Game Reserves in Kenya: Amboseli National Park

One of the most popular Game Reserves in Kenya is the Amboseli National Park which stands in the shadows of Mt.  Kilimanjaro, on the border with Tanzania.

Wildlife Habitats

The park covers almost 400 square kilometres made up of plains, swamps, marshland, acacia woodland and an area of rocky thorn bushes. The weather in this part of Southern Kenya is hot and dry. The rainy season is from April to May and again from November to December.  Lake Amboseli, contained in the park, is only filled some of the time during years of especially plentiful rains.  Drought is a big problem in this area. Because of the diverse terrain and conditions in the park, there is a large variety of wildlife here, especially in the dry season, which is most of the year.

Roads from Nairobi and Mombasa will take you to Amboseli and neighbouring Game Reserves in Kenya and there is a single airstrip for light aircraft.  Once inside the park there are networks of roads that cover the entire area.  The roads are dry and dusty during the dry season and sometimes impassable during periods of heavy rain.

Attractions

There are several lodges and plenty of campsites around the Amboseli Game Reserve in Kenya.  Just across the border in Tanzania, Africa’s tallest mountain, Mt. Kilimanjaro, rises to its majestic height of 5,894 metres.  70 kilometres to the West, Mt. Meru, an active volcano, stands almost as tall at 4,566 metres.  The volcanic ash that resulted from volcano eruptions across the millennia have created fertile soil around the mountain slopes.  The forests and savannahs surrounding the mountains support a large variety of wildlife and plant life.

At Amboseli you will learn about the Maasai culture and meet indigenous Maasai people.  The Maasai are rightfully proud of their heritage.  Learn how brave Maasai warriors embark on long journeys that begin at dawn to track and hunt lions, to demonstrate their courage and skill.  You will see signs the remains of temporary Maasai shelters around the park.  The nomadic Maasai move throughout Kenya Game Reserves with the game that they depend on for food.

But perhaps the biggest attraction at this Kenya Game Reserve is the wildlife viewing, with over 50 species of mammals and 400 species of birds to be seen there. A trip to the park’s Observation Hill affords you a splendid lookout over the swamps where you will see herds of elephants and other big game. Leopards, cheetah, buffalo and rhinos are also plentiful here, as well as a host of plains animals upon which the big cats prey.

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