The Observation Hill inside the Amboseli National Park

This cone-shaped hill is situated in the Western portion of the park and is the only high point of the Amboseli National Park, it is also the only place where you can get out of your vehicle and take a walk.

 

A staircase carved from the volcanic rocks provides access to the summit where there is an observation point; both along the line of ascent and to the lookout there are several panels where to deepen the knowledge on the hill, the surrounding marshes and the park itself with a focus on the animals inhabiting it.

 

The hill has clear volcanic origin and was formed in the period of the Mount Kilimanjaro activity in the Pleistocene; from up here, the view spans 360 degrees throughout the Amboseli National Park with its arid areas, its marshes and its lakes and, if the day is clear, the view of the Kilimanjaro, to the South, is spectacular.

 

At the foot of the Observation Hill, or Normatior in Masai language, to the East, lie the Enkongu Narok marshes, beloved by elephants and hippos; their bright green creates a striking contrast to the rest of the territory that is arid and dusty.

 

Towards North-West there is the Kioko Lake, populated by noisy hippos who spend their days immersed in water; behind that there is the Amboseli Lake, a seasonal lake that fills with water during the rainy season.

 

Towards the East you can instead find Ol Tukai, a fenced park area within which the headquarters of the KWS rangers, the Ol Tukai Lodge, and what in the past was the Amboseli Lodge, now abandoned, are located.

 

It’s very common to spot, from this privileged point, eddies of sand and dust generated by air currents in the driest part of the park.

 

The landscape has not changed much since the first time that a European has come here and described in his diary the wonders that can be admired from this hill; it is not difficult to see large animals such as elephants, buffalos, hippos and giraffes, but with the help of binoculars you can spot many other mammals and birds.

 

This is the best place to watch the sunrise or sunset in the entire Amboseli National Park, when the warm light of the sun illuminates and heats the whole plain below and the Kilimanjaro shows all its glory.