southern region

The Southern Region circuit is dominated by the Tsavo East and West game parks which together form Kenya’s largest game park. Tsavo West alone accounts for some 30 per cent of Kenya’s total park area. It offers excellent upmarket accommodation, both camps and lodges, as well as some of the nation’s largest elephant herds.

Amboseli National Park offers a well managed game watching experience against the stunning backdrop of Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. Amboseli is arguably one of Kenya’s best places in which to view elephant.

AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK

Altitude:            3,900 to 4,500 feet above sea level.

Area:                392 square kilometers.

Airstrips:           Amboseli and Kilimanjaro Buffalo Lodge.

Opened:            April 1948

Activities:          Game Drives, Contemporary Maasai Culture

Amboseli, meaning “salty dust” in Masai, is a place of stark contrast. Despite Amboseli’s sometimes dry and dusty appearance, it has an endless supply of water filtered through thousands of feet of volcanic rock from Mt. Kilimanjaro’s snow melt. These underground streams converge into clear fresh water springs in the heart of the park.

The powder like dust is volcanic ash, which was thrown from Kilimanjaro a millennia ago. An amazing spectacle of Amboseli is the shimmering dry lake bed where false mirages of populated horizons, punctuated by real herds of zebra and gnu hover in front of you.

The main attraction of Amboseli is its vast herds of elephant within the park.   The bull elephants here have some of the largest tusks in Kenya. 

Early morning and late afternoon photographic opportunities are incredible, with plentiful game and Mt. Kilimanjaro (the highest freestanding mountain in the world) providing an impressive and majestic backdrop.

Amboseli is one of the most popular game parks in Kenya and has a number of lodges and a tented camp providing various standards of accommodation both inside and out of the park.

CHYULU HILLS

Chyulu Hills National Park is an extension of Tsavo West National Park, it was opened in 1983 to protect its unique habitat and role as a vital water catchment area. The Chyulu Hills are a volcanic mountain range with a mix of volcanic cones and barren lava flows of which the most interesting is Shetani, meaning “devil” in Swahili.

There is only one lodge / home-stay in this area, Ol’ Donyo Wuas, a 14-bed luxury rustic home and lodge of Richard Bonham. The secluded splendor and comfort of this place cannot be described. Each tree house has only 3 walls and one side opens out over the vast Savannah onto breath-taking views of Kilimanjaro.

Richard has leased this important wildlife area in an effort to keep it wild. Mbirikani group ranch, 300,000 acres of African Savannah with Tsavo West to the South, Chyulu Hills National Park to the West, Amboseli National Park to the North West and the majestic back-drop of the Chyulu Hills to the East. Clients of Ol’ Donyo Wuas have this all to themselves, to explore with guides on horseback, on foot or in open top Landrovers.

TSAVO EAST NATIONAL PARK

Altitude:            500 to 4,000 feet above sea level.

Area:                11,800 square kilometers.

Airstrips:           16 Airstrips (4 graded).

Opened:            April 1948.

Activities:          Game viewing, walks, camel safaris.

Tsavo-East is one of Kenya’s oldest and largest National parks: covering approx.40 per cent of the total area of all Kenya’s National Parks. Its beautiful landscape and proximity to the coast make it a popular safari destination. It is accredited as one of the world’s leading bio-diversity strongholds, bushy grassland and open plains alternating with savannah and semi-arid acacia scrub and woodlands. Green swathes cross the park where the riverbanks give rise to lush vegetation. North of Galana is true wilderness. A number of leading tour guides offer private safaris across this area. Camel safaris are a feature.

Tsavo-East is recommended for photographers with its fabulous light and unbelievable views, in particular the Mudanda Rock and the Yatta plateau, the world’s largest lava flow.

Lugard falls on the Galana River are remarkable for the shaped water-worn rocks. Game includes: elephant, rhino, lion, leopard, crocodile, waterbuck, Kudu, gerenuk and zebra and Aruba Hunter’s Hartebeest can be seen with its lyre-shaped horns. Home to some of the largest herds in Kenya, the elephants glow red after dust baths, blowing the vivid red dust through their trunks over their bodies.

500 bird species are recorded including ostrich and some migratory kestrels and buzzards stop at Tsavo-East during their long flight south. Accommodation: one lodge, four tented camps, two campsites, and a self-help banda site. Further lodges and tented camps are planned. To the north is South Kitui National Reserve, an area of 1833sq.kms. Opened in September 1979. It is particularly noted for primates.

TSAVO WEST NATIONAL PARK

Altitude:            500 – 6,000 feet above sea level.

Area:                9,065 square kilometers (Samburu Area).

Airstrips:           Ngulia, Rhino Sanctuary

Opened:           April 1948

Activities:          Game & bird viewing, Cave exploration, Under-water hippo observation.

“Full of wild life beasts, such as rhinoceros, buffaloes and elephants” from a missionary’s diary written in 1848.

Later in 1900 the notorious “Man Eaters of Tsavo”, man-eating lions preyed on the railway linesmen building the great Uganda Railway in 1900. The carriage from which they pulled a traveler is on display in Nairobi Railway Museum. Tsavo-West has important historic connections as a major battleground in World War I where British and German troops battled for supremacy.

The park is easy to reach, located off the main Nairobi - Mombasa road. It offers tremendous views with diverse habitats ranging from mountains, river forest, plains, lakes and wooded grassland. Its plains border with the southern Serengeti plains in Tanzania. Game includes: leopard, cheetah, buffalo, rhino, elephant, giraffe, zebra, lion, plains game, crocodile and small mammals including mongoose, hyrax, dik dik and the nocturnal porcupine.

It is an excellent park for visitors who enjoy walking, offering a number of nature trails and the opportunity to explore the Chaimu volcanic crater and guides are available.

Mzima Springs is a star attraction, a pool of natural spring water with underwater viewing hides for observing hippos. Accommodation: three lodges inside the park, four tented lodges, three campsites and three self-help banda sites.