We were picked up by our Kuoni safari guide who drove us through Mombasa and on to the parks which were about 150 kilometers north-west of Mombasa and took around three hours to get there.  Driving there opened our eyes to the way in which many Kenyans live, both in the towns and in more rural areas; there is much poverty and yet everyone we met appeared to be happy and always curteous.  I don't know how this has changed over the years since we went there but it would be a great shame and would seriously affect ordinary people if visitors were scared away by the troubles.  Tourism is essential to the lives of a great many Kenyans.

As soon as we drove through the Buchuma gate into Tsavo East, the safari began.  The thing we noticed straight away is that the ground in the Tsavo East park is quite red.  Ask anyone what color an elephant should be and the answer will normally be grey or greyish; red would almost certainly not be the answer yet in the Kenyan National Park of Tsavo East you will find red elephants aplenty.  This is because elephants regularly partake of dust baths,the dust serving as an important anesthetic to protect the elephant’s skin.  It also has the added bonus of shining up their tusks into an almost silver appearance.  The elephants take every opportunity they can to bathe in water holes and rivers in the park and they emerge covered in red mud which dries on their skin and gives them this distinctive colour.

Our first stop was the Voi Wildlife Lodge located in the Savannah grasslands of Tsavo East, in the heart of elephant country which is clear from the many elephant photos we took.  The lodge boasts a natural waterhole which is especially attractive to the many elephants as well as other varieties of birdlife such as lizards and birds.  On the drive to the lodge we stopped at a waterhole where a group of elephants were drinking and bathing.  A bull elephant took exception to our presence probably due to us being too close to a young elephant and started to run alongside us with the intention (as our guide explained of getting in front); if he had done this then he would probably have turned to face us and charged and turned our vehicle over.  The guide said this has happened on previous occasions to other less experienced guides.

We arrived at the Voi and had a very pleasant evening in the lounge area with a great view of the elephants at the waterhole as the night drew in.  We were up again early the next day and once again watched the elephants; I never tired of watching these magnificent animals.  They had a Rhino obervation post where if you had keen eyes you could see the rhinos in the distance in the sanctuary; I think we saw one which would complete our Big Five but unfortunately we never got to see one really close up.

We left the Voi Lodge early and continued our safari whilst heading to our next stop at the Ngulia Lodge which is in Tsavo West (Note: east and west refer to their position either side of the A109 highway between Mombasa and Nairobi).  During our drive there we continued to see wildlife and what became very clear was large number of elephants in both the Tsavo parks.  In the Mara, we hadn't seen any leopards but saw several in our first day in Tsavo West.  They are secretive animals and are not usually seen much during the day.  They have very good natural camouflage when in the bushes and are lethal in the kill using stealth rather than speed; leopards typically carry their kill up into the trees to prevent other animals from eating their food.  Although we didn't get to see any actual kills, we did come across a dead carcass and later we witnessed lions eating a dead giraffe; the young lions were actually inside the carcass eating from the inside - gruesome!!

We arrived at the Ngulia Lodge and we were shown to our rooms but told quite clearly to close and lock our windows to prevent the baboons getting in.  We did this and went down for refreshments but when we returned our room had been ransacked by baboons which had got in because we hadn't closed the outside of two windows; the baboons are clever enough to open windows even if partially closed.  I looked under the table and saw a tail dangling down at the back; Jane had a fit until we realised it was my belt, partially coiled hanging from the case.  Although we had been fortunate and seen leopards along the drive to Ngulia, the camp staff had hung up a dead animal carcass on a frame outside in the grounds of the lodge; leopards only hunt at night.  We were woken at about 3pm and went to the windows of the viewing area and watched a leopard climb the frame and eat his dinner.  I'm sure this is a regular occurrence and provides the leopard with an easy option, a bit like getting a pre-prepared meal from the supermarket.

We set off for our final day on safari heading for the Kilaguni Lodge which is just to the west of Tsavo West, superbly situated in the lee of Mount Kilimanjaro and sheltered by the volcanic splendour of the Chyulu Hills.  As we approached the hills, we could see elephants half way up much to our amazement but our guide told us that elephants are very good climbers and can scale very high rocky cliffs.  We saw a very unusual tree with upright branches and I later found out they are called, aptly, candelabra trees.  We stopped off at a large lake or pool which was full of hippos and arrived at our destination tired from our late night vigil waiting for the leopards.

Kilaguni Lodge is a classic stone-built lodge overlooking its own water hole, which is visited daily by elephants, buffalos and a wide variety of plains game; by now of course it had become obvious that all the lodges tend to have waterholes due to the attraction of game and the spectacle it provides for guests.  Kilaguni is one of the first lodges ever to be built in a park in Kenya, the lodge is cool, tranquil and hushed for optimum game-viewing.  We liked this lodge which had its own landing strip and a certain character missing from the other two lodges; difficult to say what it was that we liked so much (maybe the tranquility inside and animals outside).  There were bird tables with rice to attract different species; unfortunately the rice also attracted baboons who made short work of the dinner plate.

Finally, it was time to leave on our long journey back to Mombasa for the flight back to Nairobi and then home.  We enjoyed our Tsavo holiday but we both agreed that nothing could compare with the Maasai Mara and Governors' camp.  It may be that we had already seen so many beautiful animals in their natural setting that by the time we went to Tsavo it could never quite match up.  Like many wildlife parks, in Tsavo there are limitations about where the safari vehicles can go, i.e. they have to stick to the defined roads and paths.  In the Mara they can go anywhere which means you can generally get closer up to the animals and the photos generally reflect this.

We arrived safely in England and vowed to go back someday to Kenya and especially Governors' Camp in the Maasai Mara National Reserve.  We loved this camp, the people who kept it going and the freedom to go anywhere on the Mara.