Tsavo

For other uses, see Tsavo (disambiguation).

Tsavo is a region of Kenya located at the crossing of the Uganda Railway over the Tsavo River, close to where it meets the Athi River. Tsavo means "slaughter" in the language of the Kamba people. Until the British put an end to the slave trade in the late 19th century, Tsavo was continually crossed by caravans of Arab slavers and their captives.

Two national parks, Tsavo East and Tsavo West, are nearby.

Nature

Typical flora of the region includes:

• Acacia
• Myrrh
• Baobab

Typical fauna of the region includes:

• African bush elephant
• Masai giraffe
• Cape buffalo
• Gazelle
• Klipspringer
• Kudu
• African leopard
• Masai lion
• Tanzanian cheetah
• Tsetse fly

Native human inhabitants:

• The Waata, a bow-hunting people.

In popular culture

The place achieved fame in The Man-eaters of Tsavo by John Henry Patterson (author) , a 1907 book about the eponymous pair of lions who attacked workers building the railroad bridge. The book has been made into several films; mostly famously The Ghost and the Darkness, starring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas, which, in spite of mostly poor reviews, won an Academy Award for editing in 1997.

In the video game Halo 3 for the Xbox 360, the entire Earth-bound part of the game is set in this region. As such, one of the levels is entitled "Tsavo Highway" and encompasses the final stages of the evacuation of Crow's Nest and the preface for the attack on Voi.

American fingerstyle guitarist Billy McLaughlin named a song after the region, found on the album The Archery Of Guitar.

See also

• Railway stations in Kenya

References

http://www.tsavonationalpark.co.ke/