Sights in Kenya
-
Masai Mara National Reserve
This world-renowned reserve, which stretches over 1510 sq km (938 sq mi) of open rolling grasslands, is backed by the spectacular Esoit Oloololo (Siria) Escarpment, watered by the Mara River and littered with an astonishing amount of wildlife.
Of the big cats, lions are found in large prides everywhere, and it is not uncommon to see them hunting. Cheetahs and leopards are less visible, but still fairly common. Elephants, buffalos, zebras and hippos also exist in large numbers.
The ultimate attraction is undoubtedly the annual wildebeest migration in July and August, when millions of these ungainly beasts move north from the Serengeti. While you're more likely to see…
reviewed
-
A
Nairobi National Park
A visit to Nairobi National Park, a few kilometres from the city centre, is a great way to fill in a few hours before you catch a plane. There's plentiful wildlife, including most of the plains animals (except elephants), against the bizarre backdrop of Nairobi skyscrapers. The headquarters of the KWS are at the main gate. The 'Park Shuttle' is a KWS bus that leaves the main gate at 15:00 Sunday for a 2½-hour tour of the park.
reviewed
-
B
Kenyetta Conference Centre
Towering over City Square, Nairobi's signature building the Kenyetta Conference Centre was designed as a fusion of modern and traditional African styles, though the distinctive saucer tower looks a little dated next to some of the city's flashier glass edifices.
Staff will accompany you up to the viewing platform and helipad on the roof for wonderful views over Nairobi. The sightline goes all the way to the suburbs, and on clear days you can see aircraft coming in to land over the Nairobi National Park. You're allowed to take photographs from the viewing level but not elsewhere in the building. Access may be restricted during events and conferences.
reviewed
-
Watamu Turtle Watch
Several species of marine turtle lay their eggs on the beaches around Watamu and Watamu Turtle Watch, part of the Local Ocean Trust, has set up a series of initiatives with local people to protect these threatened animals. Female turtles lay thousands of eggs here between January and April. Contact the trust's Marine Information Centre if you're interested in seeing this incredible natural spectacle or volunteering with local projects.
reviewed
-
C
National Museum
Kenya's National Museum is an imposing building amid lush leafy grounds just outside the city centre. It has a good range of cultural, geological and natural-history exhibits. Volunteer guides offer tours in English, Dutch and French. The 1st floor contains excellent contemporary East African art; as all the items are for sale the displays change regularly.
reviewed
-
D
Langata Giraffe Centre
The Langata Giraffe Centre, run by the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife, is a sanctuary for the rare Rothschilds giraffe. Here you can observe, hand-feed or even kiss the giraffes from a raised circular wooden structure, and it is quite an experience. It's a good place to get the close-up photographs that eluded you on safari.
reviewed
-
Fort Jesus
Mombasa's biggest tourist attraction, Fort Jesus dominates the harbour entrance at the end of Nkrumah Rd. The metre-thick coral walls make it an imposing edifice, despite being partially ruined. The fort was built by the Portuguese in 1593 to enforce their rule over the coastal Swahilis, but they rarely managed to hold onto it for long. It changed hands at least nine times in bloody sieges between 1631 and 1875, finally falling under British control. It houses a museum, built over the former barracks. The exhibits are mostly ceramics, reflecting the variety of cultures that traded along the coast, but include other interesting odds and ends donated from private…
reviewed
-
E
Mombasa Old Town Conservation Society
While Mombasa's Old Town doesn't quite have the medieval charm of Lamu or Zanzibar, it's still an interesting area to wander around. The houses here are characteristic of coastal East African architecture, with ornately carved doors and window frames and fretwork balconies, designed to protect the modesty of the female inhabitants. Sadly, many of these have been destroyed; there is now a preservation order on the remaining doors and balconies, so further losses should hopefully be prevented.
The Mombasa Old Town Conservation Society is encouraging the renovation of many dilapidated buildings
From the outside there's little evidence of what any of these buildings were once…
reviewed
-
F
Lamu Museum
Housed in a very grand Swahili warehouse on the waterfront, the Lamu Museum is an excellent introduction to the culture and history of Lamu Island. It's one of the most interesting small museums in Kenya, with displays on Swahili culture, the famous coastal carved doors, the Maulid Festival, Lamu's nautical history and the tribes who used to occupy this part of the coast in pre-Muslim days, including the Boni, who were legendary elephant-hunters. There's a bookshop that is specialising in Lamu and Swahili culture.
