Expert Reviews
Where Else Can You See the ‘Big 7’?
Addo Elephant National Park is the best place in southern Africa to watch African giants interacting. In fact, on the entire continent, only Kenya’s Amboseli offers any real competition. I’ve visited Addo four times and have never seen less than 80 elephants around Hapoor Dam. Once I saw more...
That Postcard…
The instantly recognizable snowcapped peak of Kilimanjaro rises iconically above a scene of emerald greenery in which elephants munch contentedly on flat-topped acacia trees. We’ve all seen the postcards… But in reality, although Kili does indeed form a backdrop to the Amboseli National Park,...
Elephants!
Amboseli is the location for those classic images of herds of elephants below Mt Kilimanjaro. Having said that, it is surprisingly difficult to get that iconic shot of a cloud-free mountaintop with elephants nicely spaced out in the foreground. Some of Africa’s last big tusker elephants roam...
A volcanic chain of scenic misty green hills with a fantastic view of Kilimanjaro
The little-visited Chyulu Hills National Park is effectively a dispersal zone between the more famous Amboseli and Tsavo (East and West). But numbers of animals are not as great because of the Chyulu’s altitude (the highest peak is 2188 metres). On one visit, I attempted the steep four-wheel-drive...
The pinnacle of iconic African everything…
Kenya has a reputation as the primary African Safari destination, and I can’t find myself arguing against that. If you yearn, as I do, for vast open landscapes dotted with acacia trees under which cheetahs lounge and lions roar, then the Maasai Mara is a top pick for you. The country boasts a...
Exotic Samburu
When I first visited Kenya some twenty years ago Samburu National Reserve, and the surrounding areas, had a bad reputation for banditry and general lawlessness and this made Samburu something of a last frontier in Kenyan safari tourism. Today, things have changed dramatically, but even though the...
Elephants under the snows of Kilimanjaro
Amboseli National Park is one of the classic parks of Kenya and a staple on most Kenyan safari circuits. Quite rightly it’s best known for its elephants and there are large herds of big tuskers here (these are some of the best studied elephants in Africa) who are completely unfazed by cars meaning...
The Quintessential ‘Out of Africa’ Safari Destination, but…
Yes, Kenya is the classic ‘Out of Africa’ safari destination, with sweeping savannah vistas and home to ‘Big Cat Diary’ and countless other wildlife documentaries. However some parts of Kenya are at risk of being overrun by mass tourism, so choose carefully where you go. The Masai Mara...
Elephants up close and personal
This is a difficult park to rate fairly because it can come across as a bit of a one-trick pony. Along with Amboseli in Kenya, I would rank it the best place anywhere in Africa for exciting close-up encounters with elephants – which are wild, but so habituated that they frequently walk within...
Giant tuskers in the shadow of Kilimanjaro
I have two dominant images of Amboseli. The first is the spectacular views afforded of Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain, whose peak actually lies across the border in Tanzania, but is nowhere seen to such advantage as from the plains of Amboseli, most frequently revealing itself from its...
Elephants and Mount Kilimanjaro
Amboseli hugs the Tanzanian border and makes for one of Kenya’s most dramatic photo opportunities – herds of elephant lumbering past with Mount Kilimanjaro as a backdrop. The park is famous for them and groups of up to 100 are not uncommon. Aside from this, however, some find Amboseli a...
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 newish C102 road – the horribly rutted Namanga road can be avoided altogether now. Once...
Where Elsa the lion roamed free
If you’re longing for a Kenyan park which the crowds have yet to find, Meru is well worth considering. You have to work a little harder to see the animals here than in, say, Amboseli or on the open plains of the Masai Mara, but the feeling of discovery more than compensates. I really enjoy its...
Busy park, overlooked by Kilimanjaro
Those wonderful photos of Kilimanjaro rising majestically above a thicket of acacia trees, with elephants ambling past and perhaps a hot air balloon floating serenely overheard? They’re taken in Amboseli. Kili’s snowy cap may be much depleted but for me, the sight of the crater still brings on...
Hemingway’s Kenya
The volcanic Chyulus are Hemingway’s Green Hills of Africa. With their rolling summits capped by cloud forest they lie in the heart of Maasailand midway between Amboseli and Tsavo, with unrivalled views of Mt Kilimanjaro. You could fit the whole of the Mara into this little-known corner of Kenya;...
