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The Country
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Kenya is located on the
east coast of Africa, with the Equator running almost straight through
the middle of the country. It is a sovereign state, having
achieved political independence from British rule on 12th December 1963
and a year later on 12th December 1964 became a fully fledged Republic.
It is a member of the Organization of African Unity, the Commonwealth
of Nations and the United Nations Organisation. It has an area of
582,644 Sq. Kms (224,900 Sq. miles) of which 45,240 Sq. Kms (7.8%) is under
Wildlife Conservation sanctuaries (National Parks and National Reserves).
The country has a great diversity of physical features which can be
distinctively divided into five main zones. The low lying arid and
semi-arid lands of the north and northern-eastern province, which cover
nearly two-thirds of the country. The coastal belt running along
the Indian Ocean from the Kenya-Tanzania border to the Somali border.
It is a well watered area receiving rain twice a year from the north-easterly
and south-easterly monsoons. The Nyika Plateau (dry wilderness) occupies
the country between the coastal belt and the central highlands. It
is a dry area of low rainfall. The vegetation consists of short grass
with scattered acacia trees. It is best described as a dry
savannaland and supports most of Kenya’s wildlife. The fourth and
most productive zone is the central highlands - a raised volcanic block
split from north to south by the Great Rift Valley, a 8,700 kilometre ditch
on the surface of the earth (sometimes 80 Km wide) which stretches from
the Dead Sea in Jordan to Beira in Mozambique. The eastern wall of
the Valley is dominated by Mt. Kenya a giant extinct volcano rising to
5,199 metres (17,058 ft.a.s.l.). A combination of good rainfall,
soils, suitable climate makes the region one of the richest agricultural
lands in the world. The western slopes including Mt. Elgon region
are fertile and well-watered. They receive most of their rains from
the inland sea of Lake Victoria (the second largest fresh water lake in
the world). From the western flanks of the central highlands, the
land slopes down to the lake basin.
The lake basin is hot and moist and receives heavy rainfall from the
lake. Its vegetation is mainly savanna woodland. The
vast mass of the lake water creates its own local weather systems.
Kenya is therefore one of the most prosperous agricultural countries
in Africa. It is the third largest tea producer in the world and
the biggest producer of pyrethrum in addition to a great variety of horticultural
crops. Tourism is today the highest single foreign exchange earner.
The industry has grown from a few thousand tourists a year, at independence,
to over 826,000 visitors in 1993.
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