Amboseli National Park
National Park - 392 sq km - Managed by Kenya Wildlife Services
Amboseli is famous for its big game - elephants, lions and cheetahs are the main attractions - and for its great scenery beauty.Amboseli embodies five main wildlife habitats, plus a generally dry lake-bed - Lake Amboseli. These are open plains; extensive stands of yellow-barked acacia woodland; rocky, lava strewn thorn-bush country; swamps and marshes; and at the western end of the reserve, above Namanga, the massif of Ol Doinyo Orok rising to over 2,760m (8.300ft) and still for the most part zoologically unexplored.
The landscape is dominated by the glistening majestic snow cap of mount Kilimanjaro immediately to the south.
The park can be reached by two main routes. The first is to Athi river and thence along the main Kajiado - Namanga - Arusha road, turning through the main gate at Namanga to Ol Tukai lodge 75km (47m) on.Distance from Nairobi is 240km (150miles). The second route is from Nairobi along the Mombasa road past Emali. Branching right and following the main Loitoktok road. Distance from Nairobi is 228km (142miles).
One of the most popular national parks in Kenya, Amboseli offers a wide range of accommodation: with four luxurious lodges inside the park; Amboseli new lodge, Ol Tukai lodge, Serena lodge, Kilimanjaro lodge (total 602 beds) and a further two campsites. There are a number of small tented lodges just outside the park boundaries (total 72 beds).
Main game viewing lies in the eastern half of the park, in the vicinity of Ol Tukai lodge and lakes Engoni Naibor and Loginya. Leading here is a network of roads and tracks. Game includes elephant, lion, leopard, cheetah, maasai giraffe and buffalo. Also common game such as zebra, eland, coke's hartebeest, white-bearded Gnu, waterbuck, Thomsons and Grant gazelle and impala. Black rhinos are seen though occasionally as they are rare due to poaching in the mid-1970s. In the dry bush country towards Namanga you can find two interesting antelopes; the long -necked gerenuk (giraff-necked antelope) and the fringe-eared oryx. In addition are smaller animals such as;black faced vervet monkey and yellow baboon, black-backed jackals, spotted hyena and bat-eared foxes which are often seen basking in the sun outside their dens.
Bird life is in abundance especially near the lakes and swamps where you may find water birds. The Madagascar Squacco Heron shows up in intervals and the long toed lapwing is a resident in small numbers. Yellow-throated, chestnut-bellied and black-faced, water in hundreds during the dry season. Birds of prey include the six species of vultures, the Taita falcon and the Southern branded Harrier eagle. Birds common around the lodges and camps are the yellow weaver bird, Taveta golden weaver and Superb starling.
