I will be honest with you, I am definitely not an outside girl, camping girl or hiking girl. It just isn’t me and probably never will be. However, I am fascinated by wild animals, lush landscape and good company. At Amboseli, I was lucky enough to find all three and it provided me with an adventure I will never forget.
As I was staying in Nairobi, my guide picked me up at my apartment at 5:30 in the morning to travel 5 hours southwest to Amboseli National Park. My guide, Julius was also the owner of Wasili Kenya Safaris www.wasilikenyasafaris.com was just amazing and so knowledgeable and knew all the interesting facts and had great stories about his 13+ years guiding people into various National Parks in Kenya. The Journey from Nairobi was full of interesting conversation, many questions from me and a relaxed and interesting trip. This was my first safari and not sure what to expect but my experience far surpassed my expectations.
We arrived at AA Lodge, my hotel for the night and about a mile outside of the gates to the National Park. Driving into the grounds of the lodge, we saw giraffes and a small herd of zebra. Upon check in we, had a quick lunch in their dining room before heading to the park about 1 pm. However, the hotel had incredible animals from monkeys to exotic birds that freely wandered throughout the grounds.
Ambroseli National Park is known for a couple of important things, the first being elephants and it didn’t disappoint in that area, throughout my visit, I counted 65 elephants including many babies. The second thing you can see in Amboseli National Park is Mt Kilimanjaro. Even though Mt Kilimanjaro is in Tanzania, it is quite visible from Amboseli. Unfortunately, my day was overcast and rainy and I wasn’t able to see the full mountain but I guess that is a very good reason to return.
As we entered the park within a minute, I saw the first elephant of the day. Elephants are majestic, there is no other way to describe their beauty and splendor. If you had to equate an elephant to a piece of art it would be a Monet or a piece of music, maybe a Brahms lullaby but I think elephants are more like poetry, strong and bold but quietly being able to move your soul. I saw many elephants that day and was able to take many great pictures thanks to Julius angling his safari vehicle to give me the best view and picture I could.
As we meandered through the park, around every corner Julius would point out various animals to me. He saw them way before I even noticed and I am not sure if I would have noticed them at all, without his skills. I saw hippos in the water and walking on land, hyenas and lots of giraffes. The various antelopes and water buffaloes filled out our day.
I walked up observation hill which is the highest spot in Amboseli National Park where you get a 360° view of the park. From that vantage point, Julius pointed out elephant herds and told me they were heading to the watering hole and that we would see them there. As the sun started to get lower in the sky, the animals meander towards the watering pools and you see them drinking, the babies playing and the adults watching the like protective parents they are. We were in the park until about 8:30 and had to get out of the way of a herd of water buffaloes and dodge a rather angry hippo and pass a group of hyenas. All in all a fantastic day full of wonderful memories for me to carry back home. And this was just day one
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