Kenya is a country found in East Africa with a coastline on the Indian Ocean. It has the savannah, Lakelands, the amazing Great Rift Valley and mountain highlands. It also inhabits wildlife like lions, elephants and rhinos. It has beautiful sceneries like Nairobi city; the capital city that’s so adventurous with sparkling beauty and home to different ethnic groups including refuges, the Maasai Mara Reserve, that is rich in annual wildebeest migrations, and Amboseli National Park, that offers a view of Tanzania’s Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Kenya is bordered to the north by South Sudan and Ethiopia, to the east by Somalia and the Indian Ocean, to the south by Tanzania, and to the west by Lake Victoria and Uganda. The Meridian divides Kenya into two halves of striking contrast. The eastern half slopes gently to the coral-backed seashore and the western portion rises more abruptly through a series of hills and plateaus to the Eastern Rift Valley, known in Kenya as the Central Rift. Thus; Kenya is divided into: 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 country is so diverse with cultural musical artistic expressions that makes it a home for oral literature. Its prominent writers like Ngugi wa Thiong’o have made this adorable beauty reach out to different parts of the world by documenting it. Its many fables that share a lot on wisdom, tales of the Mau-Mau rebellion that led the country to independence, stories of great warriors that convey virtues of determination, tenacity and vicinity shared values give the country a sweet aroma worthy to taste.
Kenya is best known for its fine beaches, cities like Mombasa, its historic centres, tea plantations, and their variety of animal species that includes the cheetahs, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, lions and elephants. Its land scape that is both semi-desert and desert prompts many visitors to the country making tourism an important contributor to the country’s economy. Lava deposits in lake Victoria have given birth to fertile sandy loam soils in the north, volcanic fertile soils from mountain Elgon that are best for coffee and tea production. The most spread soils though, are the sandy soils between the coast and the rift valley.
The most widespread soils in Kenya, however, are the sandy soils of the semiarid regions between the coast and the Rift highlands. To the north of the Rift are vast areas covered by red desert soils, mainly sandy loams. Kenya’s soils are subject to widespread erosion largely because of the lack of forest cover; overgrazing and cultivation, especially in the arid and semiarid regions, also contribute to soil loss. From December to March, northeast winds predominate north of the Equator, while south to southeast winds dominate south of it. These months are fairly dry, although rain may occur locally. The rainy season extends from late March to May, with air flowing from the east in both hemispheres. From June to August there is little precipitation, and southwest winds prevail north of the Equator as southeast winds prevail in the south.
Much of its wildlife is found outside the countries numerous national parks and game reserves. For example; Baboons and zebras are found along Nairobi-Nakuru highway, close to human settlements and urban centres. The highland rainforests are a home to large mammals, more so elephants and rhinoceroses, Bushbuck, colobus monkeys, and, occasionally, galagos (bush babies) can also be found there. The bamboo zone contains varieties of duiker and some species of birds. Highland predators include lions, leopards, and wildcats. The most luxuriant animals like Zebra, Gazelle, ungulates, hartebeest, wildebeest (gnu), waterbuck, impala, eland, warthog, and buffalo that are preyed on by lions, spotted hyenas, leopards, cheetahs, and wild dogs are found in the substantial grasslands within forest zone and lower areas. Birds are many there together with rivers and lakes that inhabit fish, hippopotamuses and crocodiles. A good number of flamingos are found in the Rift valley at Lake Bogoria.
In the thorn bushes and thickets of the arid regions are elephants, rhinoceroses, lions, leopards, giraffes, gerenuk, impalas, dik-diks, and various kinds of kudu; suni antelope, buffalo, and elephants are found in the coastal forest. Hippopotamuses, crocodiles, and many varieties of fish are found in the large rivers, while the coastal waters contain abundant marine life, including butterfly fish, angelfish, rock cod, barracuda, and spiny lobsters.