Area: 13,747 km2 (5,308 sq mi)
Established: 1948
Location: Kenya
How to get there:
Roads: the park MtitoAndei Gates is 233 km South from Nairobi and 250 km North from Mombasa on the main Nairobi- Mombasa Road. Distance Nairobi to MtitoAndei. From Malindi, take the western road (C103) and enter into the park via Sala gate.
Airstrips: Voi, Aruba, Satao, Sala, Ithumba, Sangayaya, Mopeo, Bachuma, Cottars,
What to do there: Bird Watching, Camping, Trekking, Game-viewing.
Tsavo East National Park, the oldest and largest parks in Kenya at 13,747KM2. Situated in a semi-arid area previously known as the Taru Desert it opened in April 1948, and is located near the town of Voi in the Taita-Taveta County of the former Coast Province. The park is separated into east and west sections by the A109 road and a railway. It’s been named for the Tsavo River, which flows west to east through the national park, and it borders the Chyulu Hills National Park, and the Mkomazi Game Reserve in Tanzania.
The view of dust-red elephant stumbling, rolling and spraying each other with the midnight blue waters of palm-shaded Galana River is one of the most haunting images in Africa. The 300-kilometre long Yatta Plateau, the longest lava flow in the world, make for an adventure unlike any other in the Tsavo East. It forms the largest protected area in Kenya and is home to most of the larger mammals, vast herds of dust –red elephant, Rhino, buffalo, lion, leopard, pods of hippo, crocodile, waterbucks, lesser Kudu, gerenuk and some of the prolific bird life features 500 recorded species.
There are some camps and lodges here and, relatively speaking, almost none, with the majority of them which is close to Voi in the west, near the Mombasa highway. You can often have the access to the park by yourself, watching the wildlife under a huge sky: no matter what you’re looking at, Tsavo East always feels like a big scene.
When considering for a Tsavo East safari, it’s worth knowing about that nearly all safaris take place in the south of the park itself, south of the Galana River. The massive northern region of Tsavo East was closed for the public since many years and, although it is now open again, distances are immense up here and there is virtually no infrastructure. In practice, it’s an area for brave explorers, not game drives.
