Tsavo East National Park

Great game viewing in a very accessible park

Straddling the highway between Nairobi and Mombasa, Tsavo East and West together form the biggest park in Kenya. At over 20,000 square kilometres, the Tsavos cover four percent of the country’s land, and together are larger than Israel.
Tsavo East is the busier of the two parks in terms of visitor numbers, and is especially popular with day visitors who’re staying in Mombasa or along the coast. Voi Gate is the best place to enter, and the areas around here offer fantastic game viewing. There is a plain around Aruba Dam that is teeming with wildlife; when I was there, I saw a herd of elephants, buffalo, zebra, impala and a troop of baboons – at the same time – as well as a very shy jackal.
Tsavo East is neatly divided into north and south by the Galana River. Two-thirds of the park lies north of the Galana, but this area is essentially off-limits to visitors. South of the Galana, however, there is plenty of wildlife and most animals seem to be used to vehicles, so you have some fantastic opportunities to get good wildlife photographs.

I loved tsavo east. From the moment I entered the park I was greeted by animals everywhere. My camera was going non stop.

Almost eaten by elephant

While in reservation, it looked like there is something alive everywhere you looked. Guide (or lets call him the driver) was native Kenyan. He was able to spot lion 5km away from us while driving (avoiding holes on road) and talking to us. All drivers were cooperating like bees. They notified others when there was something special. If that happened, time stopped and every car was rushing to the announced spot. This showed to be very efficient, we have seen lion kittens, lion dragging his pray, bathing elephants, fighting impalas, little playful elephants and zebras. We were also woken up by an elephant eating our roof during deep night in camp (we actually mostly smelled this one, it was really dark :) )... To sum up, you should put this on your bucket list.

Very open parc, you can see the animals from far away. At the waterholes it was always busy with al kind of animals.

Not nearly as much wildlife as Tsavo West. Very sparse sightings. But the beauty is fabulous. I wish we had spent more time there and my opinion may be more favorable.

Stunning ! Take your time, do not rush from 1 to the other park

We have booked a 3 day safari with Steve & Richard via internet. Since Steve is running coast and Richhard is running Nairobi, we met Steve only. He was at Moi international airport already waiting for us when we arrived. He brought us to our hotel where we immediatly paid 25% upfront for a safari a week later. People at the hotel said we would never see him back so we worried a little about that. But Steve called us to acknowledge he booked the Lodges for our safari and we got exited. On the day we departed, Steve was there before the hour we had agreed, with the driver. If you know Kenya, you know being earlier than late is very special. Good points here for S&R. After we paid the rest of the safari, Steve left the private van we had and the driver gave us a fantastic safari. Stopped where we wanted, how long we wanted, answered all our questions, gave us extra info on animals. Exeeded our expactations really. EG we wanted to leave the lodge before breakfast, than return just in time before breakfast and leave again for a game drive. This was not a problem. We saw may many animals in Tsavo and were so happy with this safari. I would recommend this company to anyone looking for a super safari. We did stick to Tsao East only. So to look in every corner at a calm pace. Photo's : http://wp.me/P18EuK-1gh

A nice big five safari less rhino round the year.

We could see herds of elephants in dozens. Rhino is not present in this park (as per guide) but other 4 of big five were visible in abundance. The park is big and well kept. Kenya safari Lodge Hotel has a tremendous view. Loved it

A Tsavo East Epic Adventure!

Arriving at the famous Tsavo East National Park at the Voi Gate Headquarters, we were greeted by smiling rangers and park staff. We were quickly processed and were into the park within 10 minutes.

Rounding the first corner, no more than 200 metres in, we saw our first elephants, a small family group grazing in the bush by the side of the track. Elephant would prove to be our ever present in the park. It was full of them all over the whole park.

Our first night was spent camping at Ndololo Camp. This is a public campsite, with a shower/toilet block. There was a very helpful caretaker who brought us wood for the fire! Camping was fantastic due to the fact that the campsite is unfenced and animals can wander in at leisure. The highlight was a bull elephant not 50 meters from where we sat reaching up into a tree with his trunk and using his body weight to pull a branch down. Exhilarating!

Game drives were constantly stopped to look at elephants and the plentiful game. Our guide found us lions lazing in the grass. You have to be pretty fortunate to see them moving around or hunting apparently! They were an amazing sight though!

The bush is thick in places and the guide is crucial as they know where the game hangs out- we saw everything we wanted to!

We then moved up to the northern area to stay in a luxury tented camp called Galdessa on the Galana River. One word- spectacular! The river was full of hippos and crocodiles and just sitting there we saw elephants crossing- who can resist seeing a baby elephant swimming across with only it's trunk visible above the water?

Lions came down to drink nearby in the dark and the noises of the bush at night were sensational! The camp was awesome! Great food, helpful staff and the highlight was a bush walk with a guide and a ranger down the river from the mighty Lugards Falls. We saw a leopard! The elusive animal was on a rock waiting for us it seemed! It soon disappeared as we stopped to look at it, ranger on guard just in case!

We took a sundowner trip to a place called Mudanda Rocks. Perhaps on of the greatest views in the world! We climbed to the top and sat over looking a waterhole, watching giraffe, elephant, impala, warthog and gazelles drinking as we sipped a cold Tusker beer- heaven! The view from the rocks out across the vast expanse of Tsavo East was simply stunning and I never wanted to leave!

All in all our safari to Tsavo East was amazing, well worth the money! In fact, for the experience we had it was cheap!

Kenya is such a fascinating country and I would recommend visiting it to anyone. We took our two small children aged 8 and 6 with us and never ever felt unsafe. The guides and rangers were incredibly professional.

Kenya- visit it now!

My safari was very good and the tourguide from elimunwildsafaris.com were excellen, and after safari

Its was dry and the animal were there the tourguid were nice food was good

Elephants on the rocks just above the track and a tower of giraffes on a steep incline. Amazing to the these huge animals in this terrain. Mzima Springs is worth a visit to see hippos, crocs, monkeys and blue fish. When we arrived at Chyulu Gate to enter the park a very friendly kudu antelope approached us and wanted to be petted. An amazing encounter. On our way out, twenty minutes from the Tsavo gate, we observed a leopard resting in the shade on the side of the track.