Amboseli Sopa Lodge: Kenya Safari Lodges Near Kilimanjaro

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Amboseli Sopa Lodge

Amboseli Sopa Lodge is set in 200 acres of private land. This Kenya safari lodge in Amboseli national park comes with a rustic charm all of its own. The lodge nestles in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro. It is Africa’s highest and most famous snow-capped mountain. It was this region of Kenya that, in the 1930’s, inspired Ernest Hemingway’s writings. They are ‘The Snows of Kilimanjaro’ and ‘The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber’. Amboseli National Park is an easy twenty minute drive away from the lodge. This is a great place to have your night while on Kenya safari tour to Amboseli National Park.

Amboseli Sopa Lodge Features

Amboseli Sopa Lodge is set within mature wooded gardens. There is a wide variety of trees and plants here. They include thorn trees, Acacias, fragrant Frangipanis and colorful bougainvillea. You will also find the giant cacti that thrive in these surroundings. The gardens are also home to numerous species of birds. There are monkeys, mongooses, squirrels and duikers here. Occasional gazelles and the elusive leopard do visit once in a while.

Reception

The reception area is designed around the curves of a traditional Maasai house. The walls are decorated with Maasai beaded necklaces and tribal themed murals.

Lobby

The lobby at Amboseli Sopa Lodge is open, spacious and airy. It has a high ceiling with elevated and painted glass. This forms an atrium above an indoor garden. Both round and tubular calabashes form the suspended chandeliers. The above walls are decorated with a Maasai theme. The lobby is comfortable and colorfully cushioned. It comes with rough timber furniture above bright. The lobby is furnished with locally woven carpets to complete the décor.

Attached to this area is a colorful and vibrant a handicraft market. Here traditional beadwork and woodcarvings are manufactured. These are sometimes to the designs requested by the guests. Beyond this is a well stocked boutique. It has a wide variety of souvenirs and books. You can find safari clothing, T-shirts and toiletry items.

Leading away from the lobby is a bridge. This goes over the large, split-level fishpond. It leads to the Kibo restaurant and the Mawenzi bar.

Accommodation at Amboseli Sopa Lodge

Amboseli Sopa Lodge accommodation comes in rustic, well spaced cottages. They meander through the vast expanse of the mature gardens. Amboseli Sopa Lodge has eighty three guest rooms. These are all brightly decorated with Maasai themed wall murals. Each room has been built to have either one or two queen sized beds. Each of the room comes with a well placed veranda. Amboseli Sopa Lodge has a two bedroom Presidential suite. This comes with a private dining room. There is an attached kitchenette and a huge lounge.

Amboseli Sopa Lodge

This suite has a quite simply vast veranda. There are 40 rooms with 2 queen size beds. 6 of this have interconnecting doors. They are ideal for those on Africa safari with children in Kenya. 24 of these rooms can be turned to triples on request. 21 rooms at Amboseli Sopa Lodge have one king size bed. 2 of these rooms are suitable for those on Disables safari in Kenya. 1 of the rooms is a honeymoon suite. 22 rooms at Amboseli Sopa Lodge have one queen size bed. 6 of the rooms have interconnecting doors ideal for those on African family safari in Kenya.

Amboseli Sopa Lodge Dining Experience

The Mawenzi Bar is divided into two. This is by a massive central fire place. There is also a freeform wall with subtly concealed lighting. The inner section has suspended wrought iron, shaded chandeliers. It has beautiful furnishings made of authentic African driftwood. The walls are decorated with a multitude of Maasai handicrafts and artifacts.

The outer section is surrounded by a semicircle of glass walling. This allows guests to look out over the gardens and Mount Kilimanjaro beyond. It is furnished with comfortably cushioned, woven hyacinth sofas and chairs. At the centre of this area is an ornamental tree with a table and high bar stools. The long, free form bar counter is lined with high wrought iron bar stools. It has a timber top and a multicolored timber fascia below it. There is a recessed, back-lit wine and spirits display shelves. This provides an extremely warm atmosphere.

Amboseli Sopa Lodge

Hemingway’s Bar is perched on top of massive boulders. This is at the highest point of the property. It offers uninterrupted 360ᴼ views of the surrounding landscapes. It is the perfect place for an evening sundowner. It is dedicated to the memory of Ernest Hemingway. The bar is furnished and decorated in period style. Photographs of Hemingway adorn the walls, as do posters of the films. Steps lead down from the bar to a grotto with a sand floor. It is from here that you can get a closer view of the spotted and striped hyenas. There are also the white tailed mongooses and the Genet cats. They often come to feast on the meat put for them every night.

The Pool Bar is set in a brightly colored, rodavel-style building. This is adjacent to the swimming pool’s deep end. There is a central decorated pillar that supports the conical thatched roof. High tables and chairs fill the floor area beside the bar counters.

