Where is Tsavo? How big is Tsavo?
Tsavo is made up of two separate parks, Tsavo East National Park and Tsavo West National Park and is located in Coast Province of Kenya in between Nairobi and Mombasa. Tsavo is nearly 22,000km2 and is the largest national park in Kenya and one of the largest in the world. Tsavo East is about 9 times the size of the Masai Mara National Reserve. The park was split into two due to the railway going from Mombasa to the interior of Kenya.
What can we see in Tsavo?
The two sides offer different experiences. Whie Tsavo East is probably easier to spot animals due to its wide valleys with little trees and bushes, Tsavo West has a volcanic landscape, complete with lava flows and rocky outcrops mingling with the long grass and African bushes. The game viewing is slightly more challenging here as you have to really 'search out' the wildlife amongst the difficult terrain. We definitely saw much less animals in West but the landscape and the colours were really pretty!
Tsavo is probably most famous for its red elephants due to the red volcanic soil (only red elephants in the world!) and its man-eating lions. The man-eating lions came to fame in 1898, when 2 male lions chewed their way through 135 railway workers over a period of 9 months while the Kenyan-Uganda railway was being constructed. The lions were eventually shot and killed by Colonel John Patterson, and are still on display today at the Chicago Natural History Museum in the US.
Tsavo is home of Africa’s Big 5 – elephant, lion, buffalo, leopard and rhino - as well as zebra, giraffe, antelope, spotted and striped hyena, baboons, a large population of hippo and many crocodiles (esp. in Mzima Springs in Tsavo West). However, like elsewhere in Africa, this is becoming harder and hard to spot any rhinos. There are no rhinos in Tsavo East and only about 80-100 black rhinos in Tsavo West but are hiding (even in the rhino sanctuary!).
Official website: https://www.tsavopark.com/
How to plan a safari?
I would highly recommend you to plan your safari via a competent local guide to make sure you avoid pitfalls and benefit from experts' advice when driving to and inside the national park. Our friend had arranged the safari for a large group of French people (just 66 people!!) following her wedding celebration in Diani Beach and was recommended to go through Chacal Expeditions. Chacal Expeditions is a local operator tour based in Mombasa and founded by Nicholas M. Mganga. This is worth noting that Nicholas has very solid credentials as he is the main point of contact for UCPA (largest outdoors holiday non-profit association for adults in France) in Kenya and is mentioned in "Le Guide du Routard" (French Lonely Planet equivalent). Nicholas offers a wide customisable range of packages in terms of safari and cultural visits in both Kenya and Tanzania. Also a plus, Nicholas can provide the tour in English or in French!
See here if interested: http://chacalexpeditions.com/ or contact info@chacalexpeditions.com
For us, it was a real success and Nicholas demonstrated high professional and patience when multiple challenges - on the road or elsewhere - appeared on the way! Our safari was extremely well organized and everyone could happily enjoy the safari. Nicholas's motto: Hakuna Matata (No problems!) I happily recommend his services!
Our safari
Tsavo East
We started from Diani Beach relatively early morning (1h-1h30 South Mombasa depending on the time it takes you to take the ferry in Mombasa!) and arrived to Tsavo East around mid-day. The A109 road from Mombasa to Tsavo is the main road Mombasa-Nairobi and is very busy as is connected the second largest port in Africa (Mombasa) to the capital city. It is said that the road moves more than 50 percent of all goods traded in the East African community. There are a lot of heavy-duty transport vehicles and a large part of the road is only two lanes-wide, so can be a bit stressful from time to time when everyone is trying to overtake each other... better not to check out the accident stats on that road!
After a 30-45min drive into Tsavo East, we arrived at our lodge to drop our luggage and have lunch. We stayed at Ashnil Aruba Lodge (https://www.tsavopark.com/entries/ashnil-aruba-lodge) in individual Deluxe ensuit guest rooms. The food (buffet) was very nice and there is also a small swimming pool if you want to enjoy a bath. In the evenings, all the Kenyan beetles are out and this can become a little bit overwhelming as they are all dropping on you from everywhere!
After a quick break, we continued the safari end of day before the sunset (so basically around 4 to 6PM) and saw our first Big Five, the elephants and the lions. We were very lucky as we actually saw the whole lion family inc. a tiny cub right next to the car. See a few of pictures from Iphone (imagine what you can do with a reflex!):
I really enjoyed the landscape and colors of Tsavo East and found them absolutely beautiful.
Tsavo West
After having spent the first half of Day 2 morning in Tsavo East and spotted leopards on the move, we took the direction of Tsavo West. We reached Kilaguni Serena Lodge (https://www.tsavopark.com/entries/kilaguni-serena-lodge) around mid-day for lunch. While we were already impressed by the first lodge in Tsavo East, this one was absolutely stunning! This is not only offering you a view on the Kilimandjaro (weather allowing) and other volcanic hills, but also located just in front of waterhole where animals come to drink water. We saw all types of animals & birds inc. elephants (see picture by night). The lodge offers very spacious and comfortable en suite rooms and great viewing terrace where you can enjoy drinks and food. The only downside is during dinner where all sorts of insects are dropping into your table and meals. But definitely a lodge we loved staying at. There is also a nice small swimming pool.
Towards the end of the day, we went to the spectacular Shetani lava flows on the road to Amboseli. ‘Shetani’ means ‘devil’ in Kiswahili: the flows were formed only a few hundred years ago and local peoples believed that it was the devil himself emerging from the earth. This vast expanse of folded black lava spreads for 50 sq km across the savannah near the Chyulu Hills. There is a spot where you can stop and go out of the car to take some pictures.
On our last day our safari, we headed to Mzima Springs which offers a daily supply of more than 250 million litres of fresh water. The pool, which provides an oasis of green, is a heaven for fishes, birds, monkeys, crocodiles and hippos. We stopped there at a walking trail leading to an underwater viewing tank built to allow visitors to watch hippos. However, an armed ranger was with us to make sure hippos/crocodiles were keeping their distance!
After having seen a few more animals including girafes and a buffalo, it was time to exit the Tsavo park and head back to Diani Beach. We stopped at Voi for lunch and continued our way to Mombasa. That night the traffic around Mombasa ferry was worse than never and had to wait for over an hour just to get a ferry!
Tips - to bring with you to Tsavo
- a nice camera - ideally Zoom Reflex
- binoculars - the essential device to spot animals and observe animals
- baby wipes - to remove all the red dust!
- toilet paper - public toilet paper do not always provide toilet paper
- anti-mosquitoes/bugs + your anti-malaria medicine
- sun cream
Overall we had a great time in Tsavo. Nicholas & his staff genuinely did their best to make us see safely the best of the African wildlife. It was my 4th safari (after Serengeti in Tanzania and two safaris in South Africa), but you don't get bother of seeing happy animals in beautiful and varied sceneries. I really recommend Tsavo and its red soil!
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