Pioneer of the safari-and-beach package holiday, Kenya holidays are a little different from the other big game African safari destinations we sell. Some of the National Parks have taken a higher-volume, mass-market approach to tourism, and as such, some areas of  Kenya are widely regarded in the industry as sub-optimal, certainly not for any lack of wildlife or culture, but simply because of the amount of tourists visiting, especially in peak season, making it difficult to avoid the maddening crowds.

A Kenya safari is the original adventure to Africa with a number of varied national parks and activities as well as the option to combine your Kenya safari with a beach escape. It is no surprise that the BBC have made many a documentary on the plains on the Masai Mara. The Masai Mara is one of the most popular parks and a safari here can be relatively busy with tourists but heading to the North there are a number of private conservation areas and national parks which can give you quite a different Kenya Safari.

About Kenya

The Republic of Kenya is located in the East of Africa and is found on the equator.  It is in the border of Ethiopia, Somalia, Indian Ocean, Tanzania, Uganda, and South Sudan. It has a total of 580,000 km2 of land area and has a population that is almost 41 million that represents 42 different cultures of people. The country’s name is derived from it famous landmark Mount Kenya, it is Africa’s second highest mountain peaks.

Early Settlers

The people who settled first the country are African communities that are indigenous and migrated from different parts of the mainland. The settlers were commonly explorers or traders and sometimes tourists that are from different countries like Greece, India, Arabia, Portugal and even from the Roman Empire. Some just visited the country, others just went back to their own countries and some got married to the locals and settled in the country.

The main source of their living is through farming, fishing, craft industries and international trading of products. The traders from other countries bring items like clothes, handicrafts, iron weapons, beads, porcelain and wines. These items are exchanged with copper, timber, ivory, gold, animal skins, rhinoceros horns and sometimes slaves.

The first voyagers that entered the East African waters were the Portuguese in 1498. The Portuguese leader Vasco Da Gama made negotiations with the Malindi ruler and had their alliance to rule over the whole region, their rule lasted for 200 years. But the presence of the present rulers was hated by the people, so the people kicked them out by killing the Portuguese captain. To ensure that the Portuguese will not come back, Oman’s Sultan Seyyid Said ruled the whole coastline of east Africa until the British came to rule.

Colonial Rulers and Kenyan Independence

The colonies that entered Africa gave Kenya the name British East Africa Protectorate. After they had administered a name for the country they posted Sir Arthur Hardinge to be the governor and create a British administration that is formal.  The colonial rule was mainly focused on the social, economic and political policies. These policies had created racial discrimination with the Africans and the new settlers by the harsh labors that the new settlers give to the Africans but with very low wages. These problems were stopped when eventually representatives for the African people were elected to the Legislative Council and started to create African Unions.  These African Unions made their slots in the House of Representatives and then administered to have the country’s independence on December 12 of 1963.

Though the country had gained its independence there are still problems that were left by the past government. These problems were stabilized first to obtain the stability of the economic and political aspects of the country. The country had three Presidents after gaining its independence, these Presidents made their parts to help the country have peace and establish the start of its development. The country started to have its election every 5 years after its independence, and had been playing the lead role of having a peaceful and stabilized election. The election held last December 2002, paved a peaceful and smooth transfer of the government to new administration.