Kibo Restaurant is named after the tallest peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro. It is a round structure with a thatched palm frond roof. This follows the design of traditional African huts. The glass windows and doors face the mountain. The floor is made of a mixture of multicolored marble shards and clay tiles. The side of the mantle of the circular central fire place has wood carvings of wild life. There are evenly spaced carved wooden panels that line the walls. The chandeliers have been made with small traditional African drums as light shades.

The restaurant has a small but attractive recessed bar. There an outdoor terrace from where views of Kilimanjaro are quite simply majestic. Beyond this is a camp fire used for sundowners and after dinner drinks. To one side of this there is a large, freeform fishpond.

The Mawenzi Terrace is an outdoor dining area. It is set beside the Mawenzi Bar. This is named after Kilimanjaro’s second highest peak. The terrace is shaded by an enormous Acacia tree. The branches of the tree also spread out over the buffet table.

Cancellation / Prepayment

PAYMENT & RESERVATIONS POLICY
Reservation and confirmation of a room at Amboseli Sopa Lodge has requirements. Clients are required to pay 50% down payment for the requested services. The balance will be required at least 14 days prior to your date of arrival.

African Safari Tour will hold a reservation for up to seven days at a client's request. This is to allow the client time to send a deposit payment. This is if Amboseli Sopa Lodge booking are over a month prior to the service. This must be received before we can confirm your booking. If confirmation is not received within the seven days all blocked rooms at Amboseli Sopa Lodge will be automatically released for re-sale. The full amount of the service must be made within 14 days of date of arrival at Amboseli Sopa Lodge. As for bookings within a month of service, full payment shall be requested for. This will be required before confirmation of Amboseli Sopa Lodge is undertaken.

CANCELLATIONS
All cancellations must be received in writing. This will take effect from the date received by African Safari Tour. The following cancellation charges will apply.

More than 56 days before departure: No cancellation fee
56-49 days before departure: 25%
48-29 days before departure: 35%
28-0 days before departure: 100%

The non-issuing of an invoice or non-payment of deposit will not exempt passengers from these cancellation and administration fees. We regret we can make no exception to the charges and strongly recommend that insurance is taken out to cover cancellation fees. These cancellation charges can vary subject to the trading terms of our suppliers.

Children and extra beds

Children older than 2 years are welcome at Amboseli Sopa Lodge. One child from 2 to 11.9 years is charged 50 % of the room stay per night and person in an extra bed.

The maximum number of extra beds for children in a room is 2.

Any type of extra bed or child's cot/crib is upon request and needs to be confirmed by management.

Supplements are not calculated automatically in the total costs and will have to be paid for separately during your stay.

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11:00

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10:00

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Facilities

Air Condition
Bar
Beauty salon
Catering service
Convention floor
Desk
Free toiletries
Hairdryer
Laundry
Lounge
Outdoor pool
Private bathroom
Restaurant
Room service
Seating area
Shops
Wake up service
WiFi

Amboseli National Park

Amboseli National Park lies immediately north-west of Mount Kilimanjaro, on the border with Tanzania. The Park covers 392 square km, and forms part of the much larger 3,000 square km Amboseli ecosystem.

Amboseli National Park

Large concentrations of wildlife occur here in the dry season, making Amboseli a popular tourist destination. It is surrounded by six communally owned group ranches.

This Kenya National Park embodies five main wildlife habitats (open plains, acacia woodland, rocky thorn bush country, swamps and marshland) and covers part of a Pleistocene lake basin, now dry.

Amboseli National Park is famous for its big game and its great scenic beauty; the landscape is dominated by the towering Mount Kilimanjaro.

The National Park embodies five main wildlife habitats (open plains, acacia woodland, rocky thorn bush country, swamps and marshland) and covers part of a Pleistocene lake basin, now dry. Within this basin is a temporary lake, Lake Amboseli, that floods during years of heavy rainfall.

History of Amboseli National Park

In 1883, Jeremy Thompson was the first European to penetrate the feared Maasai region known as Empusel (meaning 'salty, dusty place' in Maa). He, too, was astonished by the fantastic array of wildlife and the contrast between the arid areas of the dry lake bed and the oasis of the swamps, a contrast that persists today.

Amboseli was set aside as the Southern Reserve for the Maasai in 1906, but returned to local control as a game reserve in 1948. Gazetted a national park in 1974 to protect the core of this unique ecosystem, it was declared a UNESCO site in 1991. The park earned $3.5 m (€2.9 m) in 2005. On 29 September 2005, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki declared that control of the park should pass from the Kenya Wildlife Service to the Olkejuado County Council and the Maasai tribe. Some observers saw this as a political favour in advance of a vote on a new Kenyan constitution; legal challenges are currently in court. The degazetting would pert park admission fees directly to the county council with shared benefits to the Maasai immediately surrounding the park.

