Amboseli National Park covers 150 square miles in southern Kenya, near the Tanzanian border. The name Amboseli comes from the word "empusel," which in the language of the local Masai tribe means "salty dust." Amboseli is indeed dusty, mostly because of its proximity to Mt. Kilimanjaro, a 19,340-foot-high snowy volcanic peak that lies just 25 miles away. From the time the mountain first emerged, between two and four million years ago, Kilimanjaro has periodically erupted -- probably as recently as within the last 10,000 years, scientists say -- and covered the area with dusty volcanic ash.
Amboseli is also quite lush in places, because the melting snows of Kilimanjaro flow underground into the park continually feeding water to springs, swamps, and marshes. Because of this easy availability of water, Amboseli has always been a favorite spot for wildlife. In addition to the 900 or so elephant that live there, zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, impala, leopard, lion, hippo, antelope, rhino, wild dog, hyena, cheetah, buffalo, and more than 400 species of birds all gather in the center of the park.
