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East African Safari
Air
Kenya's newest
International airline, has commenced air services
between London, Paris and Rome and Nairobi and
Mombasa. The Airline's Boeing 767 service offers 2
flights a week on a Rome- Paris- Nairobi- Mombasa
route and 4 weekly flights to London. This means
much greater air access between Europe and East
Africa. The airline is backed up by its own
domestic fleet, called East African Safari Air
Express. Their domestic network covers Mombasa and
Malindi on the Kenyan coast and connects to Mount
Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar in Tanzania, with Fokker
28 and Gulfstream 1 aircraft. The combination of
International and Domestic services have made East
African Safari Air Flights a popular choice for
travellers heading to Kenya for Safari and/or Beach
holidays.
SAIL INTO THE
PAST
If you are looking for a safari with a real
difference, an all new Sailing Safari based around
the historical island of Lamu offers an enticing
blend of adventure, history, culture and romance.
This fascinating safari is one of the first tourism
projects to be funded and assisted by the Tourism
Trust fund of the European Union, which is working
to spread the benefits of sustainable eco-tourism
and community tourism throughout Kenya. The 7-day
safari is a joint effort between African Quest
Safaris, the Kenya National Museum and the local
communities of the Lamu Archipelago.
Sailing from
Lamu's stone town, a traditional dhow will carry
you along the waters of the antique spice trade,
through a beautiful tropical archipelago,
discovering ancient ruins and visiting small
villages where East Africa's Swahili culture is at
its most pure and welcoming.The island of Lamu is
regarded as one of the most exotic and romantic
places on earth- where life has changed little over
the centuries, a place with own unique, relaxed
lifestyle and atmosphere. The winding narrow
streets of its 14th Century Stone Town (recently
declared a World Heritage Site) are filled with
living history, and the air is rich with the aroma
of spices.
In Lamu there are
no cars, and all transport is by foot or donkey-
ensuring that life is lived at its own leisurely
pace. The Dhow Safari uses Lamu as a base for
exploring the neighbouring islands of Manda, Pate
and Kiwaayu- where visitors discover some of East
Africa's oldest settlements, including the ghostly
ruins of Takwa and the remote settlement of Siyu.
Transport is by sailing dhow, and the islands will
be explored on foot using donkeys as pack
animals.
Local guides are
on hand to bring the fascinating history of the
archipelago to life- but this is no staid museum
tour. The safari visits small villages throughout
the islands, and time is spent learning about the
traditions and cultures of the local people,
sampling the local cuisine and
lifestyle.
At Siyu, guests
will attend a special night Ngoma in the village
square, where &endash; traditional dancers &endash;
men dressed in White majestically twirl their
sticks and sing to the music of the piper and the
slow beating of the drum under a starlit
sky.
The safari reaches
its end at Kiwaayu, an uninhabitated paradise,
where there is plenty of time for swimming,
snorkeling and relaxing on the beach.
This competitively
priced safari is perfect for anyone looking for a
genuine adventure, and promises to give visitors a
first and experience of the history and culture of
this region.
BUNGEE JUMPING
IN KENYA
The opening of
East Africa's first Bungee Jumping operation on the
banks of the Tana River at Sagana, just 95 kms
North of Nairobi, has bolstered Kenya's reputation
as Africa's premier adventure destination
"Bungeewalla" now offers high adrenaline jumps at
their base and campsite, shared with the country's
most popular White WaterRafting outfift.
This combination
of rafting and Bungee makes the Tana a one stop
adventure centre. Bungee jumping is a popular
extreme sport worldwide. Started in New Zealand, it
involves jumping from bridges or towers with your
ankles attached to a long rubber bungee cord.
Kenya's bungee is from a specially constructed 60
metre tower over the Tana River. Jumpers ascend the
tower attached to a safety rail by specialized
climbing harnesses. Once at the top, they are
fitted with the bungee cord, and are then free to
take the plunge over the wild waters of the Tana.
After the jump, they are collected in a raft, and
returned to the bank to rest, recover, or even take
to the rapids and raft.
The bungee
location is an ideal stop en route to Mt Kenya or
Samburu- and can be combined with a day's White
Water rafting on the Tana.
