NOTE: This is offered as a custom extension either before or after our Masai Mara Safari trips. Being custom, dates and exact prices will vary depending on number of travelers, your particular interests and the number of lodging nights. We recommend booking this trip with a minimum 3 night stay in Amboseli. Please contact us to work up pricing for you.
Information last edited: December 2021
Amboseli is home to elephants, lions, cheetah, zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, Thompson gazelle, ostrich, flamingos and many other species. While we will see many of these same species on our primary safaris to the Masai Mara, Amboseli is a chance to view and photograph the Big Tuskers. Amboseli is known for its magnificent elephants, especially elephants with huge tusks known as ‘Big Tuskers’. The park and surrounding area are the home grazing area to a population of over 1500 elephants which take advantage of the park’s unique eco-system.
In addition to the amazing spectacle of the elephants and other wildlife, we also have Mount Kilimanjaro as a backdrop. Each day, the grazing animals and elephant herds leave the forest at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, and head towards natural springs, locally called swamps that come up from the groundwater originating on the mountain. These swamps are located within Amboseli, but to get to these lands, the elephants must cross the dry and open plains of ancient, dry riverbeds. For photographers, this creates and amazing photo opportunity. In recent trips, shallow lakes have been home to thousands of greater and lesser flamingos. The backdrop for our viewing will the spectacular Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest free-standing mountain in the world. Here is a link to the Kenya Park Services information on Amboseli: http://www.kws.go.ke/amboseli-national-park
© Buddy Eleazer
We will get up before sunrise, have a quick snack and coffee and then head out at first light. While the goal is the elephants, this is a wild reserve with buffalo, gazelle, zebra and giraffe as well as the predators that stalk those, so we will keep an open and opportunistic mind as we get into our planned route. As the morning progresses, we will intercept elephants that are leaving the forest at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, as they head towards the swamps. Late morning we will head back to camp for some free time. In the afternoon, we will once more head out looking for wildlife. As sunset approaches, we typically try to capture wildlife heading back across the dry riverbeds. The landscape is dry, so as the wildlife passes, dust is lifted, creating an atmosphere that often yields some of our favorite photos.
On the last day of our stay, we will fly back to Nairobi in the late morning and will be transferred to Tamarind Tree Hotel where we can relax over a leisure meal and prepare for our upcoming trip to the Masai Mara and the Great Migration.
Why Ol Tukai Lodge?
Our trip begins in Nairobi before our Mara Great Migration Safari. Upon arrival in Kenya, we will overnight at the Tamarind Tree Hotel in Nairobi. Sometime in the early to mid-morning of the following day, we will continue our journey with a short flight to Amboseli National Park. On our prior trips we stayed within Amboseli at a nice lodge, Ol Takai. We examined several lodge options. We picked this specific lodge because it is actually located within the park, allowing us more time with the animals instead of losing time at entrance gates. We also found the cost of this park to be excellent when compared to other options near or in the park. Here is a link to the lodge web site: http://www.oltukailodge.com/. Ok Tukai has a large, central reception and dining building and is flanked on either side with duplex chalets, most of which amazing views of Mount Kilimanjaro in the distance. Being located within the park, Ol Tukai is fenced i for your safety. In front of all of the rooms and just across the fencing is a large savanna where you will most assuradly see zebra, wildebeest, buffalo and elephants during the mid-day break between morning and afternoon gamd drives.
For More Typical Photos from Our Past Trips:
Photos from Past Amboseli Trips at this link.
Typically Included in an extension to Amboseli:
- 1 night at The Tamarind Hotel
- Transfer flights between Amboseli and Nairobi
- 3 nights at Ol Takai, Amboseli
- All meals included (plus bottled water and tea/coffee)
- Game drives in private custom Land Cruisers (4 per vehicle)
- Magnum Excursions Guides in attendance
Extras, not included in the trip:
- International Flights to/from Kenya
- Visa fees if required
- Gratuities for our guides and lodge staff
To join one of our safaris or to add this extension onto one of our other safaris, please contact Buddy Eleazer at buddy.eleazer@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you.
© Buddy Eleazer