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Published: February 17th 2010
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Sunset
Beautiful acacia trees, so typical of Amboseli Why? The first thing everyone asked us time and time again when we said we were going to Amboseli was why, why, why.....? I found it a little bit worrying given it was my first safari experience but I can understand the question given the reputation of some of the other national parks. The reason why we picked Amboseli and not the very popular Masai Mara is that we are planning to come back to see the Wilderbeest migration in July in the Mara so we wanted to save that for later in the year. Amboseli has a bit of a rough, untouched, road less travelled kind of feel which appealed to me and it’s also got one hell of a big draw card which no other park has, the magnificent Mount Kilimanjaro (big mountain in Swahili). Given as we can’t afford to climb it this trip we definitively wanted to experience it in one way or another.
Kenyan Countryside Leaving the hustle and bustle of the city is always exciting and we were both bouncing around like little kids eating lollies (knowing Richard he was actually eating lollies!). I’m not sure what I loved the most but as you
leave Nairobi the city quickly turned to lush green bush on top of a rich crimson red soil. We could see metre high ant hills popping up between the trees across the rolling hills and countryside. Occasionally we spotted some masai tribes in amongst the trees with their red colours speckling through, only visible for just a couple of seconds as our bus sped by.
Every now and then you would spot some animals from the roadside, mostly cattle and some camels until we got closer to the park. Passing through the small villages we caught a glimpse of how many people live out their lives, day by day on the sides of the roads waiting to serve passing traffic with what ever random tid bit thing they happen to be selling. Goats would have to be my favourite yet most frustrating thing about the villages. They roam around, eating all the rubbish off the streets and appear to be boss when it comes to being in the way of people or vehicles, regardless of their size.
Arriving at the park Our approach to the national park was an adventure in itself. We very fortunate to see a
Buy buy buy
They are relentless in their pursuit of a sale.... family of about ten giraffes grazing by the side of the dirt road. They are so huge! Very comical to watch whilst they run away with their long spangley legs. The bet was settled, that was my first animal spotted! Richard had asked me to bet which animal would be the first one we saw when we got here. We didn’t count on it being the hostel dog when we first arrived.
Nothing quite prepared us for the stunning setting of having Mount Kilimanjaro as a back drop as we made our way to the camp we were staying at. We knew it would be good but it was the most beautiful setting one could imagine. We arrived at dusk and caught a quick view of the mountain as we watched the sunset over the savannah. Lone tall acacia trees cast awesome shadows out across the countryside. Through the darkness as we arrived at our basic camping ground we saw a large herd of elephants eating near by. It wasn’t light enough to actually see much but you could see their outline. I was soooooo excited, couldn’t wait for sunrise and my first safari.
Safari and playing paparazzi
We were up before sunrise to make the most of the animal watching and I think we were extremely fortunate given the nature of the park as it’s known to be quite difficult to spot animals. It makes sense though that they want to hide after they’ve eaten at dawn and the heat of the sun is up. We had a lone bull elephant right near our camp ready to great us to say hi. Within no time at all we’d seen the most amazing animals, I loved it so much!
First up was two old male lions. We didn’t think we were going to see them here so we were very stoked. They were so strong and majestic as they casually walked across the vast open space. We had them pass within ten meters of us and enjoyed seeing lions in the wild as we’ve never seen them before. Not long after we had a herd of approximately forty elephants pass right by us, with a new born in tow. He was so cute! He was just finding his feet with walking and barely able to keep up with the adults. I enjoyed this the most, as
Our van
Good with the pop up roof you can stick your head out. they are such magnificent silent creatures, effortlessly graceful for their enormous size.
Then amongst all the other amazing animals such as zebras, antelope, gazelle, hyenas, baboons, ostriches, storks and others we saw 8 young lion cubs with their two mothers. They were following the scent of the male lions that had passed earlier. We happened to be in the right area to view them and parked the van hoping they would pass by. You should have seen the chaos when all the other vans arrived! It was like the paparazzi chasing Brangelina! All the vans were overtaking each other and it was out of control. All in the chase for prime spot to watch these special animals. It’s weird how you have feelings of resentment when your alone enjoying watching something and all the other ‘tourists’ arrive. Imagine how the animals must feel with all us there!
Visiting a masai tribe village
One afternoon we visited a local masai tribe to learn a bit about their culture and support their local community. The masai tribes have always facinated me and it's quite something to be invited into their homes to see how they live and see them perform
their traditional dances. We probably spent about an hour there asking lots of questions and exchanging stories. They didn't really know where Australia was and were quite confused about that. We watched a demo of lighting the fire which almost failed, the poor guy was most embarrassed but pulled it off in the end. Of the visit, several interesting things stuck out in my mind. They don't use any western appliances, medicines or anything yet they did use padlocks on some of their huts to keep their belongings secure. They were obviously keen to sell us anythign they could so they could raise money to send the kids to the local school as all kenyans have to pay school fees. They even offered to sell us the tiny kitten that we found!
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Allan
non-member comment
Nothing can prepare you
Hi Jacquie and Richard. I am so glad you got to see some Africa and interested you too got bitten by the bug. Nothing can prepare you for the undeniable thrill of just being there let alone seeing the local inhabitants. Thanks for the reminder.