Kenya Travel Guide

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From the vivid aquamarine shades of the Indian Ocean to the enchanting strangeness of the flora on the slopes of Mount Kenya, Kenya is a startlingly beautiful land.

Famed for its striking wildlife bounding across the acacia-studded savannah of game parks, such as Amboseli, the Masai Mara, Samburu and Tsavo, Kenya is a safari-fanatic’s dream; vast national parks and reserves encompass one-tenth of Kenya’s surface, spanning desert, grasslands and dense mountain forest.

Kenya’s human population is equally as fascinating: around 40 different tribes live in Kenya, including the Kikuyu, the Luo and the proud and beautiful red-clad Masai, who still lead a semi-nomadic lifestyle of cattle-herding along the southern border. On the balmy Swahili coast, African and Asian culture blends together, the result of a tradition of ocean-going commerce which stretches back for centuries. Even today, romantic dhows (sailing boats) still ply these waters.

Geography

Kenya shares borders with Ethiopia in the north, Sudan in the northwest, Uganda in the west, Tanzania in the south and Somalia in the northeast. To the east lies the Indian Ocean. The country is divided into four regions: the arid deserts of the north; the savannah lands of the south; the fertile lowlands along the coast; and highlands in the west, where the capital Nairobi is situated. Northwest of Nairobi runs the Rift Valley, dotted with lakes and containing the town of Nakuru, while further west the Aberdare National Park is overlooked by Mount Kenya (5,200m/17,000ft), which also is a national park. In the far northwest is Lake Turkana (formerly Lake Rudolph), and in the southwest is Kenya's share of Lake Victoria.

Kenya is a multicultural society; in the north live Somalis and the nomadic Hamitic peoples (Rendille, Samburu and Turkana); in the south and eastern lowlands are Kamba and Masai; the Luo live around Lake Victoria. The largest group is the Kikuyu of the central highlands who have traditionally been dominant in commerce and politics, although this is now changing. A small European settler population remains in the highlands, involved in farming and commerce.