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Kenya2 parks
In southern Kenya, you link two elephant parks that could not be more different. Amboseli is small and green at the foot of Kilimanjaro, Tsavo East vast and red on the road to Mombasa. The first shows 1,903 elephants known one by one, the second counts 17,266 in its ecosystem, and the Mombasa road connects them.
The dry seasons, June to October and January to February, bring the herds to Amboseli's swamps and the Galana River, and clear Kilimanjaro at sunrise. The long rains of April and May scatter the elephants and hide the mountain. KWS fees don't change with the season.
Amboseli costs US$90 per adult per 24-hour period, Tsavo East US$80. A package covers both Tsavos and Amboseli for US$215. Vehicles pay KSh 600 a day, and the AirKenya flight from Wilson to Amboseli costs US$183 one way.
You reach Amboseli from Nairobi in four hours via Emali, or in 40 minutes by plane from Wilson Airport. Tsavo East lines the Mombasa road, with Voi Gate 156 km from the coast and the SGR train stopping there. A track then links Amboseli to both Tsavos.
KenyaNational parkIn Amboseli, you follow the most studied elephants in the world, 1,903 animals known one by one since 1972, as they walk each morning from the swamps toward the dusty plains with Kilimanjaro behind...
KenyaNational parkIn Tsavo East, Kenya's largest park with 13,747 km² of dry bush, you look for red elephants, coated in the laterite they throw over their backs.
Amboseli fits into 392 km² at the foot of Kilimanjaro, and its swamps, fed by the mountain, draw the elephants every morning across a plain of white dust. Tsavo East covers 13,747 km² of rust-colored bush, the largest park in Kenya, and its laterite-coated elephants head down to the Galana River and Aruba Dam. You can see the first in a day from a lodge in the middle, while the second means long distances and a single big game drive a day. Both lie on the Nairobi-Mombasa axis, and many travelers combine them with the coast, Diani or Watamu.
From Nairobi, Amboseli comes first, four hours by road via Emali or 40 minutes by plane. A track then links Amboseli to Tsavo West via Kimana, and the road reaches Tsavo East via Voi. From Mombasa, the order is reversed, with Tsavo East two hours from the coast through Bachuma Gate or Voi Gate. Allow two nights in Amboseli, for dawn over Kilimanjaro, and two in Tsavo East, between Voi, Aruba and Lugard Falls. The KWS package for Tsavo East, Tsavo West and Amboseli, US$215 per adult, covers all three parks.
Elephants first, in both parks, and with them buffalo, zebras, wildebeest and Masai giraffes. Amboseli adds the hippos of its swamps, more than 400 bird species and flamingos on its lake after the rains, but no rhinos. Tsavo East has its near-maneless lions, the crocodiles of the Galana, and the oryx and gerenuk of the dry bush. It also keeps a small population of hirola, a critically endangered antelope. Leopards remain rare in both parks, and cheetahs show up on the short grass.
The dry seasons, June to October and then January to February, gather the animals at the water. Mornings are clear over Kilimanjaro, whose summit hides from late morning. The long rains of April and May turn both parks green, scatter the herds and make Tsavo's laterite tracks slippery. KWS fees stay the same in every season. The October 2025 fee schedule sets Amboseli at US$90 and Tsavo East at US$80 per adult per 24-hour period.
Hotels, apartments and rooms around Ol Tukai, the starting point for safaris in Amboseli, with current prices.