Long famed for its safari parks, Kenya is an extraordinarily diverse nation, with high plateaux, forested mountains, and some of Africa's loveliest beaches. Throughout the country, Kenya is teeming with wildlife. Distinct habitats include highland and lowland forests, grasslands, desert, and wetlands, including lakes, rivers and mangrove forests. Aside from the big cats, elephants, rhinos and giraffe, a wealth of mammals thrive throughout these diverse ecosystems. Monkeys, bushbabies, antelopes, hyenas, wild pigs, and more fascinate the travelers. The relationships between predator and prey, and the behaviour of the herds and individual animals, are all fascinating. Indeed, many travelers on safari begin their journey in search of photo opportunities of the Big Five, and return home spellbound by the behaviour of baboon troops, or the enchanting courting rituals of weaver birds. Kenya's lakes and rivers attract splendid ibis and herons. The air is filled with birds of prey, including the splendid bateleur, whose silver wings are the hallmark of this awesome eagle.

Kenya's climate and temperature follow general seasons, which are strongly influenced by altitude. Broadly speaking, January and February are hot and dry, while the period from March to May is hot and wet. June through October sees warm, dry weather, and is the most popular period for many travelers. November and December are generally warm and wet. With the above in mind, Kenya's mountain forests and high plateaux provide soothing respite from the heat, and an invigorating breath of fresh air in the hot season. Coastal afficionadoes will find the snorkeling best from October to January. Indeed, this period can be the best for a combined journey, taking in the full spectacular range of Kenya's many charms.

While it is the wildlife of the nation that jumps to people's minds when they think of Kenya, her cultural history is also fascinating. Kenya is often referred to as the Cradle of Mankind, with the earliest remnants of our ancestors being found on the shores of Lake Turkana. The volcanic activity of the Rift Valley has preserved these ancient remains, bequeathing us with a clear textbook of our earliest history. This area was the home of our earliest ancestors. Much later on, communities of hunter-gatherers spread throughout the region. Cushitic-speaking people from the Ethiopian highlands traveled south, establishing more complex societies. Today, burial cairns and other ancient remains of these societies are found near Nakuru.

Modern Kenya is an ethnically diverse nation, with three broad linguistic groups - the Nilotic, Bantu and Cushitic - accounting for the majority of the country's different groups. These groups have inhabited Kenya for thousands of years. As well as new languages and cultures, these groups brought iron, which revolutionized society, allowing for forest clearance and advanced agriculture. By 1000 AD, Kenya's Stone Age cultures had been superceded by Iron Age communities, who traded extensively between themselves and with their hunter-gatherer neighbors. Farmers cultivated Asian food crops, introduced to the region by Indonesian traders who had established themselves in Madagascar.

Kenya's coast was a meeting point for Asian, Arabic and African traders, whose amalgam was the root of Swahili culture, which still thrives today. The Swahili were the first Kenyans to use firearms and written language. Today, the coastal culture retains its distinctive atmosphere. Here, Islam predominates, and extensive archaeological remains present a strong sense of pre-colonial African culture.

In the 16th century, European influence began, as the Portuguese established trading posts, and brought new crops, increased material wealth, and a new range of cultural and political influences. Inland, Kenya's current ethnic makeup was taking shape, with migrations of Luo speakers from the north, as well as the Turkana, Maasai and Samburu. The nomadic pastoral lifestyle of these latter groups is today one of the most common, and romanticized, features of Kenya's cultural landscape.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the scramble for Africa was on. European powers were frantically carving up the continent, seeking political control and economic dominance. Britain declared Kenya and Uganda protectorates in 1885, and marked their new role with the construction of a railway, which was to radically alter the future of the region. For the first time, there was a fast and reliable link between the interior and the coast. The journey from Europe to the heart of Africa was now a mere month, and the cool, fertile Kenyan highlands were within easy reach of European settlers and adventurers. Also, the railway sliced through the Maasai heartland, thus limiting the political prowess of the community, and opening up their grazing lands, along with Kalenjin and Kikuyu land, to the expansionist movements of European settlers. By 1916, almost half of available, viable land had been taken over by Europeans, who cultivated livestock, coffee, tea, and more. The local population was overrun with foreigners, who increasingly alienated and offended local sensibilities, and brought in a system of forced labor. Hundreds of thousands of Africans were conscripted in World War 1, which sowed the seeds of eventual native independence. The post-war period was marked with the rise of political groups fighting against pass laws, taxes, and the lack of land rights. There was also great debate over the issue of allowing the native population to be taught English: Kikuyu independent schools were established to provide education for the local populace. These schools eventually produced some of the leaders of the independence movement, notably Jomo Kenyatta. The period after WWII saw the full development of the Kenyan Independence movement. In 1952, the Mau Mau Rebellion erupted, and the battle for independence began in earnest. Full independence began in 1963. Since independence, the population has nearly quadrupled, and there have been struggles to maintain multi-party democracy.