LOCATION & CONTACT

Kilaguni Serena Safari Lodge is located in Kenya’s Tsavo West National Park, a short drive from the park’s main Mtito Andei Gate. The local the airstrip is less than one kilometre from the lodge. In addition, “meet and greet” and transfer service can be provided. (Please let us know your arrival time in advance.) Transfers by road from Nairobi take approximately four to five hours.

The joint mass of Tsavo West and Tsavo East National Parks forms one of the largest national parks in the world and covers a massive 4% of Kenya's total land area. Tsavo East, one of the last great wilderness landscapes on Earth, offers a vast arena of parched scrub and heat-shimmering bush, which is washed by the azure waters of the Galana River, guarded by the Yatta Plateau and patrolled by some of the largest elephant herds in the world. Tsavo West, land of lions and lava, is painted on a sprawling canvas of endless skies, emerald hills, liquid lava flows, palm-fringed rivers, teeming wildlife and sparkling oases, where rafts of hippo wallow, snort and blow in the crystal clear melt waters of Mount Kilimanjaro.

The Park features over 1000 plant species and a mixed habitat of bush, grasslands and acacia woodlands dotted with baobab, ivory palm, saltbush, doum palm, tamarind and fig trees. Fauna includes lion, leopard, cheetah, buffalo, giraffe, rhino, elephant, hippo, baboon, waterbuck, Coke's hartebeest, gerenuk, Grant's and Thomson's gazelle, eland, fringe-eared oryx, wildebeest, hyena, warthog, impala, zebra, crocodile, while-tailed mongoose, genet cat, jackal, hyrax, dik dik, porcupine, lesser kudu and oryx. The prolific bird life features 600 recorded species.

The Park acquired the name ‘Tsavo', meaning ‘slaughter' from the Akamba people, who first migrated to the area some five centuries ago. Kenya's largest national park supports all the members of the ‘Big Five' as well as the country's largest elephant population. Mzima Springs is home to abundant Nile crocodiles and hippos and a popular drinking spot for elephants, zebras and gazelles whilst blue and vervet monkeys cavort in the surrounding acacia trees. Other mammals include buffalos, hartebeests, lesser kudus, elands, waterbucks, Grant's gazelles, impalas and giraffes.

Tsavo achieved notoriety in the 1900's when ‘the Man-eaters of Tsavo', a pair of rogue man-eating lions, preyed gruesomely on the builders of the Uganda Railway. Today the Park is more famous for the numerous prides of mane-less lion that patrol the plains and police the herbivore herds.

Highlights of the birdlife include those of the semi-arid zone, such as ostrich and golden pipit while perhaps the most conspicuous are the white-headed buffalo weaver and the brilliantly plumaged golden-breasted starling. Raucous hornbill are also prevalent as are such hole-nesting birds as parrot, barbet and roller. The Park is also famous for its Palaearctic migratory bird-banding project at Ngulia Lodge.

Tsavo offers some of the most magnificent game viewing in the world - vast herds of dust-red elephants, fat pods of hippos, giant crocodiles, teeming herds of plains game, a fantasia of bird life and some magical flora.

The lush, hippo-inhabited pools of Mzima Springs, fed daily by 250 million litres of water gushing from the lava flows of the Chyulu hills, provide an oasis of green, an under-water hippo-viewing chamber, two nature trails and some unique picnic spots.

The volcanic convulsions of Tsavo's landscape are riddled with lava flows, the most spectacular being the Shetani flow, a coalesced tide of tar-like lava that spewed down the Chyulu Hills as they burst out of the plains only a few hundred years ago. Shetani means ‘devil' in Swahili and refers to the time, relatively recently, when the molten lava erupted from the bowels of the earth and engulfed the area. So terrifying was this event to the local people that they believed it to be the devil incarnate and tales are still rife of fire, hails of brimstone and evil spirits. The lava flow is also riddled by a series of caves, many of which can be explored, though caution is recommended.

30 km from Mzima Springs, along a well-marked track, is the Ngulia escarpment, behind which rear the jagged peaks of the Ngulia Hills, a range of sheer cliffs that rise out of the plains to a height of 1825 m above sea level. Not only do the Ngulia hills offer magnificent vistas over the volcanic shoals of Tsavo but also, every year between late September and November, the adjacent Ngulia Bird-ringing Station plays host to one of the greatest avian spectacles in the world.

In the 1960's Tsavo had the largest population of black rhinos in Africa (between 6,000 and 9,000) and they were a common sight within the park. By 1981, however, Tsavo's rhino had been poached to the brink of extinction and only 100 animals remained. Today most of Tsavo's surviving rhino, plus a number of re-located animals, have been moved to the Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary where a meter-high electric fence surrounds an area of 70 sq km now designated an official sanctuary for approximately 40 rhinos. The Sanctuary also offers shelter to a broad range of other threatened wildlife to include cheetahs and leopards and the rare frog (Afrixalus pygmaeus septentrionalis), which occurs only in the area between Mtito Andei and Voi. The Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary is open 4pm to 6pm daily, entry free.

The Chaimu Crater offers a spacious parking area and an exciting scramble up this volcanic cinder cone to the crater's rim.

Roaring Rocks offer a parking area and a winding nature trail leading to the top of this lofty outcrop of craggy volcanic rocks where the raptors glide past at eye level. There are two view points offering magnificent vistas to the east and west of the park and two picnic sites equipped with both shade and seating. Not surprisingly Roaring Rocks is a popular wedding venue.

The Park is ideally situated for visits to the massive expanses of sister park, Tsavo East whilst the verdant Taita Hills and the volcanic eruptions of the Chyulu Hills are close by. World-renowned Amboseli National Park is also within easy reach.

