Tsavo East National Park Safari Guide | Kenya

Tsavo East National Park is one of the oldest and largest parks in Kenya. Here is my Tsavo East National Park Safari Tour guide for Kenya.

I’ve already done 1 safari in Senegal where I spotted 2 black rhinos! I was excited to do another safari and I was hoping to see the rest of the big 5. But first things first.

Decide which park to visit

First of all, you need to decide which park you’ll want to visit. We booked a road trip which included Tsavo East, Amboseli and Tsavo West National Park.

• Nairobi National Park: Small park but perfect rhino sanctuary.
• Tsavo East National Park: Lots of wildlife
• Tsavo West National Park: Leopard and lion habitats!
• Amboseli National Park: Elephants, hippos, and view of the Kilimanjaro!
• Maasai Mara: Most famous reserve in Kenya where you can spot the big 5. This wasn’t on our trip but I definitely want to do this one day!

Read my Tsavo West National Park Safari Guide below!
» Tsavo West National Park Safari Guide | Kenya

Read my Amboseli National Park Safari Guide below!
» Amboseli National Park Safari Guide | Kenya

What wildlife can be spotted in Tsavo East National Park?

As I already said above, we chose Tsavo East. This park has a lot of wildlife to show.

Driver & Guide

You can easily arrange a safari tour at your hotel, we did it with our travel agency. You can’t drive your own car into Tsavo East, you’re obligated to go with a licensed driver and guide.

Get up early or sleep in

The best safaris are the ones in the early morning or late afternoon. That’s when the animals are most active. Around noon, all animals will take shelter to keep cool. We visited Tsavo East in 1 day, At noon we stopped to have a picnic in the park and to have some shade.

Bring along…

Let’s go do some safari!

We went into the park and we were there by ourselves! Sometimes we saw a jeep but that’s it. The park we did in Senegal was smaller so I was just blown away by the size of this park.

1) Buffalo

Every park that I’ve visited in Kenya had the African buffalo! They look sleepy but when cornered they can be vicious.

Big five animal: Check!

2) Birds

We saw a lot of birds in the park, but the most special one was a blue kind that we saw all over Kenya!

3) Boars and pigs

We saw a lot of wild boars around the water holes. It’s like the real Pumba!

4) Monkeys

You don’t have to go to a national park to see some monkeys, because they’re everywhere in Kenya. Nonetheless, we saw monkeys in Tsavo East at the exit gate.

5) Antelopes

Antelopes stand on their feet in order to pluck the last best leaves and berries of a bush!

6) Elephants

We saw a lot of elephants in Tsavo East! We even saw elephants drinking water from a pipeline. Our guide explained to us that elephants can smell water from a distance (like a pipeline) and make holes in it with their tusks in order to drink the water.

Big five animal: Check!

7) Zebras

Zebras that hug each other are a couple! How cute is this?

8) Cheetah

We arrived at the drinking hole and we were lucky to spot three young cheetahs! Our guide told us that he hadn’t seen the cheetah in over 3 years! We watched them for 10 minutes and just as they came, they disappeared. You couldn’t see what was a bush or what was a cheetah anymore. Such a strange feeling!

9) Dik-Dik

The Dik-Dik is actually a tiny antelope! It’s smaller than a cat and is just cute to behold!

10) Rock Hyrax

We also saw the rock hyrax. This animal is a far relative of the elephant, go look it up if you don’t believe me!

Picnic time!

One of the greatest experiences during this safari was having a picnic in the park itself! We were all cautious because we were thinking some predator would attack us at any moment.  Don’t be afraid, this was in a part of the park where no predators are present.

This safari was so wonderful and adventurous! We were so lucky to see all of the above animals. We returned to our hotel with big smiles on our faces.

I hope these tips will help you with your safari in Tsavo East and that the photos have given you a taste of what a safari in Tsavo East could be!

Life of a Passion