Nairobi to Amboseli
Travel south from Nairobi to Amboseli and begin with an afternoon game drive in elephant country.
Nairobi → Athi Plains → Emali → Amboseli National Park gate, travelling south through Maasai community land with Kilimanjaro views.
Approx. 4–5 hours including scenic stops
Your Amboseli safari begins with an early morning departure from Nairobi. Your guide and safari vehicle will collect you from your hotel between 07:00 and 08:00, and you'll head south on the Mombasa Road before turning onto the A104, the main highway linking Nairobi to the Tanzania border. The landscape transforms rapidly as Nairobi's suburbs give way to Athi Plains, where the first free-roaming wildlife — zebra, gazelle and the occasional giraffe — can be spotted grazing close to the roadside. The route passes through Machakos and continues south toward Emali, where the vast, flat plains of the Amboseli ecosystem begin to open up ahead of you. On clear mornings — most common in the dry season from June to October and again in January–February — you will have your first unobstructed view of Mount Kilimanjaro from the road, its snow-capped summit rising 5,895 metres above the surrounding savannah in one of Africa's most iconic vistas. The final stretch of road runs through Maasai community land, where red-robed herders drive cattle across the road and traditional manyatta (homesteads) dot the landscape. You'll arrive at the Amboseli National Park gate by mid-morning to early afternoon, and your guide will enter the park immediately for a game drive en route to the lodge. The swamp areas near Enkongo Narok and Ol Tukai are always productive — elephant family groups bathe and feed in the papyrus marshes with Kilimanjaro as a backdrop, creating one of the most photographed scenes on the entire continent.
After checking in and enjoying lunch at the lodge, your afternoon game drive sets out at around 15:00. Amboseli's open, short-grass plains provide exceptional visibility — ideal for Big Five spotting and photography. The park is particularly famous for its enormous elephant herds; some bulls carry tusks so large they nearly touch the ground. Lion prides rest in the shade of yellow fever trees near the swamps, and cheetah are regularly seen on the open plains south of the main road. Buffalo herds, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and hyena complete the afternoon cast. The combination of wildlife and Kilimanjaro's changing light as the afternoon progresses creates photography opportunities that few parks in Africa can match.
Return to the lodge at dusk as Kilimanjaro's summit catches the last pink light of day. Sundowners on the terrace or around the fire pit, followed by a three-course dinner. The night skies above Amboseli are spectacular — far from any major light pollution, the Milky Way stretches overhead in a vivid arc.
