Amboseli National Park

Amboseli National Park is famous for seeing white Egrets perched on elephant herds as they move across the expansive grasslands.

Behind the herd, you can see the silhouette of acacia trees, and in the distance, the magnificent snowcapped Mount Kilimanjaro sits under a vast blue African sky.

This UNESCO World Heritage Site is genuinely remarkable, showcasing a rich variety of wildlife and stunning landscapes that create a picturesque paradise.

Geography and geology of Amboseli National Park

However, upon closer examination, you will discover that the park is a semi-arid area sustained by a unique geological feature.

Receiving only 350mm (14 inches) of rain, this ancient Pleistocene lake bed is always on the brink of drought. However, visitors will observe the plains dotted by yellow-barked acacias and narrow green swamps.

These vein-like swamps are fed year-round by the snowmelt from Mount Kilimanjaro, and they become the last refuge for the Amboseli herds during the long dry season.

Without them, life on the Amboseli plains would not survive.

Located 211km south of Nairobi, getting to Amboseli National Park is easy. On an Amboseli safari, visitors will experience a once-in-a-lifetime view of Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro and its snow-capped peaks.

What are elephants in Amboseli known for?

Not to mention the park’s elephants, made famous by the world’s longest-running elephant research project and documentaries following the lives of specific Amboseli elephant families.

In 1972, Dr. Cynthia Moss established the Amboseli Elephant Research Project.

She specifically chose the Amboseli National Park, one of Kenya’s well-known, albeit smaller, national parks, because it had a relatively small elephant population of 700 compared to the 42,000 in 1970s Tsavo. The small population allowed her to identify, study and learn from individual animals.

Today, the research team can identify the park’s ~1000 elephants by examining their unique ear markings.

Pioneering insights into the lives of elephants, including their social structure and communication methods, was only possible thanks to the ability to identify and observe individual elephants.

Which other animals can you see in Amboseli National Park?

In this 392 km² park, apart from the many elephants that call Amboseli their home, you can also find cheetahs, buffaloes, lions, leopards, wildebeest, zebras, waterbucks, and many different antelope species.

It is also a birdwatcher’s paradise with 400 recorded bird species, including many waterfowl.

Highlights of the park with a dry and hot climate include Lake Amboseli’s salt desert, grasslands stretching over the border to Tanzania, and wetland areas attracting many animals, including numerous hippos and buffaloes.

During the rainy season, Amboseli National Park becomes a green oasis.

The abundance of animals and breathtaking landscapes make Amboseli National Park one of Kenya’s most popular parks.

Challenges to the ecosystem

Like many parks, Amboseli faces several challenges.

In a world with dwindling resources, habitat loss is the greatest conservation challenge, and the impact on ancient migration routes, ecosystems, and wildlife populations remains to be determined.

Small parks like Amboseli tend to show strains earlier. One example is that in the 1960s, Amboseli had a population of sixty black rhinos. However, by the 1990s, they disappeared from the landscape.

The future of the park’s lion populations and elephant migration routes to the Chyulu Hills and Tsavo National Parks near expanding communities is also still being determined.