The Southeast
Southeastern Kenya is low, dry, flat savannah country, much of it taken up by the vast Tsavo National Park, a collection of privately owned game ranches in the Taita Hills and the smaller Amboseli National Park, on the Tanzanian border.
TSAVO NATIONAL PARK: Much the largest park in Kenya, Tsavo covers a mammoth 21,000 sq km (8000 sq miles). It is actually managed as two separate parks, Tsavo East, most of which is closed to the public, and Tsavo West. Between the two, the Taita Hills are the setting for most of the local game lodges, all of which stand on private concessions run as part of the same eco-system as the park itself. Despite a drastic fall in the elephant population, caused by massive poaching in the 1970s and 80s, numbers are again on the increase and it is possible to see large herds. Much of the land is open savannah and bush woodland inhabited by buffaloes, a few rhinos, lions, antelopes, gazelles, giraffes and zebras. Crocodiles and hippos can be seen at Mzima Springs in the northwest of the park. Nearby, the Shetani Lava Flow is a 50 sq km lava bed formed by an eruption in the Chyulu Hills. As well as being rich in wildlife, Tsavo has a wealth of birds, with over 440 species recorded.
AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK: A small park by Kenyan standards, covering 329 sq km, Amboseli lies on the Tanzanian border 220km (140 miles) from Nairobi. The fine view it affords of snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain (5895m/19,340ft), draws many visitors, but the park itself has seen better days. The once-lush savannah is now largely a dust-bowl and most animals have retreated into areas of scrub forest and marshland.
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