Irima 'Tsavo East National Park'
Today, the Tsavo National Park, encompassing an area of 8,000 square miles (the size of Michigan State, Israel or Wales) is cut by the main Nairobi - Mombasa road, which links the hinterland of Kenya to the Coast. But, there was a time when this giant Park belonged only to the elephants and other wild animals that inhabited this vast tract of semi-desert. Only the traditional elephant hunters of the Waliangulu tribe ventured into what is now known as the Tsavo National Park, the area being too arid for cultivation, and unsuitable for livestock due to the presence of the tsetse fly which carries trypanosomiasis, deadly to cattle, but to which wild animals are immune. Traditional elephant migration routes between Tsavo West National Park (lying west of the Nairobi/Mombasa railway) and Tsavo East (east of the railway) today are hazardous passages for Tsavo's elephant herds, since they have to pass through settlement and run the gauntlet of snaring and the hostility of agricultural small holdings of the Taita people. Irima is the name of hill situated in Tsavo East National Park, because this young calf was found abandoned in this area he takes his name from this hill, close to where Voi Safari Lodge is situated. The Lodge watering holes are a popular drinking spot for elephants in the dry seasons.
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