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. It fronts two major world water bodies, Indian Ocean to the south east and Lake Victoria to the west with a total surface area of about 582,646 km2 of which 11,230 km2 is water. Other notable water bodies include Lake Turkana, north of the Rift Valley, and a number of notable smaller lakes along the Rift Valley. The country is dissected into two sectors by the Great Rift Valley from north to south, and by the Equator into two equal parts of north and south. 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. The original 40 boundaries of Kenya, marking districts and provinces, were first defined in the 1963 Independence Constitution and they were largely based on ethnic boundaries, affirmed by political positions taken at the Lancaster House Conferences.
Leading up to the British Rule of East Africa, the people of Kenya had lived more or less homogeneously; each tribe living in one general location. The pastoralists communities, like the Maasai, who traversed expansive areas, interacted hospitably with other communities. Occasionally, small wars would break out among the communities - especially between the puissant pastoralist communities - but peace generally prevailed.
During the British Era, the Royal Boundaries Commission believed that it was prudent to keep rival tribes within their own administrative and political boundaries for the object of peace. And thus the defunct 40 Districts [under 9 Provinces] were drawn and created. In 1968, Central Nyanza and South Nyanza districts, within Nyanza Province, were replaced by Homa Bay, Kisumu and Siaya Districts - that brought the number of districts to 41.
Kenya’s climate ranges from balmy tropical at the coast to temperate and arid in the interior, based on altitude. Mount Kenya, Africa’s second highest, is the highest point, at 5,199 m. 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.
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In the hinterland, population density is higher where the ground lies more than 3,000 feet above sea level, and the climate is equable and pleasant enough, particularly in the highlands that form the central province of Kenya and North Rift. These areas take on about 20% of her total land surface area, where much of the population thrives in the tightly packed constellation of small counties in Central Kenya, Western Kenya and the Coast Region of Kenya.
About 80% of Kenya’s terrestrial land is listed as arid to semi-arid, where life is essentially a continual search of water and the little vegetation to be found here: The rainfall here ranging from 150 to 750 mm annually. That is to also say, the rainfall here is erratic and poorly distributed, spatially and temporally, making agricultural production in the ASALs a cosmic challenge. The temperatures are always high across the ASAL, incessantly above 30 Celcius, which consequently affects moisture availability and dampers agricultural production potential. So that, the high potential areas covering 20% of the country carry about 75-80% of the national population. This has caused extensive pressure on land use for agriculture. It is upon this premise that Kenya must be understood and one that has inspired Kenya’s designation as the “land of variety.”
Historical Context
In 1967, Siaya was created as a district headquarters ex nihilo from a market. Most people of the region of Central Nyanza, now Siaya District, never thought it possible. It is Odundo’s song which located Siaya in the consciousness of the people in advance of the actual construction of the present headquarters.
Between 1969 to 1989, six districts were created. In Eastern province, Makueni District split from Machakos and Tharaka Nithi District split from Meru. In Nyanza Province, Migori District hived-off from Homa Bay while Nyamira District split from Kisii. In Rift Valley Province, Bomet District split from Kericho, and in Western Province Vihiga District split from Kakamega. Some territory was transferred from Turkana District, in Rift Valley Province, to create West Pokot District - bringing the number to the districts to 47.
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.
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Kenya has a interesting mix of cultural history. It has significant archeological assets and colorful tribal cultures fascinating to researchers and tourists alike-and patently promoted in the tourism marketplace. Archaeological excavations around Lake Turkana in the 1970s unearthed a skull thought to be around two million years old and it is among the earliest human beings ever discovered-indeed a unique patrimony for mankind and for tourism.
Kenya has a mosaic of 44 ethnic groups, each with its own culture and language, existing side by side, as the result of waves of in-migration (going back 4000 years) of Turkanas from Ethiopia; Kikuyu, Akamba, and Meru from West Africa; and the Maasai, Luo and the Samburu from southern Sudan. By the eighth century, Arabic, Indian, Persian, and even Chinese traders reached the Kenyan coast. They helped set up a string of coastal cities (for example, Mombasa and Lamu) and eventually the part-African, part-Arabic civilization infamous as the Swahili.
Kenya was invaded first by the Portuguese, who were ousted after 200 years of struggle with the Swahili, and finally by the British who left at Independence in 1963. Kenya’s cultural diversity forms an essential core of Kenya‘s tourism.
Geographical Overview
Like many other countries of the region, Kenya's land area is remarkably diverse, with inhospitable deserts in the north, broad semiarid plateaus in the south, and rich, rolling highlands in the center. There are seven main geographic regions: the coastal region, the coastal hinterland and Tana Plains region, the eastern plateau region, the northern plainlands region, the Kenya highlands region, the rift valley region, and the western plateaus region (Nelson, 1983).
The coastal region-which includes Kilifi, Kwale, Lamu, and Mombasa plus parts of Garissa, Tana River, and Taita districts-lies along the Indian Ocean. Rainfall is sufficient for agriculture to be practiced in a narrow plain and low plateau area inland from the shore. The southern part is more heavily populated, due partly to better rainfall. Historically, Arab trade flourished along the coast, particularly around Lamu.
