Don’t miss the boat and start today!

Web 2.0

Not so long ago I made a remark on Facebook: ‘Johan Knols is wondering why not more safari companies embrace social media’.
I received one comment from someone (thanks Kevin!) who is very active with social media and worked in the safari industry before. His answer was: ‘ I also don’t understand’.

The times, that having a website was sophisticated, are over.
We are living in a new era, that of Web 2.0. I am sure that you have heard about ‘Web 2.0’, but do you really know what it means?
In short it means that nowadays we have the technology to communicate with each other online. It is not about the website visitor only being a consumer of your website information, it is about getting engaged (online) with those that are looking for information that you might provide. It is about bringing your message (product) to those who might be interested in doing a safari and interact with them – and hopefully make a sale afterwards.

Getting started

The easy way:

1. Create a facebook ‘page’ for your company.
   This is not the same as your profile! On the page you can let your followers know about ‘deals’, ‘specials’, or general product info. You can make some videos and post them here or relate the latest news about your company.
2. Create a Twitter account for your company.
   If you haven’t heard about Twitter you have been in the bush far too long. Get involved in this 140-caraters-per-message application and let your followers know what you are up to. You can even use Twitter as a search engine. Type in ‘african safari’ or ‘Kenya or anything related to your business and view who is talking in the world about these words. Get in touch with these people and answer their questions. It is fun and costs, apart from your time, absolutely nothing.
   Tip: It is possible to link your FaceBook and Twitter account so that you only have to send your messages once!
3. Search on the web for forums that are dealing with your business. One big forum in the safari business is ‘Safaritalk’. Get involved with the communities and see what is being discussed. When you deliver useful information you will gain credibility and trust. Wouldn’t you want to go on safari with a company that knows what they are talking about?
4. Create a Trip-advisor account.

The difficult way:

1. Create a blog.
   A blog is like a journal, a web-log (like the site that you are on now!). Instead of the short messages that are so typical for FaceBook and Twitter, you create longer blogposts. These blogposts (or articles) can contain stories from the bush, they can contain videos or podcasts (recorded messages that your visitors can listen to) or they contain those awesome shots you recently made during one of your safaris.

   Without going into details about why blogging is a great way of internet marketing, I can tell you one thing, search engines (like Google) love blogs. The more content appears on your blog, the better your company will get found on the web. And isn’t this something we all want?
   Blog-templates are for free, unless you want more sophisticated ones which you have to pay for. Here are some links that can help you getting started:
   - Blogger, – Wordpress.
   If you decide that blogging is something for you and your company and you need advice from an expert, go to the website of ProBlogger and see what Darren Rowse can teach you.

Time, time, time….

The oldfashioned marketing manager is out of the door. A new generation of Web 2.0 managers is taking over. The beauty of it all is that, with all the free online tools that are available, you can become your own marketing manager, for FREE!
But mind you: Being active on the social media sites can be distractive and (very) time consuming. Let alone if you have to write articles for your blog. Yet, in is fun, you make new ‘friends’ and it challenges the mind about how to best promote your company. Don’t expect your internet marketing to skyrocket your safari business soon, it takes (depending on your activities) quite some time. But if you start today, you will avoid your website from sliding down to page 23.754 on Google.

Good luck! Oh….and when you want to make your first steps with Web2.0, then click on the facebook logo at the top of this article. Thanks!

Stats of PlanYourSafari on Google (from 2 feb.2009 till 3 sept.2010) :

Sometimes people don’t stop to amaze me. Especially the ones in the below video.

The video was shot on the Xakanaxa public campsite in Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana and shows a bunch of happy campers playing with their lives.

A few things you should pay attention to while watching:

1. Nothing gets done to prevent the elephant from entering the campsite.
2. The guy in the white T-shirt with the attitude of the biggest-white-hunter- ever-having- lived-on-the-African-continent, seems to be fed up with his life or otherwise with his wife. The elephant (although not aggressive in his behavior) could have squashed him like an over-ripe tomato.
3. Nobody is really surprised when the bull elephant bends over the ‘white hunter’, but when the elephant decides to go for the apples in the tent, all hell breaks loose.
4. To make matters worse, one of the campers rolls an apple towards the elephant. It is like giving the elephant a reward for causing havoc. By the way, feeding animals is prohibited in all national parks of Africa. I warned you!

