It was no accident that the ‘Out of Africa’ story and film came into being. The unsurpassed beauty and spectacular landscapes of a raw country straddling the equator formed a crumble in molding the life of a Danish countess giving her the background and experience that produced such a masterpiece of descriptive writing. Kenya as a nation covers 582,646 square kilometers of contrasts where arid deserts and lunar landscapes vie with glacial ice and snows, dense and verdant forests, a necklace of lakes, rich savannahs, and a sparkling tropical coastline. The hot humidity of the coast, frosty mountain nights, dry burning heat of the northern deserts, sunny days, bracing evenings in the uplands, and a superb climate overall provide the perfect climate mix that invigorates and exhilarates every visitor to this great nation. Man was born on the Eastern shore of Lake Turkana according to recent fossil evidence. Subsequently, Kenya became the point of contact in Africa between the stone age and civilization spreading down into the continent from the Mediterranean, being followed by a profound culture change about 100 AD. Additional immigrations and influxes of diverse ethnic backgrounds created over 40 fascinating tribes of Kenya, who today make up the population of some 49 million diverse people.

The massive fracture line on the earth’s surface running 5000 kilometres from Jordan to Mozambique, so tangibly visible in Kenya, is the Great Rift Valley with its length like a necklace of lucrative pearls, together with a series of volcanoes which stud the valley floor. A giant mantle, the central highlands, spreads on both sides of the Aberdare mountains and provides a rich agricultural land with dense forest. It is here that one finds the great farmlands of tea, coffee, maize, wheat and pyrethrum, and it is here that one enjoys the bracing air, ebullient activity and restful scenery.