Afrinkong
Nature & Landscapes
The Great Rift Valley
The escarpment drops away below the Naivasha road, holding a chain of soda lakes and dormant volcanoes.
East Africa · Afrinkong
Kenya
Where the safari was invented.
The Mara migration, Amboseli elephants under Kilimanjaro, the Rift Valley lakes, the Swahili coast and a capital with a national park on its doorstep.
Where it is
Africa · East Africa · Kenya
The land in brief
- Spans
- 870 km E–W, 1,140 km N–S
- Latitude
- 6°N to 5°S — the equator crosses it
- Borders
- 5 countries
- Sea
- Has a coast
- Best time
- The migration crosses the Mara July to October; January to March is calving.
Also in East Africa
BurundiThe southernmost source of the NileDjiboutiWhere three plates pull apartEritreaArt deco Asmara, and the Dahlak islandsEthiopiaThe roof of AfricaRwandaLand of a thousand hills
Compare Kenya with another countryAll fifty-four, worked through the same twenty-seven categories.When to come
JFMAMJJASOND
The migration crosses the Mara July to October; January to March is calving.
01Highlights
What Kenya is known for.
Six of the twenty-seven, and the ones most people come for. The rest are below — and none of them is filler.
Nature & Landscapes
Wildlife on the Savannah
The Big Five, plus the reticulated giraffe and Grevy's zebra that live nowhere south of here.
Mount Kenya, 5,199 m
Equatorial glaciers, giant lobelia, and a trekking route to Point Lenana that needs no technical climbing.
The Swahili Coast
Diani, Watamu and Lamu: white sand, warm Indian Ocean, and a coastline that traded with Arabia for a thousand years.
Kakamega, the Last of It
The only Kenyan remnant of the Guineo-Congolian rainforest that once ran clear across the continent.
Maasai and Swahili
Two Kenyas: the cattle-keeping highlands and the coral-stone, Arabic-inflected coast.
02Experiences
25 ways to spend the time.
Every country we cover works through the same twenty-seven categories, so you can hold two of them side by side and compare like with like rather than one brochure against another. Compare Kenya with another → The two not listed here are the hero picture and the case for going, which has a section of its own below.
Landscapes
- The Great Rift ValleyThe escarpment drops away below the Naivasha road, holding a chain of soda lakes and dormant volcanoes.
- Mount Kenya, 5,199 mEquatorial glaciers, giant lobelia, and a trekking route to Point Lenana that needs no technical climbing.
- Thomson's FallsThe Ewaso Ng'iro drops seventy-four metres into a fern gorge at Nyahururu, on the way north to Samburu.
- Flamingo CountryNakuru, Bogoria and Elementaita hold soda water, hot springs and flamingo in numbers that change by the season.
- The Swahili CoastDiani, Watamu and Lamu: white sand, warm Indian Ocean, and a coastline that traded with Arabia for a thousand years.
- Kakamega, the Last of ItThe only Kenyan remnant of the Guineo-Congolian rainforest that once ran clear across the continent.
Wildlife
- Wildlife on the SavannahThe Big Five, plus the reticulated giraffe and Grevy's zebra that live nowhere south of here.
- The Great MigrationBetween July and October a million wildebeest cross the Mara river, and the crocodiles are already waiting.
- Rhino, Counted DailyOl Pejeta and Lewa run some of Africa's most closely monitored rhino populations, funded by the beds on the property.
- Walking Hell's GateThe one Kenyan park you can walk and cycle through, with gorge scrambling and geothermal steam.
People and culture
- Maasai and SwahiliTwo Kenyas: the cattle-keeping highlands and the coral-stone, Arabic-inflected coast.
- Samburu and MaasaiSamburu in the northern drylands, Maasai in the south, both still moving cattle between seasonal grazing.
- Lamu Cultural FestivalDhow races, donkey races, henna and taarab music in the alleys of a town with almost no cars.
- Beadwork and Kisii StoneMaasai beadwork, Kisii soapstone carving, and kiondo sisal baskets made the way they always were.
- Nyama Choma and UgaliGoat roasted over charcoal, maize meal, sukuma wiki, and coastal biryani that came in by dhow.
- The ConservanciesCommunity conservancies lease grazing land back for wildlife, and the lease pays the schools around the Mara.
- Matatus and MarketsPainted, over-amplified matatus, Maasai Market on rotation through the week, and tea at every stop.
Places
- Nairobi, Green City in the SunThe only capital on earth with a national park inside the city limits, and lions in sight of the skyline.
- Coral Stone and Carved DoorsSwahili coral-rag houses with inner courtyards, and doors carved in Lamu and shipped up the coast.
- Fort Jesus, MombasaPortuguese, built 1593, taken and retaken nine times — now UNESCO World Heritage above the old harbour.
- Lamu Old TownThe oldest continuously inhabited Swahili settlement, carved doors, coral rag walls and no room for a car.
Ways to travel
- Balloon Over the MaraUp before dawn, an hour over the plains at treetop height, and breakfast on the grass where you land.
- Camps on the MaraSmall tented camps on private conservancies, night drives and off-road access the main reserve does not allow.
- Kilimanjaro from AmboseliThe mountain is in Tanzania; the view of it is in Kenya, and it is only clear for an hour at each end of the day.
- Chalbi and MarsabitThe desert north: Chalbi's salt pan, Marsabit's forested crater and the road down to Lake Turkana.
03Why go
The case for Kenya.
Why Visit This Country
Magical Kenya
Migration, glacier, reef and desert inside one border, with the infrastructure to see all four in a fortnight.
Hidden Gems
Chalbi and Marsabit
The desert north: Chalbi's salt pan, Marsabit's forested crater and the road down to Lake Turkana.
Eco Tourism
Rhino, Counted Daily
Ol Pejeta and Lewa run some of Africa's most closely monitored rhino populations, funded by the beds on the property.
Heritage
Lamu Old Town
The oldest continuously inhabited Swahili settlement, carved doors, coral rag walls and no room for a car.
04Go deeper
All of Kenya, four ways in.
Who would take youAfrinkong
The ground is ours right across Africa: your vehicle, your driver for the whole journey, and the days shaped around what you came for.
In Cameroon, Uganda and Namibia you travel with companies of our own as well.
Plan your journey →
Begin
Your Kenya starts here.
Tell us the month, or simply the thing you want to see, and a guide who works there will answer.