The consequences of behavior like this:

1. Allowing animals to enter a campsite creates problems. Not only with regards to the eminent dangers for people and the possible destruction of equipment, but also for the animal that eventually will have to be shot by the wildlife department, as it gets too used to humans.
2. How do you think the people in the game drive vehicles that chased the elephant, felt?Due to the stupidity of others they have to witness how their guides have to chase an elephant.  I am sure that this is the last thing they had in mind when traveling to Africa.

In the past I have written an article about how to prevent your campsite from being wrecked. Obviously the people in the video have never read it.

Never repeat what you see in this video!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKc_34AYwMY

This article is co-authored by Simon Blackburn of  Three Tree Hill Lodge and Kevin Leo-Smith.

A new approach

We need a radical new approach -- and you particularly may not like my idea, as it goes against the grain of what you have been preaching or believe in -- BUT for a moment agree with me that the conventional approaches are clearly not working and there is no argument about this -- and our, the Western bunny-hugging, conservation attitudes ARE BUSY pushing the Rhino towards extinction.

BUT, for a moment let’s forget about rhino’s, or elephants, or even Africa for that matter.

Imagine that (for want of a better example) citrus trees were endangered. And despite scientific proof to the contrary there are still lots of people like you and I that wrongly believe that large doses of vitamin C can stave off colds and flu. So vitamin C (in this hypothetical situation) is very expensive and its trade has been curtailed or even banned in some countries. Now this skyrocketing price causes illegal harvesting of the trees which are processed in large vats and their vitamin C is extracted. As a result the tree numbers are dwindling and soon will be extinct. A few astute businessmen know this and are paying silly prices and are hoarding vitamin C because as soon as the trees are extinct they will be sitting on a gold mine. Yet we have a few conservation organisations that have collected lots of vitamin C in strong-rooms but keep it locked up because a Rich-country dominated organisation (them having squandered all their trees decades ago) have deemed illegal trade illegal. All because a some people wrongly believe that large doses of vitamin C will stave off colds and flu

Ignoring the West

We need a multi-pronged approach to solve this problem and we need to ignore the west and come up with an African solution:

Anti poaching -- the problem with this is, as long as there are poor people in Africa there will be both an incentive and avenues for both subsistence and commercial poaching -- rather like the poor fellow stealing a rabbit to feed his family and ending up banished to Australia -- it’s a survival instinct combined with the opportunistic predatory human nature.
Shooting poor people (as advocated by many of the white’s on the internet) who are poaching rhino horns for a few thousand Rands will only turn the poor masses against conservation and against those who are trying to protect wild animals -- “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUR RHINOS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN POOR AFRICANS -- KILL THEM ALL!!”

Rather give them a TANGIBLE benefit that is of a higher and more sustainable value! Also -- just think of the logistics and costs involved in protecting 20,000 rhino’s in South Africa. This will cost billions -- not just millions! (BTW do the math: the poachers have harvested much less than 25% of the rhino’s annual population growth to date! Note, approx 21,000 rhino -- both black and white -- in South Africa in 2009 growing at 5% pa before poaching -- approx 1,050 increase pa. Poaching is heading towards 200-250 this year, so poaching (upper end) is 1.2% of the population or 24% of annual increment). Summary: Anti-poaching as a sole solution will only keep the bunny huggers happy and stands a good chance of driving the animals towards extinction at a faster rate as it will simultaneously drive up horn values as populations begin to decline.

Education -- yes -- both at source and destination. Now this is something we can work with -- and it worked in Yemen during their oil boom but remember you are talking about people’s health -- a commodity more valued by people than anything else, so this will not be an easy option -- it will be time consuming and costly both in monetary terms and resources. but IT IS THE BEST LONG TERM SOLUTION. But what happens if we don’t have a long term -- as in the case of the African rhino species.

The driving force behind this acceleration in destruction is purely dollars, a high value at retail ( street level) and the fact that it is perceived to be a finite resource.

The same argument can be applied to the trade in illegal drugs -- look at what is happening today in Mexico and with the S. American drug cartels. Look at what happened during Christian fundamentalism-driven Prohibition in the 1920’s in the USA -- lots of people died and Bugsy Malone and Al Capone made millions -- and people still got drunk! Even look at the problem with Abalone poaching in South Africa -- a state owned resource!

