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Whether you are an adventurer or a nature lover, Kenya provides a host of wonderful experiences just waiting to be discovered - from sporting and adventure activities to cultural and leisure attractions. For the adventure enthusiast, Kenya's vast outdoors offers expanses of wilderness and rugged regions for climbing, hiking and walking. Some may choose to take our white-water rafting or fishing trips, others to glide across the Mara in a hot-air balloon and track down Kenya's Big Five.

For the nature lover there is an unparalleled wealth of flora and fauna. Those who wish to study the spectacular range of animals will find Kenya is the ideal destination with 59 wildlife conservation areas. Every park is unique in its diversity of wildlife, flora and fauna. The Aberdare Mountain Range boasts some of the most spectacular rain forests and waterfalls in Africa; the Great Rift Valley is associated with dramatically breathtaking scenery, while the snow capped peaks of Mount Kenya and Kilimanjaro loom over the vast landscape of rolling grasslands of the Serengeti-Mara plains and Amboseli. The Kenyan coast is another major attraction, with its historical sites, superb beaches and diving opportunities - a must if you enjoy water sports, or just want to relax.

The diversity of Kenya's many peoples is reflected in the vibrant cultural life of the country - the different dress, dance, food and customs.

No other country on earth can offer the visitor as much to see and do. Within the borders of a single country, you will find savannahs rich with big game, timeless cultures unchanged by the modern world, pristine beaches and coral reef, equatorial forests and mighty snow-capped mountains, searing deserts and cool highland retreats and endless opportunities for adventure, discovery, relaxation; more than you would ever expect.

Location and topography

Kenya lies astride the equator on the eastern coast of Africa. It is a medium-sized country by continental standards, covering an area of about 586,600km sq. Inland water bodies cover some 10,700km sq, the bulk of this in Lakes Victoria and Turkana. Kenya has tremendous topographical diversity, including glaciated mountains with snow-capped peaks, the Rift Valley with its scarps and volcanoes, ancient granitic hills, flat desert landscapes and coral reefs and islets.

Kenya's Climate

Generally the climate is warm and humid at the coast, cool and humid in the central highlands, and hot and dry in the north and east. Across most of the country, rainfall is strongly seasonal, although its pattern, timing and extent vary greatly from place to place and from year to year. Rainfall peaks in most areas are in November and April.

Kenya's Water resources

There are five major drainage basins: Lake Victoria, the Rift Valley, the Athi-Galana-Sabaki River (and Coastal areas to its south), the Tana River and the northern Ewaso Ng’iro. The rift valley contains several basins of internal drainage, forming a chain of endorheic lakes from Lake Natron on the Tanzanian border, through Lakes Magadi, Naivasha, Turkana, Elementaita, Nakuru, Bogoria and Baringo. These lakes vary in alkalinity; from fresh water Lake Naivasha to the intensely alkaline Lake Magadi.