Kilaguni Serena Safari Lodge, Tsavo West, Kenya

Then....

...and now.

David, Becca, Erica, Deedee, and Chris

David south of the equator

Nights 3 and 4 were spent exploring Tsavo West National Park from our comfortable base at Kilaguni Serena Safari Lodge. The entrance looks much the same as it did 75 years ago as you can see in the pictures, but the comfort level has definitely upgraded with the times.

  The rooms are nice and spacious, each coming with its own porch or balcony. The grounds are landscaped and teeming with bright blue and orange agama lizards and hadida ibis. The swimming pool is great for cooling down in between game drives and the buffet leaves nothing to be wanting. However, the best, most memorable experience staying at the Kilaguni Serena is the amazing African vista from the dining area.

One of my favorite Africa views

The grounds looking at our rooms

The dining room/bar area, and each of the rooms opens up to a view of a very active waterhole, surrounded by the bright red dirt that is typical of the Tsavo area. Herds of animals file towards and away from the waterhole day and night.

Our back porch

  We lost count of the zebra, water buffalo, and elephants that came to the waterhole while we sipped our gin and tonics and soaked it in. During the evenings hyena and black back jackal made several appearances. Giraffes spread their front legs wide in order to bend down and drink while elephants just barrelled right into the middle of the waterhole. There was a lot of playfulness at the waterhole and a bit of jockeying for position. We saw zebra being pushed out by water buffalo, who were in turn pushed out by a herd of elephants.

Inside our room

Panorama view from the dining area

   I thought some of the funniest visitors to the waterhole were the helmeted guinea fowl. They came down in a long file, walking along just like a herd of zebra would do. They acted every bit like they belonged there among the big mammal herds.

Options galore at the buffet

On a game drive

  On clear evenings as the sun was setting off in the west, the waterhole would get even more amazing. The setting sun not only cast everything in a beautiful red hue, but it also outlined a massive mountain on the horizon...the 19,431ft Mt. Kilimanjaro, which is just over the international border into Tanzania.