Tsavo East National Park

Altitude: 500 – 4,000 feet above sea level.

Area: 11,800 square kilometers

Airstrips: 16 Airstrips (4 graded).

Opened: April 1948

Activities: Game viewing, walks, camel safaris.

Map

Tsavo-East is one of Kenya’s oldest and largest National parks: covering approx.40 per cent of the total area of all Kenya’s National Parks. Its beautiful landscape and proximity to the coast make it a popular safari destination. It is accredited as one of the world’s leading bio-diversity strongholds, bushy grassland and open plains alternating with savannah and semi-arid acacia scrub and woodlands. Green swathes cross the park where the riverbanks give rise to lush vegetation. North of Galana is a true wilderness. A number of leading tour guides offer private safaris across this area, camel safaris are a feature.

Tsavo-East is recommended for photographers with its fabulous light and unbelievable views, in particular the Mudanda Rock and the Yatta plateau, the world’s largest lava flow. Lugard falls on the Galana River are remarkable for the shaped water-worn rocks. Game includes: elephant, rhino, lion, leopard, crocodile, waterbuck, Kudu, gerenuk and zebra and Aruba Hunter’s Hartebeest can be seen with its lyre-shaped horns. Home to some of the largest herds in Kenya, the elephants glow red after dust baths, blowing the vivid red dust through their trunks over their bodies.

500 bird species are recorded including ostrich and some migratory kestrels and buzzards stop at Tsavo-East during their long flight south. Accommodation: one lodge, four tented camps, two campsites, and a self-help banda site. Further lodges and tented camps are planned.

To the north is South Kitui National Reserve, an area of 1833sq.kms. opened in September 1979. It is particularly noted for primates.