TSAVO WEST NATIONAL PARK

This fine national park covers a huge variety of landscapes, from swamps and natural springs to rocky peaks, extinct volcanic cones and rolling plains. It’s easily the more beautiful of the two parks, but wildlife can be hard to spot. Birds are very common and there are large populations of elephants, zebras, hippos and leopards. Lions are present, but they tend to stay hidden.
The focus is Mzima Springs, the source of most of Mombasa’s fresh water, where you can walk down to a large pool that is a favorite haunt of hippos and crocodiles. There’s an underwater viewing chamber which unfortunately just gives a view of thousands of primeval-looking fish. Be careful-both hippos and crocs are dangerous.

Chaimu crater and the Roaring rocks view point are other highlights, just southeast of Kilaguni Serena Lodge, and can be climbed in about 15 minutes. The views from both are stunning, with falcons, eagles and buzzards whirling over the plains. While there is little danger walking these trails, be aware that the wildlife is out there.

Another attraction is the Ngulia Rhino Sactuary at the base of Ngulia Hills, part of the Rhino Ark Programme. The 70km² area is surrounded by a metre-high electric fence and provides a measure of security for the park’s last 49 black rhinos. There are driving tracks and waterholes within the enclosure and there’s a good chance of seeing one of these elusive creaturs.

Some of the more unusual species include the naked mole rat and the enigmatically named white-bellied go-away bird, which is often seen perched in dead trees. Red-beaked hornbills and bateleur eagles are also common. Look out for dung beetles rolling huge balls of elephant dung along the tracks.

It’s possible to go rock-climbing at Tembo Peak and and the Ngulia Hills, but you’ll need to arrange this with wardens. This area is also fantastic for bird life and there’s a very reliable hippo pool on the Mukui River.
Lake Jipe (Pronounced ji-pay), at the southwest end of the park, is reached y a desperately dusty track from near Taveta. You can hire boats here for hippo and crocodile spotting (US$5). Huge herds of elephants come to the lake to drink and large flocks of migratory birds stop here from February to May.

TSAVO EAST NATIONAL PARK

The landscape in Tsavo East is flatter and drier, despite having one of the Kenya’s largest rivers flowing through the middle. Much of the wildlife is concertrated on the Galana River, which has plentiful crocodiles and hippos.

There are several places where you can, with caution, get out of your vehicle; most scenic are Lugards Falls and Crocodile Point. There are usually armed guards around, but you shouldn’t get too close to the water. Kudu’s waterbucks and dik-diks are common along the river banks. Also of interest is the Mudanda rock, which attracts elephants in the dry season.

The bush is thinner than in Tsavo West, so wildlife is easier to spot, though it’s not as plentiful. The rolling hills in the south are home to large herds of elephants, usually covered in red dust. The waterhole at Voi Safari Lodge and the Kanderi Swamp are home to a profusion of wildlife. Further into the park, 30km from voi gate, is the Aruba Dam, built across the Voi River.

The area north of the Galana River is dominated by the Yatta Plateau, a vast pre-historic lava flow, but unfortunately much of this area is off limits due to the ongoing campaign againsts poachers. Four rhinos and ten elephants were killed here in 2001, the first such killings in years.

Until their partial translocation to Tsavo East, the sole surviving population of hirola antelopes was found near the border of Kenya and Somalia. Intense poaching and habitat destruction have reduced their numbers from around 14,000 in 1976 to a pitiful 450 today, 97 of them here. There are also around 48 black rhinos, moved from Nairobi National Park.