AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK (DAY TRIP BY ROAD)
Amboseli National Park lies with the shadows of
the mighty Kilimanjaro Africa’s highest Mountain.
Game is seen en-route to the Park, which crosses plains
where the Masai Tribesmen herd their cattle. Lunch
will be served at a lodge within the Park, followed
by another ‘Spice’ game drive, where lions,
cheetahs, elephants, zebra, Buffalo and Wildebeest
may be spotted. Hippos can also be seen bathing in
the swamps, which gets its water from the underground
springs of Mount Kilimanjaro. Return to Nairobi in
the evening.
AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK
Amboseli National Park, at the foot of Africa's highest
mountain, 5895-meter Mount Kilimanjaro, is one of
the most popular of Kenya's National Parks. It lies
some 240 kilometers southeast of Nairobi very close
to the Tanzania border. The snow- capped peak of Mount
Kilimanjaro rising above a saucer of clouds dominates
every aspect of Amboseli. Amboseli was gazetted as
a National Park in 1974; it covers only 392 square
kilometers but despite its small size and its fragile
ecosystem it supports a wide range of mammals, well
over 50 of the larger species, and birds with over
400 species. Some birds that have been spotted in
the Park have migrated from as far as Saint Petersburg,
Russia.
Years ago, Amboseli National Park was the locale
around which such famous writers as Ernest Hemingway
and Robert Ruark spun their stories of big game hunting
in the wilds of Africa. It is also the home of the
Masai people, those tall, proud nomads whose legendary
prowess in battle and single-handed acts of bravery
in fights with wild animals has spread across the
globe. Perhaps more than any other community in Kenya,
the Masai have learned to live in complete harmony
with their environment and the wildlife that surrounds
them. All round the Amboseli National Park are occupied
and abandoned Enkaang's - Masai villages quickly built
out of bent poles and sticks and plastered with cow
dung and equally swiftly abandoned when the grazing
is finished and the herds must move on.
A section of Amboseli National Park is composed
of a dried-up lakebed that in the shimmering heat
produces mirages. Swamps and springs, fed by underground
rivers from Mount Kilimanjaro melting snows, form
permanent watering places for the wildlife through
times of drought. The Amboseli lakebed is subject
to sporadic floods and noxious salts in the gravel
bed are dissolved to serve as a deadly poison for
what is left of the local woods; very few of the fine
acacias, once a feature of this region, remain.
The snows of Mount Kilimanjaro, white and crystalline,
form a majestic backdrop to one of Kenya's most spectacular
displays of wildlife - lion, elephant, leopard, rhino,
cheetah, buffalo and hosts of plains' game, creating
Kenya's most sought after photographer's parades.
There are estimated to be around 650 elephants, the
largest number in all of Kenyan parks and reserves.
The swamps and springs have encouraged the hippos
to stay around. Other animals also seen are wildebeest,
antelopes, zebras, giraffes, gerenuks, gazelles, and
buffalos. Amboseli National Park's best game runs
are around the swamps and there is a fine lookout
on Observation Hill, which offers views over the whole
of the Amboseli National Park and beyond.
Price Per Person 250 /- US DOLLARS
