Tsavo East at Its Best with Banco Lali

Tsavo East Safari: The day of departure for the Tsavo East safari finally arrives, the largest national park in Kenya; just a few hundred metres after entering the park we come across the first elephants, very close to the road and enormous, completely red because the soil of Tsavo is red, and then gazelles, zebras, warthogs, buffaloes. Our guide Banco, in contact with the other minibuses inside the park, keeps us informed about sightings, especially of the lion, but time flies and it is already dinner time, so we head to the tented camp inside the park, truly very welcoming; our tent has a double bed, WC, shower and washbasin with hot water. The next morning a wake-up at dawn, a quick breakfast and we set off straight away for a whole day in the savannah. We see many animals, gazelles, giraffes, elephants, hippos, zebras and so on, but of lions not a trace.

Our guide, via radio contact, tells us that a lion has been sighted; we rush over and when we arrive we see that the lion is sleeping stretched out under a tree, heedless of our presence, and a little further off a group of lionesses with their cubs playing in the savannah grass, camouflaging themselves. In the afternoon we live the unforgettable scene: we come across a group of elephants with their young crossing the road. The two large ones on sentry duty do not seem very calm, perhaps because we have come too close, and they begin to flap their big ears and come towards us, the tension rises, Banco signals to the driver to reverse, ready to drive off, but then the elephant stops, calms down, backs away, and as soon as the whole herd has passed it moves off and lets us through. It was truly a moving scene.

We took countless photos both of the truly breathtaking landscape, with red dirt tracks and savannah as far as the eye can see, and of the animals (we did not think we would see so many). Final thoughts: Kenya is fascinating, it is really worth visiting. Not only for its nature but also for the unforgettable welcome of its people; it is certainly one of those trips you appreciate not only at the time, in fact it is above all afterwards that you ‘savour’ it as a whole. Now we know what ‘mal d'Afrique’ means. Even the smile of the Kenyans, always cheerful no matter what, because no matter what it is... AKUNA MATATA! A big hello too to Banco Lali, who accompanied us during the holiday, introducing us to his wonderful land, making us always feel welcome and pampered in everything, very professional and always punctual, we recommend him!! also for the price!!