The pride of the collection are the remarkable and ornate siwa (ceremonial horns) of Lamu and Paté, dating back to the 17th century. Lamu's siwa is made of…
reviewed
-
G
Swahili House Museum
If the Lamu Museum stokes your interest in Swahili culture, this beautifully restored traditional house tucked away off to the side of Yumbe House hotel will put you firmly back in the past.
Inside Swahili House Museum you'll find a recreation of a working Swahili home, with cookware, beds and other furniture. The attendant will give you a whistle-stop but informative tour in between small talk, including some fascinating descriptions of the regimented lives of Swahilis in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Traditional Swahili homes were built along rigid social lines, with separate quarters for men and women and audience halls that allowed men to receive guests without…
reviewed
Advertisement
-
Lake Magadi
The most southerly of the Rift Valley lakes in Kenya, Lake Magadi is rarely visited by tourists because of its remoteness, although it actually makes an easy day trip if you have a vehicle. The most mineral-rich of the soda lakes, it is almost entirely covered by a thick encrustation of soda that supports many bird species and gives the landscape a weird lunar appearance.
A causeway leads across the most visually dramatic part of this strange landscape to a viewpoint on the western shore. It's worth a drive if you have a 4WD, otherwise you can head to the hot springs further south. The springs aren't particularly dramatic, but you can take a dip in the deeper pools, and…
reviewed
-
H
Kisumu Museum
Unlike many local museums, Kisumu Museum is an interesting and often informative place.
The displays are wide ranging and most are well presented, though some could use some light. There is a very good collection of traditional everyday items used by the region's various peoples, including agricultural implements, bird and insect traps, food utensils, clothing, furniture, weapons and musical instruments. There is also a fairly motley collection of stuffed birds and animals, including an amazing airborne lion mauling a wildebeest.
Outside, a traditional Luo homestead has been constructed, consisting of the husband's thatched mud-house and separate houses for wife one, two…
reviewed
-
Mida Creek
The extensive mangrove forests around Mida Creek, just south of Watamu, support a huge number of bird species, including the spectacular malachite kingfisher, yellow-billed stork and African fish eagle. It's paradise for bird-watchers and there is also some good snorkelling and scuba diving at the mouth of the creek.
The head of the creek, the best area for viewing waterbirds, is reached by a dirt road opposite the Mida entrance to the Arabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve. The guides who work out of the reserve can organise guided walks in the mangroves.
Many people also come here on boat tours (arranged through Watamu hotels), which visit a boardwalk and picnic ground on Sudi…
reviewed
-
Kakamega Forest Reserve
This superb small slab of virgin tropical rainforest is home to a huge variety of birds and animals and is becoming particularly popular with independent travellers. The wildlife is a major attraction, especially the birdlife, with more than 330 species recorded. Tribal practices in the forest, such as circumcision rituals, persist.
Official guides, trained by the Kakamega Biodiversity Conservation and Tour Operators Association, are well worth the money. Not only do they prevent you from getting lost (many of the trail signs are missing), but most are excellent naturalists who can recognise birds by call alone and provide information about numerous animals.
reviewed
-
I
Ndere Island National Park
Gazetted as the Ndere Island National Park in 1986, tourism to this small 4.2-sq-km island has never taken off. It is forested and very beautiful, housing a variety of bird species, plus hippos, impalas (introduced) and spotted crocodiles, a lesser-known cousin of the larger Nile crocodile. Tsetse flies can be problematic after the rains.
Unfortunately there is nowhere to stay and chartered boats are your only option to get there. Kisumu Beach Resort charters 20 passenger boats, with typical return trips taking five hours (including three hours on shore) - keep an eye out for hippos en route.
reviewed
-
Bio Ken Snake Farm
This excellent Bio Ken Snake Farm is by far the best of the snake parks along the coast. It was established by the late James Ashe, a reptile expert and former curator from the National Museums of Kenya, who achieved such recognition in his field that he even has a bush viper named after him.
The farm is a nonprofit organisation, providing free antivenin wherever it is needed in Kenya. As well as touring the facilities, staff can take you on a day safari to look for snakes in their natural habitat.
