Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. Kenya is spatially situated at the Horn of Africa, in the far eastern end of Africa, flanked by Tanzania in the south, by Uganda in the west, by Sudan and Ethiopia in the north and by Somalia in the east. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. The Republic of Kenya is named after Mount Kenya.
Kenya is an exceedingly diverse country-the population comprises more than 100 different ethnic groups. Kenya’s diversity is comprised of 44 major tribes and residents from all corners of the world. The economy is principally agrarian.
To better understand Kenya, one may look at it this way: It straddles the equator, the land rising from the coast to altitudes of 10,000 feet or more before dropping down into Lake Victoria and Lake Turkana. Kenya’s designation as the “land of variety” is well-earned.
Kenya’s total population (as at 2018) is estimated at almost 52 million, the bulk of whom live in three areas of Kenya: nearby Lake Victoria in the west and south-west, in Central Kenya, and in an area of fairly dense population along the Coast Region of Kenya, specially between Malindi and Tanzania border.
Kenya’s geography, climate and population vary widely. The Geography of Kenya is diverse, varying amongst its 47 counties.
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Before the new constitution of Kenya that came into force on 27 August 2010, Kenya was divided into eight provinces. In 2010, the 47 Districts were replaced by the 47 Counties of Kenya in accordance to the August 05, referendum adopted by 67% of Kenyans, in time promulgated on August 27, 2010.
Kenya has a coastline on the Indian Ocean, which contains swamps of East African mangroves. Inland are broad plains and numerous hills. Kenya borders South Sudan to the northwest, Uganda to the west, Somalia to the east, Tanzania to the south, and Ethiopia to the north.
The lowest point on Kenya is at sea level on the Indian Ocean. Kenya's terrain is composed of low plains that rise into central highlands that are, in turn, bisected by the Great Rift Valley.
The capital of Kenya is Nairobi, a sprawling city that, like many other African metropolises, is a study in contrasts, with modern skyscrapers looking out over vast shantytowns in the distance, many harboring refugees fleeing civil wars in neighboring countries.
The second-largest and oldest city is Mombasa, a major port city located on Mombasa Island. Other major cities within the country include Kisumu, Nakuru and Eldoret.
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Kenya's savanna is familiar from movies, TV shows, books, and commercials. It's the landscape many people imagine when they think of Africa.
Topography of Kenya
Geographic Regions of Kenya
Within this basic framework, Kenya is divided into the following geographic regions: the Lake Victoria basin, the Rift Valley and associated highlands, the eastern plateau forelands, the semiarid and arid areas of the north and south, and the coast.
The Highlands
In the western part of Kenya the land rises to more than 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) above sea level. Central and Western Kenya is characterized by the Kenyan Rift Valley and central Province home to the highest mountain, Mount Kenya and Mount Elgon on the border between Kenya and Uganda.
These highlands, which represent less than 25 percent of Kenya’s land area, are divided by the Great Rift Valley. In the eastern part of this region, Kenya reaches its highest point at the peak of Mount Kenya, 17,058 feet (5,199 meters) high. The highlands are the only part of the country where rainfall is sufficient-over 50 inches (127 centimeters) a year-and reliable enough to support farming. Because many Kenyans depend on agriculture for a living, it is in these highlands that the majority of the population lives.
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The highlands generally have temperatures ranging between 56 and 65 °F (13 and 18 °C). Elevation is the major factor in temperature levels, with the higher areas, on average, about 11 °C (20 °F) cooler, day or night. On the high mountains, such as Mount Kenya, Mount Elgon and Kilimanjaro, the weather can become bitterly cold for most of the year.
Most of the forest that once covered the land has been cleared for crop production. Some of Kenya’s forest does remain. The government has created national parks to protect the local vegetation and the wildlife. Forested areas include economically valuable trees such as cedar and varieties of podo, or yellowwood.
Mount Kenya
The Rift Valley
The Great Rift Valley splits the highland region into two sections: the Mau Escarpment to the west and the Aberdare Range to the east. The valley itself is 30 to 80 miles (50 to 130 km) wide, and its floor rises from about 1,500 feet (450 meters) in the north around Lake Turkana (formerly Lake Rudolf) to over 7,000 feet (2,100 meters) at Lake Naivasha but then drops to 2,000 feet (600 meters) at the Tanzanian border in the south.
The floor of the Rift is occupied by a chain of shallow lakes separated by extinct volcanoes. Lake Naivasha is the largest of these; the others include Lakes Magadi, Nakuru, Bogoria, and Baringo.
West of the valley the diverse highland area runs from the thick lava block of the Mau Escarpment-Mount Tinderet complex northward to the Uasin Gishu Plateau. East of the Rift the Aberdare Range rises to nearly 10,000 feet (3,000 meters). The eastern highlands extend from the Ngong Hills and the uplands bordering Tanzania northward to the Laikipia Escarpment. Farther east they are linked by the Nyeri saddle to Mount Kenya, the country’s highest peak, at 17,058 feet (5,199 meters).
Much of the western two-thirds of the country consists of the Pliocene-Pleistocene volcanics deposited on Precambrian basement rocks. The Anza trough is a NW-SE trending Jurassic rift extending from the Indian Ocean coast to the Sudan northwest of Lake Turkana.
There is limited volcanic activity in the country. Barrier Volcano (elev. 1,032 m) last erupted in 1921.
The Semiarid Lowlands
Much of Kenya is semiarid, receiving between 15 and 30 inches (38 and 76 centimeters) of rainfall a year. This amount of rainfall is insufficient for production of crops, so cultivation is limited to the borders of rivers and swamps where irrigation is possible. In the past there was little farming in the lowlands, which dominate the eastern half of Kenya. Most of the inhabitants were nomadic or seminomadic herders. The number of lowland farmers has increased, however, as people have moved from the overcrowded highlands in search of land.
The main economic activities in this region are livestock raising by Kenyans and wildlife viewing by foreign tourists. Both the wildlife and the livestock are able to graze on the vegetation that grows under the dry conditions. Trees, such as the acacia, are scattered throughout the bushy grasslands. The herders, such as the Maasai (Masai), raise cattle, goats, and sheep and move them seasonally from place to place to give them access to water and pasture.
National parks and game reserves have also been created in this region. Unfortunately, water is scarce, and there is increasing competition for it among the animals.
The Deserts
The deserts of Kenya are not so extensive as other deserts in Africa. They are located in the north of the country. The vegetation is sparse, consisting of hardy grasses and occasional bushes. Desert peoples are few, but the area includes some nomadic people, such as the Somali and the Gabbra, who raise herds of camels and goats.
On the edge of the desert region is Lake Rudolf (Turkana), which stretches down from the border with Ethiopia. Archaeologists working on the shores of the lake have found evidence of some of Earth’s earliest people, dating the ancestors of humans back some 4 to 5 million years.
The Eastern Plateau Forelands
The eastern plateau forelands, located just east of the Rift highlands, constitute a vast plateau of ancient rocks gently sloping to the coastal plain. They are a region of scattered hills and striking elevated formations, the most prominent being the hills of Taita, Kasigau, Machakos, and Kitui. These hills, containing the area of more favorable climate, are surrounded by regions historically prone to famine.
The Semiarid and Arid Areas
The semiarid and arid areas in the north and northeast are part of a vast region extending from the Ugandan border through Lake Turkana to the plateau area between the Ethiopian and Kenyan highlands. (The area from Lake Magadi southward, though not as arid, has the same characteristics.) Although tree and grass cover is scanty there, the areas of true desert are limited to the Chalbi Desert east of Lake Turkana. The movement of people and livestock is strictly limited by the availability of water.
The Coast
Stretching along the shores of the Indian Ocean is a narrow strip of land 10 to 15 miles (16 to 24 kilometers) wide. This land separates the dry interior from the sea. It has relatively heavy rainfall, 40 inches (100 centimeters) a year, and is an important crop-producing area. Cash crops such as coconuts and cashews are produced.
For centuries the coast has been important in trade across the Indian Ocean. Ancient ports, such as Lamu, remain as evidence of the early coastal trade cities. Today, Mombasa is the largest coastal city and Kenya’s largest and busiest port. It has modern facilities, an oil refinery, and a variety of light industries. The port also serves the landlocked countries of Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi.
The long and beautiful white coral sand beaches are the basis of Kenya’s coastal tourist industry. Hotels serve tourists along the entire length of the coast.
The climate along the coast is tropical. This means rainfall and temperatures are higher than inland throughout the year. At the coastal cities, Mombasa, Lamu and Malindi, the air temperature changes from cool to hot, almost every day.
The southeast corner of the country is underlain by sediments of the Karoo System of Permian to Late Triassic age and a strip of Jurassic age sediments along the coast in the Mombasa area.
The coastal plain proper, which runs for about 250 miles (400 km) along the Indian Ocean, is a narrow strip only about 10 miles (16 km) wide in the south, but in the Tana River lowlands to the north it broadens to about 100 miles (160 km). Farther northeast it merges into the lowlands of Somalia. The excellent natural harbors include that of Mombasa, which is one of the best in East Africa.
Kenyan Coast
Climate of Kenya
Kenya’s climate ranges from balmy tropical at the coast to temperate and arid in the interior, based on altitude. The climate of Kenya varies by location, from mostly cool every day, to always warm/hot by mid afternoon.
Kenya has two wet seasons and two dry seasons. The rainy seasons extend from March to May and from November to December. The amount of rainfall is greatest in the highlands of Kenya. The lowland deserts of the north receive the least amount of rain.
Occasionally the rains fail or are below normal for consecutive seasons, leading to drought. Some extended droughts have been particularly severe. Notable droughts occurred in the early 1960s and mid-1970s. The drought of 1992-94 preceded another that began in 1997 and lasted into the early 21st century. The droughts often create food shortages that affect millions of people.
The further inland one is in Kenya, the more arid the climate becomes. An extremely arid climate is nearly devoid of rainfall, and temperature varies widely according to the general time of the day/night.
The many cities over a kilometre in elevation have temperature swings from roughly 10-26 °C (50-79 °F). At lower altitudes, the increased temperature is like day and night, literally: like starting the morning at the highland daytime high, and then adding the heat of the day, again. Hence, the overnight low temperatures near sea level are nearly the same as the high temperatures of the elevated Kenyan highlands.
There are slight seasonal variations in temperature, of 4 °C or 7.2 °F, cooler in the winter months.
Climate change is posing an increasing threat to global socioeconomic development and environmental sustainability. Developing countries with low adaptive capacity and high vulnerability to the phenomenon are disproportionately affected. The effects of these climatic changes have made already existing challenges with water security, food security and economic growth even more difficult. Harvests and agricultural production which account for about 33% of total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are also at risk.
Hot and dry conditions in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) make droughts or flooding brought on by extreme weather changes even more dangerous.
Land Use
9.8% of the land is arable; permanent crops occupy 0.9% of the land, permanent pasture occupies 37.4% of the land; forest occupies 6.1% of the land. Other uses make up the rest of Kenya's land.
| Land Use | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Arable Land | 9.8% |
| Permanent Crops | 0.9% |
| Permanent Pasture | 37.4% |
| Forest | 6.1% |
| Other Uses | Remaining |
Culture and Society
Kenya’s artistic heritage is represented by a variety of crafts. Among them are mat weaving on the coast, wood carving by the Kamba people, and beadwork jewelry made by groups such as the Maasai and the Samburu.
The literature of Kenya includes a large body of oral and written folklore, much of the latter collected by British anthropologists. One of the outstanding Swahili-language poets was Muyaka bin Haji al-Ghassaniy, who was active in the early 19th century. Among the leading Kenyan writers of the 20th and early 21st centuries were Ngugi wa Thiong’o, whose popular Weep Not, Child (1964) was the first major novel in English by an East African, and Meja Mwangi, who wrote prolifically on the social conditions and history of Kenya.
Kenya has several institutions devoted to the performing arts. The Kenya National Theatre, located in Nairobi, is the country’s premier venue for drama. The affiliated National Theatre School was founded in 1968. The school provides professional training for Kenyan playwrights and performers of traditional music and dance. Independent art facilities, such as the GoDown Arts Centre in Nairobi, offer alternative spaces for artists to express themselves.
Kenya’s film industry is small but growing. Several of the country’s stage and screen performers have attracted international attention.
Sports have an enthusiastic following in Kenya. Soccer (association football) is the most popular sport. Basketball, volleyball, and netball are also popular. Internationally, Kenyan athletes are known for their dominance of distance running. Kenyan distance runners continually win Olympic medals and major races throughout the world.
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