Tawi Lodge
Amboseli’s delicate and beautiful ecosystem displays a magnificent variety of wildlife, with more than 50 mammal species.
The elephants are no doubt the kings of the park and they are available in big numbers. These elephants can be seen and photographed easily because of the flat terrain. The elephants in Amboseli, which are also considered to be among the biggest in the country, mainly enjoy the swamps, in which they get cool waters that they share with hippos that hide beneath the papyrus.
A large resident population of wildbeest together with Burchell’s zebra, also have a home in the park. Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelles, bufallo, warthog, black rhino, Maasai giraffe, impala, waterbuck and dik-dik, are also among the grass-eaters there. Baboons and vervet monkeys live in the scarce woodlands.
Lions, spotted hyenas, wild cats, jackals and caracals represent the carnivores. Cheetah and leopards are not so common. As far as birds are concerned, there exists more than 400 species, including pelican, flamingo, kingfisher, African fish eagle, ibis, secretary bird, crowned crane, grey and Goliath herons, cattle egret, black-winged stilt, little grebe, Egyptian goose, martial eagle, pigmy falcon, Maasai ostrich, marabou stork, white-backed vulture, lappet-faced vulture, yellow-necked spurfowl, kori bustard, hornbills and many others. The park gathers a big population of water birds after the rains.
Land
Since its inception with its anti-poaching initial mission, Big Life has expanded to employ hundreds of Maasai rangers—with more than 40 permanent outposts and tent-based field units, 13 vehicles, tracker dogs, and aerial surveillance—protecting 2 million acres of wilderness in the Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro ecosystem of East Africa.
Your stay at Tawi contributes to this effort. How? The conservancy fee in your payment goes towards conservancy management and wildlife protection. In 2014, 4.3 M Kshs. was paid out as conservancy fees.
The Gerenuk
The gerenuk, also known as the giraffe gazelle, is a long-necked antelope.
QUICK FACTS | |
| Number worldwide | 95,000 in 4 countries |
| Scientific name | Litocranius walleri |
| Weight | 80 to 115 lb. |
| Size | 35 to 40 in. at the shoulder |
| Life span | Up to 13 years in captivity |
| Habitat | Woodland forest to open plains |
| Diet | Herbivorous |
| Gestation | About 7 months |
| Predators | Humans, wild dogs, cheetahs, leopards, lions, jackals |