The centre is just north of Watamu village on the main beach road.
reviewed
-
Gede Ruins
The Gede ruins are one of the principal historical monuments on the Kenyan coast. Hidden away in the forest, the ruins are a vast complex of houses, palaces and mosques, made all the more mysterious by the fact that there are no records of Gede's existence in any historical texts.
Excavations have uncovered Ming Chinese porcelain and glass, and glazed earthenware from Persia, indicating not only trade links, but a taste for luxury among Gede's Swahili elite. Within the compound are ruins of ornate tombs and mosques including the regal ruins of a Swahili palace.
reviewed
-
Crater Lake Game Sanctuary
Surrounding a beautiful volcanic crater lake, on the western side of Lake Naivasha and north of the village of Kongoni, is the small Crater Lake Game Sanctuary, with many trails including one for hikers along the steep but diminutive crater rim. Besides the impressive 150 bird species recorded here, giraffes, zebras and other plains wildlife are also regular residents. While walking, remember that buffaloes lurk in the woods.
The tiny jade-green crater lake is held in high regard by the local Maasai, who even believe its water helps soothe ailing cattle.
reviewed
-
J
Malindi Marine National Park
Immediately offshore from Malindi and extending south as far as Watamu, this important marine park covers 213 sq km and protects some impressive coral reefs, although the piles of seashells on sale in Malindi may make you wonder just how much that protection is worth.
Despite the extensive damage there is still some amazing marine life here, and there's always a chance you may see megafauna such as whale sharks and mako sharks. Note that underwater visibility is severely reduced by silt from the Galana River between March and June.
reviewed
-
K
Railway Museum
This interesting little museum displays relics from the East African Railway. There are train and ship models, photographs, tableware and oddities from the history of the railway. One such is the Engine Seat that allowed visiting dignitaries like Theodore Roosevelt to take pot shots at unsuspecting wildlife from the front of the train.
In the grounds are dozens of fading locomotives in various states of disrepair, dating from the steam days to independence, including the steam train used in the movie Out of Africa.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
L
Karen Blixen's House and Museum
This charming farmhouse is where Karen Blixen, author of the popular novel Out of Africa, lived from 1914 to 1931. She left after a series of personal tragedies, but the lovely colonial house has been preserved as a museum. It was presented to the Kenyan government at independence by the Danish government along with the adjacent agricultural college.
It's set in lovely gardens and it's quite an interesting place to wander around, plus there's accommodation and a restaurant on site.
reviewed
-
Hell's Gate National Park
Hell's Gate is an experience indeed. The park is truly unique, as it allows you to walk or cycle unguided across its breadth. Sure you can still drive, but why would you? Senses are heightened tenfold when you're face to face with grazing zebras, towering giraffes, galloping gazelles and massive eland antelopes.
There's a 22km (13mi) round trip that can be done by car, bike or foot in a day, or you can hike off the beaten track along the Buffalo Circuit. Camping is highly recommended.
reviewed
-
M
Lamu Fort
The bulky, atmospheric Lamu Fort squats on Lamu's main square like a weary intruder among the airy Swahili roofs. The building of this massive structure was begun by the Sultan of Paté in 1810 and completed in 1823. From 1910 right up to 1984 it was used as a prison, and it now houses the island's library and some lacklustre displays on natural history and the environment, which a guide will show you around. The highlight is scaling the ramparts for some sweeping town views.
reviewed
-
N
Vasco da Gama Pillar
Malindi's most famous monument, although it isn't particularly impressive, is the bell-shaped Vasco da Gama Pillar , erected by the Portuguese explorer as a navigational aid in 1498. The coral pillar is topped by a cross made of Lisbon stone, which almost certainly dates from da Gama's time, and stands on the rocks at the northern end of Casuarina Beach. From the rocks there are good views along the coast. To get here, follow the signs from the alley beside Scorpio Villas.
reviewed
-
O
German Post Office Museum
In the late 1800s, before the British decided to nip German expansion into Tanganyika in the bud, the Germans regarded Lamu as an ideal base from where they could successfully and safely exploit the interior. As part of their efforts the German East Africa Company set up a post office on Kenyatta Rd, and the old building is now the German Post Office Museum exhibiting photographs and memorabilia from that fleeting period of colonial history.
reviewed