From cradle to grave

If we could bring that price down and legalise the trade we can control it from cradle to grave.

We are sitting on a sustainable harvestable resource, with many millions in value in protected vaults and on live animals. The government of South Africa can easily lay claim to all rhino horns (both live and dead).
For once let’s put our emotions aside and realise that as a short term solution we NEED to tamper with the price mechanism wherever the horns are being sold. And in the process tell CITES to get lost -- they have not saved anything and dictate to Africa generally (like the West) in a most patronising manner. And, as we’re doing this, let’s use the bulk of our resources, both money and manpower for education through massive marketing and advertising schemes -- use Asian celebrities if we need to and SHRINK the demand this way by applying a levy on sales (example cigarette sales paying for health warnings).

Do what you did and you get what you got

If you don’t change anything, then nothing changes. Madness can be defined as -- doing the same thing and expecting the result to change. For close to 100 years we have tried to stop poaching -- it did not work when Africa had 500 million people, why will it work now when it has close to 1 billion people.
Facts are facts -- Asian buyers are prepared to pay R19,000/kg for horn, hundreds of millions of Africans are starving -- sounds like selling horn legally is the closest thing we have to a logical solution -- irrespective of your emotional perspective. The trend is not in favour of more conventional logic (kill the poacher) being applied. It is not an accident that South Africa has the most rhinos, the solution in South Africa has been private ownership and almost free trade in rhino within the country.
Now let’s extend the ONLY example of an increasing and financially valuable rhino population to global thinking. Quick and dirty estimates would value the rhino herd in South Africa at R2.1 to 2.5 billion. What is the real provable value of a live rhino in Kenya -- you can’t tell me, neither can their neighbours -- but the poacher can tell you its value -- DEAD. This is not a difficult concept.

The situation is just like during the prohibition -- where the foxes (mafia et al) wanted to guard the chickens (alcohol) -- lets recognise the illegal traders also like CITES … more than you do … and want to continue guarding the chickens (horn trade). These foxes for illegal animal products are mid- and some upper level officials in governments and conservation agencies, including customs and police officials with their criminal compatriots.

From Johan Knols (administrator):

I have added the below video to show that a lot of people are involved in the protection of the rhino,abeit each person in his own way. Here is a guy who is really desperate and has different ideas than the authors of the above article.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIYtnw6klM0

The main attraction for making a safari is most likely to see wildlife. And since we can’t all allow expensive (zoom) lenses, it can be thrilling to see animals up close and be able to make that great shot. Yet, sometimes encounters can be really close, for some maybe too close..

I have collected videos from YouTube, all made by safari tourists, that show you how close wildlife can get. There are many more videos online than the ones I show you, but I have limited myself to close encounters with the Big Five.

All of the guides in the videos act responsible, apart from the guide in the video with the male lion. Personally I would have advised my guests not to hang limbs out of the vehicle, something that the guide in question thought differently about. But what they all realize well is the fact that when wildlife approaches your vehicle out of free will, it hardly has bad intentions.

Cape Buffalo in Kariega Game Reserve (South Africa)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl8MABHXBz4

Elephant at Shamwari Game Reserve (South Africa)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tODRMcc-pGc

Lion In Masai Mara (Kenya)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmdvaiSeqx0

Leopard at Leopard Hills ( South Africa)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7TvhwIuHCU

Rhino at Kruger National Park (South Africa)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHJ4OcvyWNk

Let these videos not scare you. When you make a trip with your own guide you are generally in safe hands. When you decide to make a safari with your own (rental) vehicle, I leave it up to you how close you get. Staying put is often the best way to avoid a trip to the panel beaters.

Happy safari!

Choosing the right type of vacation can be a daunting experience. You want to make sure that your hard earned money and well deserved time off work is invested in the perfect break. With so many different types of  holidays varieties and destinations on offer, it also hard to narrow down where to go and what to do. So, let me help you out and give you an insight to a great overall vacation, a Tanzania safari.

The country of Tanzania, located in central East Africa, beholds a magical mixture of scenery, nature and wildlife. There is so much to see and do there, that it is a destination that appeals to many groups of different people seeking their own individual adventures, such as: backpackers, families, honeymoon couples, hikers and mountain climbers, mountain bike and motor bikers, wildlife and nature enthusiasts and photographers.

