AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK

The Amboseli national park offers one of the most classic and breathtaking views of Kenya, the gigantic Kilimanjaro Mountain, with its 5,985 m dominating the plains like a powerful god ruling the world from his silver throne. Before the discovery of the mountain for the western world by the missionary Johannes Rebmann in 1848, ancient Swahili and arab legends used to tell about a great inland mountain, in the summit of which lived a terrible god who punished those who dared to approach his dwelling by paralyzing their hands and feet. In this very poetic way the inhabitants of the tropical shores described a phenomenon that was alien to them: freezing.
Curiously enough, Kilimanjaro is not within the limits of Amboseli, in fact it is not even in Kenya. But the Tanzanians have not found yet the way to avoid that one of the most famous views of their mountain is provided by their neighbors. Actually, if you look at the map you will tell that the absurdly straight line that divides both countries detours to leave the mount in Tanzanian territory. The reason? Upon the partition of East Africa into two spheres of influence, German and British, England had two mountains vs. none for Germany, so queen Victoria gave the Kilimanjaro as a birthday present to her nephew-grandson, kaiser Wilhelm II, and the deal kept everyone satisfied.
The national park was gazetted in 1974 with an extension of 392 km², though it is surrounded by a much larger reserve in which the Maasai people settle and breed their cattle. Amboseli is located in the Rift Valley province, close to the Tanzanian border northwest of Kilimanjaro. Despite the high temperatures, the park's lands are elevated above 1,180 m. The mountain's summits remain hidden by the clouds for the most part of the day, dawn being the best moment to catch a view of its snowy square head.

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