Tsavo National Park

If you want untamed wilderness and 4X4 roads then Tsavo National Park in Kenya is the place for you. Known for its dramatic landscapes Tsavo is the largest national park in the country. We drove in past lesser kudu, impala, lots of hornbills (like Xaxu from lion king), and tiny antelope known as dikidiks. They are a little bigger than house cats. I was thinking 'what perfect leopard food' but the big cats eluded us on this trip.

We stopped at Mizumi springs, where water bubbles out of the ground creating an oasis amongst the dry landscape. It is fed with melting ice caps on Kilimanjaro melting and running underground. We found one big hippo with this pool all to himself.

Camping was typical Kenya camping...anything goes. Knowing the reputation of Tsavo's lions (man eaters) and other dangers (hippos, crocodiles, big cats) we decided to head down a road with a road closed sign on it. It followed the river a ways and deteriorated pretty quick. We came to an impass in the road where water flowed thru it and figured this would provide a fine place to set up camp.

There is nothing quite like camping amongst the wildlife. We had baboons screaming, hippos calling, and even a crocodile in a little pool close to the road. Being the son of Tamarack I felt the need to catch and study the crocodile so with a small light in my mouth I waded into the pool and grabbed the 3 foot nile crocodile by his neck. Their snouts are much pointier than the gators I'm used to back home. I'm glad that you can still have this kind of natural, wild experience in some of Africa's parks.

This morning we drove out past 100 baboons and about 30 dikidiks. We saw zebra, wildebeest, buffalo and a lone elephant. Colorful birds were everywhere and giraffes stretch to get the leaves from the tallest branches. We also stopped by the tent camp Finch Hattons which is situated around a waterhole filled with big crocs and a raft of hippos. It was a great spot to stop and enjoy a tusker overlooking the water.