Tsavo West National Park

Start with the dust. Here it is red, a deep rusty red that settles on your shoes, your sleeves, and the window of your vehicle. Out in the heat the air smells of dry grass and warm stone. Somewhere a hornbill calls, a hollow knocking sound. On the horizon, dark hills rise out of the plain, and some of them are not hills at all, but old volcanoes.

You are in Tsavo West National Park, in southern Kenya, in the region once known as Coast Province. Tsavo was set aside as a national park in 1948. Together with its neighbour, Tsavo East, it forms one of the largest protected areas in Africa. The main road and the railway between Nairobi and Mombasa divide the two halves. The eastern side is flatter and more open. The western side, where you are now, is rougher, greener, and shaped by fire from deep underground.

That volcanic story is everywhere once you know to look for it. Black lava fields spread across the ground in sharp, broken sheets. Cone-shaped craters rise from the bush. To the north lie the Chyulu Hills, a young volcanic range. This is a landscape that geologists consider recent, at least by the slow clock of the Earth. Some of the rock under your wheels formed only a few centuries ago.

The best example is the Shetani lava flow. In Swahili, the word Shetani means devil. Locals say the name came from people who saw the eruption, when the ground seemed to burn and flow like liquid. The flow is a wide river of black, jagged rock. Very little grows on it, even now. Walking near it, you feel the heat rising from the dark surface. It is a strange sight among the pale grass.

Now for the first surprise. The volcanic rock is not only harsh. It is also a giant filter. Rain that falls on the Chyulu Hills sinks into the porous lava and travels underground. It does not appear again until it reaches the surface many kilometres away, at a place called Mzima Springs. After its long journey through the rock, the water comes out cool and remarkably clear.

Mzima Springs is a set of pools surrounded by palms and fig trees, in the middle of dry country. Hippos rest in the water, often with only their eyes and nostrils showing. Crocodiles lie along the banks. Monkeys move through the branches above the path. There is an underwater viewing chamber, a small room with glass windows below the surface. From inside, you can watch fish drifting past. With luck, you may see the grey shape of a hippo moving along the bottom.

Here is the second surprise. This same water does not only serve the animals. A pipeline carries water from Mzima all the way to the coast, and it helps to supply the city of Mombasa. So the rain on the Chyulu Hills, filtered through lava, may end up in a kitchen near the Indian Ocean. The park is not separate from the people of the coast. It is part of their daily life.

Tsavo also carries a darker story. In 1898, British engineers were building the Uganda Railway across this country. At the Tsavo River, workers were building a bridge. Over several months, two lions attacked the camps at night and killed many workers. The exact number is still debated. The engineer in charge, Lieutenant Colonel John Henry Patterson, finally shot both lions. He later wrote a book about the events. Today the two lions are on display in the Field Museum in Chicago.

The lions of Tsavo still look a little different from lions in other places. Many males here have very short manes, or almost none at all. Scientists have suggested several reasons, including the heat and the thick, thorny bush. If you see a large male without the classic mane, do not be confused. This is a normal Tsavo lion. The elephants can also look unusual. They often throw red dust over their backs to protect their skin, so they appear red instead of grey.

Tsavo West is also important for black rhinos. Poaching reduced their numbers sharply in the twentieth century. The Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary was created inside the park to protect them. It is a fenced area with careful monitoring. Black rhinos are shy and usually stay in thick bush, so sightings are never guaranteed. But every rhino here represents years of effort by rangers and conservation workers.

The Ngulia Hills have one more story, and it is about birds. Each year, during the northern autumn and early winter, millions of birds migrate from Europe and Asia to southern Africa. On misty nights, many of them are attracted to the lights near the Ngulia hills. For decades, scientists and volunteers have caught some of these birds in fine nets, placed small rings on their legs, and released them. This work has helped researchers understand migration routes across two continents.

The park also has history from the First World War. British and German forces fought across this region, because German East Africa lay just to the south. German troops raided the railway, and the dry bush made the campaign very hard for both sides. To the southwest lies Lake Jipe, on the border with Tanzania. On a clear morning, you may also see the snow-capped top of Mount Kilimanjaro, floating above the haze.

Before you move on, take one more look around you. Notice the colour of the soil on your hands. Listen for the birds in the acacia trees and the wind moving through the dry grass. Look toward the dark outline of the volcanic hills. Somewhere under those hills, rainwater is moving slowly through the rock toward Mzima. And somewhere in the bush, a lion with almost no mane is resting in the shade, waiting for the evening.