Amboseli Elephants Safari
Photograph the Elephants
of Amboseli in 2025
Join us in September on a seven-day tour to photograph the elephants and tuskers at Amboseli.
This Amboseli elephants safari has been designed so that we can view and photograph the crossings of elephant families over a dry lake bed, as well as photograph Amboseli’s famous the big tuskers. Over seven days, at two camps, we will maximise our opportunities to gather a large and varied portfolio of elephant images.
We’ve chosen the best time of the year too. September is when the lake beds are driest and when the long lines of elephant families venture twice daily from the forests to the swamps and back.
During our six full days on the Amboseli elephants safari, we spend three days for six drives at the renowned Tortilis Camp inside the reserve and just ten minutes from the dry lake bed where we disembark our vehicles to await the elephant families to pass by.
Our safari also includes two days at Elephant Gardens at nearby Kimanga, in its own conservancy, for four drives. There, we will seek out any of Amboseli’s famous tuskers, including Craig - the owner of the heaviest tusks in Kenya. All in all, we are gifted with ten drives in total.
We stay in luxury accommodation and we work with proven driver guides who possess what seems to be unlimited experience of Amboseli. Our vehicles are specially adapted to accommodate photographers, with each photographer being allocated one full row of seats.
To reserve your spot on the Amboseli Elephants Safari, please email me at email@davidlloyd.net
Combine two wildlife tours
You can combine this tour with the Great Migration Photo Safari
The Great Migration tour immediately proceeds this Amboseli Elephants Safari. You can combine both for an unforgettable 14-day wildlife experience, which includes a total of 13 days in the parks and 22 drives. Please see below for a special cost which incorporates both tours.
Amboseli Elephants Safari Highlights
Elephant Photography
Photographers of all levels are welcome. We are professional photographers with great experience in the field as well as in guiding and photographic instruction. Each photography safari tour offers a small client-leader ratio that allows for personal attention and customised guidance on how to capture the best wildlife photography.
Other Animals in Amboseli
While elephants are absolutely our prime objective in Amboseli, other wildlife awaits us too. Expect to see gerenuk, lions, as well as antelope, zebra and giraffe.
Safari Guides and Drivers
Our safari guides and drivers are renowned and well-known in both the Maasai Mara and Amboseli National Park and have more than fifteen years of guiding and driving experience. They have particular experience driving photographers so they know just what to expect from us.
Safari Vehicles
We use vehicles adapted for photography. Each photographer has a whole row of seats in the vehicle, to maximise opportunity and space.
Hotel Accommodation
We stay in luxury accommodations throughout our safari, including our initial stay in Nairobi and for each of our stays in the parks. Good dining accompanies the accommodation and the rooms are large with separate bedrooms, bathrooms and balconies.
Image Reviews and Tuition
After our morning drives, we offer tuition on photographic techniques and post-processing. We also host image review sessions in a more formal setting during the week. Our goal is for you to make the most out of your experience and to take home pictures of tigers you’ve long desired.
Where we go during the Amboseli Elephants Safari
Amboseli National Park
Amboseli National Park is located in Loitoktok District, Rift Valley Province of Kenya.
In the early 1990’s ceaseless rain changed Amboseli into a swamp. A few years later the rains failed and the grass-covered plains turned to dust.
Amboseli is 39,206 hectares in size at the core of an 8,000 square kilometres ecosystem that spreads across the Kenya-Tanzania border and is famous for being the best place in Africa to get close to free-ranging elephants among other wildlife species.
Other attractions of the park include spectacular views of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest free-standing mountain in the world.
Elephant Gardens Conservancy
Elephant Garden Conservancy is a privately owned conservancy recently created to give the elephant bulls, like Tee-Jay and Craig, and other wildlife space while providing an income for the local landowners.
Elephant Gardens Camp is the sole camp in the conservancy, and with the camp having only five rooms, we will have virtually guaranteed encounters with the elephants, free of other vehicles.
Where we stay in Amboseli
Tortilis Camp
Tortilis Camp has a prime location for witnessing the majesty of Africa’s highest mountain, Kilimanjaro. Located in a private conservancy bordering the national park, game drives, walks, sundowners and bush meals take place both inside the national park and in the conservancy, where guests enjoy exclusivity.
Elephant Garden Camp
Elephant Garden Camp is a small luxury camp opened in July 2022. The camp is located only a short drive outside of Amboseli's Kimana gate in a favourite area of some of our big elephant bulls.
How Do I Book?
Our Amboseli Elephants Safari tour group is small (a maximum of 8 participants) so space will be limited. To reserve your spot on this tour please contact me.
Dates and Costs 2025
The cost of this all-inclusive Amboseli Elephants Safari is $8600 per person. Bookings are secured with a $750 deposit per person, with the balance being required 12 weeks before.
An optional single supplement is available at $1700 extra. Single supplements are for single travellers who want their own room. Otherwise, single travellers are paired with another traveller of the same gender.
8th September – 14th September – With David Lloyd
The Amboseli Elephants Safari can be linked to our 8-day Great Migration Photo Safari. If you join us for both, then the cost of this safari will be $8300.
Dates and Costs 2026
The cost of this all-inclusive Amboseli Elephants Safari is $8800 per person. Bookings are secured with a $750 deposit per person, with the balance being required 12 weeks before.
An optional single supplement is available at $1700 extra. Single supplements are for single travellers who want their own room. Otherwise, single travellers are paired with another traveller of the same gender.
7th September – 13th September – With David Lloyd
The Amboseli Elephants Safari can be linked to our 8-day Great Migration Photo Safari. If you join us for both, then the cost of this safari will be $8400.
Payments are to be made in US Dollars.
Financial Protection
Payments for all safaris are made through Shona Travel which means you have the financial protection of booking through a registered tour operator. Your money is 100% safe and if one of our suppliers goes bust, your money is fully protected. Shona Travel can also book your flights for full financial protection. Please download our terms and conditions here.
Amboseli Elephants Photo Safari
What’s Included
All accommodation in hotels and lodges
All internal flights
All airport transfers
All meals at lodges
All park fees
Exclusive vehicles and qualified driver guides
Some alcoholic and all non-local alcoholic beverages
What’s not Included
International flights
Kenya e-visa
Tips and gratuities for camp staff and guides
Amboseli Elephants Safari Itinerary
Day 1: Nairobi
Transfer from JKIA airport to Nairobi Serena Hotel, rest of the day at leisure with overnight stay.
Day 2: Amboseli National Park
9:00am flight to Amboseli, afternoon drive and overnight stay at Tortilis Camp.
Day 3 : Amboseli National Park
Morning and afternoon drives and overnight stay at Tortilis Camp.
Day 4 : Amboseli National Park
Morning and afternoon drives and overnight stay at Tortilis Camp.
Day 5 : Amboseli National Park and Elephant Garden Conservancy
Morning drive in Amboseli National Park, after lunch transfer to Elephant Garden Conservancy for afternoon drive and overnight stay at Elephant Garden.
Day 6 : Elephant Garden Conservancy
Morning and afternoon drives overnight stay at Elephant Garden Camp.
Day 7: Elephant Garden Conservancy and Nairobi
Morning drive at Elephant Garden, then 2:00pm transfer to Nairobi Serena Hotel.
Your Guides
We are a small team of award-winning wildlife photographers and experienced photography tutors in the field of natural history. We have won wildlife photography awards in Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Nature’s Best and GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and our work is published regularly. Our photographic experience extends back to the days of film, paper and manual focus cameras.
David Lloyd
David Lloyd is an exhibiting wildlife photographer, having won awards for his work which favours a fine art style in both colour and black & white. David has been awarded six times in Wildlife Photographer of the Year. In 2011, his image A Flick of the Tail was chosen as the cover of that year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year portfolio.
His images have been published widely in the press and several photographic monthlies, in both the UK and abroad. David also holds exhibitions of his work, most recently at the Royal Geographic Society in London. He is the author of two wildlife photography books: As Long As There Are Animals and All Eyes Speak One Language. Visit David’s wildlife photography gallery for other wildlife photography and more.
Sammy Kaleku
Sammy Kaleku is a proud Maasai that grew up herding his family’s cattle. But Sammy wanted to do more, to be more, without losing his proud Maasai culture and tradition. He began working as a driver guide at camps in the Maasai Mara. In the past nine years he honed these skills and became one of the most sought after driver guides in the Maasai Mara working with some of the best international photographers.
In 2017 Sammy became an independent guide and started his own company Kazuri Photo Safaris. Sammy’s expertise now extends beyond the Maasai Mara to northern Kenya and of course to Amboseli. He found an innate photographic aptitude but Sammy’s best skill is how to get a good photograph. He knows how to position a vehicle that will be the optimum for photographers to make the best of prevailing conditions to get that photo you always wanted.
I am proud to say that I was Sammy’s first client in the Maasai Mara all those years ago, and he was my first driver there too. I’ve seen Sammy grow from a keen Maasai beginning his journey to one of the most popular driver guides in Kenya today. You will no doubt enjoy his knowledge and infectious company.