Kenya
Approximately 10% of Kenya’s population lives in Nairobi, population 4 million–about 4 times the total population of Swaziland. It sprawls over many miles with the characteristics of any major city in the world, consisting of the same contrasts of poverty, traffic, and crime vs. modern buildings, civilized neighborhoods, and cosmopolitan choices in food. Rick and Wendy had visited Nairobi in 1997 during their first safari adventure. When they settled down to live there in 2007, initially Nairobi didn’t look and feel much different from their first, brief visit. However, during their year-long stay, it became clear how much had changed. Of course touring vs. living in a city or country is very different. By 2007 many parts of Nairobi had entered the Internet/Mobile Phone age, and had become entrepreneurial, more Westernized, and generally more sophisticated.
Kenya’s Maasai Mara–Animals & Tribal Culture
Perhaps two of the most famous safari locations in Africa are the adjacent Serengeti National Park in Tanzania and Maasai Mara in Kenya. During approximately August through September, columns with millions of Wildebeests and Zebras migrate back and forth between the...
Rural Kenya Starts on Edges of Cities
Though the Walleighs spent lots of time working and living in Nairobi in 2007, during their many visits to Kenya, starting in 1997 and into 2012, they passed through many rural areas of the country. It fascinated them how rural zones merge with the edges of most...
Central Kenya: Aberdare, Treetops, The Ark and Lewa Downs
The Walleighs took another trip to central Kenya with their friends Fred and Judy (and their adorable sons) to the Outspan Hotel near Aberdare National Park, not far from Mt. Kenya. While there, Rick and Wendy traveled nearby to the Treetops resort, famous for its...
Kenya’s Alkaline Lakes–Nakuru & Elementaita–AND Hellsgate
Wendy and Rick's first day trip in 2007 was about two hours north of Nairobi to the so-called soda aka alkaline lakes, which attract thousands of Flamingoes every year because of these lakes' huge population of fresh-water shrimp (lending the Flamingoes their pink...
Kenya’s Blue-Tongued Giraffes, Adopted Elephants and Tsavo Park’s Man-Eating Lions
Langata Giraffe Sanctuary: Even without U.S. visitors coming to Nairobi, Wendy and Rick wanted to visit the famous Langata Giraffe Sanctuary on the outskirts of Nairobi near the town of Karen (named after Karen Blixen of Out of Africa Fame). It was founded in the...
Kenya: In and Around Nairobi Plus Office Colleagues
Approximately 10% of Kenya's population lives in Nairobi, population 4 million--about 4 times the total population of Swaziland. It sprawls over many miles with the characteristics of any major city in the world, consisting of the same contrasts of poverty, traffic,...
Kenya Coast’s Watamu and Lamu Island
Whimsical Watamu: Friends Anna and Greg discovered that Kitengela’s Croze family also owned a large rental home on the coast north of Mombasa in a beach town called Watamu. They invited a group of friends for a weekend at the Croze home in Watamu. After a brief...
Kenya Successes: Subsistence to Substance to Business Success for Small Banana Farmers & Traders
Many of Kenya’s central and eastern rural poor have a few banana trees in their yards. But despite Kenya’s large overall banana crop, farmers are virtually unconnected to urban wholesalers, retailers, and consumers in cities like Nairobi, Kisumu or Mombasa.* These...
Kenya Successes: Prime Coffee-Growing Region Now Supplies Worldclass Premium Coffee
Across Africa and Latin America, TechnoServe works with farmers to sustainably improve the quality and quantity of the coffee they produce.* It helps link small-scale farmers to specialty coffee buyers who pay a premium for their high-quality beans. The higher incomes...
Kenya Successes: TechnoServe Organized Small-Scale Dairy Farms for Large-Scale Impact
Kenyans drink a lot of milk. This tradition is probably derived from tribal culture—particularly the Maasai tribe--where cows represent wealth. However, the vast majority of dairy farmers own less than ten cows, each of which typically produces ten gallons of milk...
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