AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK

It was time to leave Ithumba and start the next section of our journey. It was also time to say farewell to Dixon and the DSWT. Dixon drove us out of Tsavo and north to Emali. Here our new driver, James, and his vehicle would take us back south to Amboseli and my appointment with the snowy peak of Kilimanjaro.

The roads are good, the vehicle – a Toyota 4x4 mini-van – is comfortable and spacious after the Land rover. James seems competent and we make swift progress to our destination for the next three nights – The Amboseli Sopa – just a few kilometres outside the park with allegedly magnificent views of the mountain.

We arrived before the evening rush – and it was indeed a rush every evening as guests typically staying for only one night hurried to check in or check out. The staff scrutinised our bookings with care and concluded that the chalets we had been assigned were not suitable. If we were staying for three nights, then we should be located much nearer to the main buildings. I do think that Fred and Elizabeth both being in their seventies had something to do with it as well.

The chalets were massive, comfortable and cool. I’d loved being in the tents at Ithumba, I now find that I always like a bathroom open to the sky, but it was nice to have a big comfortable bed and wrap-around mosquito nets.

We had time before dinner to wander around the grounds and look for birds, being delighted by the variety of little ones to be seen amongst the flowers and shrubs of the well-tended gardens. I found the pool and, standing at the southern end, caught my first glimpse of the summit of Kilimanjaro peeking out from the clouds and bathed in the pink light of the swiftly setting sun. It really was cloudy though and the summit soon disappeared into the descending cloud.

ELEPHANTS AND MOUNTAINS

The morning was clear, bright and warm. Our quick breakfast was overlooked by a Kilimanjaro clear from foot to summit with a dusting of fresh snow creating a white blanket on the top thousand metres or so. This is the view of the mountain that a visitor would hope to see, but one that is so often just not visible. The slopes just seem to go on and on, ever upward to the snow line and beyond.

By the time breakfast was over, James was ready for us and we set off for the park. If there is a complaint to be made in relation to the Amboseli Sopa, it is that it’s just a little far from the park and the road between the two was pretty bad. Still, 15km on a bumpy track sure does wake you up completely.

We were one of many vehicles heading into the park that morning. Amboseli is very busy at any time, most visitors only having half a day to tour the park and see the sights. The formalities of park entrance were sufficiently efficient to cope with the crowds and we were soon driving slowly along the main road into the heart of Amboseli, looking out for wildlife.

On our right there were areas of swamp and more green grass and trees than we had seen for the whole trip so far. On our left, the massive bulk of Kilimanjaro towers over the surrounding plains.

Fred, always the best spotter, sights a lone elephant coming out of the treeline below the mountain. As it walks generally in our direction, the rest of a family group appear, several females and their offspring moving in the same direction, line astern. It is quickly clear that they are going to cross the road some distance in front of us and are heading towards the other side of the road and the water available there.

We have the top open and are stood in the back of the van. Fred is at the back and I’m nearer to the front with Elizabeth in between us sitting down. “Tell James we want to be about 200m further forward!” Fred says to me. “They’ll cross up by that next truck ahead.”

I duck down and speak to James. “We need to be up by that other truck, maybe even just in front. I want the elephants to have to walk around us.”

James is a bit cautious. “I’m not sure we should get that close. Elephants are dangerous.”

It’s not his vehicle and I understand his caution, but this is a time to be firm. “We’ll take the risk,” I say firmly. “Just move slowly then stop in their path. They will go around us!” Reluctantly James started the engine and moved slowly forward. I guided him in to halt right where it looked like the elephants would cross the road and we waited.

By now there were about 20 elephants in the group, a long line stretching a couple of hundred metres back into the distance. Each mother had a youngster at her feet and there were clearly also some juveniles among them. By now there were probably about a dozen safari vehicles spread out along a 500 metre stretch of straight track, each with a sensible gap from themselves to the others. Our positioning, however, was perfect: made obvious by the first two elephants passing behind us and the rest slowly passing in front.

They came quite close and I could almost sense James radiating nervousness. At no time did they come that close though. They clearly found us in the way, but a subtle change of direction and they could move around us easily. Once more I found myself with the wrong lens. Expecting distant wildlife, I’d put the big 50-500mm zoom on the camera and left the wider lenses in the bag. I had them with me, but just didn’t have the time to change. All too quickly it became apparent that 50mm was just a touch too long for how close they were passing in front of me. I sort of struggled to frame shots with the summit and elephants nicely in view.

I’d suggested right from the start of the trip that all I wanted from a visit to Amboseli was a photo of an elephant with Kilimanjaro in the background and now I had dozens. Mission accomplished!

As we slowly moved further into the park, the opportunities to take photos of other animals with this spectacular backdrop came thick and fast. zebra, buffalo and then elephants with palm trees as a backdrop were all catalogued and recorded. The haze was building quickly though and soon the backdrop was a mountain fading quickly into the dust and heat.

The rest of the day was really fun. There were lots of animals, even a few lions, but nothing to stand out as spectacularly as our first elephant encounter had been. Amboseli has more-or-less permanent water. There are streams fed by springs on the flanks of Kilimanjaro that keep areas of open water and swamps that are filled with birds and mammals alike.

There were elephants swimming with pelicans, slaty egrets doing the fishing thing and even an ostrich trying to keep up with us as we drove along. We spent much of the day in the park, enjoying the real safari experience with the other visitors. Sometimes our trips are much more tightly focussed, but after the specialized nature of our time with the DSWT, now was a chance to get back to the exploration and variety that I love so much.

Dinner was good. We’d been served by Kevin at lunch outside the park, and he appeared as our waiter for the evening. At lunch he’d enticed Fred and I into having a second beer – well it was very hot in the noontime sun. There’d been a suggestion from him that he was quite a drinker, something soon put to bed by Annie, his boss, who suggested that this was very definitely not the case.

It’s nice to get on with the staff. Say hello, have a bit of banter, make a joke that’s universal enough to be understood – enjoy yourself. They seemed to still be coming to terms with the length of our stay. Happy to have us for long enough to get to know us, but just not used to seeing the same faces day after day.

Amboseli is firmly a part of the Kenya Circuit. People come for a week and must do The Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru, Samburu, Tsavo and Amboseli. Most visitors are on a tight timeline and cover vast distances very quickly. For most, one of these parks is a half-day visit or maybe a full day if they’re lucky. Many will come to Amboseli by driving in through the park at noon, stay for one night and then move on to the next destination in the morning.

Compared to how fortunate I am to have several days in each location, I’m sure this must be a draining experience and I would feel that it takes away from the enjoyment of what, for many people, is a once-in-a-lifetime trip. There was nothing more unsettling than to hear an arriving group ask if they could see Kilimanjaro. The clouds had built through the day and the peak was shrouded completely. To then see them loading their vehicle the following morning, still with the mountain shrouded in cloud and haze, was really rather saddening.