21/03/2025
Tsavo is made up of two separate parks, Tsavo East National Park and Tsavo West National Park. Located in Coast Province of Kenya in between Nairobi City and Mombasa. Tsavo is nearly 22,000km2, being the largest national park in Kenya and one of the largest in the world. The park was split into two due to the railway going from Mombasa to the interior of Kenya. Today, poaching has all but ended. With the park's great diversity of plants and animals coupled with its well maintained all weather roads,it has become a model national park. The superb signposting leads visitors from one natural wonder to the other. One of these marvels is Mzima Springs which is replenished with over 220 million litres of crystal-clear water everyday from the underground streams originating from the Chyulu Hills, 40-50kms away. Mzima acts as an attraction to many animals and especially elephants that love spending their time here soaking half emersed in the water.
Each year from late September to November, Ngulia has become the base of a unique phenomena. Attracted by the lights of Ngulia Lodge, thousand of migrant birds descend through the mist, which are prevalent at this time of year, only to be netted, ringed and then released.This phenomena has become one of the bird wonders of the world. Reports about ringed birds have been received from as far off places as Oman, Malawi, Iran and Germany. Besides the gigantic elephants, other animals such as lions, some undoubtedly direct descendants of the maneaters of Tsavo, can be seen roaming around in this national park. Among the not so common animals to be found here are fringed-eared oryx, the gerenuk and the lesser kudu. The carnivores found here include serval, hyena, leopard, cheetah and caracal. The landscape is filled with giant baobab tree and which are reputed to live a thousand years. Kilaguni, which was the first lodge to be opened in any park in Kenya, stands at the centre of Tsavo West and was opened by the Duke of Gloucester in 1962. The lodge and its waterhole have an almost permanent population of animals. This feast of flora and fauna combines to make Tsavo of special interest.