Tourism is the mainstay

A century ago, the American President Theodore Roosevelt went on a hunting expedition in Kenya. This helped promote Kenya as the capital of the safari industry.

Today, the emphasis is on conservation of Kenya’s wildlife and its rich natural resources and there are 48 national parks and reserves. With over 1,100 different birds, the country is an ornithologist’s delight.

Tourists are also drawn by the miles of white sandy beaches along Kenya’s coastline. Strong winds cool the steamy equatorial temperatures, though the coast is calm and shallow, protected by the off-shore coral reef which stretches from Lamu in the north to Vanga in the south. Skuba-diving and snorkelling are popular activities along the reef.

Tourism was badly hit after civil unrest in the early 1990s, terrorist attacks in 1998 and 2002 and violence following elections in 2007. But the industry appears to have rebounded, recording its best-ever year for visitors in 2010, when over a million foreigners flew into Kenya. As the country’s top earning sector for foreign exchange, tourism is a mainstay of Kenya’s economy.

Communication means business

With its strategic location on the coast and well-established road network, Kenya acts as a hub for trade in East Africa. Mombasa is the main port, dealing in most of the import and export traffic, not just of Kenya’s goods but also those of surrounding countries. And the three international airports (in Nairobi, Mombasa and Eldoret) provide connections to various destinations in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Telecommunications are advanced for the region, with Kenya boasting the highest number of Internet users (over three million in 2009) in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of the population has no land line, but access to the internet is provided by the country’s popular mobile phone services. Four-fifths of adults have a mobile, with phones cheaply available for the masses.

This high take-up, even among rural Kenyans, has transformed the lives of small farmers and traders, with many using their phones to transfer money and make cash payments.