7 BEST THINGS TO DO IN KENYA

It’s iconic. You cannot not see the Maasai Mara. The migration is an amazing experience. Particularly if you see the migration from a hot air balloon. When you are watching the migration from above you can really see the power of nature. It also makes you think how important it is to respect nature. That’s their habitat. You understand your place in the world.

Visiting the different lakes is Kenya is really special – especially in the Rift Valley. There’s Lake Nakuru, Lake Naivasha, Lake Elmenteita, Lake Baringo, Lake Bogoria… If you get the opportunity to visit these lakes you really should. They are very beautiful. You should visit during the flamingo season – that’s phenomenal.

A new place to visit is Tsavo – Tsavo East and Tsavo West, which together form the largest national park in Kenya. That’s really beautiful. On one side you’ve got views of the Chyulu Hills and fantastic views of Kilimanjaro. In fact, the best views of Mount Kilimanjaro are from Tsavo in Kenya. The Tanzanian’s don’t like that (laughs).

The island of Lamu. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Centre. It’s a very beautiful, very small island. There is just one car on the island, a Land Rover, which is the District Commissioner’s Car. This dates from colonial times. Lamu is an interesting place and filled with history.

Samburu and the Shaba area and it’s sometimes called Born Free Country as it’s where the lion conservationists George and Joy Adamson were based. It’s very different to the Maasai area down South. The Maasai area is quite green and very lush. The Samburu and Shaba area is more semi desert and has beautiful landscapes. The wildlife is also unique to that location – there’s the Somali ostrich, the Grevy zebra that has no stripes on its stomach, and the giraffe antelope, which stands on its hind legs and eats from the top of the trees. All other antelopes are grazers.

Kenya is a major exporter of tea and coffee and visiting the tea locations in the Great Rift Valley is an amazing experience. Most of our runners come from this high-altitude location, including Elliott Kipchoge who ran the recent sub 2 hour marathon and world record holder Bridget Kosgei.

Diani Beach on the South coast of Kenya, which was named Africa’s leading beach destination. It a blend of white sandy beaches, history and culture. Like most of our water parks it is a conservation location. There is whale shark spotting, kite surfing and deep sea diving, but most of all there is community. This is important too as it makes your experience very memorable.