Amboseli & Tsavo

Parks & Reserves

Elephants beneath Kilimanjaro.

Amboseli is the picture everyone carries of Africa: big-tusked elephants walking across dust and marsh with the snows of Kilimanjaro behind them. Next door, Tsavo East and West make up Kenya's largest wilderness, red-earthed, lava-scarred and vast.

Elephant herds with Kilimanjaro behind them
Mzima Springs underwater hide
Chyulu Hills lodges and walking
Red elephants of Tsavo East
Easy combination with the coast

Amboseli & Tsavo: at a glance

Best time: June to October and January to February for dry days and clear views of the mountain.
Wildlife: Big-tusked elephant herds under Kilimanjaro in Amboseli; red-dusted elephants, lions and lesser kudu across Tsavo East and West.
Weather: Hot and dry most of the year, cooler June to October. Kilimanjaro is clearest early morning; rains April to May and November.
Park fees: Amboseli, Tsavo East and Tsavo West are national parks; entry is set by the Kenya Wildlife Service and charged per day. We list every fee on its own line in your quote. Kenya Wildlife Service
Safety: Game drives are with a licensed guide and you stay inside the vehicle except at marked sites. Petty crime is the main risk in towns. U.S. State Department: Kenya
Malaria: Present. The CDC lists malaria in all areas below about 2,500 m, game parks included. Ask a travel clinic about tablets. CDC Travelers' Health: Kenya

A herd of elephants crosses a dirt road under a wide Kenyan sky

Amboseli & Tsavo

Experience: Leisure & Safari.

See Leisure & Safari

A big tusker elephant on the Amboseli plains

Two red-dusted Tsavo elephants splashing in a waterhole

Two red-dusted elephants sparring with their tusks

Lions walking below Kilimanjaro in Amboseli

A herd of red elephants at a Tsavo waterhole

Amboseli's elephants

Some of Africa's last great tuskers live here, studied continuously for fifty years. The swamps draw them into the open every day, and the mountain shows itself most reliably at dawn and dusk.

Tsavo

Tsavo East's red elephants, the Yatta Plateau and the Galana River; Tsavo West's Mzima Springs, where hippos can be watched from an underwater hide, and the Shetani lava flows. Together they cover an area the size of Wales.

The Chyulu Hills

Green volcanic hills between the two parks, with cloud forest, lava tubes and some of Kenya's finest lodges, run with the Maasai communities who own the land.

Getting there

Four hours by road from Nairobi or a 40-minute flight; Tsavo sits on the Nairobi–Mombasa road and railway.

Good to know

Best timeJune to October and January to February for dry days and clear views of the mountain.
Getting thereFour hours by road from Nairobi or a 40-minute flight; Tsavo sits on the Nairobi–Mombasa road and railway.
ExperiencesLeisure & Safari, Conferences & Incentives.
ItinerariesGreat Migration Grand Safari (7 days); Bush & Beach (10 days).