KENYA'S COAST:
KITESURFING PARADISE
A recent tour by
the Blues III Professional Kitesurfing Team from
Italy has confirmed Kenya's place as a major
destination for this exciting new sport.
Kitesurfing is a faster, more thrilling alternative
to Windsurfing. With a Kite powering the board
instead of a sail, a strong wind and waves allow
the surfer to perform acrobatic jumps, flips and
turns. The 14 day Blues III tour took in the best
of the Kenya coast with time off for safaris in
nearby Tsavo National Park.
This combination
of wind, waves and wildlife makes this an ideal
location for the Kitesurfing fanatic. The Prosurf's
Kite & Windsurf Centre at Nyali Beach has top
notch equipment and training for both professional
and amateur wave riders, while the conditions at
Che-Shale near Malindi make for world class
Kite-surfing. So perfect, in fact, are the
conditions at Che Shale that it has become a host
for international Kits Surfing championships. The
trade winds that once brought the spice trade to
the Kenya coast are now spicing up the waters as
travelers looking for waterborne adventure converge
to ride the waves.
RETURN OF THE
BONGO
Eighteen African
antelopes bred in North America have arrived in
Kenya in an effort to save the species from
extinction in its native habitat, in the first ever
"repatriation" of large zoo bred African
mammals.
The shipment of
the elegant mountain bongos from a breeding program
in U.S. and Canadian zoos, are to be moved into a
Game ranch near Mt Kenya.
A large antelope
with red fur interspersed with fine white stripes,
the mountain bongo- a native to the Kenyan
highlands, is considered a prize specimen for zoos
around the world. The average male bongo weighs
about 250 kg (550 lbs) and its horns can grow to a
length of one meter (3 ft 3 in).
There are 400
bongo living in American zoos, more than four times
the wild population, which has been decimated by
poaching and habitat loss. The newly arrived 18 are
the first batch of 60 that will be taken to Kenya
by 2006 in a project backed by the U.N. Development
Program and several conservation
organizations.
The repatriated
zoo antelopes will not be able to survive in the
wild, and will be kept captive at the game ranch.
It will be their offspring that are eventually
released into the adjacent Mount Kenya National
Park in a few years, said Nancy Chege, an
environmentalist monitoring the program.
This program is
great news for the diversity of the Mt Kenya
Forests, recently named a World Heritage Site. The
bongo has come to symbolize this high and wild
region, and now visitors to the Mountain may once
again catch a glimpse of this rare and elusive
creature.
SNAKE
SAFARI
Kenya has 126
species of Snakes- yet most visitors to the country
leave without seeing one of these shy and elusive
reptiles. The question is- What if you would
actually like to see one? An all new Specialized
Safari outfit is offering a Kenya Snakes Safari- a
genuine adventure that combines wild walks, river
rafting, visits to witch doctors' caves and
tracking down Kenya's top 5 snake
species.
The trip is called
the Big 5 Snake Safari in reference to the popular
term for the 5 most popular African Big Game
species- Lion, Leopard, Buffalo, Rhino and
Elephant.
In this case- this
Safari goes in search of the most impressive
species of African snake- the Python, Boomslang,
Puff Adder, Cobra and the Mamba.
This trip is run
by some of Kenya's top reptile experts and
professional snake catchers. The aim of the entire
venture is to promote education and awareness of
snakes, and to demonstrate through firsthand
experience that these creatures play an important
and fascinating role in African eco-systems, and
rarely live up to their maligned and mythologized
reputations as aggressive killers.
Anyone joining the
safari will discover that snakes are extremely shy
of humans, and will go to great lengths to avoid
people. This makes finding the "Big 5" species in a
single safari a genuine challenge.
In fact, it's this
challenge that makes this safari what it is: an
adventure- it involves a lot of travel through a
range of habitats and landscapes, tracking down
snakes through forests, dry river beds, rocky
cliffs and mangroves. The safari takes in plenty of
other wildlife along the way as well, as well as
village visits, wild camping, rafting and time off
on one of the world's best beaches.
If you are looking
for a wildlife safari that doesn't involve taking
photos from the safety of a vehicle, and would like
to get out and explore and interact with wild
animals up close and personal, and have a genuine
adventure, then this is the trip for
you.
KENYA TOURIST
BOARD
rkwena@kenyatourism.org
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