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Robert Pielmalm
SE
Visited:
July 2011
Reviewed: Oct 7, 2011
Email Robert Pielmalm | 20-35 years of age
It was an OK experience, but not more.
As I went to the park I imagined the park of consisting of a big savannah with a dense of population of animals. This picture was totally spoiled as I came there, because instead of a savannah there were only some roads through a landscape characterized by a lot of trees and bushes. This had two consequences. Firstly, it was not to easy to discover the animals and when we have found them, the threes and the bushes covered them so that I could not see them clearly and after a while they could be hidden again. Secondly, there were no opportunities to drive close to the animals and really encounter them. It was only possible to drive on the roads and the animals were hardly close to the road.
Concerning animals
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I observed many of the animals I had expected, but I could never observe the series of the big five. Rhino and leopard lacked. I could only see lions once and they were then quite far away. If the lack of rhinos and leopards and the only single encounter of lions were just bad luck or an indication of not so many interesting animals in the park, I do not know for sure. However, I think that the case was the later and that is also what I heard, when I spoke to locals. I also had the opportunity to leave the vehicle and take a walk with an armed ranger along a water source connected to a river. It was a little bit exciting to walk in the park, because I never knew what would happen. At the same time, I felt safe and I felt that I could trust the ranger. By the river we saw one small crocodile and a hippo.Concerning accommodation, I really liked the Kiliguni Serena Safari Lodge. The hotel has high standards and I had buffet for breakfast, lunch and supper. The food is good and I really liked the supper with its rich supply of different kinds of foods and desserts. One side of the dining room consisted of a big balcony, from which I could observe animals from my table as the same time having my dinner. Quite close to the balcony there is a little water source and animals came there to drink. My best experience of the trip was at supper, when approximately ten elephants of different sizes came to drink. At one side of the source there is a spotlight, so that it was possible to the see the elephants in action. This is a memory that I never will forget.
To summarize, the trip had some highlights, but I also visited another National Park in Kenya, namely Masai Mara and Tsavo West does not due to its landscape offer the what I expected in terms of encountering of animals and my purpose of going there was of course to do that. If the choice was between Tsavo West and Masai Mara I would definitely chose Masai Mara. So, if somebody planning to go to Tsavo West I would recommend to evaluate the options of parks.
Narina Exelby
ZA
Visited:
September 2012
Reviewed: Dec 28, 2012
35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Where the "wild west" takes on new meaning
If you head to the far south-eastern border of the park, where Kenya meets Tanzania, you’ll find yourself in a very remote area on the shore of Lake Jipe. There is an abundance of wildlife in this area, and we saw huge herds of waterbuck, eland, gemsbok, elephants, and troops of baboons.
There is a camp site and bandas on the shore of the lake. We camped alongside a large herd of waterbuck; had hippo grazing past our tent in the evening, and woke in the morning to views of Kilimanjaro. A short drive along the lake, where we breakfasted
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on top of our Land Cruiser, we spent more than an hour watching a herd of elephants moving over to an island in the lake.Within an hour, this park had become one of my favourites in all of Africa.
NZ
US
Visited:
August 2013
Reviewed: Nov 10, 2013
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tsavo West - the mountainous rustic gem of the Kenyan safari parks.
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exchange, the guides needed to be armed just in case a hippo or other large animal decided it did not like our presence. Luckily, incidents almost never occur, so the result is just that one can get closer to the natural environment and have a slightly elevated sense of adventure while doing it. Tsavo West also contains a black rhino preserve, though we were unable to see any rhinos while there. Not being able to see a rhino was perhaps the only major downside with our visit, though I am sure other visitors don’t have this kind of bad luck. Others potential criticisms of the park are that because it is so remote, the lodging services are a little rougher and that because of the terrain, there are no locations to get expansive photos of hundreds of animals of different species together as far as the eye can see. We personally found the lodging in the park to be pleasantly rustic, and thought the change of background scenery provided a good compliment to the other parks on the trip. Assuming you can fit it in your itinerary, a visit to Tsavo West is certainly recommended along with the other fine parks in the Kenyan park system.
