Kenya
Kenya is East Africa’s original safari country — safari is Swahili for “journey”. In the Masai Mara, rolling grasslands hold lions, leopards and cheetahs all year, and roughly from July to October the great wildebeest migration usually arrives from Tanzania’s Serengeti and crosses the Mara River. Around the national reserve, private conservancies run together with Maasai landowners offer fewer vehicles, walking safaris and night drives.
The snow-capped peaks of UNESCO-listed Mount Kenya, Africa’s second-highest mountain, rise over the forests and farms of the equator country, and nearby Meru National Park is a quiet wilderness of rivers lined with doum palms. Tsavo is a land of red earth and lava flows, with Kilimanjaro on the horizon. Nairobi is a green capital with a national park on its edge, with giraffes and orphaned elephants close by. Kenyan food is hearty: nyama choma (meat roasted over a fire), ugali (firm maize porridge), Swahili coastal dishes with coconut and spices, and famous Kenyan tea and coffee.
Two dry seasons, roughly June to October and January to February, are usually best for game viewing, while the green seasons bring lush grass and fewer visitors. Kenya suits a first safari, families (some lodges run children’s programmes), honeymooners and photographers, and pairs easily with Tanzania’s Serengeti and Zanzibar, the Seychelles or Mauritius.
