Lying on the equator, with the glaciated
peaks of Mount Kenya - second highest
mountain in Africa - rising from a natural
environment of exceptional beauty, Kenya is
a hugely rewarding place to travel. The
country's dramatically diverse geography has
resulted in a great range of natural
habitats, while its history of migration and
conquest has brought about a complex social
panorama. But if the world-famous national
parks, colourful ethnic mix and superb
beaches lend an exotic image, the glossy
hype of the tourism industry ignores Kenya's
post-colonial poverty and deep political
tensions.
In any case, treating Kenya as a
succession of tourist sights isn't the most
stimulating way of experiencing the country.
Travelling independently, or at least with
eyes open (something this guide is designed
to facilitate), you can enter the very
different world inhabited by most Kenyans: a
ceaselessly active landscape of farm and
field, of streams and bush paths, of wooden
and corrugated-iron shacks, tea shops and
lodging houses, of crammed buses and pick-up
vans, of overloaded bicycles, and of streets
wandered by goats, chickens and toddlers.
Off the more heavily trodden tourist routes,
you'll find a rewarding degree of warmth,
openness and curiosity in Kenya's towns and
villages. And out in the wilds, there is an
abundance of superb scenery - vistas of
rolling savannah dotted with Maasai
and their herds, high Kikuyu
moorlands, dense forests bursting
with bird song and insect noise, and stony,
shimmering desert - all of which
comes crisply into focus when experienced in
the context of an economically beleaguered
African nation four decades after
Independence.
