Safari to Tsavo East

where rescued elephants are released into the wild

Tsavo East National Park is the section of the enormous Tsavo conservation area which lies to the north of the main Nairobi to Mombasa road in southeast Kenya.

At 13,747 square kilometres, Tsavo East is a very large tract of land which was originally known as the Taru Desert when it was first gazetted as a protected reserve back in 1948.

The remote north

The area is flanked to the west by the impressive Yatta Escarpment, above which the higher land is covered in thick acacia scrub, which eventually gives way to vast and extremely arid open savanna as the land falls gradually away to the east.

Survival for the wildlife in this harsh semi-desert environment is really challenging. Larger animals such as elephants, zebras and buffaloes tend to migrate between the few water sources (notably the ephemeral Tiva River) and the surrounding grazing on a daily basis throughout the Jun-Nov dry season, dispersing more widely should rains materialise during the Dec-May green season.

The north of the reserve is less scenic, being largely open acacia scrub. Wildlife populations here tend to be much more sparse, but there is a surprising range of species.

These areas remain relatively remote and little-visited, but are home to a fabulous elephant release project at Ithumba Hill, the location where the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust releases its orphans back into the wild. We regularly recommend this fabulous option for inclusion in trips. If you love elephants, then it simply doesn’t get better than this.

The busy south

Below the Yatta Escarpment the landscapes are definitely more scenic, centred on the relatively reliable Galana River, which delineates the reserve from the scrubby farmland areas beyond.

Apart from the significant ribbon of vegetation along the Galana, the only other watercourse providing significant foliage cover down here is along the ephemeral Voi River.

The wildlife is sustained through the long Jun-Nov dry season by a string of pumped waterholes, some of which are located at lodges and provide some excellent ‘armchair safari’, especially for elephants. The usual predators are all present, but are not usually so easy to find in this environment.

Unfortunately the southern sections of the reserve suffer badly from budget overland safari traffic, due to their proximity to the mass market beach lodges of coast, and with the area being transected by the main Mombasa to Nairobi and Malindi to Nairobi highways.

The main reason to recommend this southern area is that in 2019 the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust took over Galdessa Camp, on the banks of the Galana River, to incorporate it into their elephant rescue and release programs.

Tsavo East is a relatively little-visited reserve, but we tend to include it in a good number of trips, since we rate the elephant interaction so very highly.

The usual stay duration is 3-5 nights.

Getting there

The Tsavo East area is usually accessed by road from Nairobi, a journey of 3-5 hours.

Where to stay

If you want to meet the semi-habituated elephants of the north, then we are able to outfit private-guided overland safaris to the lovely Ithumba Hill.

If you want to experience the pretty landscapes of the south part of the reserve, then we can also include nights at the scenic Galdessa Camp.

usually accessed by road safari out of Nairobi