Safari to Tsavo West

dramatic volcanic and steppe landscapes

At 9065 square kilometres, Tsavo West is a huge reserve, very scenic and interesting in parts, whose endless acacia scrub and broad red plains sustain dispersed populations of wildlife.

The Tsavo River area

The main area of interest is in the northern sector, where the wildlife tends to cluster along the Tsavo River itself, especially during the Jul-Oct dry season. The landscape here is impressive, with distant mountains and volcanoes (including Mount Kilimanjaro) providing the backdrop for undulating acacia-covered hills and open plains.

As well as the usual elephants and plains herbivores, this area also tends to be quite strong for lions and leopards.

Two particular sights of interest are the well known Mzima Spring, where an underwater hide sometimes provides views of swimming hippos and the world’s longest continuous lava flow at Shetani, formed millions of years ago by the outflow from the Ol Donyo Sabuk volcano.

The best accommodation option in this area is Finch Hatton’s Lodge, with the larger Kilaguni Serena Lodge and Severin Safari camp also featured.

The Lumo Conservancy

The second interesting area is further south in the Lumo Conservancy, a large protected area adjacent to the national park. The landscape down here is lovely, with a similar backdrop of mountains, but with more open grasslands and a correspondingly rich range of wildlife, notably including large herds of buffaloes, lions and, as always in Tsavo, lots of elephants.

The best accommodation option in the Lumo area is Lion’s Bluff Lodge, with the famous stilted Salt Lick Lodge also featuring.

On the whole, Tsavo West is not really strong enough a safari area to warrant specifically going out of your way to visit and tends to only very rarely feature in flying safaris.

The area is much more commonly included in overland safaris, most commonly in lower cost excursions from the coast. The large lodges which cater for this traffic, along with the associated clusters of minivans in high season, does little to help the image of the place.

The fact that the park is transected and bordered by major tar roads also reduces any sense of wilderness.

But that’s not to say that Tsavo West is a complete write off. If you are intent on doing an overland safari through this region, maybe connecting Nairobi with the coast, then it can be well worth stopping off at one or two of the better lodges here and taking in the impressive scenery.

an unfortunate history of low quality tourism