The Taita Hills Wildlife Sanctuary occupies private land wedged between Tsavo East and Tsavo West, and functions as a quieter, fenced extension of the wider Tsavo ecosystem. Elephant, buffalo, giraffe, zebra and a resident lion population move through the sanctuary and are drawn to its waterhole through the dry months.
The sanctuary’s best-known feature is its lodge, built on stilts directly over a floodlit waterhole so that game can be watched from the room or the walkway after dark as well as on daytime drives. The Taita Hills themselves, rising abruptly from the surrounding plains, are visible throughout and mark the eastern edge of Kenya’s Eastern Arc mountain chain.