Amboseli National Park, Kenya: photos, history, features

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

This protected area is one of the most popular places in Kenya. It is famous for the elephants living in it, the number of which is 650 individuals. There are also huge herds of impalas and zebras. There are also cheetahs and endangered black rhinos.

The magnificent backdrop of the reserve is the peak of Kilimanjaro majestically towering above the clouds, located forty kilometers from the national park.

The article presents a short story about Kenya's Amboseli National Park.

General information about Kenya

Kenya is a country located in East Africa. Almost everything that exists in the entire continent is collected here: mountain peaks, lakes, rivers, deep, with waterfalls, vast savannahs with an abundance of animals, forests and unique tribes.

In order to get to know this amazing country better, you should go to the Amboseli National Park. Where is he?It is located in the province of the Rift Valley (the so-called Rift Valley), located in the southeast of the state. The area of the reserve is 392 sq. km. Near it is the border with Tanzania. Many tourist routes in their program include a visit to Amboseli, located 240 kilometers southeast of the capital of Kenya - Nairobi.

History of the creation of the park

The first European who ended up in the region of the Maasai tribe was Joseph Thomson (famous English physicist). It happened in 1883. He was struck by the multitude of wild animals and the contrast between the swamp oasis and the dry lake regions. A similar picture has survived to this day.

The Amboseli National Park in Africa was created in 1906 as the "Southern Reservation" for the unique Maasai tribe, but already in 1948 the area was taken over by the local authorities and became a hunting reserve. In order to protect the unique system, in 1974 this area was officially approved as a national park, and in 1991, the UNESCO institution awarded it the status of a biosphere reserve. It was announced by the President of Kenya in 2005 that the management of the natural park should be transferred to the Maasai tribe and the Olkejuado County Council.

Location

As noted above, the location of the Amboseli National Park is the southeast of Kenya, where the Loitokitok region is located. The territory of the park is located in the heart of the ecosystem that crosses the border of two African states: Kenya and Tanzania.

The park is located 240 kilometers in the southeastdirection from Nairobi. Amboseli, along with Lake Nakuru and another reserve - Masai Mara - is the most visited natural spot by tourists in Kenya.

Description of the reserve

Established in 1974 as an international biosphere reserve, Amboseli National Park spans 392 sq. km, but despite its not very large size, a variety of mammals perfectly coexist in it. There are more than fifty varieties of large animals and a huge variety of birds.

Stunning in its beauty, landscapes and a rather mystical atmosphere of the majestic mountain impress absolutely everyone. And it is not surprising that the action in the famous novels of Robert Ruark and Ernst Hemingway takes place precisely on the territory of Amboseli.

Features of nature

Amboseli National Park is unique. Volcanic ash from the most recent eruption of Mount Kilimanjaro, which occurred thousands of years ago, has spread throughout the reserve. The soil of the plains, which is a product of volcanic emissions, is unusually fertile, thanks to which a particularly nutritious grass grows here, capable of feeding a large number of herbivores. Thanks to the activities of Kilimanjaro, the fauna is abundant in the reserve. Bright green meadows are also created thanks to the constant supply of water from melting mountain snows and underground streams. Due to the presence of a large number of various sources, bogs and marshes, the parkis a real paradise for animals.

There is a unique dry lake here. During the heat above it you can see amazing mirages. From the observation hill, amazing landscapes of the surroundings open up to the eye.

One of the main natural features of the park is that it is from the territory of the Amboseli National Park that a stunning view of the highest peak of Africa - Kilimanjaro opens up, although it is located on the territory of the state of Tanzania. Thanks to this fact, the reserve is one of the most popular in Kenya.

Fauna

The Amboseli National Park is rich in animals, of which there are over 80 varieties. Birds are represented by 400 species.

In Amboseli Park you can get as close as possible to the elephants grazing in the meadows. In addition to these giants, rhinos, buffaloes, giraffes, wildebeest and impala, zebras, Thompson and Grant's gazelles, hyenas, lions, cheetahs and many other animals live here.

In conclusion

In addition to the richness of the exotic wildlife of the national park, Amboseli attracts tourists and the Maasai people. They are a legendary tribe of semi-nomadic indigenous Africans living in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania.

The population of this tribe, according to approximate data, is about one million people (none of its representatives has neither a passport norsome other document). These slender and tall people engaged in cattle breeding are also famous all over the world for the fact that they do not eat the meat of their cows, but only consume their milk, seasoned with blood obtained from the animal's jugular vein.