Tsavo's plains have been hunted since mankind first evolved, while loads of ivory and rhinoceros horn were first listed as cargo at the ancient port of Mombasa as early as AD 110, by the Greek writer, Diogenes. The methods of the early Tsavo hunters are also described in the following extract from ‘The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea' written by an anonymous Greek, travelling at some point between AD 95 and AD110:

The Elephantophagoi (Elephant-eaters) have a different method of capturing animals. Three men equipped with one bow and plenty of arrows dipped in snake-poison station themselves in a glade where the elephants come out. When an elephant approaches, one of the men holds the bow and the other two draw the bowstring with all their force, releasing the arrow, which is aimed at the middle of the animals flank, so that on striking it will penetrate the inner parts, cutting and wounding as it goes in.
‘The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea ‘
Edited by G.W.B. Huntingform

Between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago, Tsavo was inhabited by the Waliangulu or Sanye people who were wanderers of forest and bush and distantly related to the ‘click-speaking' Khosian peoples of southern Africa, such as the Bushmen of the Kalahari. The Waliangulu, who were famous for their elephant hunting skills, used massive long bows and arrows that had been dipped in a lethal poison, which could kill an elephant in a few hours. The poison and was made by boiling the bark and leaves of the Acokanthera tree (Acokanthera oppositifolia) for seven hours until a sticky tar like substance containing an extremely toxic glycoside known as ‘oubain' was produced. The name Waliangulu means ‘meat eater' and for thousands of years these primeval hunters roamed the wastes of Tsavo killing elephant and other game for subsistence purposes. As the demand for ivory grew however, so the Waliangulu talent for hunting for survival was corrupted to become heedless slaughter for financial gain as the hunters massacred the elephants of Tsavo using long bows with bow-weights of over one hundred pounds. Finally, with the establishment of the Tsavo National Park, the reign of the legal hunter came to an end and the bulk of the Waliangulu were forced to turn to other means of survival whereupon it is thought that many dispersed along the Tana River and down to the coast where they merged with the Giriama people. As for those who chose to continue to hunt in Tsavo, they were outlawed as poachers.

As a holiday destination Kenya is unrivalled. An ancient land born of ice and fire, such are the extremes of the Kenyan climate, which ranges from tropical heat to glacial ice, that it has formed a diversity of habitats found nowhere else on Earth.

A vast mosaic of lion-gold savannah, rolling grasslands, ancient rainforests and volcanic plains, Kenya rises from the idyllic shores of the Indian Ocean to the snow-capped peaks of Mount Kenya which, at 5,199 metres above sea level, is an extinct volcano some three and a half million years old. A natural paradise, Kenya is also a cultural microcosm and the age-old ‘cradle of mankind'. Kenya's people, united under the green, black and red of the national flag, comprise more than 50 ethnic groups and their warmth and hospitality is best expressed in the national motto; ‘Harambee'; meaning ‘let's all pull together'.

The climate in Kenya is one of the most beautiful in the world, typically featuring long sunny days with clear blue skies, champagne-fresh air (especially up-country), golden evenings and spectacular sunsets (day and night are almost equal all year round, with sunrise between 5.45am and 6.15am and sunset between 6.30pm and 7.00pm). The ‘rains' act as a natural division of the seasons; the ‘long rains' normally lasting from April to June and the ‘short rains' from November to December. During the ‘rains' most of the rain falls at night and showers are moderate in the daytime, often followed by sunshine. In general, July and August are the coolest months while September through to March are the warmest. Specifically, the coast is hot with an average daytime temperature of 27-31 degrees centigrade whilst the average daytime temperature in Nairobi is 21-26 degrees centigrade. Nairobi can become cold enough for coats and fleeces.

There are over 40 tribal groups distinguished by two major language groups: Bantu and Nilotic. The largest tribes of the Bantu are the Kikuyu, Meru, Gusii, Embu, Akamba, Luyha and Mijikenda. The largest tribes of the Nilotic are the Maasai, Turkana, Samburu, Pokot, Luo and Kalenjin. A third group made up of Cushitic-speaking peoples includes the El-Molo, Somali, Rendille and Galla. The coastal region is the home of the Swahili people.

The landscape of Kenya is distinctly divided into two halves - the eastern half which slopes gently to the coral-backed seashore, and the western portion, which rises abruptly through a series of hills and plateaus to the Eastern Rift Valley. West of the Rift is a westward-sloping plateau, and the lowest part is covered by Lake Victoria. The highest point in the country is the snow-capped peak of Mount Kenya (5,199 m), the second highest mountain in Africa. The coastline extends some 536 km from the Tanzanian border in the southeast, to the Somali border in the northeast. The main rivers are the Athi/Galana and the Tana. The major lakes are: Lake Victoria, Turkana, Baringo, Naivasha, Magadi, Jipe, Bogoria, Nakuru and Elementeita.

Kenya's flora is diverse. Coastal forests contain palm, mangrove, teak, copal and sandalwood trees. Forests of baobab, euphorbia and acacia trees cover the lowlands to an elevation of approximately 915 m. Extensive areas of savannah are interspersed with groves of acacia and papyrus, which characterize the terrain from 915 to 2,745 m above sea level. Bamboo and camphor are common in the dense rainforest of the eastern and south-eastern mountain slopes. The alpine zone (above 3,550 m) contains many Senecio and Lobelia plants.

There are 80 major animal species ranging from the ‘Big Five' (elephant, buffalo, rhinoceros, lion and leopard) to tiny antelopes such as the dik-dik, which is slightly larger than a rabbit. At least 32 endemic species are endangered. Kenya boasts around 1,137 species of birds. Spotting over 100 bird species in a day is not uncommon.