We have put together some ideas on what to experience either before you leave or while you visit this beautiful and enchanting country. From literature to cuisine, accommodations to historical attractions, or simply souvenirs, you will find it here. Simply click on a tab above to read more about the topic.
The Masai Mara is Kenya's finest wildlife sanctuary. Everything about this reserve is outstanding. The wildlife is abundant and the gentle rolling grassland ensures that animals are never out of sight. Birds too are prolific, including migrant birds and 57 species of birds of prey. The climate is gentle, rarely too hot and well spread rainfall year round. When it rains, it is almost always in the late afternoon or night. Between July and October, when the great wildebeest migration is in the Mara the sensation is unparalleled.
The wildlife is far from being confined within the Reserve boundaries and an even larger area, generally referred to as the 'dispersal area' extends north and east of the game Reserve. Masai live within the dispersal area with their stock but centuries of close association with the wildlife has resulted in an almost symbiotic relationship where wildlife and people live in peace with one another.
The wildlife is far from being confined within the Reserve boundaries and an even larger area, generally referred to as the 'dispersal area' extends north and east of the game Reserve. Masai live within the dispersal area with their stock but centuries of close association with the wildlife has resulted in an almost symbiotic relationship where wildlife and people live in peace with one another.
Treetops Hotel
Treetops Hotel in Abadare National Park allows you to book a tree hotel for a spectacular and intimate view of animals by day and night. It's an absolute must. These rustic structures overlook a waterhole and a salt lick which attract wildlife of all sorts and put you in tune with nature. You need at least two nights to catch the rhythm of the place. Overlooking the drama from your verandah at night, wrapped in a red wool blanket, it makes a pleasant change to keep still while the animals do the moving.
Treetops Hotel in Abadare National Park allows you to book a tree hotel for a spectacular and intimate view of animals by day and night. It's an absolute must. These rustic structures overlook a waterhole and a salt lick which attract wildlife of all sorts and put you in tune with nature. You need at least two nights to catch the rhythm of the place. Overlooking the drama from your verandah at night, wrapped in a red wool blanket, it makes a pleasant change to keep still while the animals do the moving.
Influenced by the coastal regions of Kenya, rice, fish, tamarind, and exotic spices are the only true culturally produced distinctive flavors in Kenya. Traditional Kenyan food is very basic and mainly consists of rice and beans. The standard blow out feast for most Kenyans is nyama choma, or roast meat and is accompanied by beer and music. But the modern tourist industry has brought an array of international-style restaurants and dishes and you are sure to enjoy the variety of flavor and cuisine available in Kenya.
There are a wide variety of souvenirs to take home from Kenya. Most hotels have licensed souvenir outlets and there are a large number of souvenir shops in the main towns. The Jacaranda Special School, Nairbi and the Bombolu Crafts Centre in Mombasa are charity based, supporting the disabled. The Tototo Home Industries, Mombasa, helps local women earn a living. Ornamental souvenirs are plentiful and could be in the form of the world famous Akamba wood and Kisii soapstone carvings, batiks, bead tapestry and works of art by established and budding local artists. Hand crafted jewelry in precious or semi precious stones as well as Kenya coffee and tea make thoughtful presents to take back home.
Ngugi Wa Thiong'o
Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, living in exile from Kenya, is the author of many books and plays, including Decolonizing the Mind, Petals of Blood, Devil on the Cross, and many others. He was jailed in 1976 by the Kenyan government because of his writings, and after his release in 1978, he left Kenya in 1982. He is a Professor of Comparative Literature at New York University.
From The Global Education Project: Culture as Resistance
"Many people know me as the writer of novels and plays, but I also write for children. My writing for children in an African language was precisely an attempt at decolonization of the mind and at encouraging appreciation of different cultures. In a sense the story that I first wrote for children also tells my own story as well as so many African people, particularly those who went through the school system in the colonial era. It concerns one central character who comes from a poor family in Kenya in the fifties, and he attends a school which is mostly attended by children in the more wealthy middle class sector in the colonial era, that is, the sons and daughters of chiefs, colonial policemen, say the educated and generally better off section of the population.
The boy does not know English very well, and he is not particularly well dressed because he comes from a poor family. Whenever he goes to school, the teacher tries to humiliate him particularly over the question of language, saying sarcastically: "When will you learn how to speak English? When hyenas grow horns?" The other students burst out laughing. The teacher continues to criticize the boy for not wanting to learn about the rivers mountains trees and lakes in Europe but first about the animals and trees in his country.
But the main point of the story is that eventually when the students are on a journey to the city and they loose their teachers and other adults. The students find themselves in a big forest, where they have no money, or any other means of surviving. Now it is the boy with his knowledge of what is local and his knowledge of the languages around him who is able to guide them out of the forest and back to society."
Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, living in exile from Kenya, is the author of many books and plays, including Decolonizing the Mind, Petals of Blood, Devil on the Cross, and many others. He was jailed in 1976 by the Kenyan government because of his writings, and after his release in 1978, he left Kenya in 1982. He is a Professor of Comparative Literature at New York University.
From The Global Education Project: Culture as Resistance
"Many people know me as the writer of novels and plays, but I also write for children. My writing for children in an African language was precisely an attempt at decolonization of the mind and at encouraging appreciation of different cultures. In a sense the story that I first wrote for children also tells my own story as well as so many African people, particularly those who went through the school system in the colonial era. It concerns one central character who comes from a poor family in Kenya in the fifties, and he attends a school which is mostly attended by children in the more wealthy middle class sector in the colonial era, that is, the sons and daughters of chiefs, colonial policemen, say the educated and generally better off section of the population.
The boy does not know English very well, and he is not particularly well dressed because he comes from a poor family. Whenever he goes to school, the teacher tries to humiliate him particularly over the question of language, saying sarcastically: "When will you learn how to speak English? When hyenas grow horns?" The other students burst out laughing. The teacher continues to criticize the boy for not wanting to learn about the rivers mountains trees and lakes in Europe but first about the animals and trees in his country.
But the main point of the story is that eventually when the students are on a journey to the city and they loose their teachers and other adults. The students find themselves in a big forest, where they have no money, or any other means of surviving. Now it is the boy with his knowledge of what is local and his knowledge of the languages around him who is able to guide them out of the forest and back to society."