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Amboseli in December

December is two months in one at Amboseli. The first three weeks are green, showery and quiet; from about 20 December the festive peak sets in and the highest prices of the year run into early January.

If you only want the answer

December brings about 40 mm of rain and 26.3°C days. Until about 20 December you get the short rains, migrant birds and mid-season rates at Tortilis and Tawi. From 20 December the festive peak begins, the most expensive fortnight of the year at every lodge that publishes its seasons.

Amboseli weather in December: the short rains continue

December averages 26.3°C in the afternoon and 17.8°C at night, with about 40 mm of rain, an approximate figure scaled to the station's measured annual mean. KWS puts December inside one of the year's two rainfall peaks. Its management plan records extreme flooding in December 2019 and notes that floods can close viewing roads and the airstrip, so keep a day of slack in a December itinerary.

Kilimanjaro is at its cloudiest alongside April, with a clear dawn summit on about one morning in ten on modelled cloud data. Expert Africa notes that the summit's heaviest snow falls in November and early December.

The most expensive fortnight of the year

The festive peak starts on different days. Tortilis Camp moves to $715 per person sharing on 20 December, against $491 earlier in the month; Tawi Lodge's 2025 bands moved to peak on 21 December; and Ol Tukai Lodge, inside the park, charges $650 per double room on full board from 24 December to 2 January 2027, against $580 earlier in December. Porini Amboseli Camp rises from $585 to $880 per person sharing from 20 December 2026 to 2 January 2027.

Safarilink's high season returns on 16 December, bringing back the 14:00 flight from Wilson alongside the 07:15. Park fees do not rise for the holidays: $90 per non-resident adult per 24 hours, as in every month.

Green plains and migrant birds before the rush

Before the festive rush, December is a green-season month. The migrants that began arriving in October are in residence, and Lake Amboseli, a playa of about 300 square kilometres that floods in the wet season, can hold water and draw flamingos. The plains herds are spread out on the group ranches, and lions normally spend the wet season outside the park.

If you want the green and the birds without the prices, book the first half of the month. If you are travelling over Christmas, book early: only four commercial lodges and a handful of KWS cottages sit inside the park.

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