Visit Tsavo, Kenya’s largest national park

Kenya’s largest and oldest National Park is an unmissable stop on any Kenya itinerary. This vast wilderness is so large that it’s split into two very different sections. In Tsavo East, the flat savannahs seem to stretch on forever, while Tsavo West is a mish-mash of grasslands, forests and volcanic wonders. These sections are divided by a railway line that runs from Nairobi to Mombasa. In fact, you might have heard of the famous Tsavo Man-eaters, a pair of maneless lions who hunted down railway construction workers in the 19^th century.

Tsavo’s elephants are even more famous than its lions. Many have huge tusks that almost brush the ground and their thick skins are tinged a rusty shade from the red, iron-oxide-rich soil. Then there’s Africa’s signature animals: herds of buffalo and grazing zebras, wildebeest and antelope species, pods of hippos and giraffes with yellow-billed oxpeckers perched on their heads. The famous African conservationist Daphne Sheldrick once claimed Tsavo had the greatest biodiversity on earth – it’s easy to see why.

While Tsavo East is great for unobstructed wildlife viewing on game drives, Tsavo West offers more variety, from the charcoal-black rocks of the Shetani lava flow to the reed-fringed crater lake, Chala. The Mzima Springs are a real highlight. You can spend hours at these sparkling pools, which have an underground viewing chamber where you can watch spine-backed crocodiles glide beneath the surface of the water.

Explore Tsavo from a luxury lodge or tented camp. Often, you’ll enjoy views of Mount Kilimanjaro, Maasai bush walks and night drives where you might spot lions hunting, leopards prowling through the darkness and porcupines emerging from their dens. The night skies in Tsavo are particularly clear and star-studded – so you can end your evening wrapped in a blanket with a hot drink, gazing up at the planetarium-perfect constellations and magical Milky Way.