FREE ESSAY ON KENYA

KENYA

KENYA
Kenya is in the heart of African safari country and no Tarzan movie can prepare you for
Kenya's wilderness. I chose Kenya because someday I want to go on a safari and I thought
that by researching Kenya I would learn a little more about safaris. The major tourist
attractions in Kenya are the safaris. No other country contains a greater variety of
birds and animals than Kenya, home of the Safari. Kenya has about eleven different types
of safaris: Wildlife Safaris, Orinthological Safaris/Bird Watching, Camel Safaris, Hot
Air Balloon Safaris, Horse Riding Safaris, Cycle and Trekking Safaris, Golf Safaris,
Camping Safaris, Sport Fishing, Conference and Business Tourism, Mountaineering and
Walking Trails, and Safari Circuits. There are so many different types of safaris that
deciding how to take a safari, available on foot, by bicycle, by 4 wheel drive, by camel,
by horse, by ox wagon, by balloon or by classical aerial safari, is sometimes a difficult
decision. If you plan on going to Kenya and staying for less than thirty days, then a
visa is not required. However, if u plan on a longer stay, you can get a visa before your
trip or when you enter Kenya. Tourist visas require one application form, two passport
photos, an onward or return ticket and the required fifty-dollar fee. Immunization for
Yellow fever is recommended and Anti-malarial pills are recommended for those people who
are traveling to the coastal regions of Kenya.
Anthropological discoveries indicate that humans, perhaps the first on earth, probably
inhabited southern Kenya some 2 million years ago. In the Kenya highlands farming and
domestic herds can be dated to 1000 BC Arab traders settled on the coast by the 8th cent.
AD, establishing several city-states. The Portuguese, who first visited the Kenya coast
in 1498, gained control of much of it but were expelled by Arabs in 1729. In 1886, under
a British-German agreement on spheres of influence in East Africa, most of present day
Kenya passed to Britain, and in 1903, after a railroad opened up the interior, the first
European settlers moved in. Under Britain, Europeans controlled the government, and
Indians, who had arrived earlier, were active in commerce, while Africans were largely
confined to subsistence farming or to work as laborers. Protests by Africans over their
inferior status reached a peak in the so-called MAU-MAU emergency, an armed revolt
against British rule. After the rebellion Britain increased African representation in the
legislative council, and in 1963 Kenya gained independence. The country became a republic
in 1964, with Jomo Kenyatta as president. The first decade of independence was marked by
disputes among ethnic groups, especially the Kikuyu and the Luo, by the exodus of many
Europeans and Asians, and by sporadic fighting with Somalia over boundary issues. Daniel
Arap Moi of the Kenya African National Union succeeded to the presidency after Kenyatta's
death in 1978. A stable democracy in 1978, Kenya under Moi became a one-party state and,
increasingly, a dictatorship. Undermined by growing internal opposition and international
resistance to supplying aid to his government, Moi agreed to end one-party rule in 1991,
but social and political unrest, especially tribal conflicts that Moi's government has
been accused of promoting, continued. Moi was reelected president in 1992 in a multiparty
election that his opponents denounced as fraudulent.
Since 1993, the government of Kenya has implemented a program of economic liberalization
and reform. Steps have included the removal of import licensing and price controls,
removal of foreign exchange controls, fiscal and monetary restraint, and reduction of the
public sector through privatizing publicly owned companies and downsizing the civil
service. The government has the support of the World Bank, IMF (International Monetary
Fund), and other donors, and along with them these reforms have led to a turnaround in
economic performance following a period of negative growth in the early 1990s. Kenya's
real GDP (Gross Domestic Product) grew at 5% in 1995 and 4% in 1996, and inflation
remained under control. Economic growth slowed in 1997-98. The exchange rate from U.S.
Dollars ($) to Kenyan Shillings (KSh) is $1---76.30KSh. Political violence damaged the
tourist industry, and the IMF allowed Kenya's Enhanced Structural Adjustment Program to
lapse due to the government's failure to enact reform conditions and to adequately
address public sector corruption. Moreover, El Nino rains destroyed crops and damaged an
already crumbling infrastructure in 1997 and 1998. Long-term barriers to development
include electricity shortages, the government's continued and inefficient dominance of
key sectors, endemic corruption, and the country's high population growth rate. 
I think that Kenya has enormous potential for future growth. I think that if political
violence ceases, the tourist industry can once more be at a high. The government also
needs to address the issues of corruption. Also, once the crops that were devastated
during El Nino have been restored. a large part of Kenya's economy will be restored. I
think that in the next ten years, Kenya will have a great economic growth. 
Although Kenya is a beautiful and exciting place to go, I would not recommend going there
now because of all the economic and political problems that the country is facing. I
would recommend going to Kenya in a couple of years when, hopefully, their economy is
starting to get better. I also hope to go to Kenya someday when it has a good economy and
less political and economical struggles.