Some of the destinations you may want to add to your Tanzania safari itinerary may include the Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengeti and Selous – And here’s why:

Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area
This World Heritage Site is simply one of the most amazing places on earth! The crater is formed from a volcano which collapsed over 2 million years ago and features walls that are around two thousand feet high. You can take walking safaris, or stay in accommodation that is situated on the rim of the crater, which gives amazing panoramic views – many people describe it as being “larger than the eye can see”. The wildlife inside the crater itself includes the ‘Big Five’ (Black Rhino, Cape Buffalo, Elephant, Masai Lion and Leopard) as well as Hippo, Eland, Hyena and Plains Zebra. You may even spot a Black Kite soaring in search of fresh prey.

Serengeti National Park
One of the greatest natural wonders of the world is said to be the annual ‘Great Migration’ which sees over 1 million wildebeest, zebra and gazelle make their clockwork journey from the Serengeti, to the Masai Mara and back again. This makes the Serengeti such a special park to visit whilst the migration is there, as you can see sights such as the mass birthing of  around half a million wildebeest calf, and the picking off of weaker herd members by predators such as Lion, Cheetah and Crocodile.

Selous Game Reserve
Over four times the size of the Serengeti is Selous. It is the largest Reserve of its kind in the world, covering a ground of around 50,000 square Kilometres and is packed full of wildlife to fill its large land mass. The types of animals you can expect to see whilst there can include Lion, African Hunting Dog, Grater Kudu, Elephant, Sable, Masai Giraffe and Warthog. You can also take a boating safari out on the Rufiji river – which flows through the park and into the Indian Ocean, where you can spot Crocodile and Hippo, as well as many birds that fish in the River such as Fish Eagle and Malachite Kingfisher.

If you are interested in a Tanzania safari, then get in touch with East African tour expert Ziara Safaris for a comprehensive quote. Ziara offer private vehicle safaris through the National Parks and Game Reserves mentioned in this article – and many other destinations.

If you have booked, or are in the process of booking a Kenya safari then you are probably getting worked up about what you need to do to prepare for your adventure vacation. But worry not, we have categorised some essential preparation methods to help you out!

Visa
Ensure that you have a valid passport with sufficient blank pages for your visa stamp. If there is no space to add your visa to your passport then you may be refused entry. It is essential to bring the correct amount of money to pay for your visa which costs $25, £20 or €20.  And last but not least, bring a pen to fill in your visa forms with! (…Yes, I am being serious!)

Vaccinations
The only vaccination that is required to enter Kenya is Yellow Fever, you may even be asked to provide your Yellow fever certificate at the border to prove you have received the vaccination. Many others also receive both Hepatitis A and B, Typhoid, Meningococcal Meningitis and Rabies.
NB: It is best to consult  your doctor about required vaccinations before visiting Africa, the mentioned vaccinations are merely a guideline that we have been recommended.

Packing
First of all, it is good to make sure that you have all of your health essentials packed, this can include a first aid kit, anti-malarial tablets, antiseptic wipes, SPF 40+sun cream, sun block and mosquito repellent.

Next on my list is always clothing, ensure to bring a variety of beige khaki clothing, as they do not attract biting insects such as tsetse flies like brighter clothing does. A fleece will also come in useful for evenings and early morning game drives. You should also bring a wide-brimmed safari hat and pair of UV protected sunglasses to shelter your upper region from the strong African sun.

Miscellaneous items such as destination and wildlife books, cameras and spare batteries/memory and a pair of binoculars also always help to get the most of your safari experience.

I think that is all for now! If you have yet to book your safari, then consider looking at the itineraries offered by Ziara Safaris. Ziara offer tours around both Kenya and Tanzania, which are fully customisable and private.

Some questions to ask yourself

If you are considering joining a volunteer program in South Africa then the likelihood is that you are the kind of person who wants to make a positive contribution, be it to conservation or to a community in need. However, before making the decision about which project you want to join there are a few things that you may want to consider…

Does the project have a genuine need for volunteers?

The whole idea of volunteering is for you to make a real and significant contribution to a cause through your specialist skills, or simply through your hard work and enthusiasm!  Be sure that the project/organization is recruiting volunteers because they have a genuine need for them – any ethical organization should be interested in finding volunteers to assist with projects, not creating projects to attract volunteers.

