Within a few hours into the national parks and reserves you will be counting endless species of wildlife. Kenya is endowed with such rich and diverse wildlife. The concentration of the wildlife is one meant to amaze even the less nature enthusiast, and everyone will have such a great time here in the wilds of Kenya.
- Cultural diversity and languages
Kenya has more than 40 tribes. Each tribe has its own way of life. These include different ways of living. For example, the Kikuyus of Mt Kenya region are the renowned agriculturist whose main way of life has been agri-business. The Nilotes, on the other hand are famous for livestock raring. For many years they have been living a nomadic way of life. When you go to western Kenya, here you meet the Luo communities whose way of life is mainly based on the lake as fishermen. Each such community not only live differently from each other, but have totally different languages. This adds to the cultural richness and diversity.
- Rich history as the origin of mankind
The origin of Human kind is a book by Richard Leakey. It is an account of the Leakey’s personal view of the development of Homo sapiens. The world famous paleoanthropologist documents his research back into the origins of mankind. Part of his research work included findings of the Turkana boy, also called Nariokotome boy. This specimen was dated back 1.5 to 1.6 million years ago. It is the only most complete fossil skeleton to ever be found. This gave Kenya a prominent position as the origin of humankind. The Turkana region where a lot of such research work took place is currently referred to as the cradle of mankind.
- History and origin of Kenya’s name
Kenya as a country got its name from Mount Kirinyaga, the mountain of the gods in the local kikuyu dialect. The snow-capped mountain, also referred to as the mountain of whiteness, has a rich history as a sacred place for the inhabitants there, the kikuyu. When the British colonialists and explorers came to Kenya, some of the areas they settled or traversed through were Mount Kirinyaga region. The origin of the name ‘Kenya’ came from the fact that the white men were not able to pronounce ‘Kirinyaga’ and it went down into the books as the country ‘Kenya’. Even the mountain itself was documented as the present day ‘Mount Kenya’. One such version was done by explorer Johann Ludwig.
- Origin of the current day ‘safari’
Safari is a Kiswahili language word for ‘journey’. Kiswahili was a language born out of a mix of the arriving coastal traders with the locals. The meaning of the word first originated from the convoys that were done to go hunting for the wild game. These convoys carried camping equipment, food supplies and weapons for hunting. In later years, with the introduction of conservation, the hunting trips slowly evolved to wild game viewing in Kenya. The weapons were gradually replaced by cameras. It is here that some of the big game documentaries have been documented, and Kenya rose from hunting safaris to game drives. This is what gave rise to the modern day safaris, making Kenya as the original home of safari.
- Women empowerment.
The world all over has been on its toes in the rush for equality. Women all over have been on the frontline to take charge and demanding their share as equals. These have seen lots of spirited fights in the demand for same and equal positions or even salaries in work places. In Kenya, the fight has been taken a notch higher. The girl child has seen her position change with a lot of emphasis being put in support for the girl child. Many schools for girls have been started in the counties to make sure that the girl child isn’t married off too early and instead take her position in the class equally like the boy child. These have given rise to prominent career women in all arenas, both in the corporate world and the informal sector. The Kenyan lady has risen above the traditional African setting to sit on the same corporate table with the man. This is something to be proud of as the girl child takes her equal place with no bias, not in the kitchen, but in the decision making table. wedding venue lake garda
