Our Landscape

Tsavo Landscape

One of the World's Last Remaining Mega-faunas

With its endless skies, sprawling hills, charming cloud-shadowed African landscape is not only scenic with a majestic cultural heritage but it is also one of the world’s remaining mega flora and fauna habitats with multiple endangered and endemic species listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Overview

The Taita Taveta Landscape

Taita Taveta Wildlife Conservancies Association (TTWCA) brings together 35 ranches and conservancies, spread across 4,046km2 of land in Taita Taveta County.

The landscape, which includes wildlife dispersal areas and migratory corridors connecting the Tsavo National Parks in Kenya and Mkomazi National Park in Tanzania, is part of the larger Tsavo Conservation Area (TCA).

The TCA is made up of Tsavo East National Park, the Tsavo West National Park, the South Kitui National Reserve, the Chyulu Hills National Park in south-eastern Kenya, the Mkomazi Game Reserve in north-western Tanzania and the surrounding ranches and conservancies—collectively encompassing approximately 23,553km2.

The area is also a premier livestock development hub, earmarked as one of the four zones that will produce Kenyan meat and leather products for local, regional and international markets under the economic pillar of Kenya’s Vision 2030.

The interconnectedness of this ecosystem is thus vital to the people, livestock and wildlife of the region.

Mega-Fauna Habitat

The Wildlife

The Tsavo landscape supports the movement and conservation of all the members of the big give: lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino and the African Elephant, holding 38% of Kenya’s total elephant population.

It is also home to the endangered Hirola (Africa’s rarest antelope), the endangered black rhino, Grevy’s zebra, African wild dog, and pangolin (the world’s most trafficked animal).

Other wildlife found in the landscape include the cheetah, zebra, gazelle, impala, lesser kudu and oryx.

A Rich Culture

The People

The Tsavo landscape is native to the Taita and Taveta people.

It is well-known for its rich cultural heritage sites (such as the historic World War II fighting sites in Salaita-Taveta) and musical legacy, including the Uruasi dance of the Taveta and the Mwazindika dance: an electrifying Taita dance listed for cultural heritage certification by UNESCO.

Livestock production, farming, mineral exploration, and tourism are the region's main economic activities.

A Fine Flight

The Birds

The ecosystem enjoys a prolific bird population.

The verdant Taita Hills, in particular, is classified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) with over 300 bird species that include endemic birds, such as the endangered Taita White-eye (Zosterops silvanus), and the critically endangered Taita Thrush (Turdus helleri) and Taita Apalis (Apalis fuscigularis).

The landscape is also home to the Taita Apalis: one of the world's forest birds, with only approximately 150 remaining.

A Mixed Habitat

The Flora

The ecosystem has over 1,000 plant species, about 40 forests and over 20 endemic species, including the critically endangered African violet (Saintpaulia teitensis).

The lush Taita Hills form the northern most part of the Eastern Arc Mountains whose forests are classified as one of the world’s 34 most important biodiversity hotspots, harboring 67 known indigenous plants, not recognizable elsewhere in Africa, such as the wild coffee (coffea fadenii).

For the People & Biodiversity of Tsavo