Kenya
Kenya is in the heart of African safari country and no Tarzan movie can
prepare
you for Kenya's wilderness. I chose Kenya because someday I want to
go on a
safari and I thought that by researching Kenya I would learn a little
more about
safaris. The major tourist attractions in Kenya are the safaris.
No other
country contains a greater variety of birds and animals than Kenya,
home of the
Safari. Kenya has about eleven different types of safaris:
Wildlife Safaris,
Orinthological Safaris/Bird Watching, Camel Safaris,
Hot Air Balloon Safaris,
Horse Riding Safaris, Cycle and Trekking
Safaris, Golf Safaris, Camping Safaris,
Sport Fishing, Conference and
Business Tourism, Mountaineering and Walking
Trails, and Safari Circuits.
There are so many different types of safaris that
deciding how to take a
safari, available on foot, by bicycle, by 4 wheel drive,
by camel, by horse,
by ox wagon, by balloon or by classical aerial safari, is
sometimes a
difficult decision. If you plan on going to Kenya and staying for
less than
thirty days, then a visa is not required. However, if u plan on a
longer
stay, you can get a visa before your trip or when you enter
Kenya.
Tourist visas require one application form, two passport photos,
an onward or
return ticket and the required fifty-dollar fee. Immunization
for Yellow fever
is recommended and Anti-malarial pills are recommended for
those people who are
traveling to the coastal regions of Kenya.
Anthropological discoveries indicate
that humans, perhaps the first on earth,
probably inhabited southern Kenya some
2 million years ago. In the Kenya
highlands farming and domestic herds can be
dated to 1000 BC Arab traders
settled on the coast by the 8th cent. AD,
establishing several city-states.
The Portuguese, who first visited the Kenya
coast in 1498, gained control of
much of it but were expelled by Arabs in 1729.
In 1886, under a
British-German agreement on spheres of influence in East
Africa, most of
present day Kenya passed to Britain, and in 1903, after a
railroad opened up
the interior, the first European settlers moved in. Under
Britain,
Europeans controlled the government, and Indians, who had arrived
earlier,
were active in commerce, while Africans were largely confined to
subsistence
farming or to work as laborers. Protests by Africans over their
inferior
status reached a peak in the so-called MAU-MAU emergency, an armed
revolt
against British rule. After the rebellion Britain increased
African
representation in the legislative council, and in 1963 Kenya
gained
independence. The country became a republic in 1964, with Jomo
Kenyatta as
president. The first decade of independence was marked by
disputes among ethnic
groups, especially the Kikuyu and the Luo, by the
exodus of many Europeans and
Asians, and by sporadic fighting with
Somalia over boundary issues. Daniel Arap
Moi of the Kenya African
National Union succeeded to the presidency after
Kenyatta's death in
1978. A stable democracy in 1978, Kenya under Moi became a
one-party state
and, increasingly, a dictatorship. Undermined by growing
internal opposition
and international resistance to supplying aid to his
government, Moi agreed
to end one-party rule in 1991, but social and political
unrest, especially
tribal conflicts that Moi's government has been accused of
promoting,
continued. Moi was reelected president in 1992 in a multiparty
election that
his opponents denounced as fraudulent. Since 1993, the government
of Kenya
has implemented a program of economic liberalization and reform. Steps
have
included the removal of import licensing and price controls, removal
of
foreign exchange controls, fiscal and monetary restraint, and reduction of
the
public sector through privatizing publicly owned companies and downsizing
the
civil service. The government has the support of the World Bank,
IMF
(International Monetary Fund), and other donors, and along with them
these
reforms have led to a turnaround in economic performance following a
period of
negative growth in the early 1990s. Kenya's real GDP (Gross
Domestic Product)
grew at 5% in 1995 and 4% in 1996, and inflation remained
under control.
Economic growth slowed in 1997-98. The exchange rate from
U.S. Dollars ($) to
Kenyan Shillings (KSh) is $1---76.30KSh. Political
violence damaged the tourist
industry, and the IMF allowed Kenya's Enhanced
Structural Adjustment Program to
lapse due to the government's failure to
enact reform conditions and to
adequately address public sector corruption.
Moreover, El Nino rains destroyed
crops and damaged an already crumbling
infrastructure in 1997 and 1998.
Long-term barriers to development
include electricity shortages, the
government's continued and inefficient
dominance of key sectors, endemic
corruption, and the country's high
population growth rate. I think that Kenya
has enormous potential for future
growth. I think that if political violence
ceases, the tourist industry can
once more be at a high. The government also
needs to address the issues of
corruption. Also, once the crops that were
devastated during El Nino have
been restored. a large part of Kenya's economy
will be restored. I think that
in the next ten years, Kenya will have a great
economic growth. Although
Kenya is a beautiful and exciting place to go, I would
not recommend going
there now because of all the economic and political problems
that the country
is facing. I would recommend going to Kenya in a couple of
years when,
hopefully, their economy is starting to get better. I also hope to
go to
Kenya someday when it has a good economy and less political and
economical
struggles.