No other country on earth can offer the visitor as much to see and do.
Within the borders of a single country, you will find savannahs rich
with big game, timeless cultures unchanged by the modern world,
pristine beaches and coral reef, equatorial forests and mighty
snow-capped mountains, searing deserts and cool highland retreats and
endless opportunities for adventure, discovery, relaxation; more than
you would ever expect.
Location and topography
Kenya lies astride the equator on
the eastern coast of Africa. It is a medium-sized country by
continental standards, covering an area of about 586,600km sq. Inland
water bodies cover some 10,700km sq, the bulk of this in Lakes Victoria
and Turkana. Kenya has tremendous topographical
diversity, including glaciated mountains with snow-capped peaks, the
Rift Valley with its scarps and volcanoes, ancient granitic hills, flat
desert landscapes and coral reefs and islets.
Kenya's Climate
Generally the climate is warm
and humid at the coast, cool and humid in the central highlands, and
hot and dry in the north and east. Across most of the country,
rainfall is strongly seasonal, although its pattern, timing and extent
vary greatly from place to place and from year to year. Rainfall
peaks in most areas are in November and April.
Kenya's Water resources
There are five major
drainage basins: Lake Victoria, the Rift Valley, the Athi-Galana-Sabaki
River (and Coastal areas to its south), the Tana River and the northern
Ewaso Ng’iro. The
rift valley contains several basins of internal drainage, forming a
chain of endorheic lakes from Lake Natron on the Tanzanian border,
through Lakes Magadi, Naivasha, Turkana, Elementaita, Nakuru, Bogoria
and Baringo. These lakes vary in alkalinity; from fresh water Lake Naivasha to the intensely alkaline Lake Magadi.
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