Is the project sustainable?

‘Sustainability’ is a term you come across a lot these days and is definitely something you need to consider when thinking of volunteering. If a project is not sustainable then however much you may put into that project in the short term, in the grand scheme of things what is that project really contributing? Sustainability will help to ensure that the project achieves its long term goals…and that all your hard work won’t become meaningless. Always think about the BIG PICTURE.

What is your motivation for volunteering?

Question your own reasons for choosing to be a volunteer.  For example, if you are thinking of volunteering for a conservation project ask yourself ‘Do I really want to make a genuine difference to conservation, or do I just want to play with cute cuddly animals?’ Obviously any animal lover would be thrilled by that, but if you want to make a real contribution to conservation then just be sure that it isn’t your only motivation – if your dazzled by the idea of all those fluffy animals, there’s a chance you’ll skim over the actual purpose of the project and what it contributes to conservation in the long term.

Is the organization/project ethical?

Do some research, look at the way in which the organization describes its projects; for example if you’re looking at doing a community project (particularly in a developing country) look at how the organization is portraying that community – any ethical organization shouldn’t be telling you that you will be changing the world or suggesting that this community can’t function on its own, they should be inspiring you to come and work together with these people to help them achieve their goals and develop as a community.

Simply look at how much information you are receiving about the projects you are looking at – if an organization has good, ethical projects then they don’t have anything to hide and therefore should be able to provide you with all the information you need about what the projects involve and what your role will be.

Finally, one always has that niggling feeling that you can’t entirely trust the information that any organization is giving you…because it’s the information they are choosing to give to you! So if you’re not 100% convinced by the information you’ve received through them then have a look for reviews or blogs from past volunteers, or ask the organization to put you in touch with a past volunteer. That way you can get a volunteers perspective on what that project is like.

Obviously for most people choosing to become a volunteer isn’t a completely selfless act, it’s about you too– you want to see new places, meet new people, experience new things; and that’s great, volunteering doesn’t have to be solely about contributing to a good cause, it can also be about you having a new experience and growing as a person…but take your time to do some research so you can be sure that you’re signing up for a meaningful, ethical project. That way you’ll get far more out of it in the end!!

For more details on ethical volunteering visit our Facebook page or click here for information on volunteer projects.

By Jo Lancaster – EDGE of AFRICA

Men in green that deserve love, tenderness and care

All national parks and game reserves in Africa have gates through which you enter the protected areas. That is the most common place to find (a) game scout(s).
They are the men and women that are employed by the government and fulfill different jobs within the wildlife departments. Sometimes with a smile, sometimes not.

There tasks range from manning the gate and doing the entrance fee collection, to maintaining buildings and waterholes, to doing regular anti poaching activities. Yes, you might even find them in offices in towns and cities, far away from the actual wildlife areas.
Most of the times you recognize them because of their badges and insignias. So don’t get too impressed and think that everybody with ‘greens’ is a scout.

In Eastern Africa these men and women are often referred to as ‘rangers’, whereas the ones working in Southern Africa are, more often than not, referred to as game scouts. A ranger in Southern Africa is normally the guy or lady that is guiding you: a big difference! (So the situation is rather confusing).

A game scout is someone that you have to get on your side. It sounds weird but it is true.
The scouts often have a lonely life, far away from home and their families for months on end, and their jobs are not esteemed to be very good ones. Yet, they themselves feel (and I agree) that they are doing an important job. So give them the respect they expect. If you do, you will make a friend for life, if you make fun of them or are rude, you will run in all sorts of problems you didn’t even know existed. (How about having to drive back a hundred kilometers because someone in the booking office ‘forgot’ to give you a receipt?)

As these scouts are civil servants, you should know that their speed of working is often accordingly. Never show that you are in a hurry: You won’t have time to exchange pleasantries (something (s)he wants because (s)he hasn’t seen a living soul in two days) and you won’t showing the respect they expect. If you show this lack of courtesy, the working ‘speed’ will drop to a snail’s pace. And guess who gets agitated the most?

Lastly I would like to give you a tip to make a friend and assure you a swift passing of the gate. If you have a (few) sodas left, share them with the scouts. If you are leaving the wilderness and you have a block of ice left, leave it with them (they also look their drinks cold) and if you have anything left in your car that is edible, offer it to them. Not only will you feel good yourself, but you might have made this scout’s day.

