3 Day Tsavo East and Tsavo West Trails Safari in Kenya

Kenya Safari

For 3 days, you will have the chance to enjoy a “great break” from your beach holiday on the Kenya coast on this Tsavo East Safari and Tsavo West Trail. This will take you to Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Park both located just a few hours’ drive from Mombasa and depending on which park you wish to start with, you will always arrive early in time for mid-morning game drives before lunch.

Key information

Starting point and ending point: Mombasa
Park fees included

Highlights

Game drives as per itinerary
Wildlife to be viewed: crocodiles and hippos
Game drives in safari 4x4 vehicle (jeep)
Service of an experienced and trained driver-guide
Visit Tsavo East National Park and Tsavo West National Park
2 nights accommodation

Styles

3 activity days

Airport transfer included: Moi International Airport

Accommodation

Ashnil Aruba Lodge

Ashnil Aruba Lodge lies in the heart of Tsavo East National Park in Kenya. The lodge features 46 rooms and six tents. Its location is superb, just a couple of hours from the coast of Mombasa, a five hours leisurely drive from Nairobi, and is located on the banks of Aruba Dam which was built in 1952 as a sport fishing recreational point in the park.

Several watering holes nearby attract wildlife and spotting animals is easy because the park lies flat with savanna grassland.

Voi Wildlife Lodge

Officially opened in 2003, the lodge is situated on a 25-acre site on the boundary of Tsavo East National Park, one of Kenya’s largest game parks with spectacular views of nearby volcanic outcrops, such as the Kasigau, Sagalla and Mwakingali Hills. Designed to blend unassumingly into the surrounding environment, the lodge boasts a natural waterhole often attracting big game, including elephant, lion, cheetah, buffalo as well as a rich variety of birdlife.

Accommodating up to 300 guests, all rooms have spacious en-suite bathrooms and are furnished in African decor that is replicated throughout the lodge. The luxury rooms comprise two four-poster beds and views of the Savannah, which one can enjoy from the comfort of one’s balcony or terrace.

Kilaguni Serena Safari Lodge

A tranquil, hushed and cool refuge framed by Mount Kilimanjaro and the rolling, volcanic landscapes of the deep green Chyulu Hills, Kilaguni Serena Safari Lodge in Tsavo West National Park immerses you in stunning beauty and exhilarating adventures while surrounding you with every modern comfort. Arriving guests are enchanted by the classic stone design and views of elephants, buffalo and other plains game drinking and cooling off in the water hole.

Program

Itinerary

Day 1: Mombasa (from any beach hotel) - Tsavo East National Park

Departs daily early in the morning with pick up from hotels between 06:30 and 07:00 depending on hotel locations from which clients are staying. Then drive to Tsavo East National Park entering the park through Bachuma Gate. Have game drives en route to arrive in time for lunch. Have afternoon game drives in search of game. Dinner and overnight at Ashnil Aruba Lodge or Voi Wildlife Lodge or similar.

Day 2: Tsavo East - Tsavo West National Park

Early morning game drives in search of more game returning in time for breakfast. After breakfast, leave the park with a short game drive en route out of the park for the drive to Tsavo West National Park arriving in time for lunch at Kilaguni Serena Lodge. Have afternoon game drives in search of game with a visit to “Mzima Spring” – source of water for Mombasa town, infested with hippos and crocodiles. Dinner and overnight at Kilaguni Serena Lodge.

Day 3: Tsavo West - Mombasa

Early morning game drives in search of game returning back to the lodge for breakfast. After breakfast, check-out and depart for the drive back to Mombasa with a drop off back to your beach hotel.

Location

Tsavo East / West National Park

Both Tsavo National Parks are roughly kidney-shaped and 7,930 sq. mi (20,812 sq. km) and is bisected in the middle by the Mombasa road. For administrative convenience, the part north-east of the road is called Tsavo East with headquarters near Voi and measures 11,747 sq. km and the part southwest of the road are Tsavo West with the wardens’ offices near Mtito Andei and measures 9,065 sq. km.

Overall, this famous park covers a vast section of the 200 miles of thorn scrub, spiked with bulbous trunks of baobab trees, that separate the tropical vegetation of the coast from the great central plateau of the African continent.

It was the endless thorn scrub here that kept the peoples of the interior remote from western civilization for so many centuries. Try walking through it as the early missionaries did and you will soon understand. It has various names – the Nyika, which means thorn country, the Nyiri Desert, and the Taru desert. Much of the year, it’s burnt dry and dusty by the sun. Then overnight the rains transform it into a paradise of convolvulus flowers that burst out white and purple, the grass seed germinates and the bushes are suddenly green.

Explorers hated it for the very reason that makes it an attraction today – the game. ‘Full of wild beasts, such as rhinoceros, buffaloes, and elephants,’ the German missionary Rebmann, noted in his diary on May 11, 1848. Indeed it is full, though overgrazing has depleted the vegetation in parts and the elephant population is now only an estimated 15,000 to 20,000. They are fairly accustomed to cars now, but if you meet one on the road, drive cautiously.

Tsavo’s lions are also described as “The Man-Eaters of Tsavo” due to how they obstructed the building of the railway in the 1900s by the simple expedient of eating the linesmen.

In Tsavo West, which is rather hillier, the volcanic area where the Mzima Springs and other waters rise attracts most species of game. The springs, 40 km (25 mi) from Mtito Andei, form a series of clear pools. An observation tank in the top pool enables you to watch hippos and crocodiles from underwater. Other major viewing places are at the Kangethwa Dam, the Kilaguni waterhole, and an artificial spring right in front of the Kilaguni Lodge. Other camps and lodges found in Tsavo West are Ngulia Lodge, Taita Hills Lodge, Kitani Lodge, Tsavo Safari Camp, and Salt Lick Lodge.

Tsavo East is less hilly with the exception of the dramatic line of the Yatta Plateau which rises almost parallel to the Mombasa road. Beyond this escarpment, to the east, is a seemingly endless expanse of low lying semi-desert, spiked with thorn bushes, most of which you can only visit by special permission of the Park Warden.

All roads north of the Galana River, which cuts across Tsavo East, are closed to the public. Lugard Falls and Crocodile Point on the river are worth a visit, though the best places to see animals are unquestionably Aruba. The former is a great hump of rusty-colored rock overlooking a huge waterhole making a natural amphitheater. At the end of an exciting day, you can always relax at the Voi Safari Lodge, the Tsavo Safari Lodge, Ashnil Aruba Lodge, Voi Wildlife Lodge, and the famous Crocodile Camp.

Both national parks are managed separately, but together they form the largest reserve in East Africa. The Northern part of Tsavo East may not, however, be visited by tourists. Nevertheless, the Tsavo National Park, founded in 1947, is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Kenya.

In spite of its arid countryside and savannah vegetation, about 60 species of mammals and 400 different species of birds are to be found here. The Tsavo is particularly famous because of the “red elephants” which owe their color to the dust prevalent in this area. As well as lions and cheetahs, there are many antelopes (oryx, kudus, and Grant’s gazelles and giraffe gazelles), zebras, Masai giraffe, baboons, and vervet monkeys. Of the birds, the most impressive is the Masai ostrich. Where there is water, such as Mzima springs, crocodiles and hippos can be seen.

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Food

The following meals are included:

Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Drinks

The following drinks are included:

Water

The following dietary requirement(s) are served and/or catered for:

Regular (typically includes meat and fish)

If you have special dietary requirements it's a good idea to communicate it to the organiser when making a reservation

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