Amboseli National Park, formerly Maasai Amboseli Game
Reserve, is in Kajiado County, Kenya. The park is 39,206 hectares
(392 km2;
151 sq mi) in size at the core of an 8,000 square kilometres
(3,100 sq mi) ecosystem that spreads across the Kenya-Tanzania border. The local people are
mainly Maasai, but people from other parts of the country have settled
there attracted by the successful tourist-driven economy and intensive
agriculture along the system of swamps that makes this low-rainfall area
(average 350 mm (14 in)) one of the best wildlife-viewing experiences
in the world with 400 species of birds including water birds, pelicans,
kingfishers, crakes, hammerkops and 47 types of raptor.
The park protects two of the five main
swamps, and includes a dried-up Pleistocene lake and semi-arid vegetation.
240 kilometers (150 miles) southeast
from the capital city Nairobi, Amboseli National Park is the second
most popular national park in Kenya after Maasai
Mara National Reserve.
History
In 1883, Joseph Thompson was the first European to penetrate the feared Maasai
region known as Empusel (meaning
'salty, dusty place' in Maa). He, too,
was astonished by the fantastic array of wildlife and the contrast between the
arid areas of the dry-lake bed and the oasis of the swamps, a contrast that
persists today.
Amboseli was set aside as the 'Southern
Reserve' for Maasai in 1906 but returned to local control as a Game Reserve in
1948. Gazetted a National Park in 1974 to protect the core of this unique
ecosystem, it was declared a UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve in 1991. The park earned $3.5 m (€2.9 m) in 2005. On 29
September 2005, Kenyan President Mwai
Kibakideclared that
control of the park should pass from the Kenya Wildlife Service to the Olkejuado County Council and the Maasai tribe. Some observers saw
this as a political favour in advance of a vote on a new Kenyan constitution:
legal challenges are currently in court. The degazetting would divert park
admission fees directly to the County Council with shared benefits to the
Maasai immediately surrounding the park.
Animals
The park is famous for being the best
place in the world to get close to free-ranging elephants. Other
attractions of the park include opportunities to meet Maasai and visit a Maasai
village. The park also offers spectacular views of Mount Kilimanjaro,
the highest free-standing mountain in the world.
Amboseli was home to Echo,perhaps the most researched
elephant in the world, and the subject of many books and documentaries,,
followed for almost four decades by American conservationist Dr Cynthia Moss.
Echo died in 2009 in her sixties.
Amboseli offers some of the best
opportunities to see African wildlife because the vegetation is sparse due to
the long dry months. Amboseli National Park is home to many species,
including elephants, Cape buffaloes, impala, Masai
lions, cheetahs, spotted hyenas, Masai giraffes, plains
zebras and blue wildebeest among
other African animals. There is also a host of Kenyan birds, both large and
small.
The park has several rules to protect the wildlife: to
never getting out of the vehicle, except at designated spots; to not harass the
animals in any way; keep to the tracks; no off-road driving; and animals always
have the right of way. The roads in Amboseli have a loose surface of volcanic
soil that is dusty in the dry season and impassable in the wet season.