Kenya

The main tourist attractions are photo safaris through the 60 National Parks and Game Reserves. Other attractions include the wildebeest migration at the Masaai Mara, which is considered to be the 7th wonder of the world; the ‘Big Five’ that is the lion, leopard, buffalo, rhinoceros, and elephant, the historical sites such as mosques, and colonial-era forts at Mombasa, Malindi, and Lamu; renowned scenery such as the white-capped Mount Kenya and the Great Rift Valley; tea plantations at Kericho; coffee plantations at Thika; a splendid view of Mount Kilimanjaro across the border into Tanzania; and the beaches along the Swahili Coast, in the Indian Ocean. Tourists, the largest number being from Germany and the United Kingdom, are attracted mainly to the coastal beaches and the game reserves, notably, the expansive East and Tsavo West National Park, 20,808 square kilometers (8,034 sq mi) to the southeast.

The culture of Kenya consists of multiple traditions. Kenya has no single prominent culture that identifies it. It instead consists of the various cultures of the country’s different communities. Notable populations include the Swahili on the coast, several other Bantu communities in the central and western regions, and Nilotic communities in the northwest. The Maasai culture is outstanding and well known to tourism, despite constituting a relatively small part of Kenya’s population. The Maasais are renowned for their elaborate upper-body adornment and jewelry.