DISCOVERY: Inside the Nyika sits a house twixt two Tsavos
Looking out from Nyika House bordering Tsavo East National Park. From this vantage point, one can enjoy sundowners on the rooftop while admiring Africa's highest mountain, the mighty Kilimanjaro. PHOTO | COURTESY | RUPI MANGAT
Recently I went the Airbnb route for affordable places to stay in while on safari. The one that fitted my taste and budget and had great reviews was Nyika Bird Sanctuary, 10 km into the interior of Mtito Andei on the edge of Tsavo East National Park.
In the 1940s when the colonial government set up protected areas, ‘nyika’ was a wild place full of wild creatures. Hence the two great Tsavos — East and West — were set aside as land ‘useless’ for humans — the soils were poor and sparse water apart from the rivers that flowed in spate during the rains and the wildlife thrived in the absence of people.
