Spent four days on safari in Tsavo East and West National Parks in Kenya and was lucky enough to see most of the big five (and some of the small five) animals. Booked this as a private tour in Watamu with an experienced guide (jonathan baya) and using a Land Cruiser owned by Tabia Safaris (driver was Baraku) at a very reasonable price for two people. Stayed at Ngulia Safari Lodge for 2 nights in Tsavo East and 2 nights self catering at Half Way House overlooking Tsavo East. Elephant, Giraffe, Zebra, Lion, Leopard, Ostrich, Water Buffalo, Gazelle and Hippos (at Mzima Springs) were plentiful. The accommodation for both parks was sufficient unto our needs and the food was good at the Lodge. Would thoroughly recommend taking time out from a beach holiday at Watamu to visit both Tsavo East and West to see the animals in their environment.

This is Kenya's biggest park and in my opinion the best park in Africa. Amazing herds of Elephant families and you can see all the other big five in addition to Crocs and Hippos in the river. Best time to go is July in the dry season where you can see everything. Additionally, my two preschool boys thought the landscape reminded them of the Lion King. My family travels to Kenya twice a year, but Tsavo East in the dry season remains our favorite. The park is huge so you will need a couple of days to see everything but it's worth it. The only thing we would have done differently would have been to enter the park from Malindi or Mombasa instead of taking the SGR to Voi station. The train is really hard on families with small children and elderly parents. it is actually cheaper and faster to just drive from the coastal towns than use SGR. Having said that once you enter the park, it is amazing.

We weren't even in the park for 10 minutes before we saw two lionesses take down a Cape buffalo. Some of the bull elephants were in musth, with gland secretions, and their manhood dragging the ground. They would flap their ears out and lift their trunks to sniff our identity.