Welcome to Amboseli National Park, one of Kenya’s most popular safari destinations, with its name coming from the Maasai word meaning ‘salty dust’.

About Kenya

Kenya is a country situated on the eastern coast of the African continent. With a varied geography and much of northeastern bush-covered plains, the rest of the country consist of pristine beaches, scenic highlands and lake regions, a good portion of the Great Rift Valley, and the magnificent Mount Kenya. Kenya is one of the finest, and possibly the most famous safari destination in the world. But safari by no means the only reason to visit Kenya, for the attractions of its rich culture and diverse environments are considerable.

About Amboseli National Park

Amboseli National Park is one of Kenya’s most popular safari destinations, with its name coming from the Maasai word meaning ‘salty dust’, and elephants can often be seen encrusted in this white, salty mud. With Mount Kilimanjaro in its iconic backdrop, the park supports a huge population of elephants and the rest of the Big Five, while the Maasai owned Selenkay Conservancy provides the opportunity to meet the local Maasai people and explore the human culture of this beautiful pocket of southern Kenya.

Amboseli National Park – Interesting Facts

• Amboseli National Park was formerly referred to as Maasai Amboseli game reserve, and covers a total area of 240 square kilometres.
• The Park is located in one of the most scenic areas in Kenya. Amboseli National Park lies at the border of Kenya and Tanzania, with a beautiful backdrop of the Kilimanjaro Mountain, the highest mountain in Africa. Scenic viewing and picnicking in selected areas are some of the things you will enjoy while in Amboseli National Park.
• Amboseli has a large concentration of elephants, up to a several hundred freely grazing in the park. Given the large concentration of elephants on free range in the park, Amboseli National Park is considered one of the best places to view free range elephants.
• Amboseli National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park was recognised as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1991 for its unique ecological system.
• Park has a dried up lake bed. Lake Amboseli was a permanent lake which thrived through all seasons, in the very past years. Lake Amboseli National Park is however now a seasonal lake which dries up during the dry season, with it filling up only during the wet season and sometimes even floods.
• Amboseli is home to a variety of wildlife species given the savannah vegetation which is a habitat for the wildlife. Some of the most common sightings of wildlife species in Amboseli National Park include blue wildebeests, elephants, cape buffaloes, Maasai giraffes, cheetahs, gazelles, Maasai lions, leopards, dik-dik, hippos, and zebras, among so many others.

One of The Best Birding Areas

• The Park is also one of the best birding areas in Kenya. Amboseli National Park has a record of over 600 bird species, including among others pelicans, kingfishers, African swamp hen, lesser flamingo, pangani long claw, steel-blue whydah, taveta golden weaver, and Eurasian thick-knee.
• Migratory birds can also be seen in Amboseli National Park especially in the month of November, making it the best time for bird watching in Amboseli National Park.

Elephants of Amboseli National Park

• The best time to view elephants in Amboseli National Park is in the early morning and evening, as they graze. During the day, Amboseli National Park can be very hot, prompting the elephants to seek shade from the scorching heat. This makes viewing elephants in the afternoon quite hard and less rewarding, thus the recommendation to do so in the early morning and evening time. You shall enjoy watching the sun set over the horizon with elephants freely crazing against the backdrop of the Kilimanjaro.

Dry and Wet Season – Amboseli National Park

• Amboseli National Park receives both the dry and wet season, with the dry season falling in the months of June, July, august and September while the rainy season falls in the months of October, November, December, march, April and May. Irrespective of the season however, Amboseli National Park is open to visitors all throughout the year, for as long as one has time to travel to encounter the mazing wildlife of the natural habitat.
• Much as Amboseli National Park gives travellers some of the most amazing scenic views of the landscape and wildlife, travellers are not allowed to unnecessarily leave the safari vehicle if not in the designated view points and in the presence of a park ranger who is most a times armed. This is because Amboseli National Park has a variety of predators say lions and leopards.

The best season to visit the Amboseli national park is during the dry season when the park is free from muddy and thus not slippery. The dry season starts from June up to September and then from December to February.

This is the time when the Amboseli national park receives little rainfalls and makes it easy for visitors to engage in successful game viewing activity since this is the major activity that is done in the Amboseli national park.

During the game drive safari in Amboseli National Park, you will be able to enjoy a variety of the animal’s species that you will encounter in your safari vehicle and these include the cheetah, Masai giraffes, grants zebras, spotted hyenas, impala, lions, elephants, buffaloes among other animal species.

• Kilimanjaro
• Large Herds of Elephants
• Masai culture and their traditional lifestyle
• The Big Five
• Observation Hill offers spectacular views of the whole park especially the swamps and elephants
• Swamps that host abundant wildlife

How to Get to Amboseli National Park

The recommended port of entry, when travelling to the Amboseli, is Jomo Kenyatta International (NBO) in Nairobi. NBO Airport serves as East Africa’s biggest hub and as a result many convenient flight options are available. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Air France, British Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Kenya Airways, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways and Swiss all operate flights from a multitude of major airports around the world. Also many regional flights options (including flights to neighbouring countries and Southern African destinations) are available.

By Road transport

There are two ways of accessing to Amboseli national park by drive which can take about 3hours to reach there.

From Nairobi to get to Meshanani gate while using Namanga road can discover a distance of 240kilometers and in time 3hour drive.

Getting to Remito gate while using Mombasa Road takes 228 kilometers and in time about 2:30hour

Road transport is extremely beautiful and smooth if you go through a small town of Emali while using Mombasa road.

While using road transport, travelers are recommended to always use 4×4 WD vehicle for your smoother journey.

Using Domestic flight

There are several domestic carriers such as Air Kenya, Safari link, Mombasa Air Safari and many more. They offer comfortable sitting configuration with limited numbery of people and applicable for daily flights to all protected Kenya national park.

In general, Amboseli park Kenya can be reached either by Air or Road transport depending on visitor’s travelling decision. And please note that, you acquired to send in your scanned personnel documents like Visa and passports to verify your identity before your time of arrival in order a tour operator to organize your booking arrangement on time as well as accessing the park activities on time.

Amboseli National Park – Weather & Climate

Weather & Climate from January to December

• March to May: This is the long rains that always start from March to May. The weather during this time is wet and sunny, the rains don’t rain all the time but always in the afternoon showers are always expected. The wettest month is April and May and the temperatures are always higher reaching 28 degrees Celsius.
• June to October: This is the dry months of the year, this is considered to be the best time of doing safaris in Amboseli national park. The weather is sunny and dry though the nights are cold with temperatures dropping at night to 15 degrees Celsius. This is when the temperatures are high in the peak from June to October, the game drives are best done during this time.
• November: This is the short wet months of the year when the park receives rainfalls, the rains sometimes begin in late October and gets to its peak in November. The storms are always happening in the afternoon with temperatures rising up always.
• December to February: This is the second dry season which is short but very dry, this is the peak season. This is the best time to do game drives in Amboseli. It is much easy to view more wildlife that are seen close to the water pool areas.

The Rainy Months – The Best Time for Birding

Amboseli national park weather is balanced with wet and dry, the temperatures are at average throughout the year. The rainy months are the best birding months as the park receives more migratory birds. Also, the birds are breeding during this time of the year hence making the rainy months the best time for birding in Amboseli national park.

The Dry Months – The Best Time for Game Viewing

The dry months are the excellent time of game viewing, come see the African big game with the dusty Elephants found in large numbers at the park.

If you liked Amboseli National Park, you might also like Lake Nakuru National Park.

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