Kenya is best known for it’s safari parks and game reserves, but apart from wildlife safari the Kenya safari traveler is spoilt for choice having numerous other activities one can engage in. Below is a list of things one can do while on a Kenya Safari holiday.
Shop at the Maasai Market
The maasai market in Nairobi offers a great experience for safari-travelers. At these open-air markets travelers can find curios, paintings, drawings, clothes and fabrics with East African prints, jewellery and wood-carvings, many hand-made in Kenya by local artisans. You can buy all your souveniers and gifts in one-go but get ready for some serious bargaining. Haggling is expected and if you like this you’re in for a treat! Maasai Markets rule is generally to offer between half and two thirds of the initial price and carry on from there.
Nairobi Java House
Nairobi Java House is the popular name associated with the finest hand-roasted coffee in Kenya. Over fifteen branches of Nairobi Java House exist in different locations of Nairobi city in Kenya. The Nairobi Java House coffee cafes and restaurants in Kenya pride themselves in being the best in the coffee business in Kenya as far as mouth watering beverages are concerned. So what can you expect from a Nairobi Java House in Kenya? Well, you can expect high quality and invigorating coffee in Kenya in Nairobi Java House cafes in Nairobi. However, coffee is not the only thing available at a Nairobi Java House.
You can also expect other delicious beverages in Nairobi Java House. Nairobi Java House in Kenya serves sumptuous tea, lemonade and a variety of appetizing shakes in Nairobi. Is it any wonder that Kenyans gravitate towards Nairobi Java House? Nairobi Java House is a great spot in Nairobi for meeting with friends and business associates.
Dine at the Carnivore
Twice making the world’s 50 best restaurants by Restaurant Magazine, Nairobi’s Canivore restaurant was made for meat lovers. A giant roasting pit resides near the entrance of the building, covered in traditional Maasai swords ladened with hunks of meaty goodness from just about every animal you can think of that’s not on the endangered species list.
Constantly being turned and basted over the pit are selections of the likely suspects at any BBQ – Chicken wings, sausages, spare ribs, lamb, and different cuts of pork and beef. For the more adventurous there are bolder choices, such as camel, crocodile, ostrich, and tasty kidney morsels. After being seated and served some gratuitous soup and bread and introduced to a double-decker revolving tray of exotic sauces, the diners are then inundated with servers carrying the meat-encumbered Maasai swords, offering the succulent outside cut of whatever strikes the customers fancy.
Besides the meat orgy, Carnivore also has a nightclub, gardens, a playground for children, signature cocktails, an events area, an African heritage gallery, and believe it or not, a vegetarian menu.
Visit the Nairobi National Museum & Nairobi Snake Park
Kenya’s wonderful National Museum, housed in an imposing building amid lush, leafy grounds just outside the centre, has a good range of cultural and natural-history exhibits.
Visit Mamba Village
Mamba Village Nairobi situated an estimated 13 kilometers away from Kenya’s capital city – off the Lang’ata – Karen road. This is a great place to see crocodiles, ostriches, giraffes, and even rabbits in Nairobi. With so many crocodiles here you get the opportunity to touch baby crocs.
The resort is a perfect getaway especially for guests who are bound to enjoy the boat rides, viewing the crocodiles, feeding the ostriches and other various activities. Another interesting activity is the camel and horse ride.
David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust
The Maasai Ostrich Farm
Touch the Skies at the Giraffe Center
This centre, which protects the highly endangered Rothschild’s giraffe, combines serious conservation with enjoyable activities. You can observe, hand-feed or even kiss one of the giraffes from a raised wooden structure.
Karen Blixen’s House & Museum
If you loved Out of Africa, you’ll love this museum in the farmhouse where author Karen Blixen lived between 1914 and 1931. She left after a series of personal tragedies, but the lovely colonial house has been preserved and is now a museum.
Fort Jesus
This 16th-century fort and Unesco World Heritage treasure is Mombasa’s most visited site. The fort was built by the Portuguese in 1593 to serve as both symbol and headquarters of their permanent presence in this corner of the Indian Ocean. There’s a museum in the centre of the fort that displays finds from 42 Portuguese warships that were sunk during the Siege in 1697.
Lamu Museum
The best museum in town (and the second best in Kenya) is housed in a grand Swahili warehouse on the waterfront. This is as good a gateway as you’ll get into Swahili culture and that of the archipelago in particular.
Lamu Cultural Festival
Maralal Camel Derby
Rhino Charge
Lake Turkana Festival
The lake Turkana Festival takes place annually in Loiyangalani, a small town located on the south-eastern coast of Lake Turkana. The 3 day carnival is a celebration of the rich cultures of the El Molo, Samburu, Gabbra, Rendile, Watta, Dasannach and the Turkana all who live around the Jade Sea. The Lake Turkana Festival is worth attending as you explore this northern frontier and enjoy the myriad of colorful cultures while discovering the hidden treasures of Lake Turkana.
Visit Hell Gate National Park
Go on an Aberdares National Park Safari
Aberdare National Park is as famous for its lovely waterfalls as its rare species of rhino, black leopard, and bongo antelope. The regular rains keep the park green year round and the temperatures cool, perfect for hiking.
Masai Mara Wildebeest Migration Safari
A masai mara safari needs no introduction. It is one of the most visited parks by both international and local visitors. As an all year round destination, the masai mara has abundant wildlife through out the year but is perhaps best known for the annual wildebeest migration that takes place and the famous mara river crossings.
Amboseli Safari
Just a four-hour drive from the vibrant capital of Nairobi, the dusty plains of Amboseli lie 1,150 metres above sea level and are home to over 50 mammals, including one of the most notable elephant populations in Africa. Amboseli is elephant country and most people going on an amboseli safari go to see perhaps the few remaining areas in Africa where elephants can still roam freely with the indigenous people herding their cattle.
Tsavo National Park Safari
Tsavo is known for the Tsavo Man-Eaters who were a pair of man-eating East African lions from what is today Tsavo National Park. These man eaters were responsible for the deaths of a number of construction workers on the Kenya-Uganda Railway from March through December 1898. The significance of this pair of lions was their unusual behavior, such as the number of men killed and the manner of the attacks. These lions are said to have eaten over 135 workers. Today Tsavo National Park is split into Tsavo East and Tsavo West. The Tsavo parks are vast and the landscape is wild. Tsavo East is less developed than Tsavo West but more accessible. In Tsavo West, you can watch elephants bathe among the hippos and the crocs from a unique vantage point of an under-water glass tank.
Mombasa
Gedi Ruins
This extensive collection of 13th- to 17th-century coral palaces, mosques and town houses – some of Kenya’s most important Swahili ruins – lies quietly in the jungle’s green grip. Excavation has unearthed many structures that were once inhabited by a mix of Arab and the local Bantu residents. Although some of the structures have been ‘repaired’, the place retains a spooky, spiritual feel, watched over by a huge baobab in which several viewing platforms have been built – pay extra to climb them when you enter.
Mount Kenya
Mount Kenya is Africa’s second highest peak. Mount Kenya is a UNESCO World Heritage site and seat of the Kikuyu God, Ngai. The Reserve is home to rare species of animals as well as spectacular lakes, mineral springs, and forests. The mountain is an incredibly important watershed, providing water for about 50% of Kenya’s population and producing 70% of Kenya’s hydroelectric power.
Meru National Park