Amboseli National Park

Guaranteed Wildlife-Viewing at the Foot of Kilimanjaro

Amboseli has instant likeability and although it can be crowded with game-viewing vehicles, there are plenty of good reasons for its popularity. For a start, it’s a straightforward drive from Nairobi via the A109 and C102 roads. Once there, it’s easily navigable and there’s a great choice of accommodation, from Kenya Wildlife Service campsites to 5-star safari lodges. More importantly, animals are everywhere and well used to vehicles, and there’s a variety of landscapes from sandy dust bowls with endless horizons to glistening lakes and swamps fringed with lush foliage. Highlights for me are watching the (many) elephant and buffalo half-submerged in the reed beds of the marshes, thousands of tail-flicking herbivores scattered across the open plains around Ol Tukai, and views of the emerald-green Enkongo Narok Swamp from the top of Observation Hill. Predator numbers are lower than in some parks, but they are there, so look hard – I’ve seen a lioness escort her young from a thicket to drink in a stream and a family of cheetah emerge from the woods to eye up prey on the savannah. While animal action is guaranteed, the sight of Kilimanjaro is not – except for occasional glimpses at sunrise and sunset, the formidable mountain is usually shrouded in a thick shawl of cloud.