After leaving Meru National Park, we headed south back to Nairobi for a couple of nights of R&R&R (the last R is for “resupply”) before heading south to Amboseli National Park:
We left Nairobi on schedule, but sadly without Kirsten who went off to Thailand for two weeks of intensive professional training, and headed south to one of the crown jewels of Kenya, Amboseli National Park which lies about 150 miles from Nairobi. Caitlin and I left in the Green Dragon to pick up a new refrigerator for the Dragon, while Mark and Nancy headed out to Amboseli in Mark’s “Blue Rhino” (his Land Rover Defender). However, we both ran into problems.
Caitlin and I picked up the new frig and realized it wouldn’t fit in the Green Dragon, so we had to return it.
After much consideration, we decided to go back to Mark’s house and get the old frig and make due with it for this year’s trip. It basically works but you can’t read the control panel anymore so it’s hard to regulate the frig temp or make any changes to the operation of the frig. However, the new frig simply would not fit and there were no other frig’s in Nairobi that would work that wouldn’t take days to purchase (TIA). I decided the best and almost only option was to stay with my old frig. Caitlin and I drove back to Mark’s house which was completely locked up, except for one second story window that was slightly ajar. I found a latter and climbed to the balcony below the window and Caitlin followed.
We jury rigged the window to stay fully open and I used a fireman’s carry to lift Caitlin backwards, feet first, in through the window while she gently inched her way down the inside face of the window until her foot found footing. The two of us decided we were top-notch burglers and could go in to business! Can’t imagine what the day workers thought that passed us by as we were climbing in through the windows. OK, we got the frig and headed on our way south and all was good again.
Meanwhile, Mark and Nancy ran into troubles of their own. About 1.5 hours out of Nairobi, Mark got singled out by the local “police” for an unknown and unspecified traffic violation (despite the fact that every vehicle was violating every traffic law at the same time in the same place) and the “officer” tried to play Mark for a sucker. After some polite exchanges that were going no where, Mark offered a “bribe”, which is the usual practice, but was immediately threatened with criminal action. The “officer” then boarded his vehicle and had him drive back towards Nairobi, ostensibly to the police station, all the way with Mark pleading for a simple resolution and being threatened by the policeman with major criminal action, stating that Mark would have to go to court to resolve the crime. Eventually, after driving for a hour back towards the city, Mark convinced the “officer” to consider some sort resolution and they returned to an unmarked building, ostensibly a “police” station, near the scene of the infraction. At the very last moment, knowing that Mark only had 8,000 Shillings (~60 USD) on his person, the “cop” relented and took the bribe and sent Mark and Nancy on their way. It sucks to succumb to this form of corruption with the law enforcement community, and many overlanders claim to have persisted and gotten out of the ordeal without paying anything or giving anything, but the headache of playing the cat-and-mouse game can be taxing and overwhelming, and sometimes it just seems worth to pay the bride and move on. The whole ordeal took about an hour. TIA at its best!
Amboseli is designated an UNESCO Park and covers about 150 square miles, but it is part of a much larger transfrontier protected area that encompasses 3,100 square miles. The Park has a truly spectacular setting because it sits at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak at 19,340 feet, which lies just over the border to the south in Tanzania. Looking out over the savannah with Mount Kilimanjaro looming in the background is simply sublime. Consequently, Amboseli is one of Kenya’s most popular parks, perhaps rivaled only by the Maasai Mara. The name “Amboseli” comes from a Maasai word meaning “salty dust”, and it is one of the best places in Africa to view large herds of elephants up close. Here’s a few shots to wet your appetite for a future visit of your own:
Amboseli is in the heart of Maasai country, although people from other tribes have settled here as well because of the successful tourist-driven economy and intensive agriculture along the system of swamps that makes this arid area (average 14-inch precipitation per year) one of the best wildlife-viewing places in Kenya.
The Park abuts several Maasai Conservancies and we met up with the self-proclaimed “chief” of one of the Maasai villages bordering the Park – in actuality he was probably chief only of his family boma consisting of his wives and children and perhaps a sibling or two and their offspring. In fact, later we confirmed with another local Maasai who worked at our lodge (see below) that he was, without question, NOT the local chief . Here is the “chief” with Mark, noting that the chief is not wearing the tradional red garb of the Maasia, but the less common blue:
Amboseli is SO popular as a wildlife safari destination that the safari vehicles can outnumber the wildlife 10 to 1 when any of the cats are sighted. It’s probably fair to say that the vast majority of guided visitors are there to see the big cats and elephants, which is probably true of most Parks. The “lesser” wildlife generally get very litte attention, especially the smalller birds. Indeed, we had an unpleasant experience with a lion sighting during our visit. We went on a night drive with a guide and ranger and followed 4 lions on the initial stages of a hunt. It was a memorable experience becuause it was a private viewing of raw wildlife in action (see the video below for footage). The next morning we decided to go to the area where we had observed the lions in hopes of finding them on a kill. Much to our dismay, the safari guides had already found the lions and there were perhaps 30 vehicles at the scene when we arrived first thing in the morning. It was extremely anti-climatic after our intimate night-time observation. We drove past the mad-house without barely a glance over at the lions, desperate to get away from the crazy safari vehicles filled with tourists desperate to see lions at all costs, even if it meant sharing the experience with a 100 strangers. Here’s a shot of the end of the vehicle train stopped to see the lions:
The park protects two large swamps and includes the dried-up Pleistocene Lake Amboseli. The swamps are a central feature of the Park and attract abundant wildlife, especially during the dry season, as you might expect. Apparently, the swamps are supplied with ground water stemming from the nearby Mount Kilimanjaro that infiltrates the ground high up on the slopes and emerges in places on the Plains below. Otherwise, the Park is dominated by extensive grasslands that support herds of grazing animals, including mostly blue wildebeest, plains zebra, Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelles, African buffalo and elephants, along with the occassional hippo when they are out of the water, not to mention numerous bird species (see below). Here a lots of photos of wildlife for you wildlife lovers, and I included some not-so-spectacular photos of several bird species for you birders – yes, I am referring to you Phil and Brenda, and some others:
We stayed about a 30-minute drive outside the Park in a private camp/lodge called Amboseli Bush Camp. No need for the Green Dragon at this camp, as we took advantage of the platform tents with beds. The camp has a lounge area overlooking a water hole, along with a well-appointed kitchen and a fire pit. The kitchen has an oven, so we took advantage of it and Mark made pizza, not once, but twice during our three-night stay – being on safari doesn’t always mean dirt and pit toilets. And need I say that if Mark had one food to keep in a post-apocalyptic world it would be pizza!. You’ll have to watch the video below if you want to see our accommodations, but here are photos of Caitlin’s gourmet meal of stuffed peppers and Mark’s pizza:
And if that wasn’t enough, Mark surprised us (mostly me, I think, as I believe the girls might have known, but didn’t disclose) with homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast on our last morning!
For you video lovers, here is a rather long (sorry, too much to see and show) video of our Amboseli National Park visit. It includes our tented camp accommodations, lots of elephant action, some cool bird scenes (for the birders) and even a few night videos of spring hares (a.k.a. kangaroo hares) and lions on the hunt:
Amboseli National Park composite video (19 minutes)
From the Wildside:
New bird species:
- Greater flamingo
- Wiskered tern
- Kittlitz’s plover
- Black-tailed godwit
- Collared pratincole
- Dwaft bittern
- Red-rumped swallow