Another long day of driving to get from Ngorongoro Crater to Amboseli National Park in Kenya and another border crossing! We started our journey just before sunrise…
Jason and I asked Emmanuel if he could stop by a post office along the way so we could get Tanzania stamps as you all already know Jason collects stamps. Emmanuel said sure, we’ll pass bigger villages on our way. Right after we got out of the Ngorongoro area, it was paved roads! Emmanual said paved roads all the way to the border crossing, YAY!!!! Our backs finally got a break!
It was an experience to visit a Tanzanian post office, when we got there, no one was working yet. There was a cleaning lady and with Emmanuel’s help, she called a staff and said he’ll be there in 10 minutes. We waited and waited and he finally arrived.
The collectible stamp sheets were inside a safety box :O He showed us the two sheet designs, we loved them! Mission accomplished!
When we got out of the post office, we saw Brian playing frisbee with a young man and a boy; he taught them how to play and they had a blast!
4 hours or so, we arrived at the border and I was shocked by how many commercial trucks lined up. Thankfully for safari/passenger vehicles, there was no line. Similar process as last time, Emmanuel dropped us off at the parking lot where he introduced us to our Kenyan driver. We said goodbye and tipped Emmanuel, he was a great driver/guide!
We got into the administration building, had our luggage scanned, and filled out a health form. There were 3 counters and no line so it was pretty fast. I gave the officer the health form, passport, yellow fever certificate, and the e-visa printout. No questions asked and stamped. We got out of the building on the other side and loaded our luggage onto the new driver’s safari truck. I asked him to stop by at an ATM, it was just outside the border on the Kenya side. He parked his truck so I could walk over to get cash for his tips and a little bit extra just in case.
Luckily, I got extra because he stopped at a restaurant where we could have our boxed lunch from the lodge. It was weird to bring our own food into a restaurant LOL! We sat at the table in the courtyard in front of the restaurant, a waitress came out and asked if we would like any drink. We felt we should at least order drinks so we did and then used their bathroom.
After lunch, we continued our drive and it took another 2ish hours to get to Amboseli National Park. It was a lot quieter than other parks, there was no line at the gate but there were locals selling souvenirs. A guy has his “shop” next to the gate where he sells big animal sculptures made of wood and stone. His price was reasonable but we didn’t see anything particular that we liked but he was cool that at least we checked out his shop.
It was very cloudy that day so we didn’t get to see Mount Kilimanjaro at Amboseli 🙁 We saw the crown-headed crane again!
We saw a giant elephant heading toward us from the distance!!!
When he got closer, he was huge! The elephant species at Amboseli are bigger than the ones at Maasai Mara or Serengeti! Afterall, Amboseli is famous for its elephants. The birds were getting a ride LOL!
The elephant was blocking the road so we sat there and watched him. He sprayed mud on his body to protect his skin from the sun according to the driver.
He finally crossed the road and got further down so we continued the drive. Some parts of the road were flooded and the drive through the water was scary…..if we get stuck, there were hardly any trucks to pull us out! We saw a lake with a lot of flamingos, more than at Ngorongoro and closer!
A herd of zebras, I only imagined Mount Kilimanjaro as the backdrop, that would be an awesome backdrop!
A hippo napping out in the open field :O
We arrived at Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge, the property was enclosed by an electrical fence. This lodge looked more like a hotel than a safari lodge we stayed at the past few days. There was a reception front desk, a gift shop (as you would expect very expensive), and a huge restaurant. The landscaping was impressive with artificial ponds and lots of plants.
The walkway to our rooms.
The size of our room was okay but for Sokunna, Brian, and TJ, their room was the same size but added an extra bed to be a triple room so theirs felt cramped.
Each room has an outdoor patio, we didn’t spend any time there as there was no views.
Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge was huge, we walked around to check out the facility; they even have a pool!
A nice grass area and outdoor BBQ area.
There were chairs and benches so we sat there to wait for the sun to set.
The restaurant has some outdoor tables.
In front of the view was a herd of zebras and antelopes. Suddenly, we saw animals running. Jason used his phone to record a video and when he played back, he saw something chasing. He zoomed in and it was a lion!!!
The sunset:
After the sunset, we walked into the lobby as the restaurant was not open yet. The interior of the reception area, it was very African vibes.
The restaurant opened and apparently, we have assigned table. Their buffet was huge compared to the other buffets we had at previous lodges, they even had a noodle station. That was my favorite, I picked out the ingredients and handed them over to the chef to cook. I missed stir-fried vegetables so much that I almost took all the Chinese cabbage haha! It tasted so good after a week of African meals!!!
The dessert section had lots of cakes and pastries so I took a small piece from each but none tasted good 🙁
We stayed at Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge for one night only and the next day, we did a morning drive on our way heading back to Nairobi to catch our flights at 6 PM/11 PM. We saw herds of elephants!
Look at the birds following this herd!
They crossed the road and as you can see a lot more safari vehicles at the morning drive.
The sun peeked out in the small opening in between the clouds. A herd of wildebeest having their breakfast and one wildebeest ran like crazy back and forth!
Wildebeest crossing!
More elephants!
A cute family crossing the road:
This one snapped a huge section of the bush!
Amboseli National Park was a good stop on the route and would be even better if the weather corporates to see Mount Kilimanjaro!
TJ still had toys to give out so he asked the driver to stop if he saw kids on the road. Those 3 kids had the biggest smiles when TJ gave them frisbees and boxes of snacks!
We passed a couple of villages and smaller towns on our way…mostly were markets:
A colorful bus:
OMG, we have never seen chickens sold like that….see the top of that van?
We pulled over on the “highway” to have our boxed lunch. We got to Nairbo at around 2 PM, their airport security was hum….we had to get out of the safari vehicle and to walk through the security checkpoint building where they had a metal detector. Our driver picked us up on the other side of the checkpoint and then dropped us off at the terminal parking lot. We tipped him, took our luggage, and said goodbye. He was an okay guide, he did talk to us and gave us facts but not as knowledgeable as Emmanuel.
Our flight was with Kenya Airways which was at Terminal A (old) while Brian, Sokunna, and TJ’s flight was with Qatar Airways so theirs was at Terminal C. The terminals were not connected so we parted ways. Fortunately, my electronic boarding pass worked so we got through security and the check-in counter was opened. We had no issue checking our bags this early and were able to get inside the terminal to wait. There was no Priority Pass lounge in this terminal but they had a little food court up the stairs. We found a Chinese restaurant at the food court!
We waited till dinner time and had dinner at the Chinese restaurant. The sizzling beef with pepper was surprisingly good!
The sizzling chicken was good too! We were surprised that a Chinese restaurant inside the airport’s foodcourt to be this good!
Our 9 days safari adventure was excellent, we were so fortunate to see the Great Migration (it was a dream came true!), tons of cheetahs, and lots of actions at Maasai Mara. On the other hand, Sergenti National Park was not too exciting after Maasai Mara. It would be better if we did the loop clockwise Amboseli –> Ngorongoro –> Serengeti –> Maasai Mara in my opinion. We paid $3288 per person not including the hot air balloon safari, the village visit, and tips. It was definitely worth every penny!!!
