Kenya
Anthony Cordero
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| Above: Kenya on the map. |
Africa,
that large land-mass to the south east of us, it houses many
wonderful and complicated countries. Kenya is one of the bigger ones
on the continent, in terms of politics and economy. Kenya is a
developing country but on an odd path of development after its
independence in 1963; many of its citizens are below the poverty line
unfortunately.
Kenya
holds an overall literacy rate of 85% in a population of 36.9
million. Most of Kenya’s citizens are indigenous ethnic groups such
as the Bantu and Nilotic. The main religion in Kenya, despite its
indigenous tribes, is Christianity, with traditional religions from
old tribes still holding a percentage, a small one at that. English
and Kiswahili are the countries official language and because of
that, American tourism is easy and common.
On
the topic of Americans, many Americans misperceive the world around
them and are called ignorant because of that fact. In terms of Kenya,
there are definitely a few misperceptions from Americans. These
not-facts mainly originated from the fact that Kenya is in Africa and
still a young, developing – a bit third world if you will –
country. Be that as it may, Kenya is not what many think it is, yes
there are many safari services, yes there is a generally warmer
climate, but it is still a functioning political machine.
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| Above: Tourists on a safari. |
Probably
one of the biggest misperceptions of this country is that Kenya is,
as big as the country is in terms of population, for the mostly
uncivilized. The reasoning behind this one is due to Kenya being in
Africa and having a hot climate. There are also very many safari
adventure services for tourists in Kenya. Further these services take
the group into the lands vast pieces of land to sight see things like
exotic animals and beautiful landforms.
Kenya
is colonized, though, and has many great cities like its capitol,
Nairobi, or its famous port city of Mombasa. In these cities many
people carry out their life and work to make a living and enjoy
luxuries with friends and family, just like us. Kenya has cities that
dot the country – which is near in size with Texas in America –
and are spread near and far from each other. Since Kenya is still on
its way developing, they couldn’t possibly afford to populate
everywhere, and like all countries of the world, there are places,
beautiful places that would just be wrong to populate in the first
place.
Among
the many beautiful places that Kenya houses, there are a few deserts
in Kenya. Two of the more famous are known as the Maralal and the
Marsabit. These deserts are hot and dry and teeming with wildlife, so
a safari vacation to one of these deserts would be ideal for a
tourist. These deserts are huge tourist attraction in that way. Now
many people think that just because Kenya is in Africa that it is hot
and dry and arid. Well, that’s partially the case for a big part of
the country, except not as bad as many of you may think.
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| Above: Shoreline view of Mombasa, Kenya's second largest city. |
Kenya
has a hot climate, but it's similar in that way of Texas. Many of
Kenya's main cities such as Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and Lamu have an
average temperature ranging from the mid 60's to the high 80's
(degrees Fahrenheit). These areas are not completely dry, though, with about 5
or more rain days in a month. Along the lines of precipitation, Kenya
obviously gets no snowfall or anything of that like. Kenya being a
totally dry and arid desert country in Africa is just another way
many people misperceive the country.
Being
a developing country, Kenya, of course, is not a very rich country.
That does not mean that it is a completely poor country, many might
think that just because Kenya is an African country that it is poor
right of the bat. The GNI per capita in Kenya is roughly $810 (USD)
which is about 67432 Kenyan shillings. For a citizen of Kenya this is
just enough to scrape by on.
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| Above: Kenyan currency; known as the Kenyan Shilling. |
Many
of the people of Kenya are below the poverty line; approximately 46%
of its citizens are below the line. The other half of the citizens
are above that line, meaning all is not bad. Kenya is no doubt a low
income country and in its developing, can only hope to get better,
but at the way things are looking in their economy, things may not be
getting better any time soon. Kenya being poor just because it's an
African country is a third way many are misguided about the country;
many economic and political factors and decisions play into a
nation's wealth, not just its location.
Despite
what many Americans may think of Kenya, there are obviously many
contradictions to those thoughts. Kenya is not one big safari nor is
it as hot as many believe an African Sahara country to be. It is a
rather poor country, for that matter, and unfortunately may stay that
way for awhile. Kenya is a great place to visit if you like the
safari themed vacation or just different cities of the world. It is
rich in culture and political controversy, it is also an easy target
for mislead perceptions.
Sources -
- GNI per capita information
- World Bank - Kenya
- Prices of goods in Kenya
- Cost of living in Kenya - Expat Blog
- Wazua - Affluent Kenyan
- Kenya - New York Times
- Kenyan Deserts - Blogspot
- Climate Zone - Kenya
- Info Please - Kenya
- Info Please - Kenya map
- National Geographic - Kenya Facts
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