Tsavo East National Park

Three Days to Remember.

Having visited Tsavo East National Park in 1992 I always vowed to bring my wife to the park and experience the wildlife, scenery and hospitality that the staff at the lodges offer. We were not disappointed all the lodges we stayed in were superb and our guide who we booked with JT Safaris was exceptional.

An Authentic, Accessible Experience

I was greatly impressed by the wildlife and scenery of Tsavo National Park. I was even more impressed by the accessibility.

As a working professional, my vacation days are limited. I had booked a week at a beach resort in Mombasa, intending nothing more than to escape the New York winter for a tropical beach while putting another country under my well-traveled belt. Going on safari was almost an afterthought.

After two days of beach, beer and sun, I decided to check out the wildlife. I asked the reception at my youth hostel for a safari recommendation. After one phone call on a borrowed cell phone and one taxi ride into downtown Mombasa to pay the fee (they took American Express) I was booked for an overnight Safari at Tsavo National Park.

We left Mombasa early in the morning, arriving at our hotel for lunch. I stayed at the Voi Wildlife Lodge, which I highly recommend! It combines modern amenities (including air conditioning: a pleasant luxury for Europeans but an absolute must for Americans) with incredible scenery. There are several swimming pools and an observation deck that stretches approximately 50m into the park and overlooks a watering hole.

The safari itself was very memorable. We saw elephants, giraffes, baboons, wildebeest, gazelles, dik diks, cheetahs, and we even saw a lioness in the morning! Our guide was a native Kenyan who spoke perfect English and what sounded to me like very good German. It rained, very briefly, as we were driving from Mombasa to Tsavo. Not a lot, but just enough for me to "Bless the rains down in Africa" as the song goes. Aside from that one drizzle the weather was invariably sunny and warm: 88 degrees for Americans, just under 30 for Europeans.

Tsavo was incredible, I can't emphasize that enough, but the biggest draw for me was the easy accessibility from both Mombasa and Nairobi. If I'd stayed longer, I would have included several other parks in addition to Tsavo. I would have liked to venture into Tanzania and perhaps checked out the island of Zanzibar. Sadly, I have a limited number of vacation days and a lot of world left to explore...

It is a country for itself

Tsavo East is a amazing park if you are not after big herds of game. There are various possibilitys of watching Tsavo red elefants at the rivers along Voi River and Galana River. Especially the remote route at the shores of Galana River and later Tsavo River provides adventurous game watch possibilities on elefants going to the river, hipopotamus, crocodiles and giraff. There the wildlife is not accustumned to visitors, so they are much more attentive than at more frequently visited sites of the park. However, here a good 4x4 vehicle with a experienced driver is definitly required and you should not enter this road after 3 o´clock to get back to the main roads in time before sunset.
The part between Voi River and Galana River offers not too much of game but highly interesting views on bush landscape and escarpments in the distance. Ostriches and other plain game can be seen. Riverine forest along the road hide baboons and elefant families. The rock formations at Luggard Falls are interesting.
The park provides sufficient accomodation inside and outside its borders. A very pleasant place to stay is the Man Eater´s Camp at Tsavo.
The character of Tsavo West is much different from its Eastern brother. Landscapes are more mountainous and hilly, especially to the side of Ngulia Hills. The vulcanic history cannot be overseen. Wildlife needs to be spotted between the trees, but is easily found around waterholes. Mzima Springs is a highlight with its hipos and and waterdrinking elefants especially in the late afternoon. Spending sunrise on Poacher´s Lookout rewards the early hour with fantastic views on Mount Kilimanjaro. Spending the night in a tented camp inside the park makes you feel the sounds of the African bush.
Both parks not overloaded by visitors due to their vast size.

Since we had more time in Tsavo east so we had a slightly better wildlife experience here compared to Taita hills.
Also, we really enjoyed our stay at Ashnil Aruba lodge.

Less animals than in earlier years, but still very nice. Always a special place due to the red soil which colors the animals.

A great park to visit. I only spent a short time there but it was worth the trip. I was able to photograph some different wildlife, like the Gerenuk. It was also really pretty landscape.

Great guides, loads of wildlife, fantastic lodges

Very accesible, close to coast tourist city Malindi. Good for 1 or 2 days of safari. My First safari

It´s been my first safari in Africa. After 2 days (24 hours into the park) I was a bit upset, because we´ve seen lions and cheetah so far, and no leopards, but, and this is very good point, I learned that luck is very important in a safari. Some friends we´re there same days and they had seen these animals very close.
Lots of elephants and anthilops, jirafes, zebras, baboons, hipos, big eagles...
We were travelled from Malindi directly in a big Land Cruiser 4wd to 8 people, just my wife and me, with the guide and the driver, and we got a good price.
We stayed in a lodge a little bit elevated on a hill, with 2 water holes. At night I experienced the visit of lions, water buffalos, more elephants... from a bunker that lets you watch them very close. Very nice view of landscape at sunrise and sunset.
More questions you can contact me in you tube, http://bit.ly/mSSw6P

I had a lot of luck spotting birds. This was a great place for elephant viewing.

Larger park but not guaranteed to see all the big 5 as you are in the Masai Mara