-eaters, kingfishers and several types of eagles.

Amboseli is mainly hot and dry. Annual rainfall is around 300 mm. Vegetation within the park is mainly grassland, rocky thorny bush land, woodland, marshland and swamps.

Amboseli has an airstrip where private charters flights can use.

In summary this is why the Amboseli National Park popular;