6-Day Tsavo East, Tsavo West and Taita Hills

Depart Nairobi and travel south-east along the Mombasa road, entering Tsavo East in the early afternoon. The first game drive introduces the park's famous red elephants, coloured by the dust they bathe in.

The park is vast enough that you may not see another vehicle all afternoon, which is precisely the appeal. Game viewing rewards patience here more than in the busier reserves.

A full day exploring the park, along the Galana River and out towards the Yatta Plateau, the longest lava flow in the world. Tsavo rewards patience: the scale is immense and the sightings, when they come, are often had entirely to yourself.

Tsavo East is about scale and solitude rather than constant sightings. The Galana River is the focus, with elephant, buffalo and plains game along it, and the famous red-dusted elephants are unmistakable. The Yatta Plateau, the longest lava flow in the world, runs along the western edge.

Cross into Tsavo West, a greener and more dramatic landscape of hills and lava. Visit Mzima Springs, where fifty million gallons of water surface daily, and watch hippo and crocodile from the underwater viewing chamber.

Tsavo West is greener, hillier and more densely vegetated than its neighbour. The waterholes draw elephant and buffalo through the afternoon, and the rhino sanctuary at Ngulia can be visited on request.

A full day in Tsavo West, taking in the Shetani lava flow, the Chyulu Hills viewpoints and the waterholes that draw elephant and buffalo through the afternoon. The rhino sanctuary within the park can be visited on request.

Mzima Springs is the highlight: some fifty million gallons of water surface daily through porous volcanic rock, and an underwater viewing chamber lets you watch hippo and crocodile below the surface. The Shetani lava flow and the Chyulu Hills give this half of Tsavo a far more dramatic landscape than the east.

Move on to the Taita Hills wildlife sanctuary, where the lodge is raised above a waterhole and elephants gather beneath the rooms. Game can be watched from the property itself well into the evening, when the waterhole is floodlit.

Set between the two halves of Tsavo, this is a convenient and comfortable break in the drive with genuinely good game viewing from the property itself.

A last morning at the sanctuary before the return drive to Nairobi, arriving in the late afternoon. The route can instead continue to Mombasa or Diani for those heading to the coast.

Today is largely a transfer day, and the drive itself is part of the experience: you will pass through farmland, small trading towns and changing country as the landscape shifts between regions. Your guide will stop where it is worth stopping, and there is no need to rush.