Located near the Tanzania border in the shadow of Mt Kilmanjaro, Amboseli is one of the lesser known African game parks. It covers over 292 sq km and has a vast ecosystem. It is home to some of the biggest and oldest Elephants in Africa, on past visits I’ve spotted well over a hundred..
.
The key to travelling in amboseli is to carefully select your accommodation and travel dates as the area suffers from long periods of dryness. Getting it wrong could leave you hunting for herds, when you could be sitting on your balcony, watching countless groups go back and forth. Of course the dryness also makes it easier to spot smaller wildlife which is a positive.
I like to spend a day or two in the area. It’s truly amazing to watch the elephants interacting, you never know what will happen. Perhaps a young one gets stuck in some mud, or an adult senses a lion, triggering the herd to go into a defensive mode. I can watch these antics all day as something new and unpredictable is always going on.
Camera Gear
Typically I use 80-200 and 400mm full frame. The mornings and afternoons obviously offer the best light. Noon can be good too if you want to capture some action around a watering hole. This is especially the case with a slower lens that needs lots of light to freeze action.
If you’re positioning is right and you have time you can capture some dramatic video as well. As the elephants are so large you can play with various perspectives to achieve some interesting almost photoshop looking scenes.
Whatever you shoot with, once in a while you put down the camera and just take in the moment.
If you love elephants contact us for our next tour and you wont be disappointed
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.