6-Day Mara, Nakuru & Amboseli
Rift Valley, the Mara and Amboseli in one loop: rhino at Nakuru, cats in the Mara, then a light-aircraft transfer to elephant herds under Kilimanjaro.
Amboseli National Park
A dry-country park in Kajiado County, under the shadow of Kilimanjaro, where swamps fed from the mountain draw some of Africa's largest elephant herds into the open.
Overview
Amboseli lies in Kajiado County in southern Kenya, close to the Tanzanian border and directly under Kilimanjaro, which stands just across that border and dominates every view south. The park itself is a mix of dried Pleistocene lakebed, dusty open plains and permanent swamps, the swamps kept green year-round by underground water draining off the mountain.
It is one of the best places in Africa to watch elephant in large family herds, since the swamps pull them out of cover and onto open ground to drink and graze, often for hours at a time. Because the terrain is so open, sightlines run for kilometres, which makes Amboseli forgiving country for game viewing generally, not only elephant.
The classic image, an elephant herd walking across the plain with Kilimanjaro rising behind them, is easiest to catch in the early morning before cloud builds around the peak, so a Kilimanjaro-facing camp and an early start both make a real difference here.
Wildlife highlights
- Elephant
- Buffalo
- Hippo
- Plains zebra
- Maasai giraffe
- Lion
Best time to visit
June through October and January through February, when skies over Kilimanjaro are clearest and the dry ground pushes the herds into the swamps.
Getting there
Light aircraft from Wilson Airport land at Amboseli's airstrip in around 45 minutes. By road it is roughly four hours south of Nairobi, via Namanga or Emali.
Safaris that visit Amboseli
7-Day Best of Kenya
Our full circuit: Naivasha, Nakuru, two days in the Mara and two in Amboseli, linked by one internal flight, covering lakes, cats and elephant in a week.
3-Day Amboseli Under Kilimanjaro
Three days at the foot of Kilimanjaro, built around the two windows when elephant herds move onto open ground and the mountain is clearest of cloud.
4-Day Tsavo & Amboseli
Links Tsavo's red-dust elephant country with Amboseli's swamps and Kilimanjaro views, on a single road route south of Nairobi.
05Add-on experience
Hot air balloon safari
Over Amboseli
Amboseli flights are the newer of the two, operating from the Kimana side of the park, and the draw is the backdrop rather than the herds: Kilimanjaro fills the southern horizon at dawn, before the cloud builds over it later in the morning. You are flying over classic Amboseli country, swamp, open pan and acacia, with the mountain behind everything.
You are collected from camp in the dark and driven to the launch site, arriving while the crew are still inflating the envelope. Take-off is at first light, which is the whole point: the air is calmest then, and the low sun puts long shadows behind everything below you.
The flight runs roughly an hour, drifting with whatever wind there is rather than steering, so no two flights follow the same line. Height varies through the flight, from just above the treetops to a few hundred metres up.
Where the balloon lands, the ground crew are already setting up breakfast, cooked in the open and eaten at the landing site before you are driven back to camp. Most guests are back in time for the rest of the morning.
Worth knowing
- Flights go at dawn and are weather dependent. Wind or low cloud cancels them, and that call belongs to the pilot on the morning, not to us.
- Baskets are small and fill early in high season, so this is worth adding when you book the safari rather than deciding once you have arrived.
- It is a genuinely early start, normally a pre-dawn pickup from camp.
Who flies it
The flight itself is run by a licensed balloon operator with its own pilots and civil aviation approval, not by us. What we do is book your seats, make sure the pickup lines up with where you are staying and what your itinerary is doing the rest of that day, and sort it out with the operator if the weather moves your flight.
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