Kenya Travel Guide

Kenya Travel Guide, climate:
Best: Jan-March, July-Sept [migration time]
OK: Oct-Dec [small rains, good value season]
Worst: March-May [ big rains, animals disperse]

Length of stay:
Minimum worthwhile stay, not incl. flights: Stay in a game park - 5 days
Recommended: 2 weeks

Kenya's main festivals:
Dec, Independence Day.
Oct, Kenyatta Day.
Nothing much else going on...

For some precise dates, more suggestions and information see: Exotic Festivals

Kenya Activities Guide:
Walking and Hiking: Mount Kenya is a common target, as are the few walking wildlife parks [see under 'Where to go..' Mt Elgon and Ngong Hills are also good, less frequented hiking areas.
Watersports: windsurfing, snorkelling, and scuba all have excellent, varied locations.
Game Fishing: Malindi and south of Mombasa.
Airsports: ballooning & microlight travel available. And by the way, don't expect your balloon flight to be quiet! [the burner is bloody noisy]
White Water Rafting: Athi and Galana River

Kenya Star Guide: Monuments *
Shopping and souvenirs **
Walkability ***
Food Quality and Variety ***
Value for Money ****
Hotel Prices and Value ***
Beaches *****
Wildlife *****
Landscape ****
Local People **
Architecture *
Safety *
Nightlife and Clubbing ***
Health Problems **
Museums ***

Towns:
***Lamu. A tiny, pretty little Arabic town on the island of Lamu; narrow carless streets in use by donkeys, traditional Muslim locals, neo-hippies, and affluent adventurers. Adjacent to some great beaches. So laid back it's almost horizontal.
Nairobi would be a pleasant, lively, walkable town if not for the criminal element - particularly after dark. A couple of good museums and the usual market, of course. You'd probably have to spend some time here anyway.
*Mombasa is hot, humid and stretches onto Mombasa island, with a big history, a small attractive old town and a small, unattractive criminal element.

Wildlife Walking:
1] Mount Kenya Park [alpine vegetation]
2] Lake Bogoria [hot springs and antelope]
3] Hell's Gate [scenic gorge and plenty of wildlife]
All accessible by public transport from Nairobi.
Why Travel to Kenya?
Wildlife, wildlife, wildlife; Kenya's national parks set the wild standard with a huge diversity and quantity of parks, animals, and great game lodges.
A dramatic new private management system in the Masai Mara - the country's most famous park - will soon, hopefully, return it to its former glory.
The weather is usually sunny but not too hot, the mountains are over the moon, and there is a gaggle of great beaches too.

Maasailand
(03:00)

"Karibu" (Welcome) to us as we traveled from boma(village) to boma with Maasai warriors of Amboseli

Where to travel in Kenya
Wildlife and Local Tribes:
***Masai Mara. Huge, flat and loaded with beasties of every description, including herds of jeeps. This used to be the world's best wildlife experience, then things fell apart under the local council but are now back on track under private management. The Mara is still on the receiving end of the million beeste migration June-Aug, the ultimate wildlife experience? A bad day's drive from Nairobi, or an expensive flight.
**Samburu. Less visitors and more romance than the Mara, tho' slightly less wildlife visible, especially predators. A day's drive, or flight.
*Amboseli. A small park not far from Nairobi, with a backdrop of Mount Kilimanjaro and plenty of big game, it's bound to be crowded, and it is.
*Tsavo West. The most scenic of the parks, with hills, a pretty oasis and a mass of hippos and crocs.
*Aberdare. A mountain park, partly rainforest, with good walking routes, poor weather and great views, especially of waterfalls..
* Nairobi National Park. Only minutes from the town centre it has most of the must-see creatures except elephant.

Birds:
1] *Kakamega Forest, west Kenya. Equatorial rainforest buzzing with birds, monkeys and reptiles and accessible on foot. A day's travel from Nairobi.
2] Flamingoes are often found massed in Lake Nakuru or Lake Bogoria, but no guarentees. 3 hours drive from Nairobi.

Kenya's best Beaches:
1] **Malindi. A big, busy, beach resort with plenty of everything except mosquitoes [they don't fly well in sea breezes]. Good food, fishing, windsurfing and some atmospheric ruins at Gede nearby.
2] *Watamu has beautiful bays in a marine park, good for snorkelling, bad for ethnic culture.
3] *Diani and Tiwi. South of Mombasa, palm-fringed, white sand and reef-protected [so no shark danger]. Diani is longer and more developed than Tiwi, tho' Tiwi sometimes has a seaweed overload situation. Both beaches have a shortage of cheap accomodation.

Downsides:
- Violent crime is a fact of life in the big towns, especially Nairobi [sometimes known as Nairobbery], and areas near the Somali border are suspect too. Car-jacking is almost as popular as mugging. The police do little without substantial bribes. Read Travel Safety.
- The accepted way to travel is with a tour operator a] to keep you away from the bad guys b] to keep you near the good animals. This is fine but expensive, as are flights to wildlife zones and decent game lodges.
- Malaria, the bad kind. Read Malaria.
- Locals tribes like the Masai can be sadly mercenary.
- What's the difference between a Kenyan road and a cigarette? There's more tar in a cigarette.