It is not by mistake that Amboseli National Park is one of the five most visited national parks in Kenya. It is where those captivating pictures of elephants with a backdrop of the snow of the highest free-standing mountain in the world are taken (Kilimanjaro).
Formerly known as Maasai Amboseli Game Reserve, the park is popular for standing out as the best place in the world to get close to free-ranging elephants. This is partly because they are completely unfazed by cars.
At night time, most of these mighty tuskers range outside the park, but aggregate inside by day. They graze in its lush marshes that are fed by underground streams, some of which are fed by Kilimanjaro whose snowy peak lies across the border of Tanzania and Kenya.
Beyond the long-nosed creatures, other big safari animals can be spotted here too except for the black rhino population that was wiped out by poaching. In contrast, buffalo, lions, and leopards still reign here.
Anyone who gets wildly excited about watching, or more precisely, photographing large herbivores won’t regret their visit here. Brace yourself for beautiful colors and patterns of giraffe, zebra, and wildebeest, as well as lots of animals in the antelope family, especially Thomson’s & Grant’s gazelle. Most of these hang around the areas of swamps, especially in the dry season. These marshes also support an excellent selection of water-associated birds, especially plovers and herons.
You can maximize your visit here by also exploring the Maasai who live in the Maasai villages around the park.
Due to its relatively compact size and varied landscapes, the park is good for a family safari.