Kenya is a marvelous destination for those seeking to travel and visit Africa. The people are warm and welcoming, the country has a mix of wilderness and modern city life, warm white sandy beaches at the coast, the snowcapped mountains, and many more attractions that are well hidden waiting to be discovered.
People travel for various reasons such as holidays, discovery, fun, work, and many more. Though some of the travel is imposed on us such as work. Often travel is voluntary and involves an aspect of fun and discovery, these kinds of travels are the ones filled with lots of personal satisfaction.
Discovering and experiencing new places, cultures and people excites some of the travel addicts. If you are one of these people, then the excitement of learning and experiencing something different other than what you are used to is enough motivation to set aside funds and pack your bags and head out to satisfy these desires. Traveling by its nature pushes one out of the comfort of their home and the known into the unknown, this is more true when one travels to a new place where you may know little or nothing about.
Kenya is a world-renowned tourist destination in Africa earning USD 1.61 Billion and had arrivals of above 2 million people in 2019. The vast majority of tourists came primarily attracted by the country’s wildlife and the coastal sandy beaches. However, there is more offered than these two dominant touristic attractions such as cultural tourism, sports tourism, and Agritourism.
Cultural tourism in Kenya is still not very well developed despite having a wealth of heritage that the country can share with the rest of the world. Kenya has been influenced by several worlds culture owing to its location. Starting from the 15th Century when the Portuguese paid a visit to the Kenyan coast led by Vasco da Gama. They left their marks such as the Fort Jesus in Mombasa and the Vasco da Gama pillar in Malindi. Closely after the Portuguese came the Arabs who visited Mombasa led by Sultan Sayed Said. The Arabs influence is still on till today the greatest being in the Swahili language spoken widely within the East African region. After the Arabs, then came the British missionaries and explorers who were closely followed by the British Colonialists.
All these different cultures left a mark in Kenya and influenced the country somehow. Additionally, Kenya is a diverse country with over 47 Tribes who have distinct cultures and offer a glimpse of the traditional life to would be a Cultural tourist or to the person who seeks to discover and learn more about humanity. Below are some of the cultural attractions around Kenya.
2. Karen Blixen Museum
Sports tourism is another touristic attraction in Kenya that is gaining popularity in the recent past. Kenya is famous in the world’s athletics circle for its long-distance and marathon runners who dominate different athletic meets in the world. These athletics dominance has been since the country gained independence and has largely remained so to date with the occasional rivalry from our neighbors in Ethiopia. Unfortunately, it took long for the country to realize the need to tap into sports tourism and offer the experience to foreign athletes who would want to experience or get to train with these legends. The major sports attractions in Kenya are;
1. Football
2. Water sports on the Kenyan coast
3. Athletics
4. Mountaineering
All these sports attract a different kind of tourists and it is worth looking at them in-depth. Though for this article I wish to constrain myself to the athletics since this is big for Kenya and we have unrivaled dominance in the world circles unlike the other sports listed above.
It is a known secret that most of the long-distance athletes, who have represented Kenya in world marathons or long-distance running hail from a small town in the Rift valley called Iten. It is a beautiful place with breathtaking scenic views nested up in the Kenyan highlands. Most athletes including Eliud Kipchoge of the Eneos 1:59 challenge all have had their stint training in Iten. It is normal to come across a famous athlete running and training with other younger upcoming athletes along the paths in Iten.
In the last twenty years, the Kenyan government realized that this was a gem that could be developed to offer diversity in the tourism sector by attracting sports enthusiastic tourists to these part of the country and in the process create job opportunities for the local people and open up these part of the country for the tourists to experience the scenic beauty as they have an opportunity to train with the world-famous athletes.
Some centers have been established over these years such as the High Altitude training center (HATC) which is one of the well-equipped centers around Iten. The center is open to both recreational and professional athletes. It is not odd for tourists while staying here to have a chance of meeting and speaking with one or several of the world-known names in the athletic circles. It is a noteworthy diversion for anyone touring the country. You can find out more from their site High Altitude Training Centre.
Agritourism is gaining a lot of traction recently with big farms and estate incorporating the farm tour in the itinerary of the tourists. Most of these farms work in collaboration with tour operators who desire to offer more than the traditional touristic experience to their clients and are looking to differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack.
This has added flair and enriched the tourists' experience during their trips to Kenya. This is especially so for the repeat tourist who never had such an experience before. Most visitors from Europe and North America for instance enjoy world-renowned Kenyan coffee through big coffee café franchises such as Starbucks and would like to understand what it takes to get that cup of coffee they enjoy in their hands. Therefore for farms that offer such experiences and education to these tourists are gaining popularity and this in turn gives the farm a chance to sell their products and establish a relationship with the visitors. This relationship ends up being very satisfying to both parties involved. One such coffee estate recommend for such tours is Fairview Coffee Estate which is approximately thirty minutes’ drive away from the Nairobi City Centre
All in all, Kenya has a lot to offer a traveler and as always we say Karibuni (Swahili word for Welcome) with open arms.
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