Visit June 2025

No reviews yet – surprising for one of Kenya’s most iconic parks.

Amboseli lies right on the border with Tanzania. Declared a national park in 1974, it’s also recognized as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The park is most famous for its large herds of elephants and the spectacular view of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak. On clear days, the snow-capped summit provides a dramatic backdrop to the open savannah.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get any clear skies during our visit — so the dream of capturing elephants in front of Kilimanjaro will have to wait for another time. But elephants? We saw plenty! Herds of them all day long, in every direction.

Though Amboseli covers just around 392 km², it holds an impressive variety of landscapes — from open grasslands and dusty salt flats to lush swamps, palm groves, and acacia woodlands. The wetlands are fed by underground streams from Kilimanjaro’s melting snow, creating a vibrant oasis even during the dry season. It was indeed wet in places — we had to challenge both our vehicle and ourselves with a few deep water crossings!

The park hosts a rich array of wildlife. In addition to the elephants — some of the most well-studied in Africa — we spotted lions, giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, buffalos, hyenas, warthogs, antelopes, and numerous birds, from large ostriches and cranes to colorful bee-eaters. Cheetas are also common to spot, but we didn't find any on our own.

Our lion encounter was the highlight: it turned out to be seven lions and a freshly killed buffalo. We arrived early and had a fantastic view of the feast and the lions. 

The area is also Maasai land, and along the park’s perimeter we saw traditional villages and herds of cattle and goats.

One of the park’s most popular spots is Observation Hill, where you can actually get out of the car, climb to the top, and enjoy panoramic views over the wetlands and plains — and on a clear day, Kilimanjaro on the horizon. A perfect place for a lunch break.

All in all, well worth a visit — especially if you’re into safari adventures. Even though the park attracts many visitors, you can still find places and moments to enjoy wildlife sightings on your own.

If it is a worthy world heritage? Well, yes we think so! What I can gather from the nomination text it seems to be a lot more to this national park than wildlife. According to the nomination file Amboseli sits on the remains of an ancient lake, and the landscape still tells the story of how climate and water have shaped East Africa over time. You can clearly see how nature changes as water levels and soils shift, making the park a kind of natural laboratory for understanding climate change.

Practical Info

We rented a sturdy Land Cruiser for our entire Kenya trip and drove ourselves around Amboseli, which worked out very well.  But it is easy to arrange a safari from either Nairobi or the nearby camps. 

We stayed at Amboseli Discovery Camp, right on the park border. It has its own waterhole, often visited by elephants. It’s a fairly basic camp, but well located on the border of the park, and very friendly staff. We could acctually reach the lodge from both outside and inside the park, which was really handy. It helped us to keep the entrance fee down when staying two nights and one day visit. There are plenty of accommodation options in all price ranges—most of them just outside the park gate.

Plan to spend at least a full day here. Even though the park is relatively small, we drove almost 100 km! As always, morning and late afternoon are best for spotting the big animals.