Insight Guides Kenya

Insight Guides

Description

Insight Guides: all you need to inspire every step of your journey.

From deciding when to go, to choosing what to see when you arrive, this is all you need to plan your trip and experience the best of Kenya, with in-depth insider information on must-see, top attractions like Mount Kenya and the Maasai Mara National Reserve, and hidden cultural gems like the Gede Ruins.

·       Insight Guide Kenya is ideal for travellers seeking immersive cultural experiences, from exploring Kenya's national parks to discovering Diani Beach
·       In-depth on history and culture: enjoy special features on Kenya's mammals and Eating and entertainment, all written by local experts
·       Invaluable maps, travel tips and practical information ensure effortless planning, and encourage venturing off the beaten track
·       Inspirational colour photography throughout - Insight Guides is a pioneer of full-colour guide books
·       Inventive design makes for an engaging, easy reading experience

About Insight Guides: Insight Guides is a pioneer of full-colour guide books, with almost 50 years' experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides with user-friendly, modern design. We produce around 400 full-colour print guide books and maps, as well as phrase books, picture-packed eBooks and apps to meet different travellers' needs. Insight Guides' unique combination of beautiful travel photography and focus on history and culture create a unique visual reference and planning tool to inspire your next adventure.

Sujets

• Kenia
• East Africa
• Travel
• East
• Africa
• Kenya

Informations

• Publié par: APA
• Date de parution: 01 mai 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781789198270
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 6 Mo

Extrait

How To Use This E-Book

Getting around the e-book
This Insight Guide e-book is designed to give you inspiration for your visit to Kenya, as well as comprehensive planning advice to make sure you have the best travel experience. The guide begins with our selection of Top Attractions, as well as our Editor’s Choice categories of activities and experiences. Detailed features on history, people and culture paint a vivid portrait of contemporary life in Kenya. The extensive Places chapters give a complete guide to all the sights and areas worth visiting. The Travel Tips provide full information on getting around, activities from culture to shopping to sport, plus a wealth of practical information to help you plan your trip.
In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.
Maps
All key attractions and sights in Kenya are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map] just tap this to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.
Images
You’ll find hundreds of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of Kenya. Simply double-tap on an image to see it full-screen.
About Insight Guides
Insight Guides have more than 40 years’ experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce 400 full-colour titles, in both print and digital form, covering more than 200 destinations across the globe, in a variety of formats to meet your different needs.
Insight Guides are written by local authors, whose expertise is evident in the extensive historical and cultural background features. Each destination is carefully researched by regional experts to ensure our guides provide the very latest information. All the reviews in Insight Guides are independent; we strive to maintain an impartial view. Our reviews are carefully selected to guide you to the best places to eat, go out and shop, so you can be confident that when we say a place is special, we really mean it.

© 2019 Apa Digital (CH) AG and Apa Publications (UK) Ltd




Table of Contents
Kenya’s Top 10 Attractions
Editor’s Choice
Introduction: Home of the safari
The ancestral people
Decisive Dates
The earliest inhabitants
Swahili trade
European exploration and colonisation
The struggle for independence
The modern republic
Lie of the land
The safari experience
Mammals
Kenya’s reptiles
Kenya’s birds
Insight: Kenya’s avian giants
Plant life
Active pursuits
Sporting Kenya
Eating and entertainment
Introduction: Places
Nairobi
The Rift Valley lakes
The Maasai Mara
Insight: Maasai: nomads of the plains
Western Kenya: a scenic circuit
Insight: Palms, baobabs and other trees
Mount Kenya, the Aberdares and Laikipia
Northern Game Circuit
North to Lake Turkana
Amboseli National Park
Tsavo East and West
Mombasa
The South Coast
North to Malindi
Insight: The Swahili
To Lamu and beyond
Travel Tips: Transport
Travel Tips: A–Z
Travel Tips: Language
Travel Tips: Further Reading


Kenya’s Top 10 Attractions



Top Attraction 1



Mount Kenya. Enjoy Mount Kenya’s snow-capped peaks gleaming in the sun from one of numerous lodges accessible from the circular road that rings the mountain. For more information, click here
Shutterstock


Top Attraction 2



Maasai Mara National Reserve. The northern extension of the Serengeti ecosystem, this world-famous reserve is home to the legendary wildebeest migration for three months of the year, and to big cats and other animals throughout. For more information, click here
Ariadne Van Zandbergen/Apa publications


