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Write a User ReviewTsavo West – Kenya’s Southern Wilderness
The vast and uninhabited plains of Tsavo West are high on my list of favorite 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 often 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 50 black rhinos in the sanctuary, with another 15 or so having been released into the wider park. I’ve always found that the rhinos are easier to see at night around the waterhole at Ngulia Safari Lodge than in the sanctuary, where the dense vegetation can make sightings difficult.
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Tsavo West has a lonely, lost-in-Africa feel to it, a feeling you won’t find anywhere else in Kenya’s major parks.
Crystal Waters in a Thirsty Land
From the foot of the Chyulu Hills all the way down to the Tanzanian border, Tsavo West is a wild and broken land of volcanic hills, black lava flows and dense acacia woodland that makes game viewing harder than on the open plains of the Masai Mara. Nevertheless, all the Big Five can be seen – if you include the black rhinos in their heavily protected sanctuary at Ngulia. Also well worth a visit are the world-famous pools of Mzima Springs. There’s a submerged hide where you can watch fish swim past through plate-glass windows; if you are very lucky, you might even see hippos underwater. The birding is great, too. More than 400 species are present in Tsavo West, including must-see specials such as golden pipit and vulturine guineafowl. Kilaguni and Ngulia – two of Kenya’s oldest-established lodges – are situated in the park. Both overlook waterholes where elephant and sometimes leopard come to drink. But for a truly luxurious Out-of-Africa experience you must stay at Finch Hatton’s
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– a paradise of fever trees and crystal pools alive with hippos, crocodiles and kingfishers.Animal-Rich Grasslands Sheltered by Volcanic Hills
Thanks to its volcanic character, Tsavo West is hillier than Tsavo East. It is divided into two parts by the A23 road between Voi and Taveta. To the north of this road, and also bounded on the east by the Mombasa–Nairobi Highway (A109), is the ‘Developed Area’ where most of the lodges and game-driving tracks are. Here I would highly recommend stopping for a drink, lunch, or stay at Kilaguni Serena Safari Lodge and/or Severin Safari Camp to watch the action at the always busy waterholes: elephant, giraffe, antelope and warthog are permanent residents, and lion are regularly seen. A highlight of my safari was the beautiful Mzima Springs, a sparkling oasis of crystal-clear pools surrounded by date and raffia palms, giant figs and waterberry trees. The water is filtered to aquarium-transparency by porous volcanic ash, and in the submerged observation chamber I watched the blue swirl of large fish – lucky visitors may also see a crocodile swimming by. On my self-drive safari, I also
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enjoyed the part of Tsavo West south of the A23, especially Lake Jipe, which straddles the Tanzania border. It was a wonderfully peaceful area for a bit of hippo- and bird-spotting, and there were plenty of elephants around and marvellous views north to Kilimanjaro in the early evening when the cloud lifted from the summit.Gigantic Park on the Mombasa Highway
Tsavo West – the part of Tsavo that lies between the Mombasa Road and the Tanzanian border – contains one of the most accessible swathes of safari country in East Africa.
The main target, known as the developed area, is a hilly pocket of land in the northern section of the park, dotted with campsites and lodges with good facilities and none of the closed-door stuffiness that can afflict some of the more exclusive places on the safari circuit. The undulating terrain offers some fantastic views and there’s enough vegetation to support huge herds of buffalo, zebras and antelopes; there’s also a reasonably healthy population of lions, known for their unusually short manes (some males have no mane at all). My favourite spot is Mzima Springs, where you can explore the banks of two large pools on foot, watching birds, hippos and crocodiles. It’s popular, so if you’re travelling independently it’s best to get here early, when things are still quiet.