Happy gate crossing.

In the video below you can see some of the more extreme work rangers in Virunga National Park do!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdbp55vq6ps

A few tips

Those of you who have been on a safari know the drill: as soon as the time to go on a game drive has arrived the rush to the vehicle starts. ‘I wanna sit there’, ‘No, I wanna sit there!’ (especially when kids are around) can be heard often. Here are some tips that give you an insight in which seats to choose.

The backseats
Funnily enough a lot of people like to sit in the back. True, often the backseats are the highest of the ground and give the best view. You even have the possibility to look backwards. But there are certainly some drawbacks to sitting in the rear.
First of all you sit furthest away from the guide and you might have difficulty hearing what he says. Secondly, you have just climbed onto the most bumpy part of the vehicle. Safari vehicles are often customized and heavier shocks and springs have been put in place, something that doesn’t always make the ride nicer and as you can imagine, some roads in Africa’s national parks can be rough. Especially when the rear seats are hanging over the back of an open vehicle, the bouncing and jumping can be rather unpleasant.
Lastly you are sitting closest to the exhaust. If you happen to be riding with a guide that doesn’t switch off his vehicle when being stationary, you are going to wish for a gas-mask. Also might the sitting close to the build-up frame lead to some unwanted head-banging.

The middleseats
Not too bad. You sit a bit closer to the guide and you might still be a bit higher up than the seats in front of you. Viewing back will be difficult as there are seats (and most likely people) behind you. The biggest asset about sitting in the middle row is the comfortable ride as the bumping of the car is felt less than sitting in the rear.

The frontseat(s)
Definitely my favorite. The guide is easy to understand (even when he whispers) and the shaking is minimal. The biggest set back is the fact that one sits the lowest of all passengers and this means that the view can be limited. At the same time there is a positive here, as the front view will be unobstructed by other travelers. If the game drive vehicle has a tracker on the front, you view might be lousy though.
The biggest advantage however is the angle with which one can take photographs. From the middle and the rear photographs will always show a view ON the subject, as images taken from the front have a natural angle and simply look nicer.

Some advice: It is an unwritten law that during the game drives people change seats regularly. In this way everybody will have a chance to shoot images from different angles. Obviously will old and frail people always have those seats that are easiest to reach.

Have fun!

The first impression of an Amboseli game drive is like no other, as the reserve features the perfect balance of great wildlife and breath taking scenery.

The National Park of Amboseli was established in 1974 and is located in the Loitoktok District of the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. It covers an area of three hundred and ninety two kilometres squared and attracts over one hundred thousand tourists each year.

The park has five gates that provide entrances and exits depending on your route; the airstrip gate, iremito gate, kitrua gate, meshanani gate and kulunyiet gate.

Amboseli is notoriously famous for brilliant sightings of huge herds of elephants. This is because the reserve is home to over one thousand of these great, gigantic creatures. Among elephants, the park is also home to the other four of the African “big five”, consisting of; black rhino, cape buffalo, leopard and masai lion.

The park is an ideal location for bird spotters, as it inhabits a great host of fascinating bird species, including; the crowned crane, malachite kingfisher, masai ostrich and the great white pelican. The haunting, high pitched call of the fish eagle can also be heard echoing as it swoops down on its prey.

The reserve is unique in the fact that it has a landmark that other National Parks and Game Reserves don’t, Mount Kilimanjaro. The nineteen thousand foot high mountain overlooks the park and provides an excellent backdrop for clear day game drives. If outdoor adventure is for you, then you may be interested in trekking one of the many scenic routes up the mountain which can usually be completed within a week.

Amboseli has a wide range of different types of accommodation, something to suit every need.
For those wanting to experience a traditional colonial camping experience, the Tortilis Camp is the ideal place for you. This accommodation features great, huge, open family rooms with a panoramic view of the park.
An alternative option is the Ol Tukai Lodge, which offers delightful, luxurious accommodation without the astronomical price tag. A stunning view of the flat plains and its herds of elephants can also be seen from the lodges grounds.

So, if you are currently looking in to safaris in Kenya and can’t decide which National Parks to visit, take some serious consideration about adding Amboseli to your itinerary.