A land of Giants
By East African standards, Amboseli is quite small – a mere 150 square miles of arid plains that become a dustbowl in the dry season months of July to October. And yet this is a land of giants. Amboseli is the park where Kenya’s biggest tuskers roam against the stunning backdrop of Kilimanjaro...
Tsavo West: the only place to see hippos underwater
Tsavo West is slightly less wild and remote as its sister park Tsavo East. Being close to the coast it gets its fair share of tourists on add-on safaris to a beach holiday. There is a fair number of game around, but don’t expect anything like the more well known parks like Masai Mara or Amboseli....
Amboseli – an elephant’s playground set against Africa’s highest peak
There are few images in Africa as iconic as elephants walking in front of Kilimanjaro. This image, which basically screams ’East Africa’, is in Amboseli National Park. Amboseli, which teems with elephants, lies at the base of Kilimanjaro. ‘How difficult can it be?’, was me thinking as a...
Tsavo East: Home of the Red Elephants
The largest section of the two-part Tsavo National Park – together with Tsavo West, this is Kenya’s largest protected area – Tsavo East is a vast savannah landscape perfect for tracking down big cats. Cheetahs are most easily seen on the plains east of the Aruba Dam, while lions, including the...
Amboseli: In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro
Mt Kilimanjaro may lie in Tanzania but the best views of Africa’s highest mountain are from Amboseli. Elephants, long-tusked and large, are an Amboseli specialty – I’ve never been as close to elephants as I have in Amboseli – and the sight of them crossing the plains or wallowing in the...
The home of the safari
Kenya is the original land of the safari. It is here that the likes of Karen Blixen and Ernest Hemingway pioneered the original early 20th century hunting safaris that eventually morphed into the more populist and eco-friendly photographic safari as we know it today. And it was also Kenya that first...
From game-packed hotspots to little known wilderness
Kenya’s stunning landscapes include rainforest, beaches, deserts and mountains, but it’s the first class wildlife watching that keeps so many visitors flocking back. Not only is it one of the best places in Africa to see the Big Five, it also counts among the world’s most important bird...
The home of safari
Kenya, to most people, is safari. This is where it all began, after all, and from Out of Africa to Big Cat Diary the country has provided the images that define the visitor’s idea of Africa. Certainly, when it comes to game viewing, this country has it all. Highlights include the Big Five...
Classic safari destination where it pays to be discerning
No true fan of the BBC’s Big Cat Diary or Disney’s The Lion King would ever admit this, but Kenya isn’t the best country in Africa for a safari. Its parks and reserves are full of animals and birds, of course, but all too many of them are stuffed with tourists, too. For a richer, more...
Africa for Beginners
Kenya is so easy to get to – just eight hours away by air from London. Fly overnight and you can be in the bush in good time for lunch. Even before you arrive in Nairobi you can see giraffes wandering under the flight path in the city’s adjoining national park. Nairobi is where the whole safari...
Kenya has it all
Kenya is a good choice for a first-time African safari. It has everything we image Africa to be: savannah plains teeming with grazers and predators, views of the snow-capped peaks of Kilimanjaro, palm-fringed beaches, sweaty jungles and a vast inhospitable desert. With the oldest safari industry on...
Kenya: Home of the East African Safari
When you’re talking safaris, there’s really nowhere quite like Kenya, and that’s largely because Kenya’s portfolio of wildlife is outstanding. It was here that elephants and rhinos were pushed to the brink of extinction by poachers and it is here that these two very special species are...
One of Kenya’s most picturesque parks with spectacular views of Kilimanjaro
I creaked into Amboseli after a frantic break-neck drive with the military convoy from Tsavo in a near-dead Suzuki Vitara hire-car. I had a soldier riding with me and the cartridge of his AK47 wore a hole through the dashboard because of all the spine-jaggling potholes. The Suzuki’s suspension...
Home to ‘the greatest wildlife real-estate on Earth’
The Masai Mara has been called ‘the greatest wildlife real-estate on Earth’ and for the sheer density of its wildlife it probably as no competition anywhere in the world. For a first time safari these days you probably still can’t beat the Mara but you should pick your spot carefully and get a...