Tsavo National Park

Tsavo National Park is Kenya’s largest protected safari landscape, created in 1948 and administered as two parks—Tsavo East and Tsavo West—covering about 22,812 square kilometres (8,807 square miles) across Taita-Taveta County. The eastern sector is famed for red-dusted elephants, the broad Galana River, Lugard Falls and the long Yatta Plateau lava flow; the western sector centres on volcanic hills, Mzima Springs, Shetani lava fields and rhino sanctuaries. Bisected by the railway and highway between Nairobi and Mombasa, Tsavo anchors travel and conservation. By the late 20th century it had become one of East Africa’s major strongholds for the Big Five and birdlife, a status it retains today. Visitor economies focus on guided game drives, community conservancies and lodge tourism, contributing a significant share to regional livelihoods and Kenya’s GDP now.