The Road to Amboseli

Amboseli is one of those parks I have visited severally and I absolutely love it. Why you may ask? Mainly because it is the home of elephants, I believe just one of the most beautiful creatures to observe and photograph. The first time I went to Amboseli was 2013, its was such an epic short journey I had to make my way there again. After several solo trips it was time for an OnetouchLive trip to Amboseli, and this one was special because it was gonna be a long one, about 3 nights in the park ... I was really exited for this.

 

Heading to Amboseli head west on Mombasa Road/A109 till you get to Emali, thereafter you take a left onto the C102 all the way to Kimana (roughly 86 kms), just slightly after Kimana town you take a right onto the C103 which shall lead you directly to the gate.

This trip proved quite eventful and the longest 255 km trip I have ever made in my life. On departure, just slightly past Sultan Hamud, Lisa (pictured on the left), burst a pipe and spewed all the engine oil. In such moments is when you realize getting help out there is quite the challenge ... we had to look for a place that sells oil and purchase at the same time we got some road side mechanics who quickly came to the rescue and fixed the pipe, due to pressure it was unstable so they provided a fix for us.

We went on ahead and stopped in Emali to confirm all is well with the car and also check why it was losing power, by this time it was already past 6pm and we hadn't even turned off the main highway (A109).

Luanda at camp

From Emali to Kimana the ride was smooth we made good time but just after Kimana, as you turn off to the C103 the road is a marram road that is quite rough. By this time it was already too late to make it to the park gate so we had to call ahead and said we are on our way because our campsite was in the park. On that marram road, Lisa just went off and lost all momentum and couldn't move we we baffled and wondered what to do. only option in the middle of nowhere was to tow the vehicle all the way to the gate which was a really rough road of about 15 kms. We arrived at the campsite around 11pm after a really long treacherous ride but the plan was to get the park mechanic to come look at the car in the morning and we called it a night, to prepare to head out early morning for a game drive.

The morning was magical, the elephants came out to play and we enjoyed the shoot, due to Lisa being down we squeezed 7 people in one car to shoot the morning game drive. 

Mt. Kilimanjaro

After that game drive, we had to call in a mechanic who came to check on Lisa, We eventually had to call for a back up car now that Lisa was unrepairable after the mechanics diagnosis. This meant that Lisa had to be towed back to Kimana to a garage there until further notice. Despite the car trouble, we had to continue shooting and having fun in this awesome park.

There was this morning we stumbled upon lions (which are a rare sight to behold in Amboseli), these young males casually strolling in the park very playful gave us some nice entertainment.

Out here its a matter of anything for the shot

I hope you enjoyed the blog, feel free to like, comment and share! Amboseli was good to me, join me next time as I tell of my next adventure.