Kenya is one of the most fascinating African nations to visit, with incredible natural beauty thanks to its lake lands, savannahs and mountain highlands that are home to all the animals you want to see – lions, elephants and rhinoceros, not to mention the famed annual Great Migration. Tours in Kenya ensure you tick off every one of these items and more, while keeping you safe and comfortable with knowledgeable guides and experienced drivers.
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Tours in Kenya are often combined with other parts of East Africa, and offer peace of mind with safe passage through the region; spacious, comfortable and reliable overland vehicles; and knowledgeable, experienced and certified safari guides for game drives.
All Kenya tourism itineraries include a personal tour leader, driver and sometimes a cook, entrance to national parks and game drives, and private transport particularly useful when travel to out-of-the-way places is required as gear is kept stowed and secure. Transport on tours in Kenya prioritises comfort, featuring large game viewing windows, electrical plugs and on-board storage.
Exclusive accommodation with camping among Maasai, game lodges, national park grounds, community-based homestays and star bedrooms forms an inclusive part of Kenya tourism itineraries, while tents and cooking equipment are supplied where required. NGO orphanage charity assistance is provided, and your tour guide will provide valuable local advice on how to avoid ‘Nairobbery’.
When you complete a tour comparison Kenya you will find many cultural activities listed on itineraries designed to share the most unique parts of the African country. Short Maasai Mara visits are featured on many tours in Kenya, involving interaction with tribes and presentations from elders. Cultural village walks and visits to soapstone carving cooperatives are included on most itineraries, with optional excursions such as bicycle and hot air balloon rides, and visits to a giraffe sanctuary.
Itching to plan your trip? Take a look at our tour comparison Kenya and find the right itinerary for you.
Want a taste of that insider Kenya tourism knowledge we mentioned before? We have collected the best facts from real life tour guides. Impress them on tour with how much you already know.
- The Equator passes directly through Kenya, affording tourists the opportunity for a must-have snap under a sign proclaiming their location.
- Kenya is home to Africa’s second highest mountain after Kilimanjaro, Mt Kenya, which reaches a height of just over 5,000 metres and is the inspiration for the country’s name.
- The Great Rift Valley runs north to south through Kenya, and forms part of the Gregory Rift and by extension the East African Rift.
- Intersecting the Serengeti Game Reserve in Tanzania and the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya is the Mara River, forcing animals such as zebra, hippopotamus and rhinoceros to cross it on their migration path.
- Kenya has a proud history of producing some of the world’s best long-distance runners, including Olympic medallists Kip Keino, Sammy Wanjiru, Catherine Ndereba, and Ezekiel Kemboi.
- Maasai Mara National Reserve joins the Serengeti Game Reserve, which are jointly recognised for their abundance of lions, African leopards and Tanzanian cheetahs, and globally renowned for the spectacle that is the Great Migration.
- Famous works of literature and authors to come out of Kenya include “The Worlds of a Maasai Warrior” by Tepilit Saitoti, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, and Karen Blixen’s ‘Out of Africa’. Blixen’s former home just outside Nairobi is now a museum.
- The Maasai people have occupied the plains and Loita Hills just north of the Maasai Mara since the 1800s, and remain there willing to share their way of life with visitors on tours in Kenya.
- Kenya’s capital of Nairobi is home to great diversity – in its people, with the wealthy alongside poor slums, but also in its landscape with the concrete jungle boasting the world’s only national park within a major city.
- The first President of Kenya was Jomo Kenyatta, and his son Uhuru Kenyatta became the fourth President of the African nation in 2013.
- Lake Baringo is the second most northern of Kenya’s lakes, and boasts a surface area of 130 km2 that makes it a popular haunt for birds. Over 470 species have been identified here and even migrating flamingos occasionally stop by.
- Kenya is home to 6% of Lake Victoria – which accounts for over 4,000 km2 of the world’s largest tropical lake and the largest lake in the continent. The other parts are in Uganda and Tanzania.
- 44th President of the United States Barack Obama’s father was Kenyan, as was photo journalist Mohamed Amin and Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Muta Maathai.
- Safari game viewing at its finest can be found in Amboseli National Park, which forms part of an 8,000 km2 ecosystem spreading across the border with Tanzania.
- Freshwater Lake Naivasha is a great place for spotting hippos, while flamingos can be seen in abundance at Lake Nakuru National Park.
- Kenya’s coastal border is on the Indian Ocean, where travellers can visit the historic port beaches of Mombasa, chill out on the islands of Lamu Archipelago, and enjoy snorkelling at the marine parks off Malindi.
- Home to tea growing and soapstone, the thriving town of Kisii is part of the popular western tourist circuit through Kenya.
- Tsavo East and West National Park are divided only by the Nairobi-Mombasa railway, and come together with other protected areas to form the Tsavo Conservation Area.
- Paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey is from Kenya, and was the force behind some of the most significant fossil discoveries in the world.
- Other reputable conservation efforts in Kenya include the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and the work of George and Joy Adamson, the latter of whom authored the book ‘Born Free’, which became an iconic film.
- In terms of cultural icons, Kenya was home to actor Edi Gathegi, and musicians Kilimambogo Brothers, Them Mushrooms and Makadem.
- Research for the Disney classic ‘The Lion King’ was undertaken at Hell’s Gate National Park in Kenya.
Courtney Gahan is a serial expat, traveller and freelance writer who has bartered with Moroccan marketeers, seen the sun rise at Angkor Wat and elbowed her way through crowds on NYE in NYC
