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Portal:Kenya

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Introduction

Location of Kenya
The flag of Kenya

Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi. Its second-largest and oldest city is Mombasa, a major port city located on Mombasa Island. Other major cities within the country include Kisumu, Nakuru & Eldoret. Going clockwise, Kenya is bordered by South Sudan to the northwest (though much of that border includes the disputed Ilemi Triangle), Ethiopia to the north, Somalia to the east, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, Tanzania to the southwest, and Lake Victoria and Uganda to the west.

Kenya's geography, climate and population vary widely. In western, rift valley counties, the landscape includes cold, snow-capped mountaintops (such as Batian, Nelion and Point Lenana on Mount Kenya) with vast surrounding forests, wildlife and fertile agricultural regions to temperate climates. In other areas, there are dry, arid and semi-arid climates as well as absolute deserts (such as Chalbi Desert and Nyiri Desert).

Kenya's earliest inhabitants included some of the first humans to evolve from ancestral members of the genus Homo. Ample fossil evidence for this evolutionary history has been found at Koobi Fora. Later, Kenya was inhabited by hunter-gatherers similar to the present-day Hadza people. According to archaeological dating of associated artifacts and skeletal material, Cushitic speakers first settled in the region's lowlands between 3,200 and 1,300 BC, a phase known as the Lowland Savanna Pastoral Neolithic. Nilotic-speaking pastoralists (ancestral to Kenya's Nilotic speakers) began migrating from present-day South Sudan into Kenya around 500 BC. Bantu people settled at the coast and the interior between 250 BC and 500 AD.

European contact began in 1500 AD with the Portuguese Empire, and effective colonisation of Kenya began in the 19th century during the European exploration of Africa. Modern-day Kenya emerged from a protectorate established by the British Empire in 1895 and the subsequent Kenya Colony, which began in 1920. Mombasa was the capital of the British East Africa Protectorate, which included most of what is now Kenya and southwestern Somalia, from 1889 to 1907. Numerous disputes between the UK and the colony led to the Mau Mau revolution, which began in 1952, and the declaration of Kenya's independence in 1963. After independence, Kenya remained a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The country's current constitution was adopted in 2010, replacing the previous 1963 constitution. (Full article...)


Kenya has a severe, generalized HIV epidemic; however, since the 2000s the country has experienced a notable decline in HIV prevalence, attributed in part to significant behavioral change and increased access to ARV (antiretroviral drugs). Adult HIV prevalence is estimated to have fallen from 10 percent in the late 1990s to about 3.2% in 2023. Women face a considerably higher risk of HIV infection than men but have longer life expectancies than men when on ART. UNAIDS Data 2024 reports adult women are at a higher risk of HIV infections than adult men. Populations in Kenya that are especially at risk include sex workers, men who have sex with men (MSM), people who inject drugs (PWID), transgender individuals and prisoners. Other groups also include discordant couples (where one partner is infected and the other is not) however successful ARV-treatment will prevent transmission. Other groups at risk are prison communities, uniformed forces, and truck drivers. (Full article...)

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WaterLovers Beach Resort
WaterLovers Beach Resort
WaterLovers Beach Resort, Diani Beach, Kilifi County

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Dusk L. Naivasha
Dusk L. Naivasha

Nakuru County is a county in Kenya. The capital and largest town is Nakuru, although Naivasha is another major significant urban centre. With a population of 1,603,325 (2009 census), it is the fourth largest county in Kenya after Nairobi, Kakamega and Kiambu in that order in terms of population. Nakuru County has an area of 2,325.8 km².

Nakuru is an agriculturally-oriented area and is home to Lake Nakuru and Lake Naivasha some of the Rift Valley soda lakes. Lake Nakuru is best known for its thousands, sometimes millions of flamingoes nesting along the shores. The surface of the shallow lake is often hardly recognisable due to the continually shifting mass of pink. The number of flamingoes on the lake varies with water and food conditions and the best vantage point is from Baboon cliff. Also of interest, an area of 188 km around the lake fenced off as a sanctuary to protect Rothschild giraffe and black rhinos.

Other sites of interest around Nakuru include Menengai Crater, an extinct volcano 2,490m (8,167 ft) high. The views of the crater itself, as well as the surrounding countryside, are spectacular. (Read more...)

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Tower of Lamu Fort

Lamu Fort is a fortress in the town of Lamu in northeastern Kenya. Originally situated on the waterfront, the fort today is located in a central position in the town, about 70 metres (230 ft) from the main jetty on the shore.

Lamu Fort was built between 1813 and 1821 with Omani assistance. Initially it provided a base from which the Omanis consolidated their control of the East African coast but the town later lost its economic importance. During the British colonial period, and after the independence of Kenya, the fort was used as a prison. Today it houses an environmental museum and library, and is often used for community events. (Full article...)

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Washington Yotto Ochieng is a Kenyan-born British academic who is Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College London. Previously, he was Head of the Centre for Transport Studies and Co-Director of the Institute for Security Science and Technology(ISST) together with Deeph Chana. Ochieng is the interim Director of ISST. He also serves as Director of the Engineering Geomatics Group and Chair of Positioning and Navigation Systems. In 2024, Ochieng became the President of the Royal Institute of Navigation. (Full article...)

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In the news

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13 June 2025 – Kenya Finance Bill protests
Kenyan police constable James Mukhwana is arrested over the death of blogger Albert Ojwang, which prompted protests and clashes with police this week. (Al Jazeera) (BBC News)
12 June 2025 – Death of Albert Ojwang
Police fire tear gas at demonstrators gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, to protest against the police and its chief, Eliud Lagat, after blogger Albert Ojwang is confirmed to be killed in custody by the police force, demanding Lagat's resignation. (DW)
10 June 2025 – 2025 Kenya bus crash
Five tourists are killed and 35 others are injured in a bus crash in Gichage, Nyandarua County, Kenya. (Gulf News) (Economic Times)
21 May 2025 – Kenya–Uganda relations
Kenya admits that it assisted Uganda in the kidnapping of opposition politician Kizza Besigye in Nairobi in November 2024. Besigye was later taken to Uganda, where he is currently on trial. (Barron's)
18 May 2025 –
Kenyan politician Martha Karua, who legally represents incarcerated Tanzanian opposition figure Tundu Lissu, is arrested at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and set for deportation. (France 24)
30 April 2025 –
Kenyan parliament member Charles Ong'ondo is shot to death in Nairobi by unknown gunmen on a motorcycle in an apparent assassination. (BBC News)

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