Thanks to Suzzi and Ralph, I got a chance to stay at the Serena Amboseli Lodge, as well as visit the Amboseli National Park.
About 3 hours drive from Nairobi, Amboseli National Park is the third most visited wildlife park in Kenya after Maasai Mara National Reserve and Nakuru National Park. The visit can easily be done in a weekend.
Gazetted a National Park in 1974 in order to protect the core this unique ecosystem, it was declared a UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve in 1991.
The park protects two of the five main swamps, and includes a dried-up Pleistocene Lake Amboseli and semi-arid vegetation.
The park is famous for being the best place in Kenya to spot elephants. Furthermore, it is a must to photograph the majestic Mt Kilimanjaro (5,985 m – 17,685 ft), the greatest single moutain of the world standing amidst large herds of elephants wandering in the swamps.
The Amboseli Trust for Elephants aims to ensure the long-term conservation and welfare of Africa’s elephants in the context of human needs and pressures through scientific research, training, community outreach, public awareness and advocacy. The elephants of Amboseli in Kenya are the most celebrated wild elephants in the world. Since 1972, close observation by Cynthia Moss and her research team has led to intimate knowledge of these intelligent and complex animals.
In 1979, there were estimated to be 1.3 million elephants in Africa; ten years later, there were only about 600,000. In Kenya alone, the elephant population plummeted from 130,000 in 1973 to less than 20,000 in 1989, a loss of 85%.
To support the elephant species and their heritage, visit the Elephant Trust and the Kenya Wildlife Service
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