Kenya

Kenya, the country where the ‘safari’ originated, offers travelers a wonderful diversity of landscapes, a myriad of animal, bird and plant life and fascinating traditional culture and warrior tribes.

Kenya is situated right along the equator on the eastern coast of the African continent. The Kenyan landscape is among the most dramatic and scenically diverse on the planet, containing almost every known land form, from true glacial ice to arid desert, mountain massifs to sprawling savannahs, large lakes and dense forests. The Great Rift Valley, its floor littered with beautiful lakes and extinct volcanoes, cuts through this land from north to south. Mount Kenya (at 17,058ft/5,199m) with its dramatic snow-capped peaks stands sentinel above rolling grassland plains and the intriguing semi-desert wilderness much further to the north. Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa and source of the Nile dominates the southwest of the country and Lake Turkana with its rich paleontological history and haunting landscapes borders the north.

To the south and southeast, Kenya meets the Indian Ocean in a brilliant blaze of blue where the crystal-clear azure waters caress fine white sands and amazing coral reefs harbour another safari-world under the warm waves running up & down 480Kms of pristine beaches.

There are currently 40 different ethnic groups in Kenya. From the Masaai herdsmen and their sacred cattle found mainly in southern Kenya to the Kikuyu farmers who make their home in the foothills of Mount Kenya to the semi-nomadic Samburu pastoralists living above the equator where Mount Kenya merges into the northern desert to the Turkana tribe who occupy the northern Lake Turkana area - Kenya offers an unmatched cultural experience.

However, Kenya’s ultimate attraction is its concentration of spectacular wildlife found in its 48 National Parks, Reserves, Marine Parks and Game Sanctuaries.

Whether it be the greatest game show on earth when the annual wildebeest migration pour into the fertile grasses of the Masai Mara or the world's greatest ornithological spectacle of millions of flamingoes on shimmering Lake Nakuru or the unique endemic mammal species only found in its national parks and reserves in the north, Kenya's flora and fauna is captivating to even the most seasoned traveller.

In Kenya, we concentrate our safaris in the game-rich Masai Mara and Amboseli National Parks and around the foothills of the Chyulu Range and Tsavo in the south, along the Great Rift Valley lakes (mainly Naivasha and Nakuru), into the Meru, Samburu and Shaba National Parks in the arid lowlands of northwestern Kenya and lastly on the Laikipia plateau bordering the rugged Northern Frontier district.

Recreating the history of the country’s earliest settlers and explorers — Denys Finch Hatton, Karen Blixen, Lord Delamere, Elspeth Huxley and Ernest Hemingway- to name but a few can be done in privacy and away from the crowds. With an excellent variety of privately owned bush homesteads, small hideaway lodges and nights under canvas in exclusive permanent or mobile camps, it's possible to experience the magic of the country as it was in days gone by. With safaris on offer that include walking, fly-fishing, camel trekking and horse-back safaris it is still possible to experience Kenya the way our forefathers discovered this continent of adventure.

Although Kenya’s varied environments experience a wide variety of climate conditions, the temperature remains comfortably warm year-round.