| SHIMBA HILLS National park | | | | AMBOSELI National Park |
| An hour’s drive from the Indian Ocean | | | | Amboseli is a place of stark contrast. Despite its |
| through undulating faming country and colourful | | | | sometimes dry and dusty appearance, it has an |
| villages gets you to the beautiful Shimba Hills, a | | | | endless water supply filtered by thousands of |
| stunning landscape with steep valleys, rolling hills | | | | feet of volcanic rock from Kilimanjaro’s |
| and pockets of rainforest. While the wildlife may | | | | icecap. These underground streams converge into |
| not be abundant, the area is home to the only | | | | two clear water springs in the heart of the park. |
| sable antelope in Kenya. Sable is a | | | | The endemic dust is volcanic ash, which spewed |
| chocolate-brown horse-like antelope with | | | | from Kilimanjaro a millenim ago. The park is vast, |
| magnificent, sweeping, sickle-shaped horns.The | | | | the expanse only interrupted by the occasional |
| forests of Shimba resonate with exotic sounds of | | | | trumpeting of elephants. |
| tree frogs, birds and bush babies. They host a | | | | MASAI MARA |
| number of tented camps and lodges, designed to | | | | This land of abundant wildlife, ideal climate and |
| induce relaxation. Place of interest for excursions | | | | dierse habitats is fanatic at any time of year. But |
| include the Sheldrick Falls and the Mwalunganje | | | | it comes into its own when the wildbeest migrate |
| Elephant Sanctuary, a community-based | | | | from Tanzania’s Serengeti over the raging |
| conservation project. | | | | Mara River onto the vast grasslands. It’s a |
| TSAVO National park | | | | spectacle. The sheer determination of the animals |
| Apart from the man-eating lions that nearly | | | | is amazing. They move as though driven, across |
| stopped the construction of the Kenya-Uganda | | | | plain, grassland and water. They do not stop. Even |
| railway more than a century ago, Tsavo is | | | | when some drown, the others just go crashing |
| renowned for its herd of elephants. You could be | | | | by. It’s a spectacle of a lifetime. The animals |
| forgiven for thinking that the Tsavo elephants are | | | | migrate from Serengeti in Tanzania to |
| a separate species, as their skin looks decidedly | | | | Kenya’s Masai Mara between July and |
| red. This is just the rich, brown dust giving them a | | | | September and back in January and February. |
| photogenic ruby colour. | | | | |