Tsavo West National Park

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Expert

Anthony Ham –

Visited: Multiple times

Anthony is a photographer and writer for travel magazines and Lonely Planet, including the guides to Kenya and Botswana & Namibia.

12 people found this review helpful.

Tsavo West – Kenya’s Southern Wilderness

Overall rating

5/5

Wildlife:

Bush Vibe:

Scenery:

Birding:

The vast and uninhabited plains of Tsavo West is high on my list of favourite Kenyan safari destinations. Wildlife densities are much lower here than the Masai Mara or even Tsavo’s other half away to the east. But the shaggy maned lions of Tsavo – descendants of the legendary man-eaters of Tsavo – are one of East Africa’s more memorable sights and easily seen, while some of my best-ever leopard sightings were in Tsavo West’s Rhino Valley, in the shadow of the dramatic Ngulia Hills. Buffalo and red-hued elephants are also common, while the 90-sq-km Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary, complete with armed guards, has been a huge success in bringing the black rhino back from the brink of extinction – there are around fifty black rhinos in the sanctuary, with another 15 or so having been released into the wider park. In addition to the chance to see all members of the Big Five in a single day, Tsavo West has a lonely, lost-in-Africa feel to it, a feeling you won’t find anywhere else in Kenya.

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Expert

Mark Eveleigh –

Visited: September

Mark is a travel writer who grew up in Africa and has written over 700 titles for Condé Nast Traveller, Travel Africa, BBC Wildlife and others.

5 people found this review helpful.

Perhaps Kenya’s greatest unexplored wilderness

Overall rating

5/5

Wildlife:

Bush Vibe:

Scenery:

Birding:

To the south-west of Tsavo East, and on the opposite side of the Trans-Africa Highway, you find Tsavo West National Park. This park is one of the greatest wildlife spectacles that this remarkable country has to offer. Even compared with the spectacular Masai Mara the wildlife density at Lake Jipe (far to the south on the Tanzania border) is astounding. There are great herds of plains game here, immense flocks of waterfowl, massive pods of hippos and vast herds of elephants that can often be seen swimming between the reed islands that lie just offshore from the Kenyan shore. Chyulu Gate campsite in the north of the park makes an ideal first stop and from there a single day’s driving will take you to the Kenya Wildlife Service bandas on Lake Jipe. There are no lodges or hotels in this area though since it is just too remote and there are no convenient airstrips. For the time being one of Kenya’s most beautiful wildlife areas can only be accessed with a sturdy 4wd, several extra jerry-cans of fuel and a fair amount of dedication. Make the sacrifice though and you’ll never regret it.

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