The Amboseli national park

This is a place of wide dry plains, where the horizons stretch into the furthest distance and become one with the sky. Amboseli is renowned for its elephant populations and large herds, including some impressively tusked bulls are drawn to a series of large, lush swamplands. http://www.kws.go.ke/amboseli-national-park

The early light of dawn turns the mountain a dark hue of purple, and its snows into an ethereal pink. The sight of Kilimanjaro high above herds of elephant crossing the plains of Amboseli is a timeless Africa. This area is home to many Maasai communities, centred around the Amboseli National Park. The park is 400 sq kms, with its southern boundary along the Tanzanian border.

The park is home to more than just Elephants, and herds of wildebeest, zebra and impala graze on the open plains.. There are areas of acacia forest that make for good birding, and are home to many small mammals. Cheetah are also often sighted here

The park is centred around a large hill, with fantastic views of the surrounding plains, often crossed by whirlwinds that send winding columns of dust into the sky. This open country is good walking territory, and many camps and lodges organise game walks, or trips to spend time in local Maasai villages....

In Amboseli's case it is big skies and far horizons combined with swampy springs and dry and dusty earth trammelled by hundreds of animals. Amboseli has an endless underground water supply filtered through thousands of feet of volcanic rock from Kilimanjaro's ice cap, which funnel into two clear water springs in the heart of the park.

This park is renowned for its elephants, who may be seen in herds over 100 strong drinking from the surface springs. There are so many of them that their penchant for pushing down trees is destroying the habitat that sustains them. Big old bull elephants carry some of the largest tusks to be seen anywhere in Africa and is a renowned feature of this park.

Also happily roaming the grasslands are buffalo, wildebeest, zebra, giraffes, impala and warthog. Attendant carnivores include lion, leopard, caracal, cheetah, jackal, hyena and serval cat. Birdlife is extremely good and you can expect to see pelicans, bee-eaters, kingfishers and many types of eagles.