Galdessa is a small eco-tourism up-market tented lodge in Kenya's largest park, Tsavo East National Park. The word Galdessa means baboon in Walangulu, the tribe that used to lived in the area of Tsavo hunting elephant with bows and arrows. Our accommodation and activities are geared at the discerning traveler looking for a private experience in the African bush. From day game drives in our open Toyota Land Cruisers to walking safaris along the Galana river and wild luxurious meals in the bush, Galdessa is your Nature specialist. Tsavo is still very much pristine and you will live your experience without the inconvenience of mass tourism, which does not come to this remote yet magical part of the park.

The camp has only eight bandas (sort of semi-tented thatched bungalows) spread over 9.5 acres for maximum privacy, two of which are suites with their own adjoining sitting room where room service is made available. The Honeymoon Suite has its own sitting room, viewing platform and water wallow.

One final word: Galdessa is an eco-tourism camp. We use solar power, recycle our waste, and have even installed a water treatment plant. Wildlife regularly uses the camp grounds - especially elephants which, at 8,000, constitute Kenya's largest population - a daily sign that we have succeeded in minimizing our impact on the environment. The camp is located in the heart of one of Africa's most successful conservation projects, and is lucky to have 48 black rhinos in its direct vicinity. We actively support this and other conservation projects in Tsavo, and invite you to share their success.

A Model of Eco-tourism

Galdessa Camp is situated in the heart of Kenya's largest park, Tsavo East National Park, on the banks of the Galana River. The site is 15 km upstream of Lugards Falls, famous for its beautiful rock formations, where there is also an airstrip which can be used for private aircraft transfers. Galdessa Camp's remote access in a very wild part of the park ensures that tourism is kept to a minimum, enhancing the intimacy the camp, and our guests, enjoy with Nature.

Under the shade of the doum palms, the camp's 8 spacious "bandas" are comfortable, fresh, and elegant. Set well apart, they all face the river and the Yatta Plateau, the world's largest fossilized lava flow (over 200km long). The term "banda" is an African word describing a bungalow-like structure enhanced by the best attributes a true tented camp accommodation has to offer.

Two of our bandas are organised in suites, with their own, separate thatched sitting room where private meals may also be served. Our most remote banda is ideal for honeymooners in search of privacy, with its own sitting room, viewing platform and water wallow.

The room is set under a thatch structure for coolness and comfort, with a spacious en-suite bathroom/dressing room. Perfectly adapted to the environment, it is a refined expression of the safaris of yesteryear. The walls are made of canvas and mosquito netting tastefully set in timber frames. The natural woods, thatched roofs, stone tables and mosquito netting form a romantic interior which enhances the contact with the rhythms and sounds of the natural world outside.

Bathroom showers are fed by a canvas drum in true safari tradition, while the stone sink provides running water, and the toilets are flush. Electricity is provided through solar power.

The central building, known as the lodge, houses a spacious dining area, a bar, and a large, very comfortable sitting area. The thatch roof, Galana stone floors, and deep, bed-size sofas give it a charming coastal atmosphere. Meals are served inside or under the starlight, or, for those wanting more privacy, in our new beach lodge, a smaller private lodge near the river.

Service and Style
20 people are at your service around the clock. Their only concern is your safety, your comfort and your well-being.

Nothing in your tent is left to chance. Your laundry is washed and ironed every day. The bread you eat with your meals is baked on the premises. You will be surprised and delighted by the quality and variety of the dishes our cooks rustle up for you in the wilds of Africa. And after an adventurous day's safari, as you listen, drink in hand, to the murmur of the wild animals nearby, very nearby, you will be under the enchanting spell of mother Africa.

Comfort and Privacy

We attach much importance to creature comforts while in the wilderness. The ambiance lent by the openness of the camp, the designs of our rooms and bathrooms, and the intimacy with the wild that one can experience by sleeping in the bandas are all part of the true feeling of our "Osmosis" safaris. Style, comfort, security, good service, and good cooking make it all an unforgettable experience.

A stay at Galdessa Camp, with its romantic, old-fashioned charm, is a real communion with Nature: meals in the open air, and nights spent under thatch, with the mysterious whisperings of the bush just beyond the canvas walls.

Game Drive
The Camp's location on the river makes it ideal for sightings along its bed, either side of Galdessa Camp. Our open four-wheel-drive Toyota Land-Cruisers will take you to explore this route and others along its seasonal tributaries, known as Luggards. These are favourites of lions, cheetahs, elephants, buffalos, and rhinos, as game always needs water, and Luggards often has permanent pools.

Longer game drives can be arranged to the Park's farther reaches, on day outings, with picnic lunches or with a 3-course lunch awaiting you with iced drinks at our selected lunch camp sites. Bush breakfasts and dinners are also organized.

