Beverlybaynes said:
I know it's a magical place, and if I should ever win the lottery, it will be very high on my list of places I'm finally going to visit (but will probably fall somewhere after England).
Kenya does have a lot of problems; the infrastructure is appalling (many roads are in a state of disrepair or completely washed away, water and electricity supplies can be cut off for days on end) - this is coupled with massive corruption in the public and private sector. Recently much of the judiciary (starting with High Court Judges) were dismissed as a result of the new government's anti-corruption drive.
This chaotic situation has led to a massive loss of some unique tracts of forest (while we were in Kenya in October the government suspended a significant proportion of the people charged with protecting Kenya's forests - once again because of accusations of graft and illegal logging). But we met with a charming and knowledgeable forest ranger who took us through the Ngangao Forest and talked with a genuine affection about his forest and the species you can find in it.
The country has some outstandingly beautiful scenery and a unique flora and fauna. And yet there are national parks which hardly ever see a visitor - we visited Mwea National Reserve and were the first visitors for a week and the first tourists for about a month (the other visitors were researching tsetse flies). While we were there we were privileged to see Crested Guineafowl (which were unknown from that part of the country and from the particular habitat).
We visited another out of the way spot (Lake Jipe) where tourists are so rare that the elephants reacted rather strongly to our presence ..... one female charged our vehicle ..... and kept charging until we were safely out of the way.
We went with a small Kenyan firm who know lots of birding hotspots that are off the normal tourist trails - so we stopped and bird watched at water holes and irrigation ditches - surrounded by cattle, goats and local car washing businesses. Often to the great amusement of children who seemed to find us better value for money than the average video game - but who all wanted a go with our telescope!
That said our guide was very careful about where we stopped, as with any country, the larger towns have their fair share of dodgy characters and we're always extremely careful to follow advice on safety from the local experts. There are parts of the country where it simply isn't safe to travel at night (armed gangs put nails on the roads to stop cars and rob their owners). There is now a drive to clear buildings and brush back from the the roadside so that these bandits don't have anywhere to hide. There are still parts of the country where you have to take on an armed guard and travel in convoy to deter robbers.
My hope is that the Kenyan government can eliminate corruption and so put more money into the infrastructure and thus open up the areas of the country which most people don't get to see.
A final comment .... when it comes to airport security Kenya really takes things seriously ..... this time out I was beginning to think that if I had one more body frisk I was going to have to propose marriage to the security guard!
