So, what will you see on safari in Amboseli National Park? The big five, lion, leopard, rhino, cape buffalo and elephant are what many people hope to see. But you are not going to see all of them in Amboseli. There are no rhino in Amboseli National Park and you are not going to see leopards either.
But you will see many, many elephant, lions aplenty, giraffe, zebra, warthogs, baboons, hyaena, widebeest and cheetahs.
Don't let the lack of leopards put you off Amboseli. You can see them esewhere only if you put in a great deal of effort. We spent 23 days searching out leopard and in that time got just a couple of fleeting glimpses in Masai Mara.
Rhino abound in some parks, Sweetwater being the best for us. At Sweetwater we had a group of seven white rhino twenty feet away on our right at the same moment that five black rhino came up to our vehicle. You will see "Big Horn" on the Sweetwater pages.
What you will see in Amboseli you are likely to see in real close up. Several lions brushed past our vehicle; we could certainly have reached out and touched them had we developed a death wish! Hyaena and jackal came right to us as well.
Amboselis elephant are not at all shy and on occassion will invite you to move out of their way. The message is usually quite clear and given in plenty of time. It is best to heed the message. Whilst your ego may be superior to that of the elephant, in all other respects the elephant will carry the day!
Tsavos elephants were particularly communicative in this regard, the Amboseli elephant being quite friendly, frequently appearing to pose for photographs and always keen to show off their youngsters, of which there were many.