One of the sayings of the first president of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, says: “Our children may learn about our heroes of the past. Our task is to make ourselves architects of the future.” This will lead us to explore the great country in the horn of Africa.

Kenya is located on the east coast of the continent of Africa, Kenya is like a photographer’s dream come true, Kenya contains iconic wildlife such as giraffes and zebras in addition to these iconic species there are over 100 types of mammals and thousands of birds in Kenya as well there’s just so much to see and explore in this diverse and magnificent country.

Let’s continue with the facts, the official name of Kenya is the Republic of Kenya. Kenya was named after Mount Kenya which is a very significant landmark in the country, Mount Kenya is actually the highest mountain in Kenya and the second highest mountain in Africa, now the origin of the name Kenya itself is not as clear, it’s believed that the name Kenya is linked to the Kikuyu, the Embu and the combination of words “Kirinyaga”, “Kerinyaa” and “Kiinyaa” and those three words all mean “God’s resting place”.

And since we were just talking about mountains actually let me know down in the comment section where is the highest place that you have ever been to on this planet it can be up in a roller coaster it could be another mountain that you climb but don’t say airplanes because I don’t take those challenges now.

Did you know that the country Kenya lies directly at the equator like literally, if you take a look at the map you will see the equator running straight through the middle of Kenya, Kenya has a total population of 48.2 million people and 3.5 of those people live in the country’s capital Nairobi, on top of being the capital city Nairobi is the largest city in Kenya and it’s famous for having the world’s only game reserve located in a major city and that game reserve is the Nairobi National Park and as you could imagine having this sort of Park located in a metropolis with animals like hyenas, cheetahs, and lions, there is some risk to the residents there, in the past some of the lions have been shot and killed to protect the public because of this Lions are being fitted with tracking collars so that the Park Rangers can always know where they are they hope that this will prevent any lions from crossing the borders of the park and into civilian territory.

Let’s take a closer look into the history of Kenya, many Kenyans were made to disperse throughout the world as slaves, this was done by Arabs, Europeans, and Americans during the 1600s and 1700s. Kenya’s location in relation to the Arabian, Peninsula invited this type of trade and so the East African Swahili coast where Kenya is located was a very advanced and rich area but because of the heavy trading by the Indian, the Persian, the Arabs, Indonesian, Malaysian as well as some African and Chinese merchants they all impacted the creation of the Swahili culture and language in that area.

Arabic was the strongest language influenced and we can see the effect of the Arabic influence even in the name Swahili, the name Swahili is derived from the Arabic words, so wakil meaning coasts more specifically the Sealy coast mainly consists of the areas along the shores of Kenya, Tanzania and northern Mozambique also some of the Indian Ocean, islands such as Zanzibar and Comoros they can also be included in the term Swahili coast.

When the British Empire eventually dominated that area, they established what was called the East African cooperate in 1895 and from1920 onward it was known as the Kenya colony that lasted until Kenya gained its independence in 1963, that was when the colony came to an end, when a black majority government was elected for the first time and eventually declared Kenya’s independence since then Kenya has grown in population and reputation.

Kenya is also home to many notable figures Barack Obama senior, the father of former US President Barack Obama, who was born in Kenya as well as others, did you know that Richard Dawkins the famous UK biologist was born in Kenya, he rose to fame for his 1976 book ‘The Selfish Gene’ as well as he was a person that coined the term mean and many of you probably recognize this guy David Rudisha, he’s a 2012 and 2016 Olympic champion and world champion and the world record holder in the 800 meters and here we have the fashion model Malaika Furth, she began her modelling career at the age of 17 years old, she first gained attention by being the first black model in almost 20 years to appear in a Prada advertisement after Naomi Campbell.

In terms of the ethnic groups in Kenya, it’s reported that there are over 70 ethnic groups and within those ethnic groups over 30 different languages and dialects are spoken and so Swahili and English are the official languages of Kenya, the biggest ethnic group in Kenya is the Kikuyu but despite having so many different ethnic groups these tribes can be split into three main categories the Bantu tribe that neighbours the Embu, Mbeere and Meru tribes around Mount Kenya.

Now when you moved to the southwestern part of the country you’ll notice a pretty big lake, that’s Lake Victoria and it was named after Queen Victoria of course, Lake Victoria is the world’s second largest freshwater lake, the Explorer who gave it the name Lake Victoria was John Speke and this was during an 1858 expedition to find the source of the River Nile, the River Nile of course is a river that is regarded by most people as being the longest river on the planet.

When it comes to food, the staple meal in Kenya is ugali, it looks so good like I want some right now, this is a meal made from several types of flour including cornmeal, it’s also normally accompanied by stew and it’s enjoyed at weddings as well for any, for my Kenyans reading this article let me know down below what scale you would rate ugali on a scale of one to ten, one being not so good, ten being such fun and good tasting food, as you’re coming down to the end of our exploration.

Just want to touch on the fashion really quick, it’s a part of what makes Kenyan so unique although it is very common to find Kenyans wearing clothes of the Western world, their own style of dressing in itself is very distinct, when you visit the country of Kenya you can’t help but notice the red paint in maroon peace cloths that are commonly referred to as Maasai suka around the people stroller’s waist and necks.

Help us continue to spread the message of positivity and love as well as continue to share things about this world that many people are just completely ignorant of and there’s so much more to see in this country, the country is such amazing people, beautiful wildlife and all sorts of cultural practices that all come together to help make Kenya one of the most unique countries on this planet.