Officially known as Amboseli National Park, the word ‘Amboseli’ is derived from a Maasai term for salty dust. It was indeed dusty, as well as hot, with a zillion other safari vehicles on the rough roads. But Amboseli is also home to magnificent animals and stunning scenery.
Located on the north side of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Amboseli is a small park (151 square miles) about 125 miles southeast of Nairobi.
Best known for the view of Africa’s tallest mountain (when not obstructed by clouds) and the high concentration of African elephants. Let’s start with the elephants.
To watch the videos that follow, just click on the red “go” button in the middle.
More animal pics to come, but first, some info about our trip. An African safari was the #1 item on the proverbial bucket list, so we signed up for Road Scholar’s “Best of Kenya and Tanzania” group tour way back in February 2022. With my medical issues in the intervening months, we were uncertain if it would happen, but the timing worked out great. Just enough recovery time to get strong and healthy, and just enough hair to be low maintenance.😎
Our trip was three weeks – nine days to explore the Nairobi area prior to the two week safari with Road Scholar (our first organized group tour ever). On our own, we found lots of cool things to do in Nairobi! Will write about those later . . .
The Road Scholar experience was terrific! Twelve participants from both U.S. coasts and various points in between, plus an experienced and personable local (Kenyan) group leader. Here’s a map of the places we visited – a ‘greatest hits’ itinerary:
Time to take a look at more animals from our visit to Amboseli. We never knew what we would happen upon next, but each new sighting was accompanied by a sense of wonder, observing the animals in their natural environment. Our presence didn’t seem to affect their behavior one way or another. It was as if we were invisible.
We tried to learn about the many different types of antelope (which also includes the wildebeest shown in the previous photo gallery). Here are four others – fingers crossed the labels are correct.
And finally, birds galore! But only a handful of good photos.
We stayed just outside of the park for two nights – our first experience in a tent camp. With electricity and a private bathroom with hot water, we were perfectly comfortable. Camp features included internet service and an inviting restaurant/bar. Heck, it even had a pool!
This article is just the first in a series of posts about our trip to Africa. I’ll end this one with a few miscellaneous photos from Amboseli National Park.
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Super Awesome photos of an even more exceptional trip! Glad it went well…
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And I’m very excited to share even more photos, videos and stories!
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So exciting!!!! Highly anticipating the next in the series. The TBD bird….is that some kind of stork?
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We saw a lot of marabou storks, but the pictures don’t match. I’m hoping that one of our tour group birders can help.
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Thanks, Carol…these photos are awesome and way better than the ones I took at the same time from the same safari vehicle. It was hard to come down from this wonderful adventure with all our safari buddies. I also thought initially the bird was some sort of stork…perhaps a young one? If Kip isn’t too busy with his next tour group, perhaps he can clue us in.
Hope others add to our google photo site that you kindly set up. You set the bar high!!
Enjoyed traveling with you…best to Bill.
Sally
PS, we just started watching out of Africa, which was filmed in Kenya (Masai Mara National Reserve). Familiar scenery for sure,
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Thanks for checking it out, Sally! I watched Out of Africa on the flight from Paris to Salt Lake City. Had seen it many years ago, but didn’t remember much of it. Interesting story – think I might read one (or more) of her books.
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Thank you for this beautiful post! I loved seeing all of the exquisite animal photos. So glad you had such an exciting adventure. xo
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Hi Mary – thanks so much for taking a look. The trip was even better than we had hoped, and it’s fun to experience it again by writing these articles.
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Wonderful pics and great commentary!! I appreciate some of the labels…especially the multiple deer family we saw repeatedly. It was a WONDERFUL trip! So grateful I was able to satisfy my ‘Bucket List’ taking this trip. Two weeks before I was getting a cordizone shot in my knee and not sure I could do it!
Lots of animals, great people to be with and amazing guides to help us identify what we were seeing! I did get through my pics….nothing as good as yours but will have to be creative in sending them to you….technically challenged! Carol
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Jambo Carol #1! Thanks for reading this first article – it’s a lot of work to pull everything together, but I love re-living the experience by writing about it and selecting photos. Feel free to share any photos you want – there’s no copyright or pride of ownership. And I think we all agree with you – it was a WONDERFUL trip!
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Your photographs are amazing! I loved seeing the zebras, giraffes and of course those elephants! Thank you for sharing such a wonderful and exciting experience!
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Your photographs are amazing! I loved seeing the zebras, giraffes and of course those elephants! Thank you for sharing such a wonderful and exciting experience!
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Thanks so much, Linda. I’m so glad I bought a camera to get better close-up photos!
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A M A Z I N G but móst of all so happy for both of you that your feeling strong enough to make this ( organized ) trip
Yay you!
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Thanks! I’m feeling really good (and thankful . . . ).
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