Covering an area of about 13,747 square kilometers, Tsavo East National Park indeed is one of the oldest and largest parks in Kenya. It is situated in a semi-arid area previously known as the Taru Desert and opened for the public in April 1948. Tsavo East is located near Voi town in the county of Taita-Taveta of Coast Province. The park can be accessed by three main gates, from Mombasa through the Bachuma gate, from Malindi through the Sala gate or from Voi through the Manyani gate. There are also several airstrips in the park that allow chartered light planes.
Inside the park, the Athi river from Nairobi and Tsavo river from Mzima Springs converge to form one Galena River which changes its name to Sabaki River in Malindi before ending up into the Indian Ocean.
Most of the park consists of semi-arid grasslands and savanna. It is considered to be one of the world’s biodiversity strongholds, and its popularity is mostly due to the vast amounts of the diverse wildlife that can be seen, including lion, cape buffalo, maltitudes of elephants, cheetah, hippo, species of antelopes, leopard, hyena etc. The park is also home to a great variety of bird life such as the black kite, sacred ibis, secretary birds, ostrich, hon-billed, sterling etc.
Major attractions in this park are features and sites like;
Mudanda Rock – a 1.6 km inselberg of stratified rock that acts as a water catchment that supplies a natural dam below. It offers an excellent vantage point for the hundreds of elephants and other wildlife that come to drink sometimes during the dry season.
The Yatta Plateau – is the world’s longest lava flow, it runs along the western boundary of the park above the Athi River. Its 300 km length and 10 km width were formed by lava from the Ol Doinyo Sabuk Mountain.
Lugard Falls – named after Frederick Lugard, is actually a series of whitewater rapids on the Galena River, this is also a home to hippo and crocodile.
Aruba Dam – was built in 1952 across the Voi River. The reservoir created by the dam attracts animals and water birds when its filled up with water.
Mammals – Tsavo East National Park is one of the world’s largest game reserves, providing undeveloped wilderness homes to vast numbers of animals. A comprehensive list of the animal types found in Tsavo East Park includes the aardwolf, yellow baboon, bat, cape buffalo, bushbaby, bushbuck, caracal, African wildcat, cheetah, African Civet, dik-dik, African hunting dog, eland, African elephant, bat-eared fox, gazelle, large-spotted genet, small-spotted genet, gerenuk, giraffe, African hare, springhare, Coke’s hartebeest, hunter hartebeest, East African hedgehog, spotted hyena, striped hyena, rock hyrax, tree hyrax, impala, black-backed jackal, side-striped jackal, klipspringer, Lesser Kudu, leopard, lion, banded mongoose, dwarf mongoose, Egyptian Mongoose, marsh mongoose, slender mongoose, white-tailed mongoose, black faced vervet monkey, Sykes’ monkey, fringe-eared oryx, ground pangolin, crested porcupine, cane rat, giant rat, naked mole rat, ratel, bohor reedbck, serval, spectacled elephant shrew, bush squirrel, East African red squirrel, striped ground squirrel, unstriped ground squirrel,warthog, waterbuck, common zebra.
Birds – Over 500 bird species have been recorded in the area, including ostriches, kestrels, buzzards, starlings, weaver birds, kingfishers, hornbills, secretary birds, and herons.
In case you are on holiday at Mombasa and you want to break the monotony of beach hotel and city life I’d recommend that you visit the park for a day or two. African Memorable Safaris offers quality group safaris, individual safaris or even honeymoon safaris to Tsavo East from Mombasa Kenya.
Welcome to Kenya, welcome to Tsavo East National Park.