Kenya

The perfect place for a beach holiday and some of the finest deep-sea fishing in the world. The history of the coastline goes back over a thousand years. The Indian Ocean coastline that forms the Eastern border stretches for some four hundred and eighty kilometers from Somali to Tanzania with palm fringed pearly white sandy beaches. Extending from North to South lies a spectacular coral barrier reef with wonders of under water exploration in the blue lagoons and creeks. These attractions together with superb accommodation facilities make the Kenya Coast an incomparable holiday for both beach and nature lovers. It is possible to swim in the warm clear waters of the Indian Ocean all year round. The Kenya coast is divided into distinct resorts, namely:- Mombasa, North & South Coast, Malindi and Watamu, and Lamu each having its own unique characteristics and attractions. Fort Jesus - MombasaMombasa has a harmonious blending of the great cultures of Africa, Asia and Europe. The Old Town with its narrow streets with fascinating place of antiquity worth seeing. The 16th century Fort Jesus is a major attraction. The North Coast and South Coast are long stretches of idyllic beaches that are fringed with swaying palms, casuarinas, oleanders and frangipan. The Mtwapa creek with its abundant birdlife and Bamburi nature trail on the north are a must for nature lovers. Diani/Chale Marine National Park and Reserve, Kisite Marine National Park are places with a dazzling array of technicoloured fish and coral gardens which are worth visiting. Malindi & Watamu are renown for its beauty and diversity of marine life. Malindi's history dates back to the 12th century. Here time stands still and centuries of civilization have not altered the courtesy and charm of the people. The Gede ruins are a few kilometers from Malindi and are a fascinating glimpse of Islamic culture and village life. The ruins were mysteriously abandoned in the 17th century. Lamu takes one back through time to a way of life that has remained unchanged for the last six hundred years and here time seems to standstill. The Lamu archipelago is the Venice of Kenya as it is linked to the mainland and other smaller islands such as Manda and Kiwayu by waterways

It is 335 kms from Arusha, stretching north to Kenya and bordering Lake Victoria to the west. Vegetation is grassy plains, savannah with acacias, wooded hills and mountains are the backdrops for an extraordinary concentration of animals which reaches its peak during the wildebeest migration which generally takes place between December to May in the south of the park and from June to October to the west and the north. A million wildebeest each driven by the same ancient rhythm, fulfilling their instinctive role in the inescapable cycle of life: a frenzied 3 week bout of territorial conquests and mating: survival of the fittest as 40 kilometres long columns plunge through crocodile infested waters on the annual exodus north. This is also a very good time to see the cats.

This is the land of the Maasai, of their cattle and of the fauna; this protected area is located in the Great Rift Valley, gigantic fracture of the earth’s crust. Volcanoes, mountains, plains, lakes, forests and archaeological sites form this magnificent landscape. At 1600 meters altitude, the bottom of the crater (265km km2) dotted with water holes shelters almost 30,000 animals in an area naturally enclosed by the slopes of the volcano. It is the eighth wonder of the world. Since most of the Crater floor is grassland, grazing animals predominate: gnu, zebra, gazelles, buffalo, eland, kongoni and warthogs. The swamp and forests provide additional resources for hippos, rhinos, elephants, waterbucks, reedbucks and bushbucks, baboons and vervets . The steep inner slopes provide a habitat for dikdiks and the rare mountain reedbuck. With so many prey animals’ predators such as lions, hyenas and jackals are also present. Birds commonly found in this area re Stonechat, Augur Buzzards, Schalow’s Wheatear, Fiscals Shrike, white Verreaux’s Eagle and more. The conservation area also covers Olduvai Gorge and Laetoli, which give us fascinating glimpses of our own evolution through the past four million years. This may be one of the places where we all began.

Cradled in the glory of its surrounding below the sheer majesty of the Rift Valley wall, Lake Manyara lies serene, spreading in a heat haze backed by a thin green band of forest and the sheer 600 metre red and brown cliffs of the escarpment. There are several different types of forests with a variety of fauna-hippopotamuses, giraffes, elephants, lions sleeping in trees, zebras, monkeys. The park hosts 400 varieties of birds, including thousands of red billed quelea flitting over the water like swarms of giant insects; pelicans, cormorants and pink streaks of thousands of flamingo on their perpetual migration. You enter Manyara from the village of Mto wa Mbu, an eclectic market town where several tribes converge to form a lingustic mix that is the richest in Africa.

It is the vast number of baobabs that first capture the eye as you enter Tarangire National Park. The gently rolling countryside is dotted with these majestic trees, which seem to dwarf the animals that feed beneath them. The Park is spectacular in the dry season when many of the migratory wildlife species come back to the permanent waters of Tarangire river. Huge herds of wildebeest, zebras, elephants, eland and oryx gather to stay in Tarangire until the onset of the rains when they migrate again to good grazing areas. The swamps are the focus for 550 bird varieties, the most breeding species in one habitat anywhere in the world. On drier ground you find Kori bustards, the heaviest flying bird, the stocking thighed ostrich, the world’s largest bird, and ground hornbills that bluster like turkeys. Tarangire’s pythons climb trees, as do its lions and leopards, lounging in the branches where the fruit of the sausage tree disguises the twitch of a tail.