Towns and places. Updated November 2026. 4 min read.
Amboseli costs $90 per non-resident adult per day to enter and $45 per child at the time of writing, paid to the Kenya Wildlife Service through eCitizen. From Nairobi it is 4 to 5 hours by road or about 40 minutes to an hour by light aircraft from Wilson Airport. Those are the two numbers most people need; this page gives you the rest, gate by gate and route by route.
If you are on one of our safaris, the fees, the vehicle and the route are already in your quote, so read this to know what is happening rather than to do it yourself. If you are self-driving or comparing quotes, the details below are what to check. For the park itself, the elephants and when to go, see our Amboseli National Park page; for lodges, see where to stay in Amboseli.
Amboseli park fees
| Who | Per day | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Non-resident adult | $90 | Most U.S. visitors |
| Non-resident child | $45 | About half the adult rate |
| Kenyan citizens, East African citizens and residents | Lower rates in shillings | With valid ID; see our citizen park fees guide |
| Vehicle | About KSh 400 to KSh 5,000 | By vehicle size, per day; your operator pays it on a guided safari |
| Conservancy fees outside the park | Set by each conservancy | Usually inside the camp rate |
Two worked examples. A couple with two nights in Amboseli and two full days in the park pays 2 x $90 x 2 = $360 in park fees. A family of two adults and two children for the same two days pays $540. If you sleep in a conservancy camp outside the park and drive in, you pay the park fee only on the days you enter, plus the conservancy fee in your camp rate.
How to pay
KWS park fees are paid online through the official portal at kws.ecitizen.go.ke: create an eCitizen account with your passport details, choose Amboseli, your entry date, the number of days and each person's category, add the vehicle if you are driving yourself, then pay by card or M-Pesa and keep the receipt on your phone. Show it with your passport at the gate. Our park fees page walks through the steps and the common mistakes. Carry a backup card: connections at remote gates can fail.
The gates
| Gate | Side of the park | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Kimana | South-east | The Emali road via Kimana town, the Kimana conservancy camps, and the road to Tsavo West and the Chyulu Hills |
| Iremito | North-east | The Emali road arriving from the north |
| Meshanani | North-west | The Namanga road from Nairobi and Arusha |
| Kitirua | West | The camps on the western side, near the Tanzanian border |
| Airstrip | Inside the park | Fly-in guests met by their lodge vehicle |
Getting there
| From | Route | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| Nairobi, via Emali | Mombasa road to Emali, then the tarmac road toward Loitokitok to Kimana or Iremito gate | 4 to 5 hours; the smoother route |
| Nairobi, via Namanga | Namanga road to the Tanzanian border town, then gravel to Meshanani gate | 4 to 5 hours; the last stretch is rough and dusty |
| Nairobi Wilson, by air | Scheduled light aircraft to the Amboseli airstrip | About 40 minutes to an hour, depending on stops |
| The Maasai Mara | Fly back to Wilson and on to Amboseli | A half day with the connection |
| Tsavo West | Via the Chyulu road and Kimana | About 3 hours |
| Arusha, Tanzania | Road to Namanga, cross the border, then Meshanani gate | About 4 hours plus the border |
Flights to Amboseli use the soft-bag allowance of light aircraft, usually 15 kg per person including hand luggage; our safari flight luggage page explains it. The Mara has no regular direct flight to Amboseli, so the usual move is a morning flight to Wilson and an afternoon flight on, or a night in Nairobi between the two. Our Wilson Airport guide covers the connection.
Inside the park
- The tracks are dust and sand for most of the year, and the lake bed can be white with fine dust; bring a buff and a cloth for your camera
- After heavy rain, parts of the lake bed and swamp edges become impassable; your guide knows the dry routes
- Off-road driving is not allowed; the swamp edges are fragile
- There is no fuel inside the park: fill up at Emali, Kimana or Namanga
- Observation Hill is one of the few places you can get out of the vehicle
- Your ticket is for the days you paid; leaving and re-entering on another day needs another day's fee
Which way should you come?
On a road safari from Nairobi, we usually take the Emali road and enter at Kimana or Iremito: it is tarmac almost to the gate, and it lines up with the Chyulu Hills and Tsavo West for the next leg. Fly if you have two nights or fewer and want the time in the park rather than on the road, or if you are joining Amboseli to a Mara stay. If you are still choosing between Amboseli and Tsavo, our comparison guide is the place to start.
