Amboseli, Chyulu Hills and Tsavo

These majestic parks of Kenya’s southwest offer three very different experiences: Amboseli harbours amazing Mt Kilimanjaro views and huge elephant herds, Chyulu Hills has a haunting isolation while Tsavo is big game country.

Staying on private concessions adjoining each of these stunning Kenyan national parks guarantees an authentic wildlife experience away from the crowds. Another clear advantage of staying outside public reserves is this: guests may undertake activities not normally permitted such as walking safaris, horseback riding and off-road open vehicle game drives.

On the border of Tanzania, Amboseli is one of Kenya’s finest game parks. This is where you’ll find lumbering bull elephants and lonely flat-topped acacias on the golden plains beneath snow-capped Mt Kilimanjaro. The proud Maasai – often seen tending their cattle on the park’s outskirts – are also often employed as guides, for it is they who know this wilderness best.

The Chyulu Hills are an untouched mosaic of deep forests, dry open plains and rocky volcanic outcrops with views of Mt Kilimanjaro in the distance on a clear day. As game is much harder to find in this reserve, uncovering a leopard or a pride of lions is a richly rewarding exercise. Visitors to this park are also few and far between so your connection with the land is deeply personal.

Tsavo West comprises half of one of Africa’s largest parks and its varied terrain of woodland, scrub and savanna supports a multitude of species including all the ‘Big 5’, baboons, hyenas, giraffes, cheetahs and so much more. Game drives in this area can be intense, while walks allow you to take in the smaller inhabitants of the Kenyan bush. The crystalline Mzima Springs are also in this area – rich in hippo and Nile crocodile.