Country Profile for Kenya
including map and weather charts

Kenya is, without doubt, a stunningly beautiful country. From the bleached sands of the eastern coast lapped by the aquamarine waters of the Indian Ocean to the primitive aridity of little-visited Turkana, Kenya offers a wonderful variety of landscape, a people that are utterly charming and friendly, a rich and fascinating culture and, of course, fabulous wildlife.

The picture many have of Africa, that of golden savannah dotted with game and studded with flat-topped umbrella acacias is actually the landscape of Kenya. It has featured in so many Hollywood movies and wildlife films that it is embedded in our psyches as the real Africa. This is the land of the classic safari and luxurious lodges, the land of wide blue skies and the land of enchantment.

The Masai Mara, Kenya's most popular game reserve, offers fantastic all-year-round game viewing in this most African of landscapes. The wide rolling plains allow you to find both variety and numbers of animals easily. In addition, the Mara shares the Migration with the Serengeti. Almost two million wildebeest, zebra and gazelle start from the southern Serengeti in May, arriving in the Masai Mara from late June. Primeval instinct causes them to move ever onwards, hurling themselves wildly through rivers in their path, in their desperate urge to reach the rich grazing of the Mara. This is one of the greatest wildlife spectacles on earth and no one who has seen it will ever forget the heart-stopping excitement of a wildebeest river crossing or the sight of the greeny-gold grasslands of the Mara turned dark by the sheer volume of beasts.

There are many other areas in Kenya where the game viewing is also excellent. Amboseli and Tsavo National Parks both lie in southern Kenya. Amboseli offers views of Mount Kilimanjaro, as well as zebra, wildebeest, lion, buffalo, elephant, giraffe and the sinisterly elegant leopard among many others. The arid Tsavo is home to many of the wonderfully stout baobab trees, thought by the locals to have been planted upside down because of their small branches. Famous for the ferocity of its lions, Tsavo is a great wilderness area, yet the game and birdlife is prolific. Elephant numbers will probably never again reach the 1960's estimate of eighty-five thousand, if indeed this was ever true, but Tsavo still boasts great herds of these magnificent beasts. Also in this region are the Chyulu Hills with abundant wildlife, caves once used as hiding places during the Mau Mau Rebellion and absolutely gorgeous views.

Mount Kenya, the second highest mountain in Africa, stands on the equator yet has a peak covered in snow. This is the Central Highlands area where in the lower regions great fields of wheat bear testament to the fertile soil. The Mount Kenya National Park covers the upper slopes of the mountain and some truly spectacular vegetation and scenery.

To the north-west lies the rugged beauty of the Laikipia Plateau. Lake Naivasha is a popular stop-over for those on their way from modern Nairobi to Mount Kenya or the game-rich triad of reserves at Samburu, Buffalo Springs and Shaba. Naivasha is the region perhaps best known to filmgoers as home of the decadent "Happy Valley" set portrayed in "White Mischief". Once the happy hunting ground of disaffected European aristocracy one can see why they picked it!

There are glorious colonial houses, a wildlife sanctuary on Crescent Island and the Hell's Gate National Park where blasts of steam issuing from the volcanic rock give the park its name. The glories of Kenya are almost innumerable. An inspiration to writers, artists and photographers, Kenya's wildlife, landscape and culture combine to make a lyrical whole. Kenya's beauty is incontrovertible.

Map of Kenya

Weather Chart for Kenya

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Pictures in this column were taken in
Kenya and Tanzania.