May 27, 2008, 5:11 GMT
Nairobi - From the hotels on the coconut palm-studded beaches of Mombasa, just a two-hour drive south-west will take you to the wilderness of Kenya's Shimba Hills which were the inspiration for Ernest Hemingway's non-fiction novel Green Hills of Africa.
Visitors are almost certain to encounter elephants in the small Shimba Hills National Reserve. And Tsavo East National Park, one of the largest national parks in the East African nation, is only a few hours' drive from Mombasa.
Kenya's people are friendly, but that is not the only reason tourists are treated with abundant courtesy. The country relies heavily on the money spent by visitors from around the world. Tourism is its most important industry along with the export of cut flowers - - more important than the cultivation of tea and coffee in the highlands.
Samuel Owiyo, a waiter in a restaurant of a four-star hotel on Mombasa's northern coast, is busy these days. Most of the people he waits on are Kenyans, though. The few whites who come in are not free-spending European tourists in town for a good while, but whites who work in Nairobi and head for the coast only on weekends.
'You've got to tell your friends in Europe that they can come here without danger,' Owiyo told a guest in a tone that was almost imploring.
Pictures of the bloody unrest following last December's presidential election have dealt a severe blow to Kenya's tourism industry. Hotels and beaches were left deserted by the spate of cancelled trips.
In the view of many Kenyan hotel employees, travel warnings by foreign governments were exaggerated and unnecessary. Although businesses in Mombasa were ransacked and huts were burned down, the violence was centred in poor districts where much of the hotel staff live, but no tourists.
Along the coast of the Indian Ocean, coral reefs and the marine national park afford places to scuba dive and snorkel. People who prefer less strenuous activities can board a glass-bottomed boot or dhow, a traditional Arab sailboat, and watch colourful fish in the crystal-clear water or even dolphins if they are lucky and the time of year is right.
The most popular national parks besides Tsavo are Amboseli National Park, where Mount Kilimanjaro, in neighbouring Tanzania, is visible when the weather is fine, and Massai Mara, widely regarded as Kenya's most beautiful game reserve. The savannah in Massai Mara is better for animal watching than the landscape at Tsavo, where lush underbrush after the rainy season makes sightings more difficult.
Giraffes, zebras and antelopes of all kinds are bound to be seen on game drives, and herds of elephants are easy to spot too. Lions and cheetahs usually stay out of sight during the day, but visitors have a good chance of seeing the big cats at twilight with the help of a safari driver acquainted with the reserve.
Some luxury lodges offer their guests supper overlooking a watering place, or breakfast with a view of hippos' morning bath.
In addition to the well-known tourist attractions, Kenya has areas that are now being developed for tourism and are known largely to insiders only. One is Lake Victoria, in western Kenya on the Ugandan and Tanzanian borders. The largest lake in Africa and second-largest freshwater lake in the world, it is an avian paradise. Fish eagles, pelicans, cormorants, and herons vie for fish there with fishermen from surrounding villages, as well as with visiting anglers.
The Lamu Archipelago, in the Indian Ocean, is like something out of 'The Thousand and One Nights.' For centuries, Omani merchants put their stamp on the development of Swahili culture in coastal Kenya, a legacy that remains largely intact in the town of Lamu on Lamu Island. No cars clog Lamu's narrow streets - the island's only means of transport are donkeys and boats. Women are veiled, and men wear traditional, long white garments.
The braying of donkeys and sound of the ocean intermingle with the call of muezzins from the island's numerous mosques. The people of Lamu are tolerant, but proud of their culture and intent on preserving their traditional way of life.
'Our children see you and watch you,' reads a note by the local tourism office distributed in the island's hotels. Female tourists, in particular, should therefore dress appropriately.
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