Walking Safaris

Galdessa Camp specializes in Nature Tourism and Tsavo is great walking country, which offers nature lovers wonderful walks and game sightings. We organize leisurely walks along the Galana River, starting at the spectacular rock formation of Lugards Falls,stopping along the way to fish for catfish under the watchful eyes of hippos and crocodiles, and ending up with cocktails while the sun sets over Mount Kilimanjaro. Walking along Luggards is also a favourite, as one learns a thousand and one things about wildlife in these highways of the bush. Discover how elephants dug for water here, and learn to read the spoor and listen to the signs of wildlife. All walks are escorted by an armed ranger of the Kenya Wildlife Service for security.

Tsavo is the wild bushland of your dreams!

This immense park, with 22,000 km2 (as large as two thirds of Belgium), is probably one of the wildest places in Kenya. Tsavo is separated into Tsavo West and Tsavo East National Parks by the Mombasa-Nairobi railroad and main road. Tsavo East is by far the largest of the two, with two-thirds of its area, that North of the Galana River, closed to conventional tourism.

Tsavo is so vast and wild that tourism has had little impact on it. For all but the most experienced guides, keeping track of animal movements in this vast reserve is virtually impossible. But you can rely on our seasoned guides to take you straight to where the action is, and to reveal all the mysteries of Tsavo.

Galdessa is in the middle of Tsavo East, on the Galana River. Galdessa is the only up-market facility in Tsavo East and its area is generally free of other tourism than its own, due to its remote position in the centre of a high protection black rhinoceros area.

Life on the dry and bushy territory of Tsavo is rather tough, and the Park regulations very strict to minimise animal harrassment. For example, vehicles are not allowed off the road and tracks. As a result, the animals here are particularly wild...For Galdessa, it is the best opportunity to bring the traveller in close contact with a truly authentic nature through a variety of activities generally not offered by other operators: to initiate him to the tracking of animals, to organize stunning walks along "luggas", to take part as a team in the spotting of lions, cheetahs, serval cats, genets, Masai giraffes, gerenuks, waterbucks, impalas, lesser kudus, Peter's gazelles, dik diks, zebras, fringed-eared oryxes, elands, hyenas, mongooses, monitor lizards, crocodiles, hippos, and the elusive leopard.

4-course meals in the middle of the bush, walking safaris, or just far-niente in Camp (often requested!), Galdessa will seek to create that special day which stays in the memory for ever.

Tsavo is particularly rich in birds, making it a favourite among bird watchers. It also boasts the largest variety of animal species of any park in Kenya.But Tsavo is really famous for its elephants, of which it counts over 8100. And, at the start of the rains, during their migration, it is not rare to witness herds of 200 to 300 animals!

Tsavo is also famous for its man-eaters, a couple of lions who terrorized workers during the building of the Mombasa-Nairobi railroad at the turn of the century. This true story has been made into a movie, "The Ghost and the Darkness", starring Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer. Galdessa Camp is no more than 40km away from the area where the story took place, and the lions one may see on safari with us no doubt are descendants of the infamous man-eaters!

Safaris in Tsavo East National Park are conducted in open 4x4 Land Cruisers, with the possibility of approaching animals on foot. Walks along the Galana river are a Galdessa favourite, as one can observe, in full osmosis with Nature, crocodiles, hippos, antelopes, and birds in abundance, while walking. Walking is a big speciality, as are bush lunches or breakfasts, sundowners, and night drives.

Also available is the visit of the Black Rhinos Free Release Project which is only 5km from Galdessa Camp. This may be a rare opportunity to see rhino on foot and to gain exposure to the world of active conservation through lectures given by the KWS officer in charge of this worthy project.

If Galdessa succeeds in making you love and understand Nature in all its perfection and equilibrium, this is because it is also our goal to protect Nature and safeguard the flora and fauna of Kenya. Without this fundamental concern, your journey with Galdessa would not be something so special, so profound.

The founding director of Galdessa is a Trustee of TUSK TRUST, a Trust working for the Conservation of African Wildlife, and has helped to reintroduce the black rhino into Tsavo East National Park, after the species was virtually wiped out by poachers. Because of our constant concern for nature conservation, part of the income and much of the time of the Galdessa staff is spent on various conservation projects inside the parks, designed to protect them forever, for your pleasure and that of your children and their children after them.

Less than 2000 blacks rhinos survive in Africa with 450 in Kenya alone. Their numbers are still threatened across the continent. The effort to preserve the species has been successful as their numbers are increasing steadily.

The Tsavo East Project is the first of its kind in Kenya and Africa. Its purpose is the re-introduction of the black rhino into National Parks from fenced sanctuaries in the North and from Nairobi National Park. This project was initiated in 1994 and is a great success. Tsavo East now counts 48 black rhinos all in Galdessa Camp's vicinity.

Galdessa has contributed to this programme with fuel, human resources and the construction of a camp for the rangers who protect and look after the rhinos 24 hours a day (a microchip is lodged in the horn and helps with locating the rhinos from the ground and from the air). Contributions include donations from Galdessa clients. Galdessa Camp is in the very heart of this project and, as a result, offers a privileged visit and exposure to one of Africa's best conservation successes, and is daily involved in its development through its close ties with the Kenya Wildlife Service.

Tsavo East is lucky to have 97 of the last 450 Hunter’s Hartebeestes (Hirola) in Africa. These remarkable antelopes are today mostly confined to sparse areas in the North of Kenya, at the border with Somalia. The Kenya Wildlife Service, under the “Hirola Task Force” programme, launched in 1996 a capture-transport-and-relocation programme to try to gather the antelopes in well-protected sanctuaries where their chances of breeding can be enhanced. This effort is making our Park one of the few places where one can reasonably expect to see Hirola today.

Galdessa is following this project very closely and raising funds to allow its funding, as part of its commitment to helping conserving the Tsavo habitats.

Tusker Continues to Delight.

Tusker the elephant continues to delight and enthrall visitors to the camp. He is known as the most relaxed wild elephant in the Tsavo. He is also probably one of the most photographed elephants in Africa and seems to enjoy posing at close proximity for guests.

Sadly when the rainy season starts he will leave us for a few months but come back shortly after that. We have been trying to figure out what his attraction to Galdessa is, in that he almost appears to live in the camp during the dry season. We are convinced that he just enjoys being near people and likes to hear the sound of human voices and it's not just the attraction of his favourite food found in abundance at Galdessa - the fruit of the Doum Palm!.

At Lugards Falls Quail Plovers have been seen and further a field Vulturine Guinea Fowl. Raptors seen regularly include Bateleur, African Fish Eagle, Brown Snake Eagle, Eastern Chanting Goshawk, Gabar Goshawk, Wahlbergs Eagle, Tawny Eagle and the diminutive Pygmy Falcon. The selection of vultures found in Tsavo is impressive and includes the Palm-Nut and Eygptian Vulture.

There is a Verreaux's Eagle Owl that is seen nearly every evening roosting in the same tree on the road back to camp. The Tsavo is a birders paradise and with the onset of the rains we look forward to seeing the return of some familiar migrants like the Carmine Bee Eater.

A little history about your new hosts...

Gus was raised on a farm near Mutare in the eastern area of Zimbabwe where his love for the flora & fauna first started. Areas that Gus and Sandy have worked and guided in cover Mana Pools, Hwange, Matusadona and Namibian National Parks, as well as the Kuburi Wilderness Area of Kariba. Sandy and Gus met on one of her trips into the Zambezi Valley. Sandy whose cooking and bush cuisine is legendary grew up in Botswana and Zimbabwe. Together they make up one of the best guide / hostess couples around both having an in-depth love and knowledge of the bush and camp life.

Gus set up a bush camp in the Kuburi Wilderness Area and was mainly responsible for the building of the camp. Gus's passions are all related to his work, in particular, he is an avid birder and he loves nothing better than staring at a star filled sky and working out new
constellations. Gus's favourite activities in the bush are hiking and canoeing. He has a deep and passionate love of all things in the bush and is very conservation orientated. He has a quiet and unassuming manner and people enjoy his ability to project his love of the bush. Gus has a full Professional Guides license as well as a Canoe Guides License.

Sandy grew up in Botswana and Zimbabwe. After school she became involved in the IT Industry but after some years decided that what she really wanted was to get back to grass roots and commune with nature. With nothing but determination to change her lifestyle, she sold up all her possessions and decided she was going to travel from South Africa to Kenya with the ultimate aim of finding work somewhere in the bush. For seven months she traveled through Africa (Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya) eventually landing up back in Zimbabwe.

She was employed as a Camp Manager in the Kuburi Wilderness area. This is where she met Gus. Besides a genuine love of the wilderness, she enjoys painting wildlife and being able to live within that environment.
Sandy is also a keen birder and is an absolute sop with orphaned animals.

For the first few years after they got married, they ran the same camp where they met and had extraordinary experiences with Painted Hunting dogs and their interactions with Hyena and Lion. They ran mobile canoe and walking safaris on the Zambezi River down the length of the Mana Pools shoreline. Mana Pools is a recognized World Heritage site. Their adventures continued in Namibia where they worked mainly in the Etosha National Park.
They later worked in Hwange National Park, basically upgrading and repairing a camp in the off season, in one of the most pristine areas of the park. After three years they were offered the opportunity to run two small, intimate bush Camps in the heart of the Matusadona national Park, Maronga Camp & Musango Safari Camp, member of the prestigious " Classic Safari Camps of Africa " group. The Matusadona is well known as an IPZ (Intensive Protection Zone) for Black Rhino.

Their knowledge of wildlife and the safari business is second to none.