Simon Kunz
CH
Visited:
October 2013
Reviewed: Jan 17, 2014
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
a unforgettable safari - this was pure adventure!
It was perfect! kenya is such a great place to having a good chance seeing the Big Five! I have been in South Africa in Kruger Nationalpark and it was nice too. But you can not compare this. kenya is so a lovely country - very friendly people, great food, wonderful accommodations.. even our guide was talking in german...In africa! (: See my video on youtube: http://youtu.be/QlkHCs54Amw
Vinay
IN
Visited:
October 2015
Reviewed: Nov 15, 2015
Email Vinay | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Red bushy Tsavo
If you have some luck on your side Tsavo can be a great place. It's sheer size means there is enough wildlife in the park, but you may have to be patient and spend more time here. Unlike animals, birds are a lot easier to spot and if you are into birding you will certainly not be disappointed.
One more interesting feature of the
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park is the "Shetani" lava flow. It was surreal to see the landscape suddenly change to dark black. In fact you can see the border between the red soil and the black soil from past volcanic eruptions clearly in certain spots.
J C Mills Photography
GB
Visited:
August 2016
Reviewed: Aug 29, 2016
Email J C Mills Photography | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Tsavo West is very scenic and typically dry African bush with the characteristic red Tsavo soil. However wildlife is harder to see here so anyone expecting a Maasai Mara wildlife experience will disappointed. The plus side is you can get an authentic African bush feel here.
Claudia
US
Visited:
September 2018
Reviewed: Oct 1, 2018
Email Claudia | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
This was our last park and it was so different from the others. It is huge so finding the animals can be a challenge. However, this is where a leopard was trotting down the road in front of us so we got a good look. Seeing the lava fields and the spring with the hippos and crocodiles in the clear water was great. The lodge was a treat since the cape buffalo and elephants came to the watering hole just off the patio and the hotel feeds the leopards. Glad we went to this one.
Cindy Eyler
US
Visited:
October 2024
Reviewed: Dec 2, 2024
Email Cindy Eyler | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
We had a great night drive experience with seeing lions take down their prey and eat it alive until it finally died, but in general there wasn't a huge amount of wildlife to see at this place. They need to add more roads closer to water areas to see more animals. It's very dry and hot so the animals are probably at the water areas that vehicles do not have access to. I think we were lucky to have seen the lion experience. Without that it would have been pretty slim to see a lot of wildlife. It's a long drive especially if you don't get to have an amazing experience. The tent camp did have a lot of hippos in their water. I give this 4 stars only because of the night drive Lion experience. If that did't happen it would be a 1 or 2 stars max.
Martijn
NL
Visited:
January 2014
Reviewed: Jun 27, 2015
Email Martijn | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
A once in a lifetime experience
Our trip to Kenya and vistit to Tsavo West National Park was our first (and so far only) safari. It was one of our most enjoyable and memorable vacations so far. Although we did not spot any cats, we basically saw every other animal: giraffes, elephants, zebras, hippos, owls, etc.
We slept in a (fully equipped) tent , which made the experience complete. In the night you could literally hear the animals passing by. Amazing.
After a couple of days we stayed in a resort at the beach. That was nice as well, but we all hoped the safari would have last a little longer. The days just seemed to flew by!
Please have a look a my pictures to get an impression of Kenya and Tsavo West National Park: https://www.flickr.com/photos/beukhof/sets/72157639847428163
Sasha Cimperman
Visited:
July 2011
Reviewed: Dec 8, 2012
Africa's last remaining jewel
Breathtaking landscapes, but shy wildlife due to infamous history of poaching. Despite that fact we saw many animals, one needs to be patient. Ngulia Safari Lodge offers a magical view of the families of elephants, buffalo bathing in a floodlit water holes and of course a famous Leopard dinning tree, an awesome eye to eye experience. As a regular traveler to Kenya and a member of Kenya Museum Society, I get to meet a lot of guides, but I would like to highlight two names: Collins Okello Japesa and Stanley A. Komoras, best guides ever.