Top Attraction 3



Amboseli National Park. Kenya’s biggest and most habituated tuskers roam the plains and forage in the marshes below the magnificent snow-capped peak of Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain. For more information, click here
Ariadne Van Zandbergen/Apa publications


Top Attraction 4



Lake Nakuru National Park. Attracting millions of flamingos, Lake Nakuru is also the centrepiece of a compact national park that supports dense populations of black and white rhino alongside water and woodland birds. For more information, click here
Ariadne Van Zandbergen/Apa publications


Top Attraction 5



Lake Turkana. Set in the floor of the northern Rift Valley, Lake Turkana is home to the staunchly traditional pastoral Turkana and the El Molo fisherfolk, while its shores have yielded some of the world’s oldest hominin fossils. For more information, click here
Corbis


Top Attraction 6



Samburu-Buffalo Springs National Reserve. Northern Kenya’s best-known and most-developed safari destination is a good place to see dry-country specials such as Grevy’s zebra, reticulated giraffe and the bizarre gerenuk. For more information, click here
Ariadne Van Zandbergen/Apa publications


Top Attraction 7



Ol Pejeta Ranch. Set in the shadow of lofty Mount Kenya, this is the most accessible of the private reserves that dot the Laikipia Plateau and is home to Kenya’s only chimpanzee sanctuary. For more information, click here
Ariadne Van Zandbergen/Apa publications


Top Attraction 8



Watamu. In addition to its great beach, the tiny resort town of Watamu offers superb diving and snorkelling, as well as access to the brooding Gede Ruins and endemic-rich Arabuko-Sokoke Forest. For more information, click here
Ariadne Van Zandbergen/Apa publications


Top Attraction 9



Kisite Island. Arguably the best snorkelling site in Kenya, this tiny coral island, south of Diani, supports a mind-boggling diversity of colourful reef fish and is a good place to see larger marine creatures. For more information, click here
Alamy


Top Attraction 10



Diani Beach. East Africa’s ultimate kick-back-your-feet beach destination is incredibly quiet compared with its Mediterranean counterparts and has plenty of scope for exploring the likes of Shimba Hills. For more information, click here
iStock


Editor’s Choice




Blue monkeys, Mount Kenya National Park.
Ariadne Van Zandbergen/Apa publications


Best landscapes

Kilimanjaro at dusk or dawn. Kilimanjaro’s snowy cap emerging from its cloudy shroud is a spectacle best seen from Amboseli or Tsavo West National Parks. For more information, click here
Rift Valley from the Nairobi-Naivasha Road. Close to the town of Limuru, the Rift Valley opens up to offer a stirring view over the volcanic Mt Longonot to silvery Lake Naivasha. For more information, click here
Lamu archipelago from the air. The flight to Lamu culminates in a tantalising view over the turquoise channels, green mangroves, white beaches and craggy atolls that make up the archipelago. For more information, click here
Alpine moorland on Mt Kenya and Elgon . The upper slopes of Kenya’s two highest mountains support an otherworldly cover of heath-like moorland. For more information, click here and click here



Flamingos.
Ariadne Van Zandbergen/Apa publications


Best for birdwatching

Lake Naivasha . The water birds are the obvious attraction, but the surrounding bush also supports an incredible avian variety, from handsome auger buzzards to brightly coloured lovebirds. For more information, click here
Kakamega Forest . Home to dozens of forest species usually associated with the jungles of Central Africa, Kakamega is a must on any serious ornithological tour of Kenya. For more information, click here
Arabuko-Sokoke Forest . Although it lacks the immense avian variety of some highland forests, this coastal forest near Watamu hosts several rare endemic birds, such as Clarke’s weaver. For more information, click here
Flamingos at Bogoria and Nakuru . Up to a million flamingos might be seen aggregated at either of these Rift Valley lakes, tingeing their entire rims pink – a truly inspiring sight. For more information, click here



Fotolia


Best hiking and walking

Mount Kenya . The second-highest mountain in Africa offers some superb hiking opportunities, passing through lush montane forests, beautiful Afro-alpine moorlands en route to the craggy glacial peaks. For more information, click here
Longonot National Park . A stiff but rewarding half-day round trip from Naivasha, the perfect volcanic rim of Mt Longonot offers superb views over the surrounding Rift Valley plains. For more information, click here
Hell’s Gate National Park . Kenya’s most pedestrian-friendly savannah reserve offers easy walking conditions in a spectacular valley inhabited by giraffe