Inside a ‘Lion King’ safari vacation – with Kilimanjaro as a backdrop

At 5,895m (19,340ft), Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest point in Africa and the loftiest free-standing mountain in the world.

And it’s proving to be the most jaw-dropping of backdrops to my stay at the stunning Angama Amboseli safari lodge in Kenya, which lies 30km (18 miles) or so to the north of the dormant Tanzanian volcano.

Glass of rose in hand, I contemplate its utter cinematic majesty.

No wonder the directors of The Lion King movies used it for the opening ‘Circle of Life’ sequences.

I smile and gaze at the glacial, snow-topped summit, feeling like I’m in a real-life version of Disney’s blockbuster. After all – it’s not just the backdrop that’s present, but the entire cast.

Angama Amboseli is positioned in Kimana Sanctuary, a lush 5,700-acre haven near Amboseli National Park that offers guests the chance to witness exotic wildlife mere moments from their super-king-sized beds – lions, warthogs, giraffes, baboons, zebras, hyenas and ‘super tuskers’, the world’s most immense elephants, with tusks so long they drag along the ground when they walk.

And let alone the sights you see when you arrive – the journey to get to Kimana Sanctuary is unforgettable in its own right.

This Kenyan odyssey has been organised by luxury safari company Roar Africa, which has an unbridled passion for delivering extraordinary adventures in matchless style.

I’m with my partner and daughter and we fly with Emirates from Heathrow via Dubai to Nairobi, where we’re guided through border control by a VIP concierge.

From this moment on, lifting our own bags becomes a rare event.

A chirpy Roar Africa driver and guest relations manager then drives us in a posh SUV to a plush pre-savannah pitstop – Hemingways Nairobi, where guests are cocooned in colonial-style luxury amid spellbinding tiered gardens.

The outdoor pool also hypnotises us – as does the way the TV rises out of a wooden chest in our four-poster room at the touch of a button.

The 45-minute flight transfer to the wilds – Amboseli National Park Airstrip – is a thrill, and comes courtesy of an Air Kenya 18-seat turbo-prop De Havilland Canada Twin Otter.

Most of the passengers are nervous flyers – they clap and cheer when the aircraft takes to the skies from Nairobi Wilson Airport.

Me? I’m grinning with childlike glee.

Amboseli Airstrip is literally just that (plus a toilet) and sits slap-bang in the middle of 151-square-mile Amboseli National Park.

We’re greeted there by Angama guide Elvis, who unlocks the magic of Amboseli and Kimana (a 45-minute drive away) and unveils an encyclopaedic knowledge of Africa’s flora and fauna.

Within moments of disembarking the plane at the airstrip we hop aboard a luxurious-yet-rugged open-sided Toyota Land Cruiser and embark on a riveting game drive.

We’ve barely had time to absorb our surroundings when we pull up at a watering hole teeming with elephants, zebras and wildebeests. It’s like a cut scene from The Lion King – and there’s no let-up in the sightings during our three visits to the park.

At any given moment in Amboseli, if you turn to the left, the right, or look straight ahead or behind, you’ll spot a noteworthy creature.

Buffaloes chew their greens in swamps, hippos yawn, monkeys frolic, giraffes saunter and my eagle-eyed daughter spots two hyenas asleep in the grass by the roadside.

We hang out with two super tuskers, Michael (who flaps his ears at us to move on), and Craig (who likes to ‘push down trees for fun’, Elvis says).

But the stars of the show at Amboseli? Undoubtedly the cheetahs.

When word spreads via walkie-talkie among the safari guides that a mother cheetah and her five cubs have been spotted near one of the dusty roads, a ‘cheetah-jam’ quickly forms on it, with dozens of game-drive vehicles grid-locked as the cats play in and around a big tree.

Driving off-road is strictly prohibited at Amboseli. Not so at Kimana Sanctuary, which is owned by 844 Masaai families. Angama Amboseli pays them lease fees and receives ‘traversing rights’ in return.

I find the game drives here more enchanting – the only vehicles we see belong to the lodge, which means more intimate encounters with the animals.

And they’re here in spectacular numbers.

Established in 1996 as the first community-owned wildlife sanctuary in Kenya, Kimana Sanctuary has an ‘outsized importance to the greater Amboseli ecosystem’, I’m told, for it is part of a corridor that connects Amboseli National Park to the Chyulu Hills and Tsavo West National Park, ‘creating a critical migratory path for wildlife, most notably the tusker elephants’.

At one point, this corridor shrinks to just 70 metres in width and bisects a main road (with some very big speed bumps in place to slow the traffic).

During magical trundles around Kimana Sanctuary we witness giraffe herds, two (sleepy) male lions, hippos, a baby crocodile, vultures, elephants, baboons, zebras, wildebeest, a martial eagle, mongooses zipping across the dusty ground and, at one point Elvis jumps out and lifts a stone to reveal a resting pregnant scorpion.

The joy of Angama Amboseli, though, is that the animals are right on the doorstep, free to roam in and around the buildings – there are no fences separating the property from the fever-tree-dotted conservancy.

At night, when big cats hunt, Maasai guards with shotguns escort guests to their suites, where they can seal themselves off from the animals outside and enjoy the creature comforts on the inside.

The suites – which number just 10 – are jaw-dropping, with bold design cues taken from the monochromatic and industrial 60s and 70s. And the animal neighbours have contributed to the architecture, too, with the suites, along with the other buildings in the retreat, made from a mixture of concrete, stone… and elephant dung.

Our suite is formed from two sizeable round ‘huts’, connected by a curved corridor, with a sweeping fly sheet on top and dark timber forming the ceilings.

There are dreamily plush beds, an eye-catching drinks armoire, Fermob rocking chairs on the terrace, an indoor walk-in shower behind a partition wall, an outdoor shower, a trendy modular wardrobe – and views of Kilimanjaro available from floor-to-ceiling doors in the bedroom and ensuite.

In fact, the whole camp has been designed around views of Kilimanjaro, which can also be gazed upon from the beautiful outdoor pool (complete with animal drinking trough) and the eye-catching indoor/outdoor dining and bar area.

Here we’re served excellent meals by the retreat’s charming and gracious staff and enjoy chatting to our fellow guests around the sundowner fire pit, exchanging tales of the day’s activities as warthogs dig for bugs on the lawn and zebras trot by.

It’s here, too, that local Maasai warriors perform a mesmerising nightly dance ritual and explain their way of life (with everyone startled to learn that all Maasai men spend two years ‘living in the forest living off meat and blood’).

One evening the sundowners are served in an amazing nearby viewing tower, with Elvis spotting a lioness drinking from a stream in the distance as we sip gin and tonics.

And before we go, we have a family photoshoot with brilliant resident photographer Sammy and I’m chased down by the local anti-poaching patrol’s bloodhound (for demo purposes, by the way).

As I sip my rose on the final night by the firepit and gaze at Mount Kilimanjaro, I try to process what I’ve experienced – a trip with so many moments where time seems to stand still that I’m surprised it finally comes to an end.