Tsavo East National Park

Check out that slide!

My friend was leaving and we felt like the best going away party we could have was a trip to Tsavo. The rainy season was threatening to start any day and his evacuation flight back to Germany was yet unscheduled, it was now or never. Despite spending a significant amount of time in Kenya over the past 3 years I haven’t been on safari in this country since my first trip to Kenya, well to Africa, in 2006.  I was overdue and excited for a change from the magical coast to the mystical grasslands.

Trip Logistics and Cost: We decided on a 24-hour long stay within the park that included driving from Sala gate to the Voi gate, an evening game drive, overnight in the bush camp, sunrise game drive and then return drive back to the Sala gate.  We were determined to pack in as much wildlife and nature as possible for our daily pass ($54 for foreigners and $5 for nationals).

It’s the start of the low season here in Watamu and my friend, Anita knows a few agencies to rent a safari vehicle. We’d originally hoped to drive ourselves, but ultimately found a deal for a canvas covered, pop-up Landcruiser that would hold the five of us. $150 for a two-day rental with driver. We covered fuel and a daily allowance for the driver.

Our bush camp, Ndololo, was located inside of the game park, near the Voi gate and cost $20 for foreigners and $2 for nationals. This was a DIY camp, not the tented lodge with the same name. It is BYOT (no glamping here!), BYOB, BYOF and BYOC but there was a well-kept washroom and they helped provide firewood.

All in, we landed at $140 for foreigners and $73 for nationals.

Trip Highlights: The site to see in Tsavo are the elephants. Our first spot was a very large family making their way to the river with us on spying on the other side. Those of us who were new to Tsavo were dismayed when after only 10-minutes we began to continue our drive. The veterans re-assured us, however, that we would be seeing many, many more elephants and they, of course, were right. Walking, hanging with the family, bathing and feasting on morning glories, they were everywhere and we couldn’t help but stop each time we saw them.

Lots of zebra, antelope, giraffe and hippos were spotted throughout the journey. We also took time to hang with a sizable baboon family and the birds, so sooooo many birds! But at the end of our sunrise game drive we were lucky enough to see a leopard playing catch with a family of monkeys in a tree. Pretty phenomenal stuff.

I fell asleep early, very early and heavily enough that I missed the excitement. But the adventure of the bush camp happens once the fire goes out and according to my friends (and their shoes), it was quite an animal party once we were inside our tents. Hyena’s pressing their faces against the tent and fighting over who got the next bite of flip flop. The lions also made their way through the camp, though when I knocked out they were still at a bit of a distance, though you could clearly make out their roar.

Trip Lesson: I’ve been on a few safaris while I’ve lived in this part of the world and every trip has been entirely different. Sometimes you are awed and inspired by whatever you see, even if it is only the flora without much fauna. Other times, you wait anxiously with hopes to see something specific. Something that will prove just how amazing your life is, how instagram worthy.  You train your eyes to only see what you want, instead of what is there and then feel disappointed if that is not the experience you have.

Tsavo, with a wonderful group of friends on a few beautiful days where clouds scattered through the sky, was an excellent reminder that the best place to be is to be without expectation. No checklists, no demands, no pre-conceived notions of what will or could make this better and instead letting be what will be.

My friend has since departed and the past two days have been mainly grey skies and scattered showers but I am making a concerted effort, though never perfectly and rarely gracefully, to let be what will be. I go to the ocean most days and am contented with the surprise of what the waves and water are in that moment. Yesterday was a whoooooole lotta of seaweed with giant waves bringing in high tide but this morning was waters only stirring from strong winds bringing in a gentle ocean storm. I have no control over it but I’m thankful for it, everyday.

The beauty of Tsavo was that it was exactly the trip we wanted because it was exactly the trip we had.