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| The Great Rift Valley - Kenya |
"The most beautiful view of the whole of Africa" stated the British explorer John Walter Gregory, when he first set eyes on lake Bogoria more than a hundred years ago.
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| Lake Bogoria with a huge number of Flamingos |
The Republic of Kenya is situated on the East African coast, right along the equator. Bordered by Ethiopia and Sudan to the north, the Indian Ocean and Somalia to the east, Tanzania to the south, and Uganda and Lake Victoria to the west, Kenya is a magnificent country to which, at some point, we attributed one of the oldest human presence with Australopithecus before the discovery of Toumaï.
Known around the world for its large wildlife sanctuary and its beautiful beaches. Kenya is undoubtedly one of the most famous African safari destinations to perform, and the main focus of all adventure in Africa.
History :
The history of Kenya is wealthy and affluent with its thrilling events. Paleontologists believe primates already lived in the valleys of the country 20 million years ago. Around 3000-1500 BC., the Nolites from the Nile and the North-Ethiopian Cushito came to Kenya, followed by the Bantu-speaking herdsman.
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| Craters in Lake Turkana |
In the 7th century, Arabs settled on the coast among the Bantu people and established many new autonomous city-states along the coast. The Islamic traders profoundly influenced Kenya's culture and peoples, and this mixture gave birth to the African-Arab culture known as the Swahili.
Portuguese arrived at Kenya, when Vasco da Gama came to the country in the year 1498, and took control of the eastern part of the country, until the arrival of the Omani Arabs in 1730. They dominated and ruled Kenya over the course of the 18th century to 1888. By the end of the 19th century, Kenya became a colony of the British Empire.
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| A Beautiful Beach in Mombasa (the 2nd largest city in Kenya) |
Nationalist stirrings began in the 1940's. The Mau Mau revolt, the uprising of the Kikuyu militants against the British occupation, was one of the biggest events in the history of Kenya. The fighting lasted until 1956...many people died by violence.
On December 12 1963, Kenya achieved independence. A nationalist leader who had been jailed during the fight to win freedom, Jomo Kenyatta, was its 1st president.
People :
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| A Proud Masaï Member |
Ethnicity has a great importance in Kenya. There are about 40 tribes and ethnic groups, mostly nomadic, living together almost pretty well. Most of these groups have migrated from the southern and the western part of Africa.
But all those tribes can be divided into three main categories which are called the Bantus, Nilotics and the Cushites. And 3 other small minority categories that are Arabs, Indians and Europeans. All speak different languages and also inhabit different regions of Kenya.
You can find more than 40 local languages in Kenya, but English and Swahili (also called Kiswahili) are the two offical languages.
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| Samburu Tribe - Kenya |
The most famous tribe of Kenya is the Masaï tribe, even though its members are less than 2% of the population. They live mainly in the southern part of the country. Other famous tribes are : Kikuyu (22%), Luhya (14%), Turkana, Samburu...etc
Each tribe in Kenya has its own culture, clothing, dance, music, cuisine, customs and traditions. That is what gives the country its cultural diversity and rich heritage and a unique field of researches for anthropologists, but unfortunately also a number of disputes.
Religions :
Portuguese and British colonization strongly affected the population that is predominantly Christian (82.5%). Islam comes in the 2nd place with 12%. The rest of the Kenyans are either irreligions or have indigenous beliefs.
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| Wildebeest Migration |
Climate :
The alternating play of the trade winds and monsoon implies the existence of a mosaic of different climates, but over all it is equatorial, because the equator runs through Kenya, almost in the middle (in the north of lake Victoria and over Mount Kenya). Therefore, there are two rainy seasons. The long rainy season from March to May and the short one from late October to early December. It can become very hot and humid around the coast.
Kenya is a very pleasant year-round destination. The main tourist season is from December to March, this period is considered the most pleasant because the weather is hot and dry.
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| A Rainforest around Mount Kenya |
Geography :
The geography in Kenya is as diverse as its ethnic groups and wildlife. Northern Kenya is occupied by vast inland plains, where we also find the Lake Turkana and the driest area of Kenya: the Chalbi desert. The highlands that stand on a quarter of the Kenyan territory is crossed from north to south by the collapse of the Rift. Their edges can reach over 1,000 meters. This monumental ensemble extends to the north and to the south by lava plateaus dotted with monadnocks (inselbergs).
In the east of the highlands, a dry and barren plateau falls down from 1,300 to 300 meters. In the west of the highlands, a very dissected erosion surface drops from 1500 to 1200 meters to the plateau of Nyanza bordering the Lake Victoria.
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| Rhinos in a Plain |
Kenya has also over 400 kms of coastline fringed with Islands (Lamu Archipelago), separated from the Indian Ocean by coral reefs and tropical floral flowering around.
"The most beautiful view of the whole Africa" ? Still true ! Endless plains, burned savannas, rivers and lush forests. Eternal snow, volcanoes, crystalline lakes, a Rift Valley and red laterite soil. Kenya covers it all.
The country offers the possibility of many safaris with the Masai Mara reserve and the famous wildebeest migration. The Tsavo park where the Big Five live, the Amboseli park and its elephants who observe the Kilimanjaro and the Laikipia plateau for a horseback riding in the middle of zebras.
Kenya in a proverb : " Traveling is learning. "
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| Flag of Kenya |
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