Tsavo East National Park
Red-dust wilderness on a vast scale, with elephants the colour of the earth they roll in.
Overview
Tsavo East is one of the oldest and largest protected areas in Kenya, covering some 13,700 square kilometres of flat, semi-arid bush between Nairobi and the coast. Its signature is the colour: the soil is a deep ochre red, and the elephants dust themselves in it until they glow. This is open, thorny, unmanicured country - not the manicured game viewing of the Mara, but genuine wilderness where you can drive for an hour without seeing another vehicle. The Galana river cuts across the park and holds hippo and crocodile; the Yatta Plateau, a 300-kilometre lava flow, is one of the longest in the world; and Lugard Falls is a set of water-carved rock formations worth stopping for. Elephant, buffalo, lion, and the dry-country specialists - gerenuk, lesser kudu, fringe-eared oryx - are all present, though bush density means sightings take patience. Aruba Dam and Mudanda Rock are the reliable dry-season waterholes.
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