How to Get to Amboseli National Park

Amboseli is located 365km/226mi southeast of Nairobi. Self-drive from Nairobi to the reserve is a good option.

Driving will take you about 2.5 hours. Getting to Meshanani Gate from Nairobi will take you about 2.5 hours, the road (228 kms) is absolutely beautiful and smooth if you go through Emali, a small town on the main road to Mombasa. Using this route you will enter Amboseli National Park through the Kimana Gate to the East of the park.

Amboseli National Park

If you go through Isinya, down the Magadi Road in Nairobi, you will join the Nairobi – Arusha Road (240 kms) and you will soon get to Namanga Town. This is the border town between Kenya and Tanzania. In Namanga there is a fuel station, this is not the best place to go to the toilet. The fuel station may have something half decent. There is a small shop you can get nibbles if you need.

Leaving Namanga to the Meshanani Gate will take you about 45 mins to an hour depending on the vehicle you are travelling with. The road is not best by far, they have recently graded it but due to the high traffic volume it is not expected to last long. It is bumpy!

There are a few companies that fly to Amboseli. It takes about half an hour or so. By far the best way to travel, but you do miss out on seeing more of the country. Look out for the old volcanoes.

Climate and Weather Conditions in Amboseli National Park

The Amboseli National Park generally has a hot and dry weather since the air discharges its moisture on Mount Kilimanjaro, where the rains occur and where it snows, therefore the air reaching this zone is usually devoided of moisture.

The only rains occur during the two rainy seasons: the season of the long rains from April to May and the small rainy season from November to December.

The park is open all year round but the best time for sightings of mammals, who meet at the limited sources of water present here, is during the dry season from June to October, with warm and dry days and from January to March with hot and dry days.

From November to January, it is the best time for birdwatching, in these months in fact in the park, in addition to residents, even birds migrating here during the palearctic winter, are present.

During the dry season the park is very arid, its terrain consists of volcanic ashes spilled from Mount Kilimanjaro more than 250,000 years ago and, with the absence of rains a lot of dust is raised and, due to the terrain and drafts, this creates several reels.

In addition, the crystallized salt, deposited on the soil surface as a result of the evaporation of rainwater filling the basin of the Lake Amboseli, often creates the curious effect of mirages.

During the rainy season, sightings are a little more difficult because the water sources are available a bit everywhere in the park and then the animals are dispersed; furthermore, if the rains are plentiful, roads are likely to become muddy and more difficult to practice.

Top Things to Do in Amboseli National Park

Wildlife Viewing

The landscape of the Amboseli National Park offers the most scenic views of wildlife. The Amboseli is like a gigantic bowl of vast vegetation cover and numerous swamps that harbor wild animals of disparate species from the Big Five to unique birds such as, peacocks and spotty zebras.

A cultural visit to the local villages

The local communities living around the Amboseli national park are a unique ethnic group in East Africa. The Maasai community is known for its traditional culture that has not been affected by modernization of the African continent. They lead a tribal way of life, which is worth exploring especially their traditional dances and clothing.

Go on an epic Game Drive

Going on a game drive in the Amboseli is more than just landscape viewing and encountering animals. The Amboseli is a unique formation of nature that is most dry and covered by dust from recurrent winds, which create a “dust devil” phenomenon. This happens from time to time depending on the changes in atmospheric pressure to build a mini-twister like impression in the air.

However, as much it is enjoyable to watch, keep safe distance from it since it uncomfortable on the skin.

Game drives in the Amboseli also provide a truly refreshing encounter of watching the sunrise and sunset in exceptional hues of color change over the horizons.

Nature Photography

The Amboseli National Park is probably Africa’s irrefutable background of scenic brilliance. The beautiful scene of the ice-capped Mount Kilimanjaro; which is the highest mountain in the African continent- provides the perfect backdrop for nature photography.

Amboseli National Park

Make sure you carry a standard camera and back up storage cards to capture the beauty of nature and carry those moments with you! The Amboseli is absolutely the embodiment of the African jungle which can be compared to the prairies of the Americas.

To get the best out of nature photography in the Amboseli, camp in the wild and watch nature and animal behavior unfold, from the roars of lions to the lightning speed of cheetahs hunting in the bush.

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Amboseli Sopa Lodge
Amboseli N. Park
From $

Amboseli Sopa Lodge is set in 200 acres of private land. This Kenya safari lodge in Amboseli national park comes with a rustic charm all of its own, nestled in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro.
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Amboseli Sopa Lodge