The Magic of Africa; Kenya

Named after Mount Kenya or Kirinyaga, (meaning 'The Mountain of Whiteness'), which lies almost in the centre of the countryand marks its highes point. Kenya straddles the equator and covers ano area of about 600,000 square kilometres. Lying on the shores of the Indian Ocean on the East Coast of Africa, Kenya borders Somalia, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania. Most of the north and northeast of the country is either uninhabited or sparsely habited desert.

Nairobi, (taken from the Maasai ward 'Nyrobi' meaning place of cool water), and also known as 'the Green City in the Sun' and the 'Safari Capital of the world', has an unofficial population of approximately 2.7 million people. It came to being in May 1899 as an artificial settlement created by the European builders of the East African railway, located at 'Mile 327' from the Coast. Easily the largest city in East Africa, Nairobi is also the youngest, most modern, the highest (at 1700m) and fast growing.

From a Green City to a country whose economy also depends on Agriculture, deforestation plays an important factor to the environment. Kenya has spearheaded a programme of planting over 10 million trees in the past two decades with the help of private groups and tree nursery programmes to replenish for the future.

Kenya was the first country in Africa to build geothermal power sources, located in the Rift Valley at the Olkaria gorges. This power makes a contribution of about 20% of the current electricity provision. Also with plentiful of sunshine and vast arid land, Kenya is developing solar energy to become an alternative energy source. Most projects are rural based and encouraging development.

The landscape of Kenya is distinctly divided into two halves; the eastern half slopes gently to the coral backed seashore, the western portion rises more abruptly through a series of hills and plateaus to the eastern Rift valley, known in Keya as the Central Rift. West of he Rift is the westward-sloping plateau, the lowest part of which is occupied by Lake Victoria. The highest point in the country is the snow-capped peak of Mount Kenya (5,199m), the second heist mountain in Africa (and one of the largest freestanding mountains in the world with a base diameter of 200 Km). The Coastline extends some 536 km the Tanzanian border in the southeast, to the Somali border in the northeast. The main rivers are the Athi/Galana and the Tana. The major lakes are; Lake Victoria, Turkana, Baringo, Naivasha, Magadi, Jipe, Bogoria, Nakuru and Elementaita.