Visit Parks and Reserves of Southern Kenya
The Tsavo National Park covers an area of 20,807sq km and is Kenya's largest wildlife stronghold. The park has a diversity of habitats, open plains alternating with savannah bush and semi-desert scrub; acacia woodlands; belts of riverine vegetation and palm thickets. A section of Lake Jipe is included in the extreme south west of the park, an extremely rich bird locality where pygmy geese and black heron are common.
The park is bisected by the main Nairobi - Mombasa road and railway. The portion lying north of the road is known as Tsavo East and the portion to the south, Tsavo West. There are two main rivers that flow through the park, the Tsavo and the Athi. Both converge at Lugard Falls and become the Galana River. As the parks have little water and are dry and rugged, they still remain the haunt of few visitors, indeed most of Tsavo East is inaccessible and only inhabited by the wildlife.
One of Tsavo's attractions are the Mzima Springs, where sparkling crystal clear springs are home to hippo and barbell and can be watched from an underground lookout. Another place well worth a visit are the Lugard's Falls where the river disappears into a rocky grove so narrow in one part that it is possible to stand astride the cleft with the Falls immediately below.
Tsavo is not a reserve to come and tick off large numbers of big game. Rather, it is about relaxing and enjoying the animals and birds in a rugged landscape. Elephant in big herds are possibly the main attraction of the park with many converging on the rivers to drink in the dry season. It is also a good park to see lesser kudu as well as buffalo, common waterbuck, eland, gerenuk, fringe-eared oryx, impala and Maasai giraffe. Birdlife is wonderful and during a stay in the park you can expect to see starlings, parrots, barbets, rollers, storks, herons and more.