Tsavorite (Green Garnet)
The exceptional green gemstone from East Africa...named after Kenya's Tsavo National Park
Tsavorite may be what Emerald wishes to be...!

Tsavorite is the exceptional green gemstone from East Africa, and was first discovered in the 1960’s.
It is named after Kenya’s Tsavo National Park, one of world’s largest game reserves. Today it is mined in southeastern Kenya and Tanzania, in the vicinity of Mount Kilimanjaro, which is Africa’s highest mountain at 19,341ft above sea level.
Eye-clean Tsavorite’s with good color are rare in sizes above 2cts.
Tsavorite is a Green Grossular Garnet and is colored by the trace elements Vanadium and Chromium. The gems actually turn pink to pinkish-red under the Chelsea filter!
Garnets are part of a large family of silicate minerals that have similar physical properties but vary in chemical composition.
Grossular Garnets have one of the widest color ranges of any species of Garnet, from near-colorless to yellows, oranges, greens and browns.
Garnet is the birthstone for January and comes in almost all colors of the spectrum including the rare color-change.
Lots of choice for January birthdays!
We have many more shapes and sizes available in Tsavorite – please contact us if you don’t find what you are looking for in our online inventory.
click here to see a selection of Tsavorite for sale
Colors | medium green deep forest green grass green light green mint green |
Family/Species | Garnet, Green Grossularite |
Properties | RI = 1.735 (+0.015, -0.035) SR note: emerald is much lower at 1.58 SG = 3.61 (-0.27, +0.12) Dispersion = 0.028 note: this is twice of emerald’s 0.014 Hardness = 7 suitable for use in jewelry |
Treatments | Usually none See policy on Treatment Disclosure |
Important information | Much rarer than emerald Tsavorite is rare above 2cts Recently discovered deposits adding to stability of supply |
Birthstone | January |
Anniversary | 2nd |
Cuts | Calibrated sizes up to 6mm All standard cuts and free sizes |
Mining locations | Southeastern Kenya, Tanzania |