|
 Lying
on the equator, with the glaciated peaks of Mount
Kenya - second highest
mountain in Africa - rising from a natural environment of exceptional
beauty, Kenya is a hugely rewarding place to travel. The country's
dramatically diverse geography has resulted in a great range of natural
habitats, while its history of migration and conquest has brought about
a complex social panorama. But if the world-famous national parks,
colourful ethnic mix and superb beaches lend an exotic image, the glossy
hype of the tourism industry ignores Kenya's post-colonial poverty and
deep political tensions.
In any case, treating Kenya as a succession of tourist sights isn't the
most stimulating way of experiencing the country. Travelling
independently, or at least with eyes open (something this guide is
designed to facilitate), you can enter the very different world
inhabited by most Kenyans: a ceaselessly active landscape of farm and
field, of streams and bush paths, of wooden and corrugated-iron shacks,
tea shops and lodging houses, of crammed buses and pick-up vans, of
overloaded bicycles, and of streets wandered by goats, chickens and
toddlers. Off the more heavily trodden tourist routes, you'll find a
rewarding degree of warmth, openness and curiosity in Kenya's towns and
villages. And out in the wilds, there is an abundance of superb scenery
- vistas of rolling savannah dotted with Maasai and their herds, high
Kikuyu moorlands, dense forests bursting with bird song and insect noise,
and stony, shimmering desert - all of which comes crisply into focus
when experienced in the context of an economically beleaguered African
nation four decades after Independence.
|
