Dust devils and elephants, the magic Amboseli lives on

A herd of elephants viewed from Oltukai lodge at the Amboseli Game Reserve. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Amboseli can be dusty. Sometimes, the dust forms whirlwinds 100 metres high. They call them dust devils but there is nothing evil about them. These whirlwinds are so spectacular and part of the landscape that whoever coined the name Amboseli must have had them in mind — the place of salty dust.

Last weekend, I was on a whirlwind tour of Amboseli National Park, one of my favourite wild haunts. Affordable, accessible and memorable.  More than 150,000 visitors flock here annually to watch Amboseli’s main residents—the world’s most studied elephants.