What animals can I see on a safari in Amboseli National Park?

What animals can I see on a safari in Amboseli National Park? Amboseli National Park is the second most visited national park in Kenya and is home to over 50 animal species found in different corners of the park. It is home to carnivores and herbivores and with the help of an experienced guide, tourists get to see most of the animals found in Amboseli. The best way to see the animals is through a game drive that can be arranged through a trusted tour operator like Encounter Africa Safaris.

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Two game drives are offered per day in Amboseli one in the morning and the other late afternoon after lunch. You can, however, decide to have a full-day game drive where you have a packed lunch and spend the whole day driving around Amboseli National Park in search of animals and other wildlife species. Amboseli National Park is home to a variety of animals and some of these include:

The big five

The big five are some of the famous animals that tourists get to see on a visit to Amboseli National Park and these are lions, leopards, elephants, buffaloes and rhinos. Amboseli National Park has only four of the big five because there are no rhinos that have become extinct from the park due to constant poaching. Other available members of the

Elephants: Elephants are part of the big five in Amboseli National Park and the most populated animals in the park. Amboseli National Park has the largest elephant population in Kenya, amounting to over 1600 elephants, the main reason why it was declared a UNESCO Heritage site. The elephants in Amboseli National Park are studied for research purposes not only in Kenya, but the entire world, and there were several documentaries on BBC about these elephants, one of which was The Echo the Unforgettable Elephant. Echo was a popular elephant in Amboseli who became a matriarch for her family at 23 years old and was studied by researchers. Echo died in 2009 but is still remembered by conservationists in the national park.

Elephants have a long gestation period of 640 to 660 days giving birth to a calf weighing almost 120kgs. Elephants in Amboseli National Park are divided into 58 families and these include about 300 independent adult male elephants. The elephant families are led by fully adult females.

The elephant population in Amboseli has been on a steady rise, but natural calamities like long droughts have brought about their decrease. A game drive around Amboseli National Park will allow you to spot large crowds of elephants in their natural habitat.

Leopards: These are the most rare and trickiest animals to spot in Amboseli National Park. They are extremely dangerous, shy and, in most cases, spend their time on trees. Leopards are tricky to spot and can best be seen when they are hunting and given the fact that they are lonely/solo animals and meet up with the opposite sex only during the mating season. They have stripes on their bodies; their front legs are more built as compared to the cheetahs, helping them carry their prey even when it’s double the size of the leopards. The best time to spot the leopards is during the dry season but you will need an experienced guide to be able to spot one.

Buffaloes: These are part of the big five that are found in Amboseli and can be spotted along the banks of Lake Amboseli during the dry season and in water pools where many wildlife species can be spotted cooling off. Buffaloes are known to be one of the most dangerous animals, graze in herds and are led by a male buffalo. Although they take long to charge, they are extremely deadly and you don’t need to confront any of them.

Lions: Also known as Simba, lions are part of the big five and part of the animal species that can easily be spotted in Amboseli National Park. Amboseli has over 100 lions and these are best seen in the mornings and evenings along the roads and water holes in the national park. Amboseli is a small park making it easy to spot the lions that rest for longer hours after hunting and eating their prey. Lions always hunt in groups, and the hunting is led by the female lions, whereas the male lions wait for the prey after some time.

Herbivores

Some of the herbivores that are found in Amboseli National Park include:

Antelopes: These are beauties found in the national park, and they usually come in different species, including Dik-Dik, Klipspringer and Oribis. They are fast animals and belong to the Bovidae family. Antelopes have four stomachs, ruminants in nature and some of the most popular animal species to spot during your safari.

Wildebeests: These are also known as the gnu and belong to the antelope family best known for their curving horns and box-like heads. The eastern bearded wildebeest is most common in Amboseli and is characterized by slender, spindly legs with a front body that is heavily built. Wildebeests are social animals and move in large crowds especially when searching for food and water. The population of the wildebeest is not in any danger and they can be seen moving from one place to the next with a change in the weather conditions causing the popular annual wildebeest migration.

Gazelles: Gazelles are part of the antelope family characterized by long horns and legs. There are two types of gazelles. One of these is Grant’s gazelle, which is a large pale antelope with long legs and horns. They have a white shape, rectangular in nature, on their hindquarters and a black stripe along their thighs. The Thomson gazelles have a more pronounced white as compared to Grant’s gazelle and are locally known as the Swala grant in Swahili.

Dik-Dik: these are tiny antelopes that have varying colours depending on the habitat they are living in, although most of them are yellowish-grey, greyish-white and reddish-brown. They are known as Dik-Dik because of the noise that the females make when they feel threatened. They can easily be identified by their long snouts, and dark eyes surrounded by a white thin colour and the males have ringed horns and snouts that are covered with

Porcupines: Porcupines are the heaviest and largest African rodents with a blunt muzzle, small ears and eyes. They are nocturnal animals that are extremely shy and can best be seen during the night. When threatened, it stands up, and the quills in its back stand up, making it look larger than usual,l, effectively helping it ward off unwanted visitors. Porcupines weigh about 20kgs and grow a meter long.

The big nine

When we talk about the big nine, these include both the big five, and we add the other popular four animals that are sought after on an Amboseli safari, and these include cheetahs, hippos, giraffes and zebras.

Hippos: Hippos are water animals that can stay underwater for over 6 minutes without breathing and resurfacing and are best spotted along the Amboseli Lake. These are the largest animal species after elephants and a fun fact about them is that even though they are mainly in water, they cannot swim and float but just bounce at the bottom of the water bodies they are in. Spotting hippos while on a wildlife safari to Amboseli is a must and the best time is during the dry season.

Giraffes: These are Rothschild giraffes and can only be seen in Kenya and Uganda. The Rothschild giraffes are different from other giraffe species, and what differentiates them are the darker spots,s, which are less defined on their bodies, and they also lack spots on their legs. The male and female herds move separately and the only time you find them fighting is when one wants to gain dominance and access to the female species.

Zebras: These are common in Amboseli and there are more than 100 moving in herds. The zebras are, in most cases, seen in herds, and when you look at them closely, you will notice that although all zebras have stripes, each one of them has a unique pattern. Sights of zebras in the park are guaranteed both in the dry and wet seasons, especially in the open grasslands.

Cheetahs: Cheetahs, best known for their speed, are some of the most popular animals to look out for in Amboseli but note that they are not easily spotted and are extremely rare. Although they have a similar appearance like leopards, a cheetah’s body is longer and lighter making it easy to run over 110km per hour. They hunt in the open in groups of four to five, have a slightly bowed back, weigh 40 to 60kgs and have an upper jaw, and face. Facesetahs are worth the visit espe, especially during the hunting period.

Carnivores

Hyenas: There are two types of hyenas that can be spotted in Amboseli and these are the striped and spotted hyenas. In spotted hyenas, the female is dominant over the male and also weighs more. They can be spotted in the grasslands and mountainous regions. Hyenas are known to be natural

Crocodiles:  The Nile crocodiles are widely distributed in Amboseli National Park, spotted in and around Lake Amboseli. They are the largest freshwater carnivorous animals and they are known to have unpredictable and sudden attacks.

Jackals: The black-backed jackals are common in Amboseli and these omnivorous animals prefer the open green savannah grasslands. They are part of the dog family and are identified by the rusty red coat with black patches on the back and the tipped tail. The black jackals are not on the IUCN list but are under threat from farmers who usually kill them to be able to protect their livestock.

Common dwarf mongoose: The common dwarf mongoose is a carnivorous animal species that is usually found in the open grasslands living at an altitude of about 2000m. There are two species of dwarf mongoose, and these are the common dwarf and the desert dwarf and; cheese is characterized by a bort and pointed nuzzle flu and y tail and, they come in colorcoloursrgreyckled brown and reddish. They are scientifically known as Helogale Parvula, weigh over 275 grams and are 20 to 30 centicentimetres. Common dwarf mongoose are believed to live up to 10 years, they live in forests, open grasslands, rock outcroppings, semi-arid areas and any other areas that are infested with termites.

There are several activities that are carried out in Amboseli National Park and these include wildlife viewing which is carried out in well-maintained safari vehicles and this is the best way to watch the animal species in the park, bird watching which is best carried out during the wet season, guided nature walks, cultural trips and many more others.

The best time to go to Amboseli for a safari

Amboseli National Park animals can be seen all year round; however, the best time is during the dry season. The reason why the dry season is the best time is because the grass has evenly thinned out, and the hot weather makes it easy to spot because the animals gather around the different watering holes around the park to cool off. The roads through the park are also easily accessible during the dry season, but you need to know that there are large crowds during the dry season, which is experienced from June to September and December to February. The wet season is a good time to go to Amboseli, although there will be few animals to spot. During this period, you will be able to witness the birthing season, the calves as they learn to navigate the park and predators hunting them down.

Amboseli National Park is not as crowded as Masai Mara making it a good destination for animal viewing for tourists who wish to run away from the large crowds. Contact us for more information about the animal species in Amboseli National Park and let us help you organize a fulfilled safari to Amboseli National Park via email.