Amboseli National Park

A reserve since 1899 and a national park since 1974, Amboseli mixes dusty plains with swamps fed by Kilimanjaro's snowmelt. It escaped the worst of last century's ivory poaching, which is why it still has elephants with tusks that are legend elsewhere in Africa.

It isn't a closed area but the centre of a larger ecosystem, largely Maasai land — so a visit almost always includes meeting the Maasai, their dances and villages.