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The coastal hinterland and Tana Plains region, which borders the coastal region, comprises parts of Tana River district and the southern portion of Northeastern Province (parts of Garissa and Wajir districts). There is very little rainfall in this region, and thus, little agriculture, except along the Tana River.
Moving further inland, one reaches the eastern plateau region, a series of plains comprising the northeastern part of Eastern Province, as well as the southern portion of Rift Valley Province. Rainfall is unpredictable and relatively sparse, particularly in the northern section, which is semidesert.
The northern plainlands region covers the northernmost sections of Northeastern, Eastern, and Rift Valley Provinces. It is a very arid region inhabited primarily by nomadic pastoralists, except for some agriculturalists around Mount Marsabit and the base of the Ethiopian foothills, where rainfall is heavier.
The Kenya highlands region, which borders the east and west sides of the rift valley in the western and central part of Kenya, is composed of the southwestern portion of Eastern Province, as well as most of Central Province and the western portion of Rift Valley Province.
The rift valley region, lying primarily in the eastern portion of Rift Valley Province, is part of the great rift valley that extends through much of eastern Africa. The population is primarily pastoralist in the northern and southern sections, which receive little rainfall and are semidesert. The central section receives greater rainfall and is suitable for growing grain crops.
The western plateaus region, comprising parts of Western and Nyanza Provinces, is mainly a series of plateaus that form part of the Lake Victoria basin.
Low plains form Kenya’s north and extend southeast to the coast. In the center, south and southwest of the country the plains rise into fertile highlands. The Great Rift Valley, which travels north to south, bisects the western half of the country.
The major ecosystem of the highlands is montane forest, while the arid and semi-arid lowlands are comprised extensively of woodland, brushlands, savannah and grassland, mainly of the thick thorn-bush type with little grass, wide-spaced valleys and scanty inselbergs. Large tree, like Acacia, are mainly found only along its drainage ways.
What is inexhaustible, on an unprecedented scale, is scattered shrub and grasslands spreading out in unbroken patches of tens of kilometres at a time, and which supports a sizeable amount of wildlife. Closer to the coast, there are discontinuous but significant patches of dryland forests. The coast is divided between sandy areas and mangrove forests, while offshore Kenya has abundant seagrass beds and a coral reef system.
Kenya’s freshwater resources are divided between lakes, notably Lake Victoria and Lake Turkana, and several rivers.
Economic Activities
Kenya is still mainly an agricultural country, with some 80 percent of the population living and working on 17 percent of the land. Overall, population density is a low 38 persons per square kilometer, but the rich, high-potential agricultural districts of the west and central regions show densities of 200 to 300 persons per square kilometer.
Kenya’s national boundary of 3500 kilometers includes 536 kilometers of coral-fringed coastline, with the country offering four marine parks and five marine reserves. The coastal assets include: 830 km2 of lush coastal forests, floodplain wetlands; 51 km2 of mangrove forest ecosystems, abundant in Lamu; 12 species of seagrass; and 50 km2 of coral reef protected under two marine parks and two national marine reserves.
Mombasa City, a place and situation that is unique to Eastern Africa, is the largest coastal town and the main hub. Its situation at the coastal terminus of the railway from Uganda and as the primary port of East Africa has provided it momentum to grow exponentially.
The 536 kilometers coastline divides conveniently into six area. These are: South Coast, Mombasa Island, North Coast, Kilifi, Watamu/Malindi and Lamu. Judging by the rate of hotels and resorts in all these areas, the Coast Region of Kenya is now the most liked touring destination in Kenya.
Today, Diani (in South Coast) is Kenya’s finest beach and has been voted as Africa’s best beach destination for six years consecutively. It has a wide range of accommodation varying from middle-market beach resorts to the last word in sophistication and comfort in private beach cottages.
Away from the ocean, there is plenty to interest the traveller to the Coast Region of Kenya. Protected areas are comprised of National Parks, Reserves and Sanctuaries, administered by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), as well as gazetted Forest Reserves, which are managed by the Kenya Forest Service (KFS). The KWS-administered areas are protected for wildlife conservation and comprise eight percent of the country. Gazetted Forest Reserves comprise another two percent of the country. Eighty-eight percent of these forests are natural, while the rest are plantations.
Despite this allotment of protected land, about 70 percent of the nation’s biodiversity resources are to be found outside protected areas and remain vulnerable to degradation. Of a more recent development is the creation of more than a hundred privately-run wildlife conservancies which look-out for wildlife outside National Parks and Reserves as well integrate nifty community responses to the conservation matrix.
That in mind, it’s no secret that Kenya is among the first-rate safari destinations and it certainly has enormous touring resources. There are no less than 50 Reserves / Parks that cover approximately 11% of her land surface area. Kenya is avowedly a grand arena to experience the wilder places in whichever direction you take.
The sharp contrast in Kenya’s ecological gamut is perhaps responsible for the variety in Kenya’s spectacular parks. For conservation, the country has set aside some 47,674 square kilometers in 29 National parks, 27 Game Reserves, 4 Wildlife Sanctuaries, and 100+ Wildlife Conservancies.
Kenya offers mountains and deserts, rainforest, rolling grassland, colorful tribal cultures, beaches and coral reefs, islands, the Great Rift Valley and, of course, outstanding wildlife displays. Safaris have been at the core of Kenya’s tourism for decades. Kenya’s national parks are models for the world and abundant with wildlife; lions, elephants, leopards, rhinoceros, hippopotamuses, and buffaloes.
Kenya is home to more than 359 different species of animals and 500 species of birds. For conservation, Kenya has set aside some 47,674 km2 in 29 National Parks, 27 Reserves, 4 Sanctuaries, and 100+ Wildlife Conservancies. It entices adventure tourists with trekking in Mount Kenya, ballooning in the Mara and scuba diving in the Indian Ocean. Other sports enthusiasts, content with less adventure, are drawn to Kenya’s golf offerings. And that just the tip of it. There are more than 1,500 places of interest in Kenya with unrepeatable stories and experiences - from insightful cultural sites, to modern heritage and historical sites with extraordinary histories.
Kenya is one of the world’s best destinations for bird watchers, and it has the famous annual wildebeest migration. The area is endowed with tremendous biodiversity. The country has approximately 25,000 species of animals; including 1,133 birds, 315 mammals, 191 reptiles, 180 freshwater fish, 692 marine and brackish fish, and 88 amphibians, as well as 7,000 species of vascular plants and more than 2,000 fungi and bacteria. 1,100 species of the vascular plants, 14 mammalian species, and eight bird species are endemic to the country. 103 bird species, 51 mammals, 8 amphibian and reptile species, and 26 fish species are endangered or threatened.
Tea is one of the most important exports of East Africa and it is particularly important in Kenya. Although there are a few areas within Kenya where tea is a major crop, for example, Nyeri, Nandi and Kiambu Counties, over half the land growing tea in Kenya is cultivated in Kericho. Tea, forests and coffee never wander too far from one another, and these three are almost always spotted hand in hand.
Of the area of 582,646 km2 which Kenya covers, 2008 km2 are covered by natural and exotic plantation forests; so the forest cover is 3.4% of the total land surface and 15% of the high potential land.
The potential mineral wealth of Kenya is still not fully known. Early in the 20th Century, official geologists were appointed for limited periods and, in addition, temporary Colonial Office appointments were made for specific investigations, as in 1914-15 for the examination of a portion of the Northern Frontier District.
The chief economic minerals of Kenya going by the 1968 Geological Survey of Kenya were, and still are, soda, salt, gold, fluorspar, raw materials for cement manufacture, limestone and carbon dioxide; but numerous other products are envisaged. Geologists believe Kenya has lots of ores and industrial materials which have been established to be in substantial quantities. These minerals include soda ash, fluorspar, titanium, niobium and rare earth elements, gold, coal, iron ore, limestone, manganese, diatomite, gemstone, gypsum and carbon.
Kenya chose to pursue a market-oriented approach to its development. Economic five-year plans were prepared (and still are), and the state undertook some types of economic activity directly. But private enterprise, local and foreign, was allowed and encouraged to participate in the economy. The government professed a socialist ideal for the nation but carried it no further than occasional rhetoric, a stand that stood in sharp contrast to many of its neighbors who collectivized and nationalized and made war on the private sector. These liberal economic policies undoubtedly helped Kenya in the crucial transition period and also helped fuel her early economic success.
What has expanded steadily has been the supply of public services, particularly education, health, and transport and communications infrastructure. The availability of these services is connected with, but not totally dependent on, market-based household or individual income, because these services have been supplied well below cost.
It is difficult to estimate how much of the Kenyan success story has been due to the strong and steady support that was rendered by the international donor community.
The relatively open, market-oriented development strategy plus stable, cooperative governments have made it an ideal place for foreign donors to work, and Kenya has certainly benefited.
Key Economic Indicators
As shown in Table 2-1, the real growth rate in gross domestic product (GDP) for the 1965-1980 period was nearly 6.0 percent per annum, but for the decade 1980-1990 it fell to roughly 4.0 percent per annum.
The driving forces behind this sustained growth in the past were an export-oriented agriculture, tourism, light manufacturing for domestic markets, and Nairobi's emergence as a regional center for clerical and financial services. The public sector has generally avoided direct ownership or operation of productive economic activity.
Kenya's quite respectable economic growth has not, however, been sufficient to produce any substantial increase in measured output per capita. Per capita income rose by some 2 to 3 percent per annum during the period of most rapid growth but leveled off in the late 1970s and declined in the early 1980s, under the combined effects of stagnating output and continued rapid population growth.
Generally, surplus supply in the labor market, lack of unions with any real market power, and a deliberate policy of wage restraint by the government for both the public and the private sectors, to